LOW CUT

CHAPTER TWO; RESUMPTION.

    I graduated from primary School this year, precisely July. Now It's  November 1st ,almost two months since School resumption and I was out of School. So were many  others who were waiting for their admissions at Osa community Secondary School or any other Government or public School in Lagos.
  I was among the last set of Students to resume at Osa community Secondary School.
  When I walked into the School premises I had this very odd feeling ; it was regret mixed with faith hope and sadness. 'you have only one year to spend in this place ' I had to remind my self the hundredth time , after chanting it to my self through out in the barbing saloon.
     I touched my head and pinched my self to be sure that I wasn't dreaming. This brought to my remembrance the terrible and painful experience I had last night and earlier today ,at  the barbing saloon.
   Last  night,  my mum decided to take me to the barbing Saloon and end the life of  my hair with my younger Sisters at home with my dad, we both went to the nearest barbing saloon , the one on our street. When we got to the barbing saloon, the Barbers refused to cut my hair insisting that my mum has to do the 'honours'by cutting a part of it, at least two third of it. My hair was really long.It was the longest in my class in primary school, not the whole School. I mean Chinansa's hair was the longest in the whole School her hair was reaching her back while mine was just half way past my shoulders.  Now , I know what you might be thinking. What that's short. Well, that's long for an Afro.
  So my mum took me back home and sat me on her knees  and 'snap' my hair was gone. surprisingly, I didn't shed a tear, holding on to my father's word . 'It's only for a year. ' We went back to the barbing saloon and the barber did a really nice job . He gave me this really cool hair cut. It was my first time cutting my hair so it was quite an experience for me; with the barber pulling my ears softly and telling me that I was beautiful and all that. Finally, He was done with me. I looked at my self in the mirror and was amazed at how completely different I Iooked . I looked like the male version of me. I looked so much like my cousin James. My head is so small, so round , and my ears are so big .By  my description,   I was ugly, so ugly. I felt sad but any ways the thought of just going to a public School for a year calmed and soothed me for a while. That night I cried myself to sleep, not because I wasn't happy to cut my hair, not for me , but for the many more girls out there that have to go through this for years some six some Twelve depending on how long the school takes. It's so terrible taking a girls hair from her. The thought of it alone is irking how much more the act. 'This is a very Diabolic Law' I thought to myself.

    The next morning, which is today, my eyes were and are still swollen. I still haven't recovered from last night's drama. I was walking towards the School corridor, when I heard the voice of my  mother calling me back " hey come back, where are you heading to ? have you gotten your school uniform? have you registered fully?" She asked while smiling down at me She was quiet tall and Slim too. "Or are you so excited to go to School?" She asked as she beckoned on me to hold her hands while we walked upstairs to the administration office of the Junior Secondary School. One thing I observed in the School premises , was that there were three big  buildings; one for the primary Section  and the other two for the Secondary Section. The latter was a one storey building while the former was not.
The School compound is really big, and free, except for some cars packed for the  School Teachers. I observed something strange just then; ' How come most public School teachers have cars and most private School teacher don't ? I mean in public schools students don't pay tuition fees but in private schools they do. ' I didn't want to ask this question out loud but I was moved to. When I asked my mum, she laughed and responded" well public school teachers are professionals so they are always payed the best not like the ones in those so called private Secondary Schools that they don't pay well. can you see the cars that are packed here? even private school principals can't afford this ."  Just then , she started giving me her be-a-good-girl talk. She gave me some really strong and scary advice. She told me that I was now in Secondary School and no longer a baby and that I would soon be coming back home from School all by myself and even picking up my siblings too.
'what? what if I get kidnapped ?' I thought to myself. My mother just kept talking, she didn't want to stop at all. She told me not to eat any body's food or snacks. She told me not to have friends, just stay on my own and read. She kept talking until we reached an opened door, written on the door post was VICE PRINCIPAL so I just assumed this was the vice principals office and waited outside while my mum walked in timidly.
      When my mum got in, she beckoned on me to come into the office and I did avoiding the annoying stares from three fat women sitting by the right side of the
office. This office was really small, with one ceiling fan rolling noisily and fraily. I was afraid that it might land on my small head and crush me, maybe that would have been so much better than bearing the stares from these fat women.
     "can't you greet? " asked one of the women. " Yes ma, I mean, no ma" I responded quickly. My mum gave me this stare that said 'just greet them' so I did and that ended it all. In this part of the world , where I live , a child who doesn't greet an adult is regarded as an outcast or better still a forbidden child . It's that bad. It's even worse when you go to a public School , particularly the ones in the western part of Nigeria.
    My mum went through all  of the procedures while standing. None of the three fat women offered her a chair.  That doesn't matter because 'after all we are not paying school fees , so we should be left to stand like goats in our own country. I mean we payed for this registration, why can't they get more chairs? ' I wondered, deeply irritated by the treatments given to citizens when they go to Government institutions.
     I wasn't done Wondering when one of the three fat women asked me "why are you wearing big earrings? please take it off, it is not allowed here." So, my mum quickly switched her small earrings with my big earrings without waiting for an explanation from me. This, she  did apologetically.  " you can go downstairs at the back of the school where the food vendors are  and get a school uniform for her, please short uniforms are not allowed" said the other fat woman. Immediately she said this , they all started talking among themselves about a female student that was caught wearing a really short uniform without wearing any under wear in it. They talked and laughed among themselves like house wives . They were observing their break , probably.