TEENAGE YEARS

THE BEGINNING

Titilayo wake up!!!, my mum yelled into my ear, I was in year 6 and I was writing common entrance exams to get admitted into a good high school, I had writing over 10 exams into private highschools and passed extremely well but my parents wanted me to go to a government school. So my dad, my brother and I were traveling to another state today then we’ll lodge into a hotel and I’ll write the exam the next day.

My mum packed our loads and prayed for our safe journey I slept off in the car and we got to Ogun state (we lived in Lagos state) in the evening and ate at the restaurant in the hotel and retired to our beds

The next day around 5:am in the morning my dad rushed my bro and I cause the exam hall was going to be crowded in the morning, we were up to a 1000 students writing the exams. Around 8:am we were all called into the exam hall and we wrote our exams , around 11:30 we were done

The exam was a little bit harder than the ones I had written which was to be expected since it was for a federal government school, I went to meet my bro and dad, I am a shy kid so I didn’t mingle with students but I looked at some faces and saw some gossiping whether my bro wrote the exams too cause he was big , he’s older than me with 3years and 6 months . Gossips

We left for Lagos that day and got there in the evening,my mum prepared a sumptuous meal for us cause we were all tired . My family consist of my dad who’s a lawyer, my mum who’s a nurse in a government hospital, my elder sister named funmilayo, who is older than me with 7 years and a day, she’s in her final year in a government secondary school, my brother named folusho who’s older than me with 3 years and 6 months, he’s in year 9 and me named Titilayo 9 years old and in basic 5/6 about to finish my primary education. My elder cousin lived with us in my house, I called him uncle Deolu cause he’s way older than me about 30 years or so . We weren’t rich and didn’t live in a big home but we were raised comfortably and regarded with respect in my area .

The idea of a boarding was exciting, my sister was in a missionary boarding school and wasn’t at home most times but whenever she came home she always brought goodies for us and whenever she was resuming my mum usually buy her lots of provisions.

My parents had separated earlier this year 2013 and my mum,my bro and I had lived with her brother for 4 months but we came back like 2 months ago so hopefully they would set aside their differences and atleast be friends. During that 4 months my sister graduated from her secondary school and was at home already

September came along and I had received admission from Federal government college odogbolu , Ogun state. My dad sorted out the payments of school bills while my mum bought my provisions and all. When we got to the school gate there were so many new students since it was a mixed school the girls wore a white gown while the boys wore white teeshirts and white knickers. I wore a low heel shoe popularly called koin koin shoe because of the sound it made and white socks with it , my school shoe was to be provided by the school since it was paid for with my books and all

I was assigned to cross house and given a bed space and corner, was given my books and my locker was arranged by seniors for me tho I think someone stole one of my polish. My mum bought lots of provision for me, I had a guardian who kept my pocket money for weekdays and I kept weekends money.

At the assembly hall during registration I saw a guy who was in year 8( I found out later) omgggg he's so fineeee it was crush at first sight for me like he's so fineeeee, he didn't see me tho. In the evening will students went to dining hall, the kitchen followed food timetable and since that day was a Wednesday we lined up for beans, it wasn't nice. When I went to the kitchen to drop my plate. I saw the guy I had a crush on and wown't h I thought this must be destiny

After dinner we all went to our hostels, Jss1 hostel had 8 rooms it was a bungalow with a quad triangle in the middle each house had 2 rooms and we had a matron and a cleaner although each student was later apportioned a duty .

In the night I took my torchlight, a can of milo (chocolates) and a literature text “priceless jewel” and started reading while eating the milk with a spoon, I love reading storybooks or novels, some of my mates were crying about missing their parents but I was already prepared for it so I didn't cry

The next day was a school day and we were woken up by our matron who woke our room heads(2 in year 12 and 1 in year 8) who inn turn woke us up, it was so cold and we all had our baths outside so it would be faster if you were sluggish the matron would pour cold water on you

We were given 2 uniforms by the school, 2 t-shirts and 2 pinafores, 2 house wears and 1 white gown, we were allowed to sew more ourselves, classes were uneventful as we didn't know each other well, I was in class B and we had 9 classes in my set, as time went on I got used to the school

My room head, senior truth was my first school mother and she was kind to me, I'm very thing and all my pantyhose couldn't fit, whenever I wore them they always came down so in class when no one's looking I always removed them and kept them in my bag I could care less

The visiting day came and my parents and brother came visiting, my brother attended a private school in Lagos, they came with lots of food and provisions then dropped a shocking news my brother was changing to my school