Brayan and Kemi were childhood friends. They grew up together as neighbors and had known each other for as long as they could remember.
They attended the same school and were even in the same class. They did almost everything together, but there was one big difference between them. Kemi was a fast learner, while Brayan was a slow learner and always had problems with his grades.
Brayan always struggled with his schoolwork. He would study sometimes, but he found it difficult to understand what he was being taught. He always failed his tests and exams, and this made him very afraid of going home with his results.
Kemi, on the other hand, was doing very well in school. She understood things quickly and was always ready to help Brayan.
Whenever she noticed that Brayan was having problems with a particular topic, she would tell him to come and sit with her so she could put him through.
“Brayan, come and sit with me. I will explain it to you,” she would always tell him.
But Brayan wouldn't listen. He felt that no matter how much Kemi explained things to him, he would still not understand.
Sometimes he would even tell her, “There is no need. I can't comprehend these things.”
His father was a very strict man and wouldn't tolerate Brayan failing his tests. Anytime Brayan brought home a poor result, his father would become angry and punish him.
Because of this, Brayan developed a strategy for manipulating his test scores.
His parents couldn't read either, so they didn't know what was actually written on his papers. Brayan saw this as an opportunity to make them believe that he was doing well in school.
For instance, if he scored 0/10, he would simply add a 1 before the zero and turn it into 10/10.
If he scored 2/10, he could change it in a way that would make it look like he had performed much better.
He became very good at changing his scores before showing them to his parents.
No one knew about it except Kemi.
Kemi knew exactly what Brayan was doing, and she wasn't happy about it.
She tried several times to make him understand that he was only making things worse for himself.
“Brayan, you can't continue doing this. One day, your parents will find out, and you will be in bigger trouble,” she warned him.
But Brayan wouldn't listen.
He thought he could manipulate his way into getting good grades without actually studying. He believed that as long as his parents saw good numbers on his test papers, they would be happy with him.
He continued doing it for a long time.
Day after day, week after week, Brayan kept changing his scores and showing them to his parents. His parents were always happy whenever they saw his results, and they started believing that their son was finally doing well in school.
But Brayan knew the truth.
He knew he wasn't improving. He was only hiding his poor performance.
Now, his 99 days was full. It was time for his graduation.
Brayan's parents were very happy and excited to attend their child's graduation. They believed their son had worked hard and improved because he had been coming home with good grades lately.
They were proud of him and couldn't wait to see him graduate.
But Brayan was very nervous.
He knew that the truth could no longer be hidden. He wouldn't want his parents to find out what he had been doing all these years, but his mouth was too heavy to let out the truth.
During the graduation, His parents discovered that Brayan had repeated the class.
They were furious.
“How is this possible?” they asked. “Our son has always been coming home with good grades. How on earth would he fail to the point of repeating the class?”
The teacher was confused by what Brayan's parents were saying.
She couldn't understand why they were surprised about his poor performance.
So she brought out the book of life, which contained all the records of the pupils' assessments.
She opened it and showed them Brayan's records.
His parents looked at the results and were shocked.
The records clearly showed how poor Brayan's performance had been. The good grades they had been seeing at home were not the real grades.
They turned to Brayan.
“Brayan, how can you explain this?” they asked.
But Brayan couldn't say a word.
He just stood there crying.
At that moment, there was no way for him to hide anymore.
His parents were very disappointed in him, so they went home with him.
When they got home, his father was extremely angry. He scolded him very well and punished him for what he had done.
Brayan was already disappointed in himself, and the whole situation made him realize that he had made a very big mistake.
He finally understood that he couldn't just sit around and manipulate his scores to make himself look intelligent.
If he wanted good grades, he had to work for them.
He had to study hard and earn them.
After some time, Brayan went to Kemi.
Kemi had kept her distance from him because he was not ready to change.
Brayan approached her and apologized.
“Kemi, I'm sorry. You were right all along. I should have listened to you.”
Kemi accepted his apology.
Then Brayan asked her to please teach him how to read and write.
Kemi was happy to hear those words.
She agreed to help him, and the two childhood friends started learning together.
Whenever he didn't understand something, he asked questions. Whenever Kemi explained something to him, he paid attention.
He slowly began to improve.
Before long, Brayan's performance in school started making sense.
His parents were happy to see the change in him, Kemi was happy that her friend had finally listened to her, and most Brayan was happy with himself.