Peace the Savage

Chapter 3: The Public Speaking Club

PEACE FOUND HIS WAY to the classroom which the literature teacher had directed him to. He was not sure about the idea though- his friends had pushed him to go saying he would be fine.

"Arts students doing literature or something like that are the ones supposed to do public speaking," he had told them but they had insisted. Besides, he had had no choice. It was either public speaking or drama, music or traditional dance. There was no way he was going to drama, not mention traditional dance. Anyways, he was not bad at public speaking, debate and quiz. In-fact, when he was doing his ‘O'level, he had been a Junior Member of Parliament and was one of the greatest to ever been appointed for the post in his ward. And he was also a two-time Public Speaking champion. But there was no way he would go back in that game. Not again. He was just going to be a spectator.

Peace saw the post sign which read 'PUBLIC SPEAKING' at the door post of the junior Agriculture classroom and walked slowly towards it, scanning the place intently.

All his friends had gone to the Drama department and club. They weren't good actors but they wanted to give it a try though. He would be the only Sciences student among more Arts students and a little less Commercials student. He despised the Arts students. They were so talkative and loud it annoyed Peace. And because Peace would be on his own, it was going to be uncomfortable. But he had no choice. This was his last chance to enjoy high school, and also because he would never go to the traditional dance club. It scared him though the girls would be looking good.

At the door he waited for a moment trying to listen for voices from inside but could hear none. He opened the door and entered the room. It was empty but the chairs and desks were arranged in a neat manner, an arc, and a single desk and three chairs at the front. He looked around the room and memories flashed in his mind. Two years back he had stood in front of chairs like these- well, the difference now was that the chairs had been too many and were filled with people, and the room was a lot larger than this one. He'd been great then, he knew it himself, with a lot of confidence than he had now. Always a bit nervous though at the start of a speech, but once he had gotten the rhythm, everything would just flow on its own. Two years back. That was a thing of the past.

Peace moved to the wall opposite the door and stood reading from a chart that had been put on the wall. It was all about self-confidence, self-esteem and he laughed when he read something about peer education. He remembered that time when he had gone to a workshop. He was a Peer Educator then and they had been taught silly things they already knew about.

Suddenly the door opened interrupting his thoughts. He turned towards it as a girl stepped in. She gasped and stopped at the door as their eyes danced together for a moment.

"I thought this was where Public Speaking was taking place?" She said with raised eyebrows.

"It is," Peace said shortly and turned back to the chart he was reading.

The girl got in and scanned the room then as if satisfied, she walked to a chair at the second row and sat down. She looked at Peace with a puzzled look as if she wanted to say something and then decided against it.

Peace never brought his eyes from the chart he was reading. He seemed drawn to it and only moved when the door burst open and the other learners got in almost at the same time along with three teachers behind them. Peace moved away from the wall and found a chair near the wall in the second row. Everyone settled down into their seats and waited as the teachers took their own. The ‘A’level literature teacher remained standing.

The ‘A’level literature teacher introduced himself as Mr Mushayi. There was a Mr Lameck, the ‘O'level English language teacher, and a Ms Jones, the ‘O'level English Literature teacher. The students introduced themselves. Peace only heard three names, Coleen, Shelter and Joseph. All from the ‘A'level Commercial class. Peace was the last one to introduce himself.

The orientation began as soon as the introductions were over, where Mr Lameck taught them about the basics which, Peace was convinced, everyone already knew about. The learners were going to participate in four categories, Public Speaking, Debate, Quiz and Impromptu Speech. After the orientation, there was impromptu speech. Ms Jones had written some topics on pieces of paper which the learners were made to pick up a paper at random from a hat and then give a short speech on the topic or word on the paper he or she would have picked, for two minutes."

All the time Ms Jones was giving the instructions, Peace was busy admiring her looks. She was a beauty, Peace realised. She had a nice, round face with some dimples on her cheeks. She can't be more than twenty-five, Peace thought.

Peace did not participate when everyone was made to pick a paper and make a speech on the topic. Noone seemed to mind except one person, the guy who had introduced himself as Joseph. He muttered some words though Peace ignored him.

AFTER PUBLIC SPEAKING the students filed out of the room. Peace looked at the female teacher and he thought for the second time that she was really fine. Peace went out of the room, stood at the veranda with his hands on his waist, shielding his eyes from the bright light. It was a hot afternoon, no clouds, no hint of a cool breeze and the sun glared down at the earth in its wrath. He looked around and saw school students everywhere, spotted two or three new good-looking girls. Regardless of what Mitchell had told him, he could never stop appreciating God's creatures. But like he had promised her, he would try.

Other students were still at their respective clubs. Peace looked at the Drama Club base room and saw that everyone was still in there. There was noise coming from that direction and people were at the windows peering inside. He knew that even if he wanted to go and look for his friends, he would never find them so he decided to go back to his classroom. Too bad it was occupied.

He found his way to the rear of the classroom where there was a very cool tree shadow and sat on a chair facing a forest on the Eastern side of the school.

Lately he had met this guy who introduced himself as Peter online who had offered him a job in online advertising. Peace initially had gained recognition through social media by creating and sharing compelling content about fashion and lifestyle. His keen eye for style and engaging posts caught the attention of a local community page owned by a Mr. Brian Moyo’s business associate. Recognizing Peaces talent in digital marketing, the associate approached him to help promote the clothing brand online.

Today after school they were going to meet and discuss. Peter would then teach him how to go about the business: create an account and so forth.

Peace smiled to himself. That would mean change. That was the kind of change he wanted not Mitchell's kind of change. He smiled at himself again as he thought about it. Mitchell was crazy. Settle for one girl? Peace thought. Not dating anyone was an easier task than having one girl.

He lifted his eyes and looked at the forest in front of him. It was not a thick forest as such, but it was creepy enough to scare a grown-up person. He heard footsteps and turned his head to look behind him. There, coming straight towards him was the first girl he had met at the Public Speaking club.

Peace didn't take more than three seconds looking at her. He turned his gaze back to the forest.

The girl approached him and stood at his side.

"Hey," she said.

Peace took a moment to look up at her, his face expressionless.

"Hello," he said sternly.

The girl seemed timid and nervous. Peace waited.

"Uhm, you dropped this", she said after a moment's hesitation. She was holding some black araimo earphones in the palm of her right hand. Peace looked at the hand for a second. Yes, the earphones looked like his own. He searched his pockets for them and found nothing. He must have dropped them when he got out of the P.S. base room.

Peace took the earphones from the small hand, making sure there was no contact. He looked away back to the forest. “Thanks,” he said softly. How had he dropped the earphones and not notice it? Why was he so preoccupied today?

The girl looked puzzled but she walked away without a word, looking back at Peace a couple of times only to find him in one position, both times, not bothering to look at her.

Peace wondered why he was so preoccupied like that today. Then he remembered. He had called Grace, one of his girlfriends, whom he had last seen six days ago. That was why he was preoccupied. He was nervous and worried too. He was never nervous when it came to girls, but today was different.