HER WET PILLOW

MY NEW SCHOOL

CHAPTER 3
MY NEW SCHOOL
You wouldn’t believe what I saw; I had blood on my skirt. I was shocked and I didn’t even know what to do about it. It was actually my first time menstruating. My mom had already informed me about what it actually meant and how to face such situation but I haven’t experienced such before. “This is not cool. Why today of all days?” I said to myself. I was terrified and didn’t even know what to do. Was it the crowd that was watching, or the students pointing at me or me standing helplessly with blood stains in the middle of the school? What an embarrassment that was! I didn’t even know what to do. I just squatted and bent my head, tears then started to roll down my eyes. Must bad things always happen to me? Would I ever be happy? What a shame! I stood there and different thought passed through my mind. “Ya Allah! Save your humble servant from this horrible situation.” My heart continued to pray and pray as I didn’t knew what to actually do. Then….
Then, someone actually held my hand and rose me up, she then covered me with her leather jacket and took me in. Who was that angel? Who is she? Is she a teacher or a student? You will know soon. She took out some tissue paper from her bag and wiped my face with it.
“Don’ worry, everything will be alright.” She said and smiled at me. She then held me and took me to the school toilet, took her bag and pulled out a pad. She then handed it over to me and left. She got some detergent from the cleaners and came back. By the time she came back, I was done. She then gave me the detergent to wash out the stains. After that, we both left the toilet.
I was silent and watched her as she smiled and finally, I got the courage to talk to her.
“Thank you so much for the help; I sincerely appreciate your kind gestures.”
“You are welcome, I am glad I helped. By the way, my name is Fatima Ahmad. I am also new”
“I am Amina Muhammad. Thanks for the great help; you saved me today. I don’t even know what I would have done. I was terrified and freaked out. This is my first time actually.”
“Nice name. I now know the cause of your confusion; it is your first time. But you must have heard about this before.”
“Yes I have, my mom informed me. But I don’t know why, I became confused and then you came.”
“I was walking down the gate when I saw people’s attention focused on a particular area. I decided to check and find out what was really happening. Then I found you bending helplessly. I was so surprised that people were staring because they were supposed to help instead of turning the pitiful scene into a movie. But you shouldn’t expect things from people because all you will get is disappointment. I have seen a lot of scenes like that. Since we can’t change the world, we can at least give our little contribution because nothing is too small and that is what I just did. So don’t keep thanking me, the only thing you can do is to extend the goodness. Hope you aren’t feeling pain?”
“I felt a very sharp pain earlier but it’s now gone. Thanks for the care, you are truly amazing dear.”
“I said you should thank me and for calling me amazing, I will take that as a complement.”
“Let’s go quickly so we don’t miss our first assembly.”
“Ok, let’s go.” She said and we hurried.
Before you knew it, we were in the assembly hall. Our legs were as fast as possible; we didn’t want to miss something that important. The school had lot of students but it wasn’t populated that much as it was a very wonderful and amazing school that only few people are privileged. The boys were in a separate part and so were the girls. The seniors were at the back and the newly admitted juniors were in the front. We weren’t opportune to stay in the front as we went there late. As we went in, all eyes were on us. I was so nervous but Fatima held my hand and dragged me in. It was like I was the centre of discussion in the hall because everyone looked at me. It wasn’t easy for me at first because I was nervous. When you look at me, you will see my eyes committing suicide out of shame.
The teachers were sitting in front of the gathering. Then, a man stood up to address us all. He was in a black suit and trousers with a red neck tie. He was actually good looking and he was in his late 30s.
“Good morning students.”
“Good morning sir”
“You are all welcome to Bright Brain Academy; the place where geniuses are made. I want to congratulate you all for making it. Congratulations!”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I want to use this medium to tell you that you are very lucky but you won’t understand what I mean by that until you spend little time with us. Your seniors understand what I mean by that. To the seniors, welcome back for another year of hard work and struggle towards achieving the best you can. As you all know, no one is inferior and all of you are equal. The school is what unites you and your performance is what defines you. Don’t forget, it’s not about how excellent you perform but how well you absorb what you were taught and how wonderfully you make use of it. So welcome back and move to your various classes for your class assemblies as gentle as possible.” The seniors moved out gently without any form of distraction for their class assemblies. I was very happy with what I heard from the teacher in front of me and I was also proud of myself for making it to a wonderful school. The assembly hall was very large and beautifully painted with the school’s color; blue and white. I was marveled by their level of organization and coordination. “Finally, I am working towards success.” I said to myself. Only my eyes could express how excited I was.  There were lot of differences between my new school and my former school. The students are organized, the teachers are well-dressed, they speak correct English, and there is orderliness and coordination unlike my former school where everything was opposite.
When I looked at my right, it seemed like it wasn’t only me that was excited; Fatima too was. She was holding her hands tightly and the beautiful smile and her bright face explained what she felt. It was like I was with the right person at the right time. Back to the teacher;
“Hello lovely ladies and gentle men! or should I say children?” Everyone busted into laughter.
“You are all welcome once again to this wonderful citadel of learning.”
“Thank you sir.” We all said.
“It gladdens my heart to see wonderful kids like you who are destined to progress and make an impact in our society. As you all know, our society, our community, our culture and beliefs had different view on western education. But now, things have changed and schools like ours have been built to help promote learning and give standard education. To inform and educate people on the benefits of having wonderful and well-informed youths as the leaders of tomorrow. As it’s commonly said: “Children are the leaders of tomorrow.” We all believe in that and that is why we are working towards having a better tomorrow. I am seeing doctors, lawyers, architects, bankers, accountants and others amongst you. Giving you all the best education is our utmost priority. Sit and enjoy the little orientation. By the way, I am Ahmad Bello; the dean of studies. Let me call upon the vice principal, Mr Godwin Jackson to give you a little lecture on how and why to progress as a student. Applaud to him as he rise.” All of us applauded.
Oh! I didn’t mention, my school was a mixed school. Both Muslims and Christians attended. The males dressed the same way wearing blue suit and trousers with white shirt, blue bow tie for the juniors and simple neck tie for the seniors. The Muslim girls rolled their white hijab around their heads on top of their suits alongside their tie. The juniors used white hijabs and the senior used blue hijabs. The Christians dress as the boys but they wear skirts instead of trousers. Ties and hijabs were the difference between the juniors and the seniors.
“Good morning, students.”
“Good morning, sir.”
“As earlier introduced by the dean of studies, I am Godwin Jackson. I will be making a brief lecture on how and why to progress as a student..” let me cut in a little. A projector was made available which had slides and images to illustrate and explain. I was so excited; I haven’t seen a projector before. What it was like, what it’s used for and how to use it. “This is very nice.” I said to myself and stared at it. I was like a village girl that was brought to the city for the first time. Was it the light bulbs, the structure of the wall or the projector? I kept calm and focused. Since it was a lecture, I brought out my little jotter to write down some essential things.
“I want this to be a question and answer section. Be free to ask and answer questions when necessary. But first, who is a student? I need an answer.” He stopped. A good looking muslim girl stood up to answer the question.
“What is your name dear?”
“My name is Precious Adam.”
“Nice name. Tell us what you understand by the word “student”.”
“I think a student is an individual who seeks for a particular kind of knowledge or skill, to understand it and to work with it.”
“Woow! What a wonderful definition. Clap for her.” Everyone clapped.
“As she said, a student seeks for knowledge, understands it and work with it. . This is basically what is expected from a student. Apart from that, a student must have some amazing characteristics if he or she is ready to learn and understand well.  They say: “A society without rules is like a river without water.” The same thing goes for knowledge and morals. Knowledge has no impact if good morals and attitude   is not applied. For us to have a very good learning atmosphere, we must take note of our attitudes towards the teachers, books  and the learning environment.  Let's first talk on how to be a student. Below are tips that can help you to be a student:
Every individual that is born to this world has a purpose and should have a goal. Setting a goal will help to have a fixed direction and a focus on a particular goal or aim.
Determination is very essential in every aspect of our life. We need to have deep feeling and close attraction towards our goals. Determination is highly needed to keep the goal alive and to keep having hope when an individual might have lost his or her source of inspiration. Inspiration and determination work together.
Inspiration and motivation have great effect on the life of an individual. As a student, you should have mentors or role models in your various fields that will be a source of inspiration to you and will be able to motivate you when your hope has degenerated.
As an individual and as a student, you need to stand firm on your decisions and avoid distraction. Staying focused actually helps in fighting all obstacles that comes your way as a student. Distractions cause a lot of problems than you can imagine. A lot of students have derailed as the result of different types of distractions; in society, peers, reading environment and more.
A lot of us don’t know the value of the things we have. Just like the opportunity to seek for knowledge, most people lack the chance to be among the learned. We need to learn to value the knowledge we have and we are seeking for. When we develop strong feeling for what we have, we see a million and one reason to succeed. Not everyone is gifted to know and see the reason to succeed. Only few people know why they must actually succeed. Our success actually depend o a lot of things. For some  of us, we need to succeed for our parents, some for our siblings, some for our sponsors, some for our society, some for the dark moment we have had and a thousand reasons more…”
After that very statement, I went to wonderland and tears strolled down my eyes. The memories of my mother’s struggle, my drunkard father, our poverty life and my humiliating experiences flashed to my head. Before I knew it, my eyes were full of tears.
“I can’t afford to lose this change to make my mother proud and happy. I can’t lose the chance to beautify our life; I can’t lose the chance to make our lives better. All the struggles I and my family have been through will not continue forever. I have to make a change and this is a wonderful opportunity.  Ya Allah! Be my guard and my guide. I really need your help” My eyes were still full of tears and my heart was deep in thought. But something interrupted. I heard a sound as if a load was dropped but it didn’t seem like a load, it was something else. I looked at my right and I was in shock. Guess what or who I saw…….