NIGERIA: Diaries Of a Boarding School Babe [Eat, Play, Get Punished] by Linaabelle [P2]

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“Try again”, the teacher yells to me. I really need to perfect this jump. Our inter-house sports competition is coming up soon and our house has to win in some of the events. For those of you who do not know, the inter-house sports is an event where all the houses compete in different sports activities in order to win prices. Although if you ask me, it seems a bit unfair here given that all the athletically-abled kids seem to be in red house in this school but nobody asked me so I just shut up and attempt the jump again, this time getting it to the teacher’s satisfaction. I still do not understand why she wants me to be involved anyways, I mean she already has me throwing the javelin and let’s be honest; my hand-eye coordination is nothing to write home about. “Good job, now go wait until I give you further instructions,” she says. I walk away to the side to watch the others practice.

As I stand on the side, my mind begins to wander off. So many things have happened since I started in this school. For example, when we started, we were the only students (the first set, they called us). Now there are two new sets of junior students. I even have my own school daughters (three to be exact). They are all very beautiful. My sister attends this school now and I also have to look out for her. If anything, to keep her from the punishment –hungry seniors. I still do not understand the whole idea of unleashing these unnecessary punishments on the junior students. Between having them sneak back food from the dining area to the dorms undetected because we the seniors are too lazy to take ourselves to the dining (or maybe we are too fly to be seen eating at the dining. I’m not sure which) (by the way, can I just say how commendable the junior students who are able to bring food back are? The dining prefects are no joke), and having them wash the clothes and clean the corners, I think they have enough to keep them occupied. So, in my opinion, dishing out these extra punishments like having them transfer water from one bucket to another using a tea spoon, picking the pin, kneeling with their hands raised above their heads and mouth open, or thoroughly whipping them with a cane of their own choosing are all unnecessary. Not to mention, the teachers already deal those out too (and quite frankly, they seem a bit obsessed with doing so). As a matter of fact, it’s no wonder we are all skinny, with all the yoga moves the teachers have us doing, all in the name of punishment.

Also, I have a boyfriend now. Ha! That sounds funny when I say it out loud to myself. He’s pretty big and is the “IT” guy that all the guys respect and fear so I suppose being his girl kind of has its own perks. But let’s be honest, we do not even do anything other than standing around in the corner to talk. Why is this even considered romantic anyways? Is it due to the fact that the teachers thoroughly forbid the guys from being seen with the girls? Why do they act like the world will end if I stand in front of a guy and talk to him? I mean I know of so many students already sleeping with each other, sneaking out in the middle of the night to spend time together; so why does standing around to talk seem so frowned upon? Anyways, I am pretty good friends with all his friends, even the one I gave the last card to (remember him from this post?). I do like Mr. last Card a lot but not in that romantic feeling way. We seem to get along quite so easily. Our conversations flow properly; and honestly, holding his hand feels great. But we are just friends and I like that.

Speaking of punishments, I still have to finish cutting the stupid field of grass I was assigned to cut. I mean cutting a whole field with a machete is a bit too much, isn't it? Especially when I did not commit the offense I was accused of. But when it is mob versus you, you kind of lose out. When that lying ,what’s her name, claimed she saw me in the dining area with Mr. Boyfriend engaging in some frowned upon activity and everyone believed I was guilty, including the head house mistress (who by the way, I believe is still out to get me because I refused to help her sell okpa in the dorms to other students. But hey rules are rules; do not sell food to students.). Of course, I was at debate practice with the other members of the debate team during the time of the said activity but since the house headmistress is not giving me the opportunity to speak up and defend myself, I guess that fact plays no role here. Wait a minute, if indeed this girl saw Mr. Boyfriend with some girl engaging in some activities (which she probably did, she’s very adamant about this) and she assumed it was me because they all know me as his girl (but I was not there); then that big head is cheating on me! I’m going to have a talk with him about this later! Anyways, I was given the ever-so-wonderful punishment of cutting the grass. Since a couple of my friends know I was not involved, they have volunteered to help me cut it. I need to get that done before the head house mistress comes back to inspect.

Soon, we will be going home for the break. I cannot wait. I get to see my mom. Even though I saw her during the last visiting day and she brought me those large cans of Peak milk and Nestle Milo, the boxes of Cabin biscuit, the flasks containing jollof rice, a carton of the St. Louis cube sugar, and other things which I truly appreciate, I miss her a lot. I also miss my sisters and my brother and cannot wait to see them. Plus, since Mr. Last Card comes over a lot to hang out during the holidays, we can hang and talk more. I cannot wait. In the meantime, it’s my turn to jump again so let me go get this done with . . . . [To be continued].

*- VikariouzlyTME