The Thorny Path - Episode 8

 

Some of the students answered the riddles correctly and she rewarded them with five hundred naira notes. They all looked excited to answer more but she was done after the second question. "Thank you, students. I will like to announce the third position now. The third position got eight nine. These students are very good. They were given new spellings and they performed very well," she said and stopped.

She looked at the students and they began to clap . "It is okay now. Let us start now," she said.
"The third position is, Nnenna," she said.

People began to clap as Nnenna stood up from her seat and walked to the stage. The basic four students began to gossip. They said Tolani will be the last position while Nonso and Fuad will be the best students. The best two will represent the school. The noises stopped. Nnenna smiled at her mummy and smiled at the vice-chairman.
The proprietress shook her hand and handed a box of gifts and an envelope to her. "You tried but your journey ends here. You are so good. We know you will represent us one day when you get to the basic five or six," she said.

Everyone clapped. The chairman walked to the stage again. He smiled and teased the students

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/the-thorny-path

. They laughed. "I hope you people are enjoying the announcement," he said.

"Yes, Sir," they chorused.

"Who wants to talk on what they have learnt today?" he asked.

No one wanted to take the microphone from him. He stretched out his hand and pointed the microphone at them. "Nobody wants to say something? Okay, let me keep my microphone," he said.

The assistant head girl raised her hand up immediately. She stood up and collected the microphone from a man that walked towards her. She introduced herself as the assistant head girl. "I learnt that no matter the class you are in, you should never put your self down. Engage everybody in a competition. You might be a winner. I learnt it from Nnenna and Tolani," she said and returned the microphone. She sat down.

Everyone clapped.

"Mmh. That is nice. I love it. Nnenna and Tolani are in basic four and they are here among the finalists. This is the first time someone in basic four reached the final stage. It had always been basic five and six. I am so proud," the chairman said.

Everyone clapped. The chairman turned to the proprietress and the teachers. "I am so proud of how well you teach the students. I liked how the assistant head girl spoke. So calm and confident," he said.

Then he turned to the students. "Since this competition, our best position had always been fourth in Lagos state spelling bee. We have never represented Lagos in the national competition in Abuja but we hope to achieve it soon. Fuad was one of the representatives last year and he finished fifth. He was our best student at the state level. He is here again and I hope he will be among the top two and will make our school name known in the national spelling bee competition," he said.

The students began clapping again. Two teachers began to walk around the hall, sharing drinks and biscuits to the students.

"Now, I will call on our parent's welfare, Mrs. Awosika to call the second position," he said and walked back to his seat.

Mrs. Awosika walked out and stood on the stage. She smiled and took the microphone from a man. "I have a gift for someone here," she said.
"Who can spell my name? Awosika. Let me see if your people are good at spelling native names and not only English."

All the hands went up. "Me! Me! I, I..." they said.
"It looks like everyone can spell it, but I will pick one person."

The first and second people she picked could not spell it right. The third got it and she called him to the stage. She gave him a thousand naira.
She opened the paper in her hand. She blinked while staring at it. "The second position got ninety-two and we are proud of the person. But, the person's name is, Tolani," she said.

Everyone screamed. Ms. Aliyu stood up immediately. She ran and hugged Tolani. "That is my girl. I am so proud of you," she said.

The first position was announced and it was Fuad. Fuad daddy was happy. Everyone hugged and shook him. He got Ninety-seven. Nonso got fourth and he had eighty-eight. They were all given their prizes. The event ended and some teachers shared a plate of rice and water to the students. The students walked back to their classes. Fuad and Tolani will represent the school in the spelling bee competition.
In class, Ms. Aliyu and her students congratulated Tolani. She smiled while she said, "Thank you". She was becoming tired of saying it.

"How did you do it?" Yewande asked.

Ms. Aliyu smiled. "Tolani is one of my brilliant students and she is good at English, so she did it herself. I trust her."

"But Tega and Nnenna are better than her. Maybe her mummy saw the spellings and gave her to study them," a boy at the back said.

The students laughed. Ms. Aliyu shut him up and said they know about her mother. She said Tolani's mum was not involved and did not see the questions. Tolani raised her hand up. "I want to say something, ma," she said.

"Okay. Speak."

"I read and memorised spellings every day.

Read " The Missionary's Journey " by the same author ( Obinna Tony )

. My mummy bought a vocabulary textbook for me and helped me to check Google to learn new spellings. I read them and became better."

Ms. Aliyu nodded and began to talk. "I remember telling you people what is worth doing is what doing well. And Tolani knows what she wants," she said.

"Yes. You did," Tolani said. "I told my mummy about that and told her I wanted to represent the school. She helped me to study and I made it."

"That is a good thing to do. I will teach you, people, how to achieve your goals in the next social studies class. Do not limit yourself," Ms. Aliyu said.