We were in a Physics lecture when the news filtered in: our results were out! Immediately my heart jumped into my mouth, and I had to swallow hard to send it back to its cavity. There was a silent commotion in the lecture hall and although the class was still starting, many people crept out of the hall to go and check their results in the department's notice board. Although my heart was thumping hard, I and Loveth, my best friend, decided to wait till the lecture was over before leaving; after all the results were not running away.

Yet I could barely concentrate on what the lecturer was saying; all I cared about was having sterling grades as I used to back in the secondary school. And as that was the results of the first exam I've taken in Unizik, I prayed that they would be good.

It was as if the Physics lecturer noticed that we were just bodily present in the class, while our spirits were long gone to somewhere else. This was because he ended his class early, and we did not wait for him to leave the class before rushing out of the class.

Loveth advised me to wait in front of the Physics class while she would go and check our results; she said that because given my condition, it would take only the slightest shove in the throng of people to send me falling to the ground. I agreed and impatiently waited for her while playing some Nigerian music to calm my spirit down.

About thirty minutes later, she came back, and the first thing she said when I asked her about my results was: "You did good, but I'm sorry." I then took the piece of paper that she wrote down the results on and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

As I stared at the singular strange result, I wondered how it was possible for me—me of all people—to get such a score. I knew it was not my result, but the reaction I was getting from my friends was completely discouraging, many people told me that they were sorry, but I had to try harder when I would be rewriting the course. One person, an old friend of mine (who went to the same secondary school with me and knew my academic abilities) said the most hurting thing to me.

He said, "Oga na you get the result. You don go fail, come here dey complain."

As at that time, I hadn't taken his words to heart that much because I was more interested in how my correct grade would be given to me. I looked at the paper again and the score was still there:

MAT 101—13 (F)

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https://www.thezenpens.com/2020/03/02/jumping-grades/