In my part of the world, the other name given to freshmen in school is JJC, which means "Johnny Just Come." This tag sticks to every freshman so tightly that you can easily identify them by how they do things. I was once tagged with that name and exhibited some characteristics to match its value.
Image is mine
During my first year in school, I stayed in an area that's a little bit far from school. Although the distance to school was walkable and the reason I chose such a place was to reduce the cost of house rent because houses close to the campus were extremely expensive. So because my house was far away, I used to dress up early to walk for about 40 minutes before getting to school.
On a fateful Thursday morning, I got up early as usual, had my bath, and got ready for school. Class was at 9:00 am, so I wasn't in a hurry. I did everything the normal way...no need to rush.
After I got ready to go, I took my 80 leaves exercise book, a pen and I plied the road with my legs; I began to walk with my normal steps, more like catwalking like ladies.
I came out of our street road only to see a wine-colored private car honking at me. I looked around to see if maybe the driver was someone I knew who wanted to give me a lift, but I couldn't figure out who the person was.
I walked closer, and as I got nearer, he opened the door at the front seat for me to enter. "Guy, enter, or are you not late?". He said it with a smile on his face.
"Wow! What a good citizen!" I thought and got into the car and we zoomed off while Frank Edward's "Omemma" was playing on the music system.
We got to my school gate after a 10-minute drive, and I expected him to drop me at the gate because I thought he was just trying to help,maybe he was heading in another direction. But no, he drove inside the school.
At that moment, I began to wonder if he's a student or a lecturer because his appearance didn't look like either of them. I was still clashing with my thoughts when I heard him ask me where he should drop me. We were in the main areas of the campus, where my faculty was close by. I told him to stop me at that spot. He turned off the ignition and unhooked the door for me to highlight.
I came out feeling bossy in the presence of people who were some distance away, as if my driver had come to drop me.
"Thank you, sir! God will bless you," I said from outside the car appreciating him for his charitable act and before I knew it, he came out with very squeezed face
"Wait, you thought I gave you a free ride? Come on, pay me my money, joooor!," he said in a fairly loud voice that attracted the attention of people around us.
At that moment, I became totally confused. "Money? Wasn't it you who said I should enter? Honestly, I didn't know it's a taxi. I thought it was just a free lift. Please, pardon me, I don't have money with me." I had to start begging because I found out that I had messed up by entering a car without asking questions.
The man refused, and he began to raise his voice. Embarrassment overwhelmed me. I asked him how is the cost and he said N700. Haaa! That's the amount that would carry me to school five times if I were to take normal transportation.
I collected money from a friend, I paid the driver and peace reigned.
The remaining part of the day was so dull for me.
