chapter 2

Sadik and his fellow passengers journeyed for almost 8 hours before arriving at Abuja. He was so amazed by the tall buildings in the city, the beautifully decorated roads with flowers surrounding them and with the street light at almost every corner of the city. They got to a point where the rest of the passengers will be stopping and they all got down from the car leaving only Sadik. "How about you, where shall I drop you?" the driver inquired. "You should drop me at Royal Secondary School" Sadik answered."Royal secondary school? How did you manage to get an admission there? Can you afford to pay for the school fees there?" The driver asked with astonishment."No I can't. Actually, I won a scholarship to study there" Sadik answered."Oh I offer you my congratulations" the driver said. "Thank you sir" Sadik replied.

Sadik was taken to Royal secondary school. When they got there, he found the school to be beyond what he had ever expected. The school has many tall building with beautiful paintings. It has beautiful trees with lights giving out pretty colors around them. Sadik had seen a lot of beautiful schools in movies, but none can be compared to this. Royal secondary school is one of the prestigious schools in the country, with schools fees of over 1.5 million Naira paid annually.

When they got to the gate of the school, they were stopped by the security men at the gate."Where are you going to?" Asked one of the security men. "I am taking this boy for registration. He recently got an admission here" replied the driver pointing at Sadik."Can you please show us your admission letter?" The security man requested. Sadik opened an envelope in his hand and took out his admission letter and showed it to the security man and he opened the gate for them. They entered into the school at about 3 pm when class hours were over. Sadik was so confused when he noticed that the students were dressed in uniforms of different colors. Some of them were dressed in yellow, some in green, some in blue and others were dressed in red."Why are they wearing different uniforms" Sadik confusingly questioned in his mind.

As they headed towards the administration block, they passed some students sitting in a beautiful garden covered in flowers."Who is this new comer?" The students kept asking themselves. The driver helped Sadik to bring down his metal box when they got to the front administration building and all the students were staring at them."Did someone die in this school or has this school become a cemetery?" asked one of the students."Why are asking a question like this?" Another student inquired."I thought this guy has just brought us a coffin" the first student replied and all the students started laughing.

The driver took his leave, while Sadik took an envelope with all his admission requirements and was about to enter the administration building when he saw three girls dressed in red, green and yellow coming out of the building. He inadvertently made an eye contact with the girl in the middle wearing green, and out of fear, he quickly looked away. His heart was beating fast as if saw something scary. The girls were walking majestically and a very strong perfume was coming from them. Sadik was so taken so aback for he never knew girls like that exist in the whole country even though he was inexperienced when it comes to girls.

He entered the office of the vice principal holding the envelope in his hands."Good afternoon sir" Sadik greeted the vice principal."Good afternoon, how are you?" The vice principal answered. "I am fine sir" Sadik replied."How may I be of help to you?" The vice principal inquired. "I am here for registration sir" Sadik retorted."This is the fourth week of resumption, where have you been all this while?" The vice principal questioned looking furious."I'm sorry sir. I got a scholarship to study in this school, the news came to me very late sir and I am very far from here" Sadik pleaded."Oh the principal has told me about you, you must be that boy from Mazaga"the vice principal recalled with a smile on his face. "Yes sir, I am" Sadik replied."Our principal is away for a very special occasion, but we will give you all that you need" the vice principal guaranteed. "Please have a sit" the vice principal added, and Sadik sat on a chair opposite to him.

The vice principal called for the boarding house master Mr. Waba. He is a very tall man, with round and bold eyes. Mr. Waba is a man with a very strict personality, for that reason, almost all the students feared him. The boarding house master came into the office of the vice principal."This is the special student was telling you about days ago, take him to your office and give him all the necessary things he requires" the vice principal instructed."You should also allocate him to any house he desires among the four houses we have in this house" he continued."Okay sir" Mr. Waba responded."What class is he?" Mr. Waba inquired."Oh he is yet to be given a class, but he is going to be in ss2 anyway" responded the vice principal."You should come tomorrow after your breakfast so that I will allocate a class to you" he added."Okay sir" Sadik accepted.

Mr. waba and Sadik left the office of the vice principal and headed to the office of the boarding house master."I left my box outside sir" Sadik mentioned."A box? Don't you know that you are not supposed to come with any item? The school will provide everything you need for your survival here" Mr. Waba announced."I was not aware sir" Sadik replied."Well, we have no other choice than to confiscate it because that's the rule" Mr. waba rejected. When they entered the office of Mr. Waba, he asked him to sit on a chair opposite to him." We abide by the rules here, and so must you. I don't want here any bad doing from you in the future. On any occasion I find you disobeying the rules and regulations of the boarding house, you will be kicked out of the school. Do you understand me?" Mr. Waba warned."Yes I do sir" Sadik answered."We have four houses in the hostel for both sexes. And house members are expected dressed in the uniform that matches the color of their house after class hours. It is against the law to wear another house's uniform" Mr. Waba admonished."And also, on no occasion should you be found close to the girls' hostels, because it is strictly forbidden", he added. "We have the King house with blue color, the Queen house with green color, the Prince house with red color and the Princess house with yellow color. So which house are you going to choose?" Mr. Waba offered. Sadik was wondering which house to choose, and then he suddenly remembered one of the three girls he saw earlier. The middle girl among them was thin, short with a fair skin. And the girl wore green color uniform."I choose green" Sadik quickly uttered without hesitation."Oh that must be Queen House" Mr. Waba said."If that's what you want, then so shall it be" he continued.

Mr. Waba gave Sadik two sets of the school uniform (2 black trousers 2 white shirts and 2 black ties), two sets of his house uniform (2 green shirts and two navy blue trousers), two pairs black shoes and two pairs of silpers. He entered a store in his office and brought out a new mattress for Sadik. He sent for the Queen House captain to come. His name is Anas. He was one of the best students in the set of the final year students. Anas arrived at Mr. Waba's office ten minutes after he was called."Good afternoon sir" Anas greeted."What took you so long?" Mr. Waba complained."We were in the chemistry lab, the teacher did not release us early" Anas responded."Okay you should take this boy to your the hostel, he is a new member of your house" Mr. Waba declared. Anas glared at Sadik with a surprise on his face."I said take this boy to your house" Mr. Waba repeated."Okay sir" Anas replied.

"Let's get your things outside so that the pickup truck can take it to the hostel" Anas said to Sadik. Anas helped Sadik in taking out all the new items given to him by the boarding house master to the front of the administration block. The school pickup truck came and took Anas and Sadik to Queen House in the boys' hostel with Sadik's new items. When they arrived at the hostel, Sadik could not believe that this was where he was going to be staying because the hostel was even better than the best house in his village. The hostel is three floored building painted in green with a tall fence surrounding it. It has 60 rooms and each room was occupied by 3 students. The truck stopped in the front of the hostel, Anas helped Sadik bringing down all his properties from the truck.

"Come on let me take you to your room" said Anas. Sadik was behind Anas when they came across some final year students standing beside the gate of the hostel."Hey, will you please come here" said one of the final year students. Sadik moved to where they were and stood before them."Were you the boy that came with a metal box earlier" the final year student asked."Yes I am" Sadik replied and they all started laughing at him. "Do you think we are at the cemetery here?" said another boy. Sadik stood there feeling so abashed without uttering a single word. "Will you please leave him alone?" Anas defended him."Come on Sadik, let's go" he added and pulled Sadik along .

Anas took sadik to the 8th room of the second floor, the room was occupied by David a final year student and Peter who was in Jss2."You are going to stay here" Anas declared."Each room is occupied by three students and there are two people in this room" he added. Sadik and Anas entered the room and found David listening to music on a mobile phone, even though the students were strictly forbidden to come with one. The room was very clean with three beds arranged side by side, a very soft carpet, an air conditioner and a refrigerator located at the corner of the room. "I thought this is the village boy that came earlier?" David asked with an aggressive face."It is to your knowledge that all the rooms of this house are occupied, I have no option than to bring him here" Anas insisted."Then you should tell him that I don't want him to put his hands on any of my things" David said."Don't take him seriously" Anas said trying to pacify Sadik with a smile on his face. Anas helped Sadik to put his items in a locker and he gave him the keys to the locker."Let me go and get something for you to eat, I know you are exhausted and hungry "Anas suggested."Okay, I will be grateful" Sadik answered. Anas left Sadik and David in the room. After he left, Sadik sat down on his bed and wondered why the boys at the gate embarrassed him."What have I done to them that made them to make fun of me like that" Sadik thought.

"Hey you, what's your name?" David questioned Sadik."My name is Sadik" he replied." So how did you manage to get an admission into this school, I thought I heard you are from the village" David said. Sadik remained silent without knowing what to say to David. About ten minutes later, Anas arrived with food from the school kitchen. It was a fried chicken with fried rice."This is the only thing left in the kitchen, I hope you can manage it" Anas reported. Sadik glared at Anas with amazement because as far as he could recall, he had never eaten what he was seeing."Isn't this the remaining of breakfast?" David laughed."What if it is?" Anas responded."Oh I forgot that he's from the village. If not, who will eat something that has stayed that long" David mockingly said. Anas ignored him and gave Sadik the food."After you are done eating, you should take a rest and I will come later and tell you what to do" Anas guided.