Had a score of 520... Weeks abi months later after going for an interview, I got admitted into Kings' College..merit list number 42
Resumption was slated to October 4th, I was happy to be leaving home! Maybe it was the tins of Milo,the sardines, cornflakes, biscuits and whatnot that seem to keep my mind at rest
My mum was in tears, I was all smiley in my immaculate white pair with H.O.T written boldly in permanent black marker.
Barely 20 minutes after they had left,
I was on the field about to join in a football game I knew nothing about, only to be told that specific people had been picked and it wasn't a free for all.
Strolling across the field of play(it was a riot out here, different classes had taken different parts of the big pitch, so you had like 3matches going on)..so strolling across, i obstructed a shot prolly destined for goal...next thing I heard was some person shouting at me 'are you a basket?' huh? Basket? Before I crossed safely to my hostel: Hyde Johnson's House, I had heard people call themselves 'Bastard' repeatedly. I was in awe!!! Bastard was a deep dreaded word back in primary school. Oh well
Hostel.
I'm hearing shouts of 'a boy, last boy'... Which one be that one again? And suddenly, running footsteps would accompany the silence.
Busayo Shokoya was my bunk mate and a sorta makeshift school father, rather calm guy who explained somethings/slangs to me (all our slangs had 'o' at the end e.g stabo, fapo, clearo, jacko, chesto, yamo , yarning o etc). The other bunk to my right was another Jss1 student Tunji Salami; we were inseparably for the coming weeks, dude always bought me fanyogo and buns everybreak during our orientation.
They called the spaces you had after arranging your bunk apartments..also sharing Busayo's apartment was this rather funny dude: Olumide Shitta; an enkarka worshipper
Underneath Tunji was another dude Olakanmi who looking back was attimes eccentric and got annoyed easily.My new family.
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| View of my hostel from the field |
Living in my hostel which was built in the 1900s definitely spurred my love for architecture from that era till the 70s.
Weeks in, fearsome tales about the mermaid and elephant on our badge had filtered to us and the coin in the PKC's(principal Kings college) office that must not be dropped.
One afternoon, during my week of grace(seniors gave Js1 student allowment of a week or two before involving you in dorm work and errands) I came to the hostel to meet other junior students;my immediate seniors mounting on lockers and were sitting on invisible seats with arms stretched out. We called this punishment 'construction'. It had different variants: mount and construct' or just construct.
By the end of the week of grace, I was no longer actually friends with Tunji who had started to turn out a wretch(what we called students whom were utterly dirty)..not like i was far better, but Busayo and Olumide wouldn't have it so I was on a good path.
Fast forward to end of our week of grace, I was labelled arrogant, given dorm work and the competitive running and pushing whenever you heard 'a boy, last boy'/the mounting and constructions began.
Weeks later, there I stood at the door to my class...my dull white shirt and trousers reminiscent of their glory days hung on my lean frame and no belt to hold my trousers and my cutlery jingling in my pocket. My provision had either been obtained or stolen.
This was only the beginning.
I remember Paul Ogadi, Ogaga Umbi, Ugo Obikili, Yisa Kabiru, Uche 'poposky', Hamzat Mcfoy, Seyi Odubote, Mathelo Myada, Somi Oshodi, Theophilous Tikpa, Gerald, Chukwuka Obichukwu, Sola Ogunyemi
Not forgetting King Bala
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