Simon had already discerned by now the reason why they were staring at him, the coma stuff and all that. He didn't mind them as he kept on walking, as far as no one came to meet him, he wasn't gonna react to their staring. They strolled until they arrived at the door of the principal's office. It would be very inappropriate just to barge in just like that, so they decided to knock. Mrs. Lewis knocked on the door, and a voice from inside resounded,
"Come in, the door isn't locked".
Mrs. Lewis opened the door as she and Simon stepped into the principal's office. The principal was busy with some paperwork, but when she noticed that the people knocking had entered, she glanced up. A type of bewildered expression appeared on her face when she set eyes on Simon. She stuttered,
"R...Robert? H...he has woken from coma?".
Mrs. Lewis retorted, "Yeah, he woke up yesterday".
That bewildered expression was still plastered to the principal's face as she kept on staring at Simon, she couldn't believe that he had woken from coma...but men, she would have to.
"I wanna discuss something with you regarding his class". Mrs. Lewis said once again.
The principal pointed at two chairs in front of her table and stated, "You guys should come sit down, sorry for my manners. I kept you guys standing all this while".
Mrs. Lewis and Simon made themselves comfortable on the chairs, then the principal beckoned her to continue speaking. Mrs. Lewis cleared her throat before voicing out,
"As I said earlier, what I wanna discuss with you is regarding Robert's grade. He has been in coma for one year due to the accident he got involved in. By now, his mates would have moved to the next grade, that's for sure. Would it be possible for Robert to move with them also? Would it be possible for Robert to move to the next grade?".
The principal and Mrs. Lewis discussed that for minutes, the principal wasn't in agreement with it. She decided that Simon was gonna continue with the class he was in before he went into coma. Then Mrs. Lewis began persuading her, she persuaded and persuaded until the principal gave in.
"OK, I agree, Robert is gonna move to the next grade. But there is a condition".
"What is it?". Mrs. Lewis inquired hoping that the condition would be reasonable.
"Robert here is gonna move to the next grade, but he's gonna take extra classes even when other students have gone home. He can't just move to the next grade without completing his previous grade. So he should be willing and ready to take extra courses on the same day. Courses for his previous grade and the one he's gonna be in currently. That's the condition. Agreed?". The principal inquired.
Mrs. Lewis glanced at Simon and asked, "Can you handle that?".
Simon knew that he wasn't capable of handling that, his brain was gonna burst open of over learning. And he wasn't even willing to continue Robert's life, but he still nodded his head anyway and replied, "Yes mum, I can handle that".
Mrs. Lewis then focused her gaze back on the principal and uttered, "We have an agreement then, he said he can handle it".
"OK, it's done, do not forget, you'll take extra classes even when other students are going home. You sure you can handle that?". The principal inquired of Simon, yeah, she just wanted to be sure, he has to meet up with the condition.
Simon replied by nodding his head, he didn't say anything. Then Mrs. Lewis said,
"I'll be leaving then, I gotta head straight to work. You guys would handle the stuff of showing him his class and all that. He's got notebooks and other schooling materials in his bag, provide him with the textbooks and other stuff he'll need for his new class, I'll pay for it. And as for his tuition fee, we'll talk about that later. I'll be taking my leave".
With that, Mrs. Lewis stood up from the chair, pecked Simon on his forehead, and departed from the principal's office. The principal took a phone from her desk, searched for a mobile number in her contact, and put a phone call through. After some seconds, she began speaking with someone on the phone, and before Simon knew it, the phone conversation had ended.
According to what Simon heard, the principal called a certain teacher to come over to her office. After some minutes, a knock was heard on the door, seems like the teacher had arrived.
"Come in, the door isn't locked". The principal uttered in an audible tone of voice.
The door opened, and a man in his early 'Thirties stepped foot into the office. He was dressed in a light green shirt and red tie. The moment he set eyes on Simon, that bewildered expression that had been appearing on people's faces anytime they set eyes on him appeared on his face also. He pointed at Simon and voiced out,
"Isn't that Robert?".
"Yeah, it's him". The principal responded.
The teacher strolled over to where Simon was sitting and questioned,
"Robert, is this you?". Was he teasing him or what?
A type of confused expression appeared on Simon's face, like, what type of question was that? But he still replied to the question anyway, "Yes, this is me, complete with flesh and bones".
The teacher rubbed his hair with his palms and stated, "Man, you know, you made a lot of people fear. Lots of people had already concluded that you wouldn't make it out of the coma. Some of your classmates concluded that you wouldn't come back to this school, they took you like a dead person. And now, here you are once again".
Simon had nothing to say, he just kept silent. The principal cleared her throat, focused her gaze on the teacher, and stated,
"I called you here to tell you that he is gonna be joining your class. Normally, he's supposed to complete his previous class before he went into coma, but his mum has persuaded me enough. He's gonna move to the next grade, and that's your class. They agreed to my condition of him taking extra courses so he could finish the curriculum of his previous class. Arrangements would be made for that".
The teacher nodded his head and inquired, "He is gonna start today?".
"Yeah, take him to the classroom and find a vacant seat he's gonna occupy". The principal stated.
"OK, am gonna do just that".
The teacher beckoned Simon to stand up from the chair he was sitting on, and so he did, he stood up with immediate effect. Then he and the teacher evacuated the principal's office. Getting out of the principal's office, they began mounting the staircase that led to classrooms around the second floor and first floor.
After mounting the staircase and arriving at the corridor of the second floor, they began strolling towards the door of Simon's new grade. As they sauntered along the corridor, Simon glanced through the windows of other classrooms, teachers were present in some while some had no teachers in them.
Arriving at the door of the classroom, the teacher and Simon stepped into it 'cause it was wide open. Noticing that their class teacher had entered, some of the students that were talking kept quiet immediately. Then they noticed Simon, yeah, he's woken from coma, he is back to school. One of the male students stood up from his chair, pointed at Simon, and uttered in an audible tone of voice.
"Isn't that Robert?".
Then students in the classroom started making different comments,
"That's true".
"Unbelievable".
"Wow! he made it out of the coma".
"Robert is back".
Then the teacher added his comment, "Yeah, Robert is back, and he is gonna be joining this class. At least, you guys all know him, he was in the same grade as you guys before he went into coma. Surely, there are vacant seats in this class".
"Yeah, about two vacant seats". One of the male students uttered, "One is at the middle of the class, while the other is at the back".
The teacher focused his gaze on Simon and inquired, "Which would you prefer?".
"The middle". Simon retorted.
And then, the rest of other activities took place, Simon occupied the vacant seat in the middle of the class. Students kept on bombarding him with questions. Questions like, 'When did you wake up from coma?', 'We heard that you were coming back from a party with some other guys when the car accident took place, how did it happen? 'The boys that died from the car accident were students of this school, how did you become friends with them?'.
And you know what, Simon answered all their questions...he lied a lot.