The first time I really had to “face the music” was back in my ND days in Yabatech, so i remember it so clearly because it was one of those days that start out normal but end up becoming a lesson you will never forget.
It was a hot Tuesday afternoon, and I was sitting with my friend Bolu at the good village, I had just collected my test script for Statistics, and I already knew deep down that I didn’t do well, See my stomach was tight, like when you know wahala is coming but you are still pretending everything is fine.
“Guy, you don’t look okay,” Bolu said, sipping her Coke.
“I am not o," I replied. “That Statistics script… ehn, I just dey fear, I don’t even want to open it.”
She laughed, shaking his head. “Better face am, See babe you no fit dodge the music forever.”
I knew she was right, so I slowly opened the folded paper, and there it was in red ink staring at me: 39/100 , Omo my heart dropped , that day I couldn’t even laugh.
“Ah! 39?” Bolu shouted. “Omo, na carryover be this o.”
“Shhh!” I hissed, looking around, people were already staring. “Why you dey shout like that? You wan announce me?”
She chuckled, but then she tapped my shoulder. “Bar, it is time for you to face the music , No running.”
So Later that evening, I sat in my room, holding that script and thinking about what I would tell my mom, you know My mom is the type who believes school is everything, She had warned me about not taking Statistics seriously , and now, I had to face her with the truth.
When I got home that weekend, she was in the kitchen cooking, I stood by the door, holding my script like it was evidence of a crime.
“Mummy, I want to tell you something,” I started.
She looked up, Ehn ....“What is it? Why are you looking like somebody stole your bread?”
I sighed and handed her the script, she wiped her hand on her wrapper and collected it, The silence that followed was louder than thunder.
“Thirty-nine?” she finally said, looking at me with that calm, dangerous face only mothers can make. “So you went to school to play? ahn ahn , this on na red o”
“Mummy,see it is not like that,” I quickly replied. “The test was tough, and”
“is that so?,” she cut in. “I warned you, I told you to study Statistics well, Now you will face the music like this, do you want to rewrite this course. Ehn? .....”
I swallowed hard. “No ma.”
You see for days, I carried that weight on my chest, but somehow strangely, after that scolding, I felt like something shift, I mean facing the music did hurt, but it also gave me strength, instead of hiding or pretending, I actually decided to actually put in the work.
The next semester, I joined a small study group, My coursemate swift was basically a Statistics genius, and he became my unofficial tutor, He would sit me down after lectures and break down the formulas.
“Don’t worry, you will get it,” he always said when I looked lost.
“You sure?” I asked one evening, scratching my head.
“Yes,” he smiled. “Just stop being afraid of numbers, you know that they won’t bite.”
Fast forward to exam time again, this time, I wrote with confidence, and when the results came out, I scored well I got a C I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I ran to Bolu first. “Guy, see oh! I passed!” I shoved the script in her face.
She laughed. “Finally, you don face the music and dance well.”
Looking back now, that whole experience taught me that running from your problems only makes them bigger in a way, sometimes you just have to take the hit, admit your mistakes, and also move forward, facing the music is not easy at all, but once you do, you realize the tune can actually push you to a better rhythm in life.
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