Exam Day

There was no way it was going to be below a C. The following week, I had two more papers, one of which was on robotics. After that, I was going to take a full week off before writing my final paper. My third paper was due the following week on Tuesday.

The next one, Robotics, was scheduled for the following day, Thursday. I returned to Grace Lodge after the Tuesday paper to rest and prepare for Robotics.

Since Rita was not in the room, I helped myself in and collected the key from under the foot mat, where she had kept it since I began staying with her. I took a few minutes to relax. I'm only missing two papers and my project. Everything was going on well.

I needed to finish my Robotics final revision, but that can wait until tomorrow. I needed to sleep so that I could go through the answers on the stolen question paper again. Then it dawned on me! At palmville, I hid the question and its answers under my bed. Oh my gosh!!! I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about that! I needed to get down there as soon as possible. I rushed down to Palmville, but Samuel was not there, so I unlocked the door and walked in. I went straight to the foam on the floor, lifted it up, and...the question paper and its answers had vanished!!!

I was shocked! The answers were still fresh in my mind, not because I couldn't answer the exam questions. Without a doubt, Odili was with the papers. What was bothering me was who else he might show it to. I'm not sure what will happen to me if those papers end up in the wrong hands.

I tried calling Samuel's number, but it was disconnected. He's got to be in the exam room. I waited a while, then called again, but no one was available. Odili's phone number was not in my phone! What was I supposed to do? - There was nothing left for me to do but wait until Samuel returned.

"Where is your cousin?" I frantically inquired. "Is there anything wrong?" he questioned. He must have noticed my expressions. "No, but where is he?" i asked. He returned to his hometown. He stated that he would "come to the examination from his home."

Damn! I got his phone number from Samuel and dialed it; it was disconnected! How was he able to pull this off? What was his strategy? Is he going to try to sell it to other students? Is it possible that he has friends who failed the course and would like to assist them? I should have heard about it from my department's friends if he was selling it. In my department, I was well-connected and part of the elite circle.

At the department, nothing gets past us. So, where is he now, and what are his intentions? I was agitated. Samuel took notice and inquired as to whether I was looking for my money. I told him no, but that his cousin had taken some lecture notes for the Robotics class, and I needed to go over them with them. "Do you know how else I can contact him?" "Are any of his classmates still at this school?" "I'm not sure." Samuel was empathetic to my plight. I was completely disturbed. I tried the number again and again, but it was still unreachable.

I arrived early for the Robotics exam. I left for school at 9 a.m., despite the fact that the paper was due at 11:30 a.m. I was hoping to see Odili, or at the very least, get the most up-to-date information in case something went wrong. Everything worked out fine. Odili was nowhere to be found when the examination began.

I held off on entering the hall to see if I could locate him. He was nowhere to be found. I walked down the corridor. As the answer sheet was shared, I was still nervous and kept staring around. He was not present. I began the exam after receiving the question paper.

The questions were identical to the ones I had taken. There were no changes at all. So I got down to business. I was overhearing a conversation between a lecturer and a student at the hall entrance ten minutes later. "It's been ten minutes since the paper began, and you're here now, so I guess you're a carry-over student."

"Sir, I'm coming from home; traffic has caused me to be late." Odili's voice was heard! The lecturer was ordering the school security operative to search Odili before he entered. I had my ears, eyes, and mouth all pricked up. I remained there with my mouth open, watching as they searched him before allowing him in. I sat there and watched him as he was ushered into a seat and handed the papers.

Dear Lord, I hope he studied the answers as thoroughly as I did and did not bring it into the hall! I assumed everything was fine because he was busy writing. I continued writing while ignoring him. We'd been writing for another 30 minutes or so when I overheard a lecturer cautioning a few students.

When I looked up, he was addressing some students seated beside Odili with his statement. I took some time to observe what was going on as the lecturer moved on. Odili had the sheet of paper on which I had written the answers! Damn! Those around him had noticed it and were calling out to him for assistance. Every single person's gaze was drawn to him.

It was only a matter of time before the lecturers realized something was wrong. The hushed sounds became increasingly louder. Sounds like psssssss I,  my guy.... heeeysss.......and different kinds of sounds just to draw his attention. i said a simple prayer while closing my eyes!

"Please, God, don't let these professors catch him." Either god was playing a game of ludo with his angels, or he was punishing me for having s'e'x in his house.

While he was busy scribbling answers on his sheet, a lecturer approached him from behind and took his answer sheet. The paper I used to solve the problems was layered between the pages of those answer sheets.