After a jaw dropping English exam, it was time to do what we do best, and that was heading home thinking about the many blank spaces we left.
"It's just the first paper guys, we have science to look forward to" Ishmael said in reassurance.
"Yeah, you're probably right" one of the guys exclaimed
"Definitely" another added.
Ishmael and I remained quiet knowing perfectly well what it meant when the first paper is hard, surely the next will be a bolder rolling towards us, ready to crush our minds. Mathematics wasn't particularly my favourite subject but I hadn't a choice to make, it was mandatory if I was to become a fraction of the person I am today and still to become, I never really understood the many theories mathematics has, how it would use so many different formulas only to come up with the same answer, for example the quadratic equation can be solved in many ways using different methods and still get to the same answer, I don't know if I was being ignorant per say, but I was thinking alot, rather than actually applying what I have learnt and what I know, I would usually get straight A's but mathematics would always be a B-, C, C- just like that it would never go higher than that, but we aren't interested in my country's grading system nor are we interested in the grades I got in high school are we? We are here to know what happened between Christine and I so before I fast forward to 2020, let's just wrap up the year shall we?.
~Day two of the Exams, "Mathematics".
"Holy shit I over slept! Mom is going to kill me where the fuck is my uniform? Oh pisses and shit I'm going to die where is my?.. " I panicked
*Looks on the phone screen*
Have you ever taken an afternoon nap and felt as though you woke up the next day? Well that's exactly how I felt, apparently it was still Monday the English day, my mind and body were so exhausted, they thought we relapsed into another day.
"William keep your shit together, you can't afford to mess up, just relax, remember what Mom said right?" I thought to myself.
Since I didn't mention what my mother said to me in the previous chapter I will briefly highlight it.
*A week before the exams begin*
My mother: William I know you are tense and stressed about your final exams, but remember my son when water is tense and flowing all over the place you can't see the bottom of the lake, but when it is calm you can see everything, always remember this my son in every stressful situation you encounter.
This is what my mother said to me a week before the exams started, at the time I didn't really understand what she meant especially with the water thing, I mean what does water have to do with anything? All that's going to face me was a 7 page booklet, black ink, geometric instruments and an edge on edge pencil for constructions, or as I like to call them the self injury tools, because you use them to trace out a foggy future, inevitably that future becomes more vivid to me, the more I thought the more clear it became, it was no longer just an imaginary landscape. I pictured it and it became a goal, as I speak and write at this very moment my goals are set high. So back to the main focus.
"William keep your shit together, you can't afford to mess up." I thought to myself. Just there and then I understood what my mother said to me a few weeks ago.
"So that's what she meant, thank you Mother, for I know what I must do"
The next day I woke up very eager to write the math paper, which was highly unnatural to anyone one who knew what was coming, but I had my Mother's words of wisdom in my mind and heart, with a certain goal.
A man with a goal is like a train moving at 180km/h with faulty breaks, it can't be stopped unless Derailed from the track.
I took a cold shower to make me feel energetic, I brushed my teeth, I dressed up, had breakfast, then I finally started off feeling at ease and giving off mellow vibes. The gardener forgot to remove the garden fork from the tool room outside, so I got it for him placed it deep into the soil and left my house, my house was roughly about 35 minutes away from school, if you were me, but if you're a slow walker it would take you longer.
"Ok, I'm ready aren't I? I have my geometric instruments, I have my two erasers, just incase one gets swallowed by a dragon or something, I have my five pens, just incase four of them run out out of ink and last but certainly not the least, I have a calm and steady mind, let's do this William" I said to myself
I arrived at the judgement hall, the place where the weak die in a week, it was rather pleasant to look at, but at the same time it was very stressing, but I remembered my mother's words, so no man made structure could move a determined man of my calibre to wimp out, onward sir William!
Quickly took my seat, and waited for it to be exactly 8am on the dot. No sooner had it hit 8am, did the silence creek in, almost like the sound of death. Everyone knew who just walked in, a well known invigilator commonly known for his strictness, in all his bitterness and authority he had a heart of gold, it's rumoured to say that he once let a pupil enter even after the first 30minutes elapsed, in my country once the first 30 minutes of the exam pass by no one can enter or leave the exam hall, even if it meant you piss your pants in the process.
There she was, a glorified being, 7 pages of Mukwa wood paper, blasted with black ink, blacker than the blackest darkest thing on earth and tetra sensitive light absorbing technology, believe you my friend if it meant you writing this paper in the dark the exam council was fully prepared, all in all I would like to thank my country's exam council for it's hard work of not leaking any information and wrong distribution of material across the country, but this right here was some next level shit.
Placed before me was two years of knowledge that I had to cover within an hour and a half, to decide who gets to go and who gets to stay.