After assigning classwork and collecting the submissions, the math teacher, Mr. Balogun, finally dismissed the class. Some picked up their bags and went home; others went to the field to watch the ongoing football match.
Jesse, however, was not released.
Instead, Mr. Balogun dragged him along to the staffroom, where he was currently kneeling in front of Mr. Balogun's desk as he slowly went over and marked their classwork.
It had been over thirty minutes already...
If it was a normal student, one or two of the teachers would have eventually spoken up, pleading his case, and asking for the math teacher to be a bit lenient and release him.
But Jesse had earned the ire of every teacher present in the staffroom with his rampant habit of constantly either sleeping or daydreaming about football glory during their classes.
So, he had no saving grace — no knight in shining armour to rescue him. Instead...
"Very stubborn goat! Always sleeping in class like his enemy is a tse-tse fly." one of the teachers in the classroom aired her grievances.
"I tell you," another female teacher concurred, looking into her handmirror as she applied turquoise-coloured lipstick. "He thinks he's still in America."
'I'm British you low-budget Pennywise!'
What was she even thinking in that lightbulb-shaped head of hers?
Turquoise lipstick? Orange wig? Green eye shadow? Heavy white makeup?
Seriously???
What sort of life choice was that?
Was she on the spectrum? She looked like a rainbow spectrum!
What was worse was that she didn't even stop there, after closing and placing the lipstick back on the table, she picked up her makeup sponge and used it to apply even more white powder to her face.
Her brown face had turned as white as Casper the friendly ghost's.
It made Jesse struggle hard to hold in his laughter. Lucky for him, though, none of the teachers noticed — otherwise, he would have been in real trouble.
Only God knew what made her think that amount of white poster colour looked anything good on her face.
Only God!
Just as he had that thought, a eurysome male teacher walked in. He had hands as fat as hot dog sausages, and a huge pot belly that curved outwards like a parabola.
...Not that Jesse had a clue what a parabola was.
The just arriving male teacher whistled enthusiastically as soon as he stepped in. "Looking lovely today, Miss Bassey," he said, then blew her a kiss. "You make my heart skip a beat everytime I see you."
"..."
Jesse blinked.
Clown fetishism wasn't an actual thing... right?
...Right??
If that wasn't the case, then Jesse supposed the popular saying was really true after all — love was blind.
Very blind, apparently.
Eventually, after another fifteen minutes, the math teacher seemed pleased with the amount of punishment and humiliation he and the other teachers had inflicted Jesse. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his flat nose, smiling ever so slightly. He was clearly smug and satisfied.
With that evil smile on his face, he looked just like Gollum did whispering sweet nothings to his "precious."
"You are free to go." Mr. Balogun started. "The next time you sleep in my class, I will keep you here in this staffroom until 12 midnight! You can bet it with me!"
Jesse stood up from the ground and dusted the dirt off of his bare knees. His legs felt like static from kneeling for so long, and it was as though they would melt like butter from supporting his weight.
"What do you say?" Mr. Balogun asked with a frown, pushing his glasses up his nose — even though this time, it didn't need any adjustment.
"Thank you sir." Jesse replied.
Mr Balogun nodded and waved him off with a hand.
Jesse didn't need to be told twice. He quickly made his escape and made his way to the school's field.
"Bunch of grumpy old devils."
Well, Jesse couldn't exactly blame them for being grumpy. Most of the teachers were on salaries of less than $13 a month. If he were in their situation, earning such a meager amount, he would probably be as grumpy as the Grinch, too.
That aside, how dare they call him American!
There were many things he could tolerate in the world, but that one, he could hardly stomach.
Jesse didn't mind the punishment, he didn't mind the fact that the teachers had called him a goat. Heck, they could as well call him the devil himself and he would still be fine with it.
But how dare they lump him together with those people who called football soccer?!
'The effrontery! The audacity!'
Just the thought alone made Jesse shudder as he descended the stairs.
The cold metal railing shook with his touch as he walked down the staircase, and the paint was chipped away in several places, revealing patches of rust.
They were old.
Everything in the school was old and weathered.
The school's walls were worn and yellowed and streaked with patches of moss and grime in places where the paint had broken off.
Renovations were clearly overdue, but it didn't seem like the school owner could afford them. Just replacing broken desks in the classrooms was already enough of a problem. Quite a few in his class were already sharing a single desk in pairs.
Even the roof leaked when it rained, but nothing had been done about it for over a year of his attendance at the school.
Bad as it was, though, Jesse had no complaints. This was the only kind of school his mother could afford.
...It was either this, or going back to a public school — like the one he had attended in JSS1 — where over two hundred students were crammed in a single classroom and teachers rarely ever showed up for their classes. It was near impossible to learn a thing in that sort of environment.
So, this school was like a utopia in comparison.
As he thought that, he finally reached the school's football field.
As soon as he arrived, the students on the sidelines waiting for their turn against the winning team in the next set ran towards him. A literal and physical tug-of-war immediately broke out over Jesse.
"Jersey, come play for us!" one shouted.
"Shut up, ode! Your team is already full! Leave Jesse alone for us." another snapped.
The two opposing teams of seniors soon started trading insults and things were starting to get heated.
Hopefully, they wouldn't adopt Solomon's solution from the Bible of cutting him in half.