CWRC Anthology

THE BRAVE STUDENT

©2022 by Princess Tito.
Brought to you by Christian Writers and Readers Club.

            Chapter 1

“Jesus Christ! Emmanuel! come back here, mummy must not find you playing ball when you are yet to do your homework when she comes oooo ''''Amanda, leave me alone nah what is your business” was Emmanuel's response. I am so sorry, I did not introduce myself. My name is Amanda Eze, and that naughty boy happens to be my younger brother. We are just two that our parents gave birth to. My father is a businessman, and my mother is a civil servant working at the state Secretariat. I am currently in Junior secondary school 3 in a public school here at Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria.
     My mother who is a Yoruba woman got married to my father who is Igbo, and their union has been quite an enviable one, my parents are not rich but they are what you can call average, we rarely lack anything, while I school at a girls only school called,  Her royalty high school, my younger brother who is in Primary four attends a private nursery and primary school, Cenfex nursery and primary school, he is 6 years old while I am 12 years old.
    As you heard me shouting his name earlier, Emmanuel is in the habit of playing football with the neighbors kids without removing his uniform or doing his assignment, and mother has asked me to make sure he does his assignment whenever we get back from school. Mother comes back from work by 4pm, while father comes very late at night around 9pm due to the nature of his job.
    And forcing Emmanuel to do his homework has been my everyday ordeal, after we must have ate the food mother left inside the cooler for us as soon as we get back, Emmanuel goes about to play football, and I go to do my assignment, which now that I am done, I’m trying to get Emmanuel to help him with his.
    “Emmanuel, please I’m begging you, just come let’s do your assignment, as soon as we’re done, you can go back to play”, “Amanda now! What is your problem? You can do the assignment on my behalf now, stop stressing me”, “Emmanuel, if you don’t come here now, I’ll report you to Daddy when he comes”, “Amanda, please don’t report, oya I’m coming”.
     Yippee! That’s has always been the trick I use on him, and it has always worked, we both fear our father, because he rarely beats us, and he hates one been lazy, and of course he will not only beat Emmanuel but also punish him if he does not do his assignment, which is why I like father so much, unlike mother who will insult me for been able to handle my younger brother to do his assignment, I always get to be blamed for his wrongdoings in the sight of mother, which I see as been unfair, but then I guess that’s what you get as the firstborn of the family. The love I have for my parents knows no bound, because they go extra miles for us.

                   Chapter 2

“Amanda! come and get your lunch parks”  mother called “I am coming ma”. It's time for school, and mummy always drops us off at school before heading to work, while I pick Emmanuel up after school and we head home together. We are both currently having breakfast, which consists of yam and egg with tea. Our house is always full of one directive or the other in the morning, as mummy is trying not to get late to work, and at the same time cook for us before leaving, Daddy who already left home as early as 6:30 in order to beat traffic, Mummy also leave home around that time too, but Daddy do not wait for us, so as not to delay him, which is a good thing that they both have their cars, we might be an average family but we can’t be called poor either because we’re all doing fine.
“Amanda! if I call you one more time, it means you’ll find your way to school ''''I'm sorry mother, Emmanuel, let’s go”. We both entered the car, while mum headed to our different school to drop us off.
  “Bye mother” “Alright dear, remember to pick up Emmanuel after you close” “Yes mom, I know….” “and also remember to…” “I should remember to make sure he eats and does his assignment when we get home, mom! I know all of these instructions ''''Okay dear ''''Bye sister Amanda ''''Bye Emmanuel”.  Yes, you all heard right, Emmanuel only calls me sister when mother is there, because she believes it is disrespectful for him to call me by my name, that boy is so naughty and silly. I bade them goodbyes, since my school is the closest, I’m always the first mother to drop off.
Walking to class alone has been an everyday habit of mine, since I don’t have much friends, as I am what you can call a *nerd and yes you guessed right, I wear glasses, but I only use them while reading, and a lot of people call me names because of it. My school might be a public school, but we compete with other private schools, so trust me there a lot of rich kids in my school, even kids who are half caste, trust me if I did not tell you, and you just saw me in my white and green uniform, you’ll assume I’m attending a private school.
The juniors are at one side of the school, as the compound is quite big, we can say as big as a stadium, although it depends on which of the stadium we are comparing it to. But then aside from having the juniors and senior school at different sides of the school, my school also has a boarding school. A lot of people are day students, except those whose parents rarely have time for them. I hope you can now picture how big my school is.
When students gets to SS1, a lot of parents place them in the boarding house, they believe that will help the child to focus, I don’t think I want to be in the boarding house though, because I heard there are bullies there, and I think I’ve had enough bullies for a lifetime.
“Amanda!”. that can only be the voice of the only friend I have in this school, Funmi, although we are not in the same class, I’m in Jss 3 A, she’s in Jss 3 B.  I turned back to acknowledge her, “panting heavily, “Amanda, where did you put your ears, I’ve been calling you since”. This girl always cracks me up, what does she mean by ears, “I place my ears in my pocket, I’m sorry, I did not hear you”. We both laughed together and headed to class.

                 Chapter 3