I couldn't stop myself from laughing because truly I didn't read for the exam. It was a norm in our school for students to neglect two subjects during exams. We felt we could use common reasoning to write the exam.
They were Civic Education and Religious Studies. But this time around, we were surprised at how tough our civic education exam was this term.
Katie and I started revising our notes. Luckily for us, the exam didn't start as scheduled. It turned out that a piece of huge news delayed the exam.
*****************
"Our results are out!" Victor shouted as he raced into the classroom laughing hysterically.
Everybody started shouting and reacting to the news.
"Victor, be serious for once!." Katie shouted at him.
"I am serious. I heard our teacher and the headmistress talking about it," Victor replied.
"So you mean you were eavesdropping on the conversation they were having in the office?" A girl asked him in a demeaning tone.
Victor scrunched his face in anger and ignored her while replying to the rest of our classmates who were asking him questions.
Victor got tired of all our questions and went back to his seat and pretended to be sleeping. I had to go back to my seat.
***************
"We will finally get to know if you are the best. You know you can't manipulate the FSLC results. No one there knows you to give you marks based on pity," Mira said to me in a mocking tone as I took my seat.
I was angry. No, I wasn't angry. I was just fed up with her painting me in a bad light. I didn't do anything wrong to her. She was only judging me based on a misconception that happened almost two years ago.
"Mira, I just don't know what's wrong with you but projecting your annoyance on me won't make you feel any better. I am sure you won't like it if people judged you based on a misconception." I said to her in anger.
She started laughing and wanted to say something.
"And mind you," I continued, "I didn't participate in the pageant because I had my reasons and not because I was feeling proud. You should ask your friend why she wasn't selected. I didn't replace her, I was among the first to be selected," I retorted immediately, cutting her short from whatever she wanted to say.
"And as for you saying that I act pitiful and innocent to get teachers to like me and give me good grades. I want you to know that I work hard for my grades and this FSLC result will prove that. So work on yourself and stop painting people to be bad to feel good about yourself."
I watched her with satisfaction on my face as she immediately became quiet. She didn't expect me to react that way. I have always kept my cool to avoid issues but she was always doing the opposite.
I felt so happy finally getting those words off my chest.
It's just immature treating people wrongly based on hearsay without wanting to see what they are like. I am also guilty of this offence at times, but my encounter with Mira made me understand how wrong it was and how people who were affected felt.
Someone told me not to care about what they think but how can you not care when they go around tarnishing your image?
After some moments of silence, Mira finally responded, "You are definitely not the best among us and I can't wait to prove you wrong."
"I didn't say that I am the best," I snapped back at her.
I didn't even bother to look at her to see her expression. I just laid my head on the desk and slept off.
**********************
It was almost an hour to dismissal time yet our teacher hadn't shown up in class to make any announcement. We were all beginning to doubt Victor. Katie even threatened to beat him after school if he was joking about the results. A good number of the class were already sleeping as we were so anxious we didn't bother to play around.
"I have an announcement to make," Our teacher said as she hit her hand on a table to wake us up.
We all woke up from the noise and sat up as we knew what the announcement was all about.
"Your FSLC Exam results are out," She announced with a smile on her face.
We all started smiling and talking, but our reaction was more explosive when Victor told us about the news.
She turned and gave Victor a stern look.
"I can see that someone already let the cat out of the bag."
We all turned to look at Victor.
"Your results are here, and I am impressed. You all did well. The result of the entrance examination you all took to be placed in different government-owned high schools is also out. You can see your scores in my office, but I'll only tell your parents about the schools you were accepted in. So you have to invite your parents to come over from now till Friday to find out about that."
"Any questions?" She asked as she concluded what she was saying.
"Does the FSLC result have grading or scores?" Someone asked from the back of the class.
"It doesn't have scores but just a general grade. It's just to show that you officially finished your primary education. If there's no other question. I will be in my office. You can come in twos to check your scores for the entrance exam," She said as she left the class.