Ibinu

Pondering.

The hot sun beat down upon me, creating a kaleidoscope of colours across my vision. As I raised my hands to wipe the sweat from my brow, a stiff breeze lightly rustled my skirt, and a single braid of hair came down from my side fringe to obstruct my vision.

I brushed it away from my eyes and secured it back in its place, but it fell back across my nose almost immediately. I sighed in frustration and decided to take down the entire style. After pushing back my glasses, I gathered my braids into a ponytail and took the heavy iron gong striker in my right hand.

I shook my head in frustration and wondered why they didn't just continue with the electrical bells before I remembered that students kept disconnecting it so that they could skip classes and claim ignorance when questioned about their class times.

As I rang the bell, my braids hit below my shoulder blades in tandem with my arm swings. 

TING TING TING-TING-TING. TING TING TING-TING-TING. TING TING TING-TING-TING.

By my twelfth arm swing, the Jss1 students had already run out of their classes and by my twelfth cycle, the SS3 students swaggered and sashayed out of their classes to watch the hustle and bustle and to instruct some junior students on their tuck shop orders.

After I finished ringing the bell, I did an about-turn and headed to the sick bay. My friend Ronald was sick, so I decided to check up on him and see if he needed anything.

On getting to the sickbay, I paused with a foot in the doorway and looked around, trying to locate Ronald.

I saw Ronald lying listlessly on the bed with a guilty and pensive look on his face. His eyebrows were scrunched together forming a shallow v in the middle of his brows, his lips arched down and his raised left leg kept jiggling.

I stepped into the sick bay fully and walked to his bedside. "Ronald, what's wrong?" I asked as I looked down at him from my vantage point. He looked even more worried up close.

He sat up with a start and crossed his legs on the bed, "Lola, you're here." His face brightened up but turned dejected in the next second. "I'm so sorry that I'm no help whatsoever. I feel so guilty because you're always doing my duty for me. I should talk to the school so that they'll give the prefect ship position to someone else." His eyes lit up as he contemplated the idea and his body looked ready to go to the principal's office right at that moment.

I pressed his shoulders down with my hand before he did something foolish. "Don't do that! You'll be out of the running for senior prefect boy if you do. And did you ever see me complain? It's not your fault that you fell sick and besides the duty was given to the both of us, so stop feeling sorry for yourself and cheer up, ok? You know I hate seeing this downcast look on your face." I looked at him imploringly.

"Don't give me that look." He replied in a sulky manner, "We've been timekeepers for almost a year now, and I've been sick eighty percent of the time. The only time I was of any use to you was in the beginning when I could still ring the bell during my turns." He sighed and looked down at his hands. "I wish I wasn't so darn useless." His hand beat down at his thigh in frustration.

"You're not useless!" I grabbed his arm before he could do more damage. "Seriously, you're not." When his head came up in protest, I shushed him and continued speaking. 

"We both know I'm not the organized type and that I can't draw a line to save my life. I was only able to get through the first few months because of you. You know the time periods of everything, you knew it even before we were handed this duty. You know how to organize time so that everything fits just right." 

I gave him a shallow smile, "You even helped me draw my first timetable, so don't you dare say that you're useless. I couldn't imagine anyone else being my partner." I squeezed his arm in reassurance as I continued smiling slightly.