Find Her

A good friend

After spending a week in Philadon academy, Tasha called her parents from the school's phone booth. She was happy to tell them all that was happening.

Tasha was determined to make use of the limited opportunity that presented itself with the help of Elsie. Tasha and Elsie became very close. She felt comfortable in her presence and trusted her. Tasha was not the type that trusts people easily because of the challenges she had been through. What she had suffered with friends. Ever since she came to Philadon, she realized that no one made fun of her looks, neither did they laugh at her when she spoke. She had seen a couple of students that were amputees who seemed happy in the school. They moved about in the company of friends and were cheerful. No one laughed at their disability.

Tasha then realized that she was accepted and felt belonged.

Her second week in the school was really fun. She used most of her free periods to read story books from the library. She took the assignments Elsie gave her seriously. She solved word puzzles and played other games that helped improve her vocabulary and reading ability.

She spent quality time at the library being taught how to use a computer. She was really excited when she was able to write her English assignment which was a letter using the computer. She never thought she would be able to use a computer but she did. When she was not in the classroom or dormitory, she definitely would be at the library. There were news papers in the library that teachers and student who were interested in knowing what was happening in the world made use of. Sometimes she also passes through that section of the library and glanced through some of the papers. She found them lovely because she was getting knowledge of what was happening in the country and other parts of the world.

Her favorite moment came when they had art lessons. All the tools needed for the work were provided for the class and she really enjoyed it. There was sporting activities every Friday. She was excited to also join the girls football team. Fridays were always full of field activities. This allowed those who may not be academically good, to also enjoy their moments and show their talents. There were also music classes available on Fridays.

Saturdays were for entertainment especially movie nights. Tasha was the reserved type and she always expresses herself through the things the loved. Where ever there was art or sports, she was comfortable there, as well as entertainment. It helped to take away her stress and puts her mind at peace.

Elsie studied Tasha when she arrived after some few days and realized she was full of fear and was not the confident type. She took it upon herself to rather be of help to her and give her a transformation within their one month of stay.

That was why she befriended her.

Elsie once suffered from timidity when she was young. This made her to keep changing her school until she was finally transferred to Philandon Academy Of Excellence. She was really bullied by her friends in her previous schools. She was a very intelligent girl but her problem was fear. Elsie had great parents who provided her with everything that she needed but did not know how to help her overcome her fears because they tried all they could but nothing seemed to work.

But when she was transferred to Philadon, there was a change. Her parents knew one of the teachers there and he promised to personally help her. He knew how brilliant she was and projected her as such among her peers. He spoke well of her among her mates and also spoke to her severely of why she had to let go of her fears and capitalize on her strength which was her intelligence.

He then made her to express her opinions in class, made her answer questions frequently and made her the class prefect in her first form. This rather gave her a leadership role and she had to lead the other students. Her mates then saw how intelligent and smart she was and could not notice her fears.

Elsie represented her school in many competitions in which she won. She was able to overcome her fears by empowering her inner strength. She became confident by focusing more on her positives and strength instead of her negatives and what others were saying.

She reassured Tasha of her willingness to help her as she narrated her story to Tasha.

Tasha was finding the school more interesting each day. She had fun during the football games and other entertainment programs. She continued her research and reading at the library and she was improving steadily. She made another good friend called Dara who was also in the football team. She was the captain of the female team. She always appreciated the way Tasha was talented and skillful. She was grateful to her for accepting to play for the team. Tasha initially hesitated when Dara approached her to be part of the female team. And anytime there was a game on Fridays, Dara made sure Tasha was present. There was a competition coming up between Philadon and a sister school. And the two friends were eagerly looking forward to it.

Elsie encouraged Tasha to take advantage of all the opportunities that were available at Philadon before it passes by. She encouraged her that a positive change was possible even though the time was limited. Tasha was being persistent with her reading objectives at the library, giving her best when it comes to the football game and also tried her hand on the piano during music class. It was as if everything was falling into the right place as how she would have loved her life to be. She was not good with music but she always paid attention in the music class so she could learn one thing or two. The piano looked beautiful so she tried to learn some few things about it.

Elsie and Dara became some sort of mentors to her. She always counted on them for a positive strength. They became the friends that she never had and the sisters that she wished for. The day for the football competition came and the Philadon team went out to participate. It was such a competitve but fun moment. She previously believed she was good for nothing and everybody hated her. But that thought began to change when she received cheers and applauds from the football spectators after she scored the only goal that made her school qualify for the finals. These were people she did not know but genuinely appreciated her talent and she was crazily excited about it.

She was really tired when she got back and went straight to bed after taking her bath. She woke up after some hours and luckily Elsie made some chocolate drinks for her because she knew Tasha would be too tired to go for dinner. Tasha was grateful to have a friend that looked out for her.

Two days later, they went to play the final game. It was a wonderful sight to behold as the funs were cheering them up. Tasha delivered as expected and her school won the trophy. It was crazy cheers when the team got back to the campus. Teachers and students all were in wild jubilation.

The following day was a Saturday therefore the team had enough time to rest. Each of the members were given a medal. Tasha had a lot of rest that day and wished not to step out of the dormitory. Elsie was there to give her a massage because her body ached a lot and she hoped to fully gain her energy by Monday since she had a lot to do within the week.

By Sunday, Elsie helped her with all the assignments that needed to be done so she could submit them on Monday.

A new week began and the competition was over. Tasha got to her class a little bit late because she was called to the principal's office.

Mrs Agaka called her and other members of the team being accompanied by their trainer to the office. She took the opportunity to congratulate them. She also called them so they could share the gifts that accompanied the trophy. There were couple of chocolates drinks from the sponsors of the competition, jerseys, footballs, as well as certificates and other awards. And when she got to the class, her mates gave her a rowdy welcome with applauds. She felt shy even though she loved it and quickly run to take her sit. Elsie could not help but made fun of her because she was the new football star of the school.

She was grateful for all the love that was shown her by her colleagues because she never expected it.

During lunch break after they had their meal, Tasha decided to talk to Elsie about an issue that was worrying her. They both sat in the visitors garden. There Tasha narrated all that had happened to her and why she found it difficult to speak among her friends. She told Elsie about the s****l harassment from Mr Asiba and Mark. Elsie was really shocked and felt pity for her. That was the first time Tasha ever told anyone about her s****l harassment. She was always afraid of what others might say or think about her should they know about it. Elsie asked why she could not inform her parents about it because they were the only important people that were supposed to hear about her problem. Tasha said she did not think her parents would have believed her especially her mother.

Lunch break was almost over so Elsie promised to take her to the counseling and guidance department the following day.

The day was over and they got back to their dormitories. They found Adina almost helpless on the floor. Apparently, she left the class very early to the dormitory due to a stomach upset. She was having severe stomach aches and no one was aware of it. She was having diarrhea too. They quickly took her to the infirmary for the school nurse to attend to her. She was immediately given some medications which made the pain to subside. She was given another medication which would help stop the diarrhea before it got worse. The event really frightened the girls in the dormitory. Adina was stable after some moments and was allowed to rest some more. The nurse examined her and also asked her questions. Luckily it was not food poisoning but rather she had eaten too much of the meal that was served at lunch. The meal that was served at lunch was so delicious that Adina could not restrain herself from eating more. She was cautioned by Tasha to slow down but she did not listen, she just kept eating.

Few hours after the medication at the infirmary, she was discharged and went back to the dormitory. The stomach ache had stopped and the diarrhea had also gone down. Elsie helped her to take her bath but she refused to go for dinner because she just did not have the appetite to eat anymore. Tasha and the girls burst into laughter trying to make a joke of her. She did not mind them and asked that they leave the dormitory so she could have more rest.

The girls left for their various classroom after dinner leaving Adina alone to have her rest. During the evening preps, they could not learn much due to the noise that was coming from the other classrooms. The students in those classrooms were having some sort of birthday celebration for their colleagues. This noise was coming from the classrooms of the senior girls and boys prefect. Coincidentally, the two senior prefects happened to have the same birthday. They really disturbed the other classes with the noise and the teachers who were staying on the campus had to intervene.

Most of the students in Elsie's class took to chatting in groups instead of learning for the evening. They could not concentrate any longer but to also join them.

Soon preps was over and they knew they did not learn much but got entertained by the colleagues.

They got back to the dormitory and Adina was much better and they were relieved. Elsie reminded Tasha of their plan to visit the counseling and guidance department the following day. She wanted to hesitate but Elsie insisted that it was the best decision.

That night, the girls did not sleep early. They spent a lot of time chatting and having little gossips. They ended up sleeping very late and this made their morning a difficult one. They found it difficult to wake up after the siren rang. Adina was the only one able to wake up because she had a lot of rest. She had to forcefully wake her friends who had made up their mind to be late for class that morning.

They finally managed to take their bath and made it to the dinning hall for breakfast.

They finished their meal and went to their various classrooms. Their English teacher was unable to come to the class that morning but sent them an assignment through the assistant class prefect. The students were in a jubilant mood because that period would be a free one for them.

Tasha was not all that happy because she was really enjoying the English lessons. It was really helping her improve. She really looked forward to finally contributing by answering a question in class but i guess she missed that opportunity. She promised not to give up but would try and do that in their next English class.

They finished their assignment and made their way to the counseling and guidance department before the next lesson began.

The department had two counselors, a male and female, Mr Andrews and Mrs Halira. There was a concern for gender balance so the students will be at ease with choosing who ever they want to talk to.

Mrs Halira was about to step out so she asked them to come at another time but the girls pleaded with her.

Tasha was afraid but Elsie encourage her to speak up so that she could be helped.

Tasha narrated everything to Mrs Halira. All about the s****l harassment, all about being despised and not accepted by her mates, all about not feeling belonged, all about being timid, afraid, lonely and worthless and many more.

She had less than two weeks to finish the exchange program and go back to her former school. So Mrs Halira promised to find sometime and have at least 30 minutes to one hour session with her daily till the program was over. She trust to get a good result if only Tasha was ready to avail herself.

They were grateful to her and rushed back to the classroom.

Tasha was moody during the class hours. Even though she felt relieved for at least talking to someone about her problem but for a moment she had to recollect all her fears again and this was about to ruin the day for her. Elsie realized how absent minded Tasha was and tried to cheer her up. Tasha told her not to worry about her because she will be fine.

Sje was not able to visit the library neither was she attentive in class. All she wanted was the siren to ring so class would be over and she can go have a rest.

She did not go for dinner that evening. She just did not have the appetite for food. Elsie got her some drinks and biscuits from the canteen in case she got hungry. She did not even go for the evening preps. She just wanted to be left alone. She laid in her bed throughout and her pillow was wet through her tears.

Tasha cried herself to sleep before her colleagues got back from the evening class.

She met Mrs Halira the following morning as they scheduled. Elsie waited for her outside whiles she was inside with the counselor because she wanted her to be free to express herself.

Mrs Halira took her time to ask Tasha a couple of questions. She needed to know her better. The meeting ended 30 minutes later and they got back to the classroom. Tasha was in a better mood than she did the previous day. She was back to class as teaching was already in session.

Mrs Halira gave her an assignment and that assignment was to go back to the library to continue reading her story book. Since Tasha was not in good mood the previous day which made her not to visit the library. So Mrs Halira gave her a little exercise just to cheer her up. The assignment was for her to go to the library, read her favorite storybook and narrate it to Mrs Halira when they meet for the next schedule. This exercise was to get her attention engaged and also enable a smooth interaction.

Tasha met with the counselor severely within the weak and she was happy about it. She got someone to share her problems with and also seek for advice. Their meeting was mostly interactive and full of exercises. She also have her some little books to read at least two times before the day ends. She had to recite the words to herself. The books were very little but powerful. It was full of motivational messages, ideas and advises. These books would help her affirm and speak positive things about herself. It was meant to psychologically help her to focus on the abilities and not disabilities. It would help her focus on the things she was good at and not the ones that elaborates her weaknesses.

Mrs Halira asked her to write down the things she loved and also the things that made her afraid. The exercises were very vigorous but fun. Tasha was beginning to understand herself and this helped her to make progress at the counseling.

She took lessons on the various temperaments and how to use them to overcome fears and build ones strength. And she got to know that she was more of a melancholic and this temperament had a lot of great strengths. Melancholics are very creative, intelligent, smart and are great leaders.

She was grateful to Elsie for helping her.

The piano lessons were tiring but she managed to learn a thing or two. She made a good progress with the computer lessons. She planned to ask her dad to get her a computer so she could continue learning and even teach others in the village. Adina started the piano class but she gave up. She could not put up with the stress. She gave up the first week she enrolled in the class and had refused to continue even though Tasha pressured her to give it a try again. Adina was not really into sports, craft or any of these.