First day in class

"Alright, sir" the corners of Uche's eyes crinkled. He loves economics and teaching. As a good storyteller and one that has a different way of looking at things. He loves being around people he will inspire with those stories and what audience could be better than young boys and girls.

"Hope you have no plans to redeploy?"

"No sir, I love it here already" Uche lied. The place was killing him, messing with his mind, driving him crazy. Something or someone is coming to have sex with him at night. People are hearing the cries of babies at night. Ada had joined Nosa to say she heard the cry some nights back. How could he explain all that to the principal without sounding insane?

His wrinkled lips formed into a proud grin. "Hope you guys are enjoying your stay?"

This is your opportunity, tell him your problem; his mind whispered. No, he will think me crazy; he told himself. "We are fine sir, just that there is no water in the school"

"That will change, the water in the school is been worked on as I am talking to you"

"Thank you, sir" Uche stood up and left the office quietly. Outside, he was greeted by Nosa and OBJ.

"How was it?" Nosa asked curiously.

"Not bad, we spoke about the Biafra war and Nnamdi Kalu"

"When I was inside, all he spoke about was Obasanjo and the role he played in shaping this country to that of disarray and corruption"

"So what will both of us talk about?" Nosa asked.

Uche glanced up in thought for a short while, then said "Maybe, the both of you will talk about the witches in Edo state…" They had a pearl of laughter.

"You be an idiot I swear." Nosa gave him a hard punch on his left shoulder. "Abeg, make I go answer my papa name" he went into the office while Uche and OBJ took the stairs up to meet their new students.

"Uche, have you seen the new corper that reported today?"

"A male or female?"

"Why the fuck will I be talking about a male?" a stare of surprise present on his face. "A really fine-fair bae has joined us. She will be coming to join some days from now. You need to see the backside of this chick"

"Really? More beautiful than Omo?"

OBJ laughed softly, "Is Omo beautiful?"

"Ok, I get your point. See you later" They shook hands.

*

The walls were bare and covered in funny nicknames written in white. Unsubdued light of morning filtered in through the large windows to create squares patterns of yellow on the desks that were arranged in rows. A cloud of dust covered blackboard hung on the wall in front. The floor was broken with holes all over as a result of overuse.

Behind, a gang of troublesome teenagers taking the advantage of not being under surveillance by a teacher, tied the school jacket around their waist in rebellion. They brought out their prohibited mobile phones and the sound of camera shutters clicking against each other filled the room, as they ridiculously posed for the picture using unrecognized facial expressions and purr lips.

Another set of youngsters were blaring ear-splitting music while drumming powerfully on the unstable desks, producing deafening cacophony that could be heard throughout the entire school. Paper aeroplanes were manufactured with great precision at one end of the classroom and thrown to the other end hitting several annoyed children who in return air back foul words in their native language.

In front, a set of studious youngsters had their heads buried in open books filling their minds with facts and figures. Isn't that what our educational system is all about? To fill our minds with facts we can google instead of teaching us how to think, question facts, experiment and explore.

Uche walked in and suddenly silence descended on the whole classroom. For about ten seconds, no one moved or spoke. They stared at him with surprise and suspicion in their eyes. One of the serious students in front stood up and shouted.

"Class greet!"

"Gooood morning sir!" they stood up and greeted in uniform. But, not the troublesome students behind, they continued with their pictures, ignoring the rest of the class.

"Morning… please, sir down" Uche responded while taking a slow walk behind. Without the knowledge of the one backing the class and taking the pictures, he snatched the phone from him.

"Sir, the phone is not my own oh" the owner went after him.

"If your hand touches me, I will smash this phone against the floor" he yelled out in raging anger. Fearing for his phone, the youngster allowed him to peacefully walk back.

Back in front, he asked the whole class to come together and they took a selfie with him. Satisfied with the number of pictures, he called out the owner, gave him back the phone with his own. Instructing him to send the pictures to him. They all watched stunned and confused.

"My name is corper Uche. I'm a graduate of Educational Economics from UNIBEN. For the next eleven months, I will be teaching your guys Economics. For this short period, we can either be friends or foes. It is really up to you. Any question?" No one moved or spoke.

"Alright then, have a nice day…"