Turkey has an educational system.
It was 12 years of compulsory school for all children aged 6 to 18. Public schools taught children free of charge.
Zeki was an exception. Always has been. But he was unwilling to make Miray the same. He wanted her to grow up in the most ordinary way possible, only then would she be happy.
"Hello again, Mr. Jimoh. Here for Miray?", the daycare teacher, Miss Maquo, asked with a tired smile while standing in front of the classroom door to prevent the children from wandering out. She adjusted the thick glasses on the bridge of her nose and tried to blink away her tiredness. Zeki nodded and she stepped aside to allow him enter.
Once he was in, his sister turned to look at him but remained seated. He walked forward and picked her up, taking her school bag and lunch box with him. He signed her out and left the building.
Miray was pulling Zeki's hair again. He hated his hair, it reminded him of their mother. Miray, the lucky brat, inherited their father's hair and skin colour. She could easily pass as a Nigerian, except she had vivid green eyes - a trait they both shared. He instead, was cursed with fair skin. It was obvious at a glance that he was mixed.
Zeki grumbled, "Brat, stop pulling. You'll make me bald". She giggled but didn't let go, her tiny hand pulling his hair right at the centre. He winced.
"Ice cream", she replied with her baby accent. He thought she was somewhat cute. Still a brat but cute nonetheless. She was, after all, his only sister and the most important person in his entire existence.
"No ice cream". She pouted.
They got to his car and he strapped her into her safety seat, then walked around to the driver's seat. He checked the rear view mirror to make sure she was seated properly and saw Miray glare at him, he scoffed and started the car.
-
Tobi pushed the transparent doors leading to her family's bakery. Baba's Bakery. It was almost three in the afternoon and the bakery was packed. She quickly went to the staff room, dropped her school bag and grabbed her blue apron and cap. She stepped out of the room and walked to the counter to assist Baba - her 67 year old grandfather- with handling the customers. He smiled at her and moved to go restock the pastries.
She turned towards the first customer on the growing line and smiled slightly.
"Hello, what can I get you?"
After the afternoon rush was over, the bakery became relatively scanty. Tobi sighed and sat on the stool behind the counter to rest. She turned to Baba who coincidentally, was looking at her too. They smiled goofily at each other and she walked around the counter to give him a hug. He laughed and pulled on one of her braids. She winced.
"So how was school?"
"Fine"
"Your classmates?"
"Fine"
"And the teachers?"
"Fine"
Her grandfather sighed and squinted at his granddaughter. Tobi saw that he was about to begin one of his lectures, so she quickly turned around and went to the staff room to grab her school things. She then climbed the side stairs leading to their house.
The Baba's lived in an apartment on top of their bakery. It was a small place but they were just two so it didn't matter. She dropped her school bag on the floor by the door as soon as she entered, then turned to walk to her room.
Her room was decent. She had her bunk bed to the right side of the room, near the windows and there was a plastic reading table and chair on the left side. Her tiny wardrobe was in the centre. It all fit in perfectly with just enough space for small movements. She dropped face-first on the lower bunk; school uniform, apron, cap and shoes still on.
"I'm hungry", she mumbled into the sheet, but made no effort to stand up. She suddenly remembered she had homework, so she jerked up and as her village people would have it, she hit her head on the top bunk. She crashed back on the bed holding her throbbing head.
"Ahhh! Why? Why is it only me?", she lamented as she rubbed the back of her head and rolled around the lower bunk bed.
After wallowing in pain for a few minutes, she crawled off the bed and went out to the living room to get her school bag. She settled on the plastic table to do her homework.
"Those evil teachers, first day of school and already giving us homework. Heartless individuals", she cursed every one of the teachers who taught them that day, regardless of whether they gave homework or not.
After she finished her homework (there was a lot of cursing involved), she changed out of her school uniform, put her apron and cap back on and went back down to the bakery. It was a few minutes past six when she got back to the bakery and Baba was attending to a family of three by their table. She went behind the counter and grabbed some sardine bread out of the display and began eating.
As she ate, she glanced around the bakery, there were seven customers in total. The family of three Baba was attending to, a young couple by the glass windows and two students wearing different uniforms who were laughing loudly. She suddenly recalled the event that happened after school ended.
"Follow me".
She hesitated before following the boy. He looked like a senior. As they walked, he said, "I am Adekunle Adewale, Head boy". She paused mid-step and said "oh, hello senior".
He nodded.
They kept walking down the hall, up the stairs and to the second floor. He stopped at a door with the sign 'Prefect's Lounge' on it and walked in, she followed. There were at least ten people in the wide room and they all looked like seniors. None of them noticed the two walk in. The room was air conditioned with various appliances set up and running. The most attention-grabbing was the wall of playstation games installed on the right side of the room.
"Rich people are on another level", Tobi said quietly to herself while admiring the lounge.
Most of the people in the room were sitting in front of the game wall and yelling at each other. They were watching four boys play a death match in Call of Duty. The other seniors were chatting by the window.
"Don't mind them", Senior Adewale said and turned to a cabinet on the left. Tobi stood in the middle of the room and watched him shuffle through the cabinet and retrieve a small book. He waved her over and handed her the book.
"This year's rule book. Study it well, ignorance will not be an excuse", he said with a blank face. She nodded repeatedly. He then handed her an open file and asked her to fill in her details.
"You will be automatically added to all relevant group chats by the end of the day. You also have till the end of this week to decide what clubs you want to join. You can be in two clubs, but not more than four. It's compulsory".
After speaking, he turned to her, "Any questions?".
"No, Senior Adewale".
"You are dismissed".
She dropped her head in a small bow and turned to leave the room.
