Not Just An Empty Threat.

All I needed was a pass mark of forty-five to pass Mrs Jennifer’s course. I never liked the course. That wasn’t just it. I didn’t like the mode of Mrs Jennifer’s lecture. She wasn’t like Mr Ogunyemi whose lectures are always interesting and interactive.

It was time for her next lecture and my best friend, Tosin forced me to come to class. I wasn’t an unserious student but I feel lackadaisical going to some classes and Mrs Jennifer’s class is one of them.

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Firstly, all of you should make sure that you submit this assignment before the next examination. Then, make sure that you start attending my classes because if you don’t, you are likely to fail and repeat this course, Mrs Jennifer said.

I didn’t care. It just sounded like an empty threat to me.
This madam isn’t serious. How will the attendance and assignment determine our success or failure of the course? She didn’t even talk about the test, I never liked her nor whatever she says.

I was so eager to say how I felt. I didn’t even wait till the end of the class before saying that to Tosin. Well, an empty threat has no effect on me so I kept missing classes until the examination day.

Won’t you submit the assignment Mrs Jennifer gave to us? Don’t put yourself into trouble. I heard that Mrs Jennifer is so strict and once she says she wants to do something, she will definitely do it, Tosin said to me as she came to my hostel to show me her assignment before submitting it.

The advise still had no effect on me. I collected her spiral binded assignment, gave it a check and returned it back to her. I remember clearly that I didn’t give a speech. Instead, I did other assignments and I was hoping to see if Mrs Jennifer’s threat was really an empty one or people were just being scared for no reason.
At least, I didn’t have an issue with Mrs Jennifer before so there will be no course for alarm.

I got fifteen marks in my test already and if I have thirty over sixty marks for the examination, I am good to go. That was my calculation and I was getting things right.
Even though Mrs Jennifer mentioned that anyone who doesn’t submit the assignment will fail the course, I still felt indifferent and continued to miss classes.
It was examination day and I sighted Mrs Jennifer at the front of the examination hall. She never puts on a sunshade glasses but on this day, she was putting on a sunshade and a part of me knew that so many of us are about to see her other side.

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If you didn’t submit your assignment, do not bother writing this examination because if you do so, you will fail and I won’t even bother marking your script, Mrs Jennifer had never been this audible.
As a student, I had the right to write examinations regardless of whatever a lecturer says so I went on to write the examination.

I sat in the examination hall, got my questions and answers sheet and I did very well. In my mind, I had already escaped failing Mrs Jennifer’s course. At the same time, something kept on telling me that everything wasn’t right.
Days went by and I was hoping to get the final result before moving to the next level.

I was cooking one afternoon when Tosin sent me a message, Come and check your result oh. What did she mean by that? It would be easy for her to tell me my grade but telling me to come down to school got me peeved.

Can’t you check it for me? Is this the first time you will be checking my grade for me? I sent a voice note to her and without further ado, she took a picture of my result and sent it to me. My heart was beating fast already. I could tell something was wrong especially with the way my friend spoke on the phone.

Unfortunately, I failed woefully. I even tried going to Mrs Jennifer’s office to plead with her but she chased me out of her office like a dog.
If you want to pass this course, you will have to re-write the examination again next year, attend all classes and do my assignments. Now, get out!, she said to me.

Even though her class crashed with my other clases in the next level, I had to split classes to pass Mrs Jennifer’s course. I felt like the scapegoat. That’s how I threw caution to wind and failed a course.