I was up at 11am due to the late night reading. Today was the D-day. I have been preparing for my AEC exams for over two months now, and the day had finally come.
I rushed to the bathroom to take my bath. When I was done I came out of the bathroom and got dressed. I sat on the dining and continued going through some educational videos while eating breakfast.
My grandmother came into the living room.
“Hurry up Gabriel so that you meet up with your exams on time,” she said.
“Alright, ma,” I replied.
A few minutes later my under showed up.
“Hey, Gabe. Hope you’re set for the exam?”
“Well…I’ve done the best I can.”
He laughed softly.
“Don’t worry. You’ll do just fine.”
He joined me at the table and had his breakfast.When he was done he asked me to bring along my helmet. He was going to drop me off at school and then head over to work.
The exam was scheduled for 1pm. A friend of mine called me to know if I had left the house already and I told him I was about leaving.
I and my uncle headed for the front door.
“Good bye, Grandma.”
“Good bye, Gabriel. Good luck on your exams.”Me and my uncle hopped on his bike and zoomed off.
While on the way another friend of mine called to ask if I had left the house and where I was. I told him where I was. I asked him what the situation over there was like and he said some students were in the hall while some were hanging around. I told him he should be seeing me in about 10 minutes time.
I and my uncle arrived at exactly 1pm.
He asked me to hand him my helmet since I usually return home from school with the bus. But this time I insisted on hanging unto it.
“I’ll be coming back with my friend on his bike, so I’ll be needing it,” I told him.
“Alright then. Good luck,”he said, tapping me on the shoulder. And then he left for work.
I moved into the school building and headed straight to the exam hall. There were already students in the hall seated. I took permission from the lady at the entrance to go in.
“Drop your bag over there,” she said, pointing at the floor.I dropped my stuff and started to make my way into the seated crowd of students. I noticed that they were seated in two on a desk. I saw a guy who was seating alone and joined him.
“Are you writing on Calculus or Trigonometry?” I asked him.
“Calculus,” he replied.Which was the same as the one I was writing likewise.
“Did you study?”
“Uh…a little bit.”
“A little bit, huh?”
A little bit was not good enough. I got up went on search for another seat. It’s not that I didn’t study, but I just didn’t want to take any chances on this exam. After all, _two heads are better than one _.
I got to another seat but they were two on the desk.
“Do you mind shifting, I want to seat here.”
“Sorry bro, but we were instructed to not have more than two a seat,” one of them replied.
“I’ll be sitting at the end so incase they want to chase anybody they’ll chase me.”
“Really sorry but can’t take that chance. Sometimes they can chase people from the middle. They are unpredictable.
”While we were busy arguing, one of the invigilators noticed us. He came over and directed me to go and seat at an empty desk at the back.
After everyone was settled down the exam commenced. It wasn’t that tough but they were still some questions I didn’t know the answers to. The invigilators were quite lenient. They didn’t even spend much time in the hall with us. They just moved around outside the hall and breezed in s couple of times. I was able to ask someone nearby for the ones I did not know the answers to, and in turn help him out likewise.
The exam was set for two hours. But it seemed too long for an exam like that. Under 1 hour I was through. I went on to submit my script.
Halfway down the down floor, I suddenly realized the helmet was not with me. I quickly turned back and returned to the exam and went to where I sat for the exam. I asked the person I sat with if he saw a helmet.
“Nope. I didn’t see anything,” he replied. I was checking from seat to seat to see if I would find it. I came across a desk where I saw something like the colour of my helmet on the floor in between the guys who sat there.
“Excuse me, did you see any helmet,” I asked.
“No bro.”
I walked away slowly, still turning back. Could that really be my helmet I saw back there. But I wasn’t sure. I just kept on walking in order not to make a scene that would later on backfire on me.
It was then it occurred to me, when I entered the exam hall and dropped my bag, I dropped the helmet at an empty desk in front of the hall. I had completely forgotten about. I was absent minded at while doing that. All I was thinking about was the exam and where I’ll seat that would be favourable to me.
I got to the desk and found the helmet sitting on it, untouched, just the way I left it. I grabbed it held it to my chest like a precious trophy.
Finally, I could breathe once again. I headed back to the down floor, feeling like the most excited person on earth.