Sunshine

18| summon

Dedicated to MabelAbekah

One of the things she detested in her life was discussing your paper with a friend right after an exams. She hated it because when discussing answers and she found out she was wrong somewhere, it could make her feel awful for weeks.
So for this reason, and the other reason being that she had no friends to discuss with in the first place, she hurried out of the assembly hall and walked past students who are excitedly chattering on about how their exams went. She even heard Mara from Wesley Girls bluffing.

Well, maybe she wasn't bluffing. Maybe it was true that Mara solved and finished answering all eighty objective questions full of calculations under fifteen minutes, as Mara claimed to her friends.

It could be possible, Nana Yaa decided. They were brilliant science students, and this was a special training programme for them right? They were special, weren't they?

She didn't see any signs of Max as she walked back to the B-house. She entered their dorm to see Sharla, Jenny and Jessie in the process of mixing cornflakes with milk and intending to eat from the same bowl. Nana Yaa nodded firmly at them as a greeting. They smiled back and asked how her exams was.

She was never born to bluff or brag, so she just muttered it was cool and began changing. After changing from her uniform she gathered her toiletries and went to shower.

She then ate something and buried her face in a novel, trying to calm her nerves about the exams.

Surprisingly, the girls lowered their voices for Nana Yaa's sake so she could focus on her novel. Nana Yaa noticed it, and was astonished. This was new, and a good sign, she decided.

After reading pages and pages of the exciting novel, she felt sleepy and so placed the novel down to nap.

***

She felt someone patting her arm to wake her up.

Nana Yaa bolted up, then realising she was back in the dorm and not in hell, she rubbed her eyes.

"What?" She asked Annie, the girl who woke her up. "My alarm hasn't rang yet."

"Honey, it did a long time ago," Annie chuckled, "but since you ampaa you didn't wake up de3 we figured you must be exhausted so we let you sleep."

"So why have you woken me up now?"  She whined.

Annie found it playful, just like it was meant to be. Nana Yaa was slowly changing. "We would've made you sleep for hours more but we've all been summoned to be in the Assembly Hall in ten minute's time. So get dressed quickly and let's go."

"Let's?" Like they were going with her?

"We'll buy something from the tuck shop so we're taking the lead." Annie answered her thoughts. She must have seen the confused expression on Nana Yaa's face.

"Oh. Okay." She nodded and scrambled to her feet, pulling a washed and ironed uniform on a hanger. She threw the hanger on her bed after removing the uniform from it and began dressing up. She reached for her polished sandals with shaking fingers as she heard shouts and laughter and the usual noise as the students hurried across the verandah to go downstairs and into the campus.

She was still wondering what the summon was about when she overheard two girls talking.

"Well, they've done well for being able to mark all the papers within such a short time." One said.

They've marked the papers already? Nana Yaa thought.

"So they're going to announce the winners today? Like right now?" The other asked, bewildered and yet excited.

"Yes, Tabitha. I can't wait." The first girl told Tabitha excitedly. "Do you think our school will win?"

"I don't want our school to win." Tabitha grumbled.

Like seriously??? Nana Yaa laughed in her head.

"Like seriously?" The other girl echoed Nana Yaa's thoughts. "Why wouldn't you want our own school to win?" She asked Tabitha.

"If our school wins, then it means James is not winning. And I don't want that to happen, Chloe." Tabitha explained.

"Oh my goodness, I can't believe you would choose your boyfriend over your own school concerning this matter." Chloe lashed out bitterly.

"It's not that, I..."

Nana Yaa didn't wait to listen to the pathetic explanation she was sure would come next. She walked quicker amongst the streaming students and entered the hall, found a nice spot in the middle row and sat down on the plastic chair contentedly.

Her thoughts raced. They've marked the papers so soon. Everything was going in super fast motion.

Who would be the winner?

Her?

Max?

Mara?

Crippled girl?

Who? Who?? Who?!

Her nerves were on end. She was so nervous and confused. Tortured even.

She couldn't fret for long because soon, a man who was introduced as the Science Exams Director took the microphone and spoke into it.

"Hello students," his voice boomed in the hall. "We hope you're all doing fine."

"Yes sir." Came the chorus response. Nana Yaa didn't remember saying a thing.

"We thank the Almighty God." Hr continued. "We suspect that by now you're all wondering why you're gathered here, aren't you?"

"Yes Sir."

"Well," he went on, "you're all here because the Science Exams have been marked." He paused as murmurs passed among the crowd of students. "Everything has been done, and we may be able to present you our first three winners."

The murmurs rose a pitch higher.

"But unfortunately," he cut in, and the words silenced the students. "There's a draw in between the first two winners."

Another round of murmurs, this time much louder, passed among the students.

From her seat, Nana Yaa's heart sank. Her head reeled and throbbed painfully. She was not part, she decided.

Oh God, she thought. Just that, oh God.

"So," Mr. Ato Forson, the Science Exams Director continued, "we may have to call those two winners up here and quiz them to bring out the best. The marks scored by both of them was ninety-eight point four percent. We need to separate. Therefore, we call up..."

As the students held their breaths in antsy, the Science Exams director paused and exchanged a word or two with a man standing nearby. Soon, he was speaking into the microphone again.

"We call up Maxwell Fiifi Banks and Nana Yaa Afrakomaa Frimpomaa. They're the two winners in draws."

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Hope your day was nice.