HIGH SCHOOL

I was so excited to be in high school with my past friends, at least no one bully me but at the same time I was worried about high school content. It was a bright summer morning, a busy morning and my first day in high school.

I hated that school, but the blue uniform looked really good on me.

Students were calling out their friends, some ambled from the gates to the school lawn, cars hooting, and it was chaotic. My school had a huge yard with basketball court and a soccer ground by the two opposite gates, a hall just past the grounds then junior block, it was a beautiful school, paved and with chaired green lawn.

I made my way to my friends then together we went to check out the classrooms but just before we could reach them the alarm went off and we had to go to the assembly where announcements were to be made.

"I am Charles, the headmaster. Welcome to our newcomers, as look around I see that most of you are still wearing your mid school uniform, so please, try to also get our uniform so that we all look the part".

He led the prayer and dispersed the assembly. Being the first day after summer holiday there were no classes held and we kept going around the school. As I was searching for my friends around the A block, I was called by a girl who used to attend the same school with my cousin who was three years younger than I was. She and her mom knew me as Phalo (mom's maiden), I didn't recall her nor her mother, then she introduced herself as Liz.

She was glad to see we were in the same school and as we were talking, a boy spoke up.

"Hey, how are you"?

"I'm fine, how about you?"

"I am also fine, I'm Danny, can we be friends? Anyways you look familiar, are you by any chance Patricia's sister"?

I explained to him that Patricia and I were only cousins and that I didn't mind us being friends. He asked me to join him so we can both share the snacks, but I was quite reluctant because I had just met him. Eventually I gave in. I forgot about my friends and mingled with some seniors.

Danny was a basketball player and a singer; his brother was among popular students in the school and this sort of made him kind of popular too and of cause his good looks also made him to gain some points. We had a chemistry and build such a unique friendship but there will always be haters when it comes to such friendship we had. He misunderstood me and thought I had a crush a thing going on with his friend who had a crush on me, so he dated my friend Rummy and we gradually slipped away from each other .All this occurred at the time we started settling in school and that was when I started getting close to Mo, it's true when they say that there is no such thing as a bad thing, a broken relationship led to a new one, a better and improved one.

Before that week I used to share a desk with my best friend Poppy, but we had to swap and I was moved to the back, by the corner. On my left was the class rep and his best friend then Mo and some girl. Most of the boys came from same middle school and lived in the same hostel.

Mo was tall, skinny and light in complexion, he hardly laughed; always giving short, crocked smile but he was surprisingly cute. He would put on his school bag on one side of his shoulders. We gradually became close through a friend and of his who liked to visit me in my seat, he too dated one of my friends.

Mo was dating one of the school geniuses in grade 8 and apparently, they had started dating long before high school.

I seemed to attract boyfriends that were in relationships!

I was only an average student, and unlike his girlfriend I was short and not popular, so I dismissed any thought of us dating but I still had a crush on him. During mid-March I joined a dancing group called the Matrix where I was introduced to hip-hop dance, I was so felicitous to be part of it.

'Finally, I will be doing something I love'.

I grew up listening to hip-hop and RnB and that made me to be obsessed with music and dance. I loved basketball but I was not confident enough join the club, so I picked the spelling bee instead. As time went by, I was made to drop out of matrix because my grandmother told mom that I no longer did house chores and that I got home late. It really got to me because that was not true, the practice took place only on Friday between two and four o'clock. I wasn't even slacking in my schoolwork.

I made peace with it but every time she would remind me that my dad had left me, or even compare me to some terrible characters on television dramas, probably saying that I probably am going to turn out like them. All that really rubbed me in the wrong way and time and time again, I would miss my father so bad.

Mo and I grew closer than before, we shared so much, he became such a good friend meanwhile my girlfriends slipped away from me. He and his girlfriend broke up and he started messing with girls in school. I knew then at that very moment that I will only remain his friend, our love story ended before it could even begin. Despite all that, he was still an excellent friend who laughed a lot in my presence, and we would tease each other.

Had I known that he was transferring to another school the following grade I would have told him how I felt, perhaps deep down he was feeling the same way.

After summer break he was nowhere to be seen. For over three years I was yet again left empty and slightly disappointed, but I had fun at school, with talents shows and other events that were held at school.