Spoke Too Soon

With only Research and Internship left, I passed by school to pick my results so that I could place in a cash request. My education was sponsored but I never got hard cash. Payment was wired to the Institution’s account via Electronic Fund Transfer. I had 4.88 GPA and 4.25 CGPA. This was great! The Academic Registrar was impressed as he printed out a hard copy for my guardians. “Eh, you girl! You want to get a First Class? You are going to get a first class…..”
I smiled. He was a good man. He had taught us Public Relations at some point and I had gotten an A in his class.

Fast forward, I completed my Internship and Research. I got an A in both. The only missing results were for Political Science. I had done the paper and gotten 44%. The lecturer told me I had misfired in two numbers. However, he made me an offer. He said if I paid for a retake and did the paper immediately, he would enter the new results instead of the 44%. That way, it would not register as a retake. I took the deal. I looked for the money and paid for a retake. That weekend on Sunday, I went to campus and did the exam. The lecturer was not around but he instructed someone there to give the paper.

Later, before graduation, my Political Science marks were still missing. I called the lecturer and he told me that my marks were there, and added that he had forgotten to enter them into the computer system. I never followed up to see what I got but whatever it was, I knew it was above the passmark. Otherwise, I would have been told to re-do. With the two A’s in Internship and Research, I knew it was a guaranteed First Class.

I couldn’t contain my joy. At some point, all I had wanted was to graduate. It didn’t matter with which results. I was just so sick of school. But now, the possibility of graduating with honors was definitely a game changer. I told some people at work, my friends, my mom, my sponsors and people in my fellowship. Needless to mention, everyone was excited for me. Byron, my friend from campus told me that he was not surprised. He said he was expecting it.

Initially, the graduation ceremony was in November, but it got pushed to December. Nonetheless, people still celebrated me. My friends posted the great news on their statuses. A lady from my fellowship that had shifted to UK sent one hundred thousand shillings to my mobile money account for KFC. She said it was because smart people deserved nice things. I was in office when I saw the transaction alert and I jumped for joy. Yes, I jumped. One of my workmates offered to pay for my makeup with a top makeup artist. One of my friends offered to bake me a graduation cake and another friend sent me cash for a denim jacket-( something I had badly wanted for a long time). Life was great.

December finally came. Byron bought me a graduation dress and paid for the photoshoot we had on Thursday, a day to the graduation day.
On the graduation day, the names were read for people with a First Class. It was only one girl from the Kampala campus, and she was a year below us. The rest were from other campuses. I was dazed. I felt watched so I turned. Outside the tent, Byron was watching me. He was definitely feeling sorry for me. But it’s not me I was worried about. Damn!! My sponsors, O my sweet sponsors, what was I going to tell them? Anyone that knows me knows that I love my sponsors to the moon and back…and that I would take a bullet for them. I couldn’t retrieve the letters we had already sent to America, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. I was damned. What of my friends and everyone else? What a terrible turn of events! I was so ashamed and embarrassed.

End of Part One.

Part two is just a click away! Tap here to read.

Disclaimer: The names that feature in this story are fictitious. They were made up to protect the identity and privacy of those involved.

We would love to hear from you. Write to us: echoesovercoffee@gmail.com