S.S.S. 3 AGAIN

Chapter Thirty Two

"The older I get, the more that I see
My parents ain't heroes, they're just like me.
And loving is hard, it don't always work.
You just try your best not to get hurt.
I used to be mad, but now I know
Sometimes it's better to let someone go.
It just hadn't hit me yet.
The older I get."
- Sasha Sloan.

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Before you guys start reading, give me your ideas. Someone told me to make it a series. Like probably a Nigerian secondary school series thing. The first one is S.S.S. 3 AGAIN, the second would be another story entirely about a secondary school too, after I'm done with S.S.S. 3 AGAIN. So, I decided to ask you all about it. What do you think?

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Our guys returned to school with the relay race first position cup and the gold medals. Our girls returned with the silver medals. Anyhow, the school was very proud of them. Proprietor told everyone of us to be on the assembly on Monday morning so he can announce it to our juniors. He called out the competitors and us that followed them. They took pictures of us on the assembly ground podium, together with the cup and gold medals. Trust me, those pictures will enter the next school poster. The football competition was postponed for a reason I do not know.

Anyway, that was last week. Last week went by quickly and nothing eventful happened. Today is our spelling bee second round. Jetemi, Fiyin, Lilian and Dami offered to follow us there. After persuading Aunty Tosin for a long time, she agreed.

Not long after, we arrived at Olaosebikan school. As usual, coach came out with Aunty Tosin first, followed by us, the students. I didn't forget to take my glasses this time. As we got down from the bus, Aunty Tosin told us to bow our heads and she gave us a short prayer.

After the quick prayer, we walked into the hall. Aunty Tosin, Coach, Jetemi, Fiyin, Lilian and Dami walked to the audience seats to get seats for themselves and us. We, the participants walked up to the woman from that day.

"Good morning, ma." We chorused.

She raised her head a bit to look at us, then continued what she was writing. "Good morning. Name of school?"

As if she doesn't know us. Tch!

"The Empires' College." We chorused.

She flipped through the pages of another book, checked each pages as if looking for something, then flipped it again. She was probably looking for the name of our school, maybe we qualified or not. Then, she suddenly stopped. "The Empires' College?" She said.

No oh. Maybe she didn't hear us before ni.

"Yes ma." We chorused.

"Adekunle Ademola." She called, looking at the book.

"Ma." Demmie replied.

"You're candidate 12." She said and gave him a paper with twelve written on it, with a pin.

"Ariyo Emmanuella."

"Ma." Ella replied.

"Candidate 13." She gave her a paper with her number written on it, then a pin.

"Borisade Sarah."

"Ma."

"Candidate 14." She did the same with Sarah.