A School Of Weirdos

CHAPTER ONE

I remember it clearly. I was in JSS 1, still living with my mom in Ibadan. At that time, my father had already passed away. So, my mom was the only one who could take care of me.

I still remember the day my dad died. I was only seven years old. My dad had been in a bus accident on his way home. He was one of the passengers who died in the accident. When the news reached me and my mom, we were deeply shocked. We both mourned him greatly. I missed him so much. After all, I was Daddy's pet.

After that, my mom struggled to take care of both of us. She did several jobs to bring in a meager salary. She even did some small businesses. She is a university graduate with a degree in banking and finance, but finding a job in Ibadan was difficult.

However, one day, she got in touch with an old classmate from secondary school online. One thing led to another, and soon, my mom got a banking job in Lagos that paid well.

Not long after we had left Ibadan to move to the shores of Lagos, I started attending the school I talked about. It was such a change for us. Lagos was busier and more crowded than Ibadan.

Now, I'll tell you how my mom found out about the school and decided to enroll me. She had been looking for an affordable school that was a good fit for me. She had spent a lot of time after work searching for the right school. She had checked out several schools, but the cost of tuition was prohibitively expensive.

A week after we moved to Lagos, she met a woman on the street who told her about John Felix Academy. She mentioned that it was a good school with affordable tuition and that it was within walking distance of our new home. My mom was convinced by the woman's enthusiasm, so she enrolled me in the school without hesitation.

I know some people might think I was there with my mom, or that I wasn't there at all, but the truth is that I was home alone when my mom came back to tell me about the school. I don't blame her for being so excited. I know it had been a long process of searching for a school for me, and I know it had been stressful for her.

When she came in after opening the door with the house key, she broke the news about her finding a school for me. I could see she was joyful and I was happy too. The thought of going to a new school probably got to my head. So, she told me about the woman she stumbled across on the road while searching for a school for me. She then told me about John Felix Academy, which the woman told her about.

Now, there's something I never told you all about my mom. The thing is that my mom is a complete extrovert - like 100% extrovert - and she is very dramatic. This dramatic side of her makes her super expressive when she is happy or sad. That was exactly what was happening when she broke the news about the school to me. She was so expressive about the news that I thought she had won the lottery. But, she was just happy about the new school she found for me.

My mom actually dramatized the dialogue she had with the woman and that created a scene in my head as If I was present there physically. Now you all know why I said it as if I was there.

Well, Ignorant me was looking forward to start the school. I did miss my formal school back in Ibadan. Afterall, I had good friends there. It's a shame I never got to see them again. But from the way John Felix Academy was hyped and all that, I began to think that I might like it more than my formal school.

My mom told me that we would both go there very early the next morning so that she could go directly to work from there. She also told me that I might start the school that same day rather than taking me back home. She thought it would be convenient if she came to pick me up from school after work

Later in the night after eating dinner, I didn't go to sleep on time even though my mom had told me to do so. Instead, I spent most of my time imagining what the school might look like, what the surroundings would be like, and what kinds of friends I might make there. Before I knew it, I fell asleep and began to dream about the school.