I've always been proud of myself for how organized and responsible I am atimes,others namely my classmates and friends called it being proud or know it all but I've always being like this and I only trusted myself.
I'm Micheal Gem and this is my story.
You might be wondering on how my name came about,well I do wonder too. I asked my dad one time and he told me my mom had named me and I asked my mom.
"Mom why did you name me Gem?" I asked her one sunny after while she was on the balcony painting her nails.
"Well I loved gems a little too much,it got into my head and I named you that" she replied.
I had thought like the rest of my peers then I too had a special and a secret story behind my name but my hopes we're dashed.
I wasn't your regular 18 years old,I had a mom that haven't had my time in a very long time,in between going on vacation or spending time and money on herself and a dad that was always away on business trips. I've always wondered why they were still together for they barely spent time together, probably to avoid the stigma of being a divorcee in the society. Well I wasn't going to beat my self over that...STOPPED
I've attended Dream high school since my kindergarten days till now,I was recently promoted to senior secondary school 3 and with just one year left of being in this school,in this town and in that house I was elevated. I've been planning for a long time now and the moment I graduated and gain admission I'll be leaving this town for good,I bet my parents wouldn't even notice.
I woke up that morning to an empty house as usual and got ready for school,I'm an only child incase I forget to mention. I had my bath,dressed up in our uniform of blue printed skirt and white sleeves,I rushed into the kitchen threw 5 biscuits and a fruit drink into my backpack and headed for school. There was already made meals stocked up inside the freezer but on some days defrosting the before eating is just so difficult for me to do,so the provisions have been steadily reducing while the meals continued to freeze .
I trekked down our estate to the gate and boarded a tricycle going to Okorodudu junction,when I go there I crossed to the other side of the road and took another Keke going to airport road and I stopped by Dream high school opposite Shoprite mall. I lived with my parents at Delta State, Nigeria and we were Deltans. I got down and it seems I was running a little bit late,I rushed into the school and the halls were dried up meaning they were already gathering at the school hall where they usually did morning assembly..
I increased my speed so I'd atleast get in before everybody had formed a line to avoid being noticed or called out by one of the teachers or worse the principal. With that thought in mind I wasn't watching my surrounding and I bumped into a surface ,maybe a person but I wasn't sure , all I felt and thought was how badly I'd ache because I could she my self falling down flat again the tiled floor for sure. I shut my eyes and waited for the inevitable but nothing came,it felt like everything has frozen in place. I opened my eyes and saw that I wasn't lying flat or totally standing and as I made a move to stand, I finally lifted my head and my eyes collided with another's, I blinked twice to check if I was dreaming and when i was sure I wasn't I screamed my head off.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" I kept screaming aloud till his hands came and covered my mouth all the while the devil was chuckling.
Ok incase I lost you there I'll explain, the person that saved me from falling to my possibly week of body pain was none other than Emmanuel Ramsey,the biggest torn in my flesh. You see the Emmanuel's were neighbors and family friends,their dad and mine go way back and the friendship ran deep,Mr Emmanuel had 2 sons, One an angel, a sweet angel might I add and the other was a devil incarnate. Davidson was the angel, Ramsey was the devil, ever since I could remember Ramsey had always been a daily torment,he teased me non stop when we were kids and he'd even make me cry and when we were teens and I thought he'd have gotten over it,no he didn't he continued. He teased me about my size and the first time I had my period and he found out from whichever source he made period jokes all through that day in school and everybody knew because he only tormented me.
When we were in junior secondary 3 he was shipped off to some school in Kaduna, Nigeria, I think it was a Navy school. Apparently he had been too rebellious so they needed him away but sweet Davidson remained as expected because he was the golden boy. When I heard he was being shipped more that half the country away I was elated,happy,relieved,etc that I would enjoy my senior year in peace and I had till now.
"Did you miss me briefcase." he asked.
He was just few minutes back and he had already resumed the nickname he used to call me then, Well he was definitely in for it because I didn't cry as easily as I used to. Hopefully.