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Chapter One(Edited)

Amelia POV

4 years ago.

I got out of the exams theater with a smile on my face. It was the last day of our exams. This exams was a big one in particular. It was an exam written across the whole of West Africa. Passing this exams could  see as a ticket to West Africa most prestigious university, The University of Science and Technology. Which was situated in my home country. I could even earn a full schorlaship if my results were impressive.

I had been waiting for this moment since I was five and here I was smiling as I was walking to the bus station. I was really happy. This was an important exam and I knew that by all means God was not going to fail me on this one.

Today,

I was reminiscing one of the greatest moments in my life as I sat down listening to the speeches our lectures were giving. I was going to be named the best student of our year. My anxiety level was high right now. I was waiting for the speaker to actually call my name. The moment I was going to stand on the podium to give my well deserved speech.

Growing up, I was always taught to be the best of the best when it came to education. Since I was the only girl in a cluster of boys, actually four boys, I was taught to challenge them. I was taught to always try to do better than my brothers. I was brought up in a family whereby girls were taught to challenge the boys.

The whole village despised my parents for taking me to school, saying,"She was never going to get a good husband to marry". They even went as far as to ask my parents if I knew how to cook. That was a yes. I did know how to cook. So did all my siblings. My parents always taught us to be the best. Not only academically but also physically. They taught as to do everything. They didn't want us to live in the village and suffer like they did. That was why I loved them. I admired everything about them.

I fidgeted with my hands as I waited for the lecturer to end his very long speech. I had been told about my award just a week ago and I was told I had to give a speech. That was when the moment I have been waiting for arrived.

"I am glad to call upon the student of the year and class of 2020, Amelia Alexis Graham to give us the ending speech", The moment I heard my name, nervousness took over my senses. The student sitting opposite me kept looking at me as a gesture for me to go. I could sense they were bored and they wanted to get this over with and fast. I rose from my seat and started walking to the podium. All eyes were on me as I climbed the stairs and proceeded to stand behind the podium.

I cleared my throat and began to give my speech. " My name is Amelia Graham and I am one of the students who is going to be graduating", with that being said, all students and parents present at the ceremony started mumbling things to themselves. That part didn't go well. I swallowed a lump that began to form in my throat and continued.

"I am truly grateful to have been given the opportunity to deliver the ending speech. This is a great opportunity because I never ever thought that my life was going to lead me here. I was and still am a village girl but look, today I have been crowned the best student of the class 2020. It came as a surprise, but my life itself is a surprise to me", I cleared my throat yet again and continued," We have gone through many things in our four year period of staying in this noble institution. Some of us have gone through academic problems, relationship problems and even pregnancies. Some of us even lost our virginity here", I surprised them with that. I could see they were becoming more fascinated with my speech,"but look, we are all here to collect our fair share of our academic success. From here, some of us are going to look for jobs, others are going to get married, others are going to face challenges, well that's life, but no matter what happens to you all, remember that God has something planned. Face your challenges like a pro. Without these challenges we can not get to our required destinations. Thank you again, but this time for listening to my speech", I ended the speech and everyone started cheering and clapping for me. Well, It went well after all. I proceeded to collect my award. Which included an amount of $7000, a certificate and a Macintosh computer. It was well deserved though. This day was one of the best moments of my life.