During that moment, senior Eugene thought it wise to get themselves acquainted, so he started introducing himself properly to Gabriel.
I am the only male child in my nuclear family,” said senior Eugene. “I happened to be the miracle my parents were expecting,” he added.
“My parents went through a lot trying to find a male child. They gave birth to five girls before me all in the attempt of getting a male child. Since it was a necessity in my family to have a male child, the pressure was so much on my parents, especially my mother from the extended family. They maltreated my mother for years. My parents as a result of the pressure went to several people whom they thought would perform miracles for them.
Although they were told by several of those native doctors that the next baby to be conceived will be a male, it turned out that they were always disappointed because it actually turned out to be the opposite. They got tired of trying and lost hope.
After two years of not trying, my mother conceived me and I was born. Their joy knew no bounds and I was treated like a treasure. There was nothing that was withheld from me. I had all that I asked for.
This treatment made me a spoilt brat. My mother in the course of protecting her only male child made her maternal instincts to cloud her thinking and I became a very bad boy at a tender age. I followed bad friends who stole from people and disrespected everybody in our neighborhood.
Soon, I was introduced to stealing and also disrespecting my elder. Anytime my mother received complains about me, she would just insult the people and do nothing about it.
Instead of reprimanding me, she rather showered me with gifts. This worsened my situation and made me more mischievous because I knew that my mother will always support me when I misbehaved.”
Before senior Eugene could utter another sentence, the bell rang for preps and they were supposed to dress up and go. He told Gabriel to go to his dormitory and get prepared. “We will continue my story later,” he said before Gabriel got out.
First day at preps was wonderful just that Gabriel didn’t have anything to study. He started glancing through his junior high school textbooks he took along with him. In two hours, the prep was over and all the students went back to their dormitories.
At the dormitory, Eugene met Emmanuel, a form two student. Emmanuel was sleeping adjacent to Gabriel’s bed. Gabriel didn’t initially see him on his arrival because he was part of the people who went to weed the compound.
“Hello, my name is Emmanuel. What is your name?” he asked Gabriel. “My name is Gabriel,” Gabriel responded. “Gabriel, you look like a very humble guy. I want to let you in on a secret. This your attitude will always make you encounter problems here.” He added.
“Really!!” Gabriel exclaimed. “So you have to toughen up all else this place will eat you up”, said Emmanuel. “From the look of things, I don’t think you were really brought up to be a tough guy. Anyway, that is why I am now your friend. I will teach you how to be a tough guy,” he added.
Gabriel wouldn’t have agreed to the tough guy thing at first, but considering how he was treated earlier in the day, he agreed it was a good idea. “We will be going to town at 8:30pm. We have to be very careful not to get caught. I will call you when the coast is clear,” he said.
Meanwhile, senior Eugene was looking for Eugene. He wanted to take him to scripture Union at 8:30pm. He wanted to inform him first so he could get prepared.
After searching for him for some time, he found him in the midst of Emmanuel and some other guys. Emmanuel was known to be one of the notorious guys on campus. He was popularly known by the students to be a cult leader in the school.
Senior Eugene called Gabriel aside and invited him to come with him to scripture union. As at that time, it was 8:00pm.
Gabriel went to lie on his bed. He was contemplating on whether to go to town or go for scripture union. This will determine his fate in the school. Will Gabriel join the company of Emmanuel or follow senior Eugene to scripture union?
To be continued…..
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