*CHAPTER 1: THE DAY I BECAME A JJC* My name is Agatha, and I thought I was a big girl until I entered university. I had two Ghana-must-go bags, one small backpack that contained all my dreams, and a mother who followed me from hostel to hostel shouting, "This place is too dirty for my daughter!" That was how my university life started. With embarrassment. The first shocker was the hostel. The picture they showed us during admission looked like a hotel. What I saw was different. Four girls in one small room. Clothes everywhere. One girl was frying egg on the floor at 2pm. The room was smelling of palm oil and perfume mixed together. "Welcome, JJC," one girl with pink lipstick said without looking at me. "You are the fourth person. Your bed is the top bunk." I looked up. The top bunk was shaking. It looked like if I sneeze, it would fall. Second shocker was the campus itself. It was too big. I got lost three times trying to find the Faculty of Arts. I asked a boy for direction and he said, "Ah, freshie, you fine oh. Make I waka you go?" I said no, because my mother warned me about boys who offer to waka you. By evening, I was tired, sweaty, and hungry. I had not eaten since morning. I sat on my shaking top bunk and called my mother. "Mummy, I want to come back home." She laughed. "Agatha, you never even spend one night. You go adapt." That night, I did not sleep. The girl under me was pressing her phone light till 3am. The one frying egg earlier was now praying very loud in tongues. And the girl with pink lipstick was talking to her boyfriend, "Baby, you know I love you, but that girl is cheating on you..." I covered my ears with my pillow. This was not the university I watched in movies. But somewhere inside me, I knew — my story was just starting. And I had no idea that the boy I would meet tomorrow would scatter my whole life. *To be continued.*