I got suspended at high school for the weekend

I want to tell you of a story which happened many moons ago. This is a story about a girl who at the time was aged 18 when she and her friends decided to drive out of the school premises. Setting is at a boarding school, Inyathi high school some kilometres (I don’t know how many honestly) in some direction (which direction is that, North, East, South, West? I also have no idea) from the city of Bulawayo. That girls is me. I am the girl!

This was not one of my proudest moments but it doesn’t hurt or embarrass me anymore when I think about it. Actually, I laugh and seriously wonder what had gotten into us. I don’t know if you have ever done things and don’t know why you did them, I have and this is one of them.

This is what happened, it was on Saturday, a visiting day and I can’t remember if it was second or third term but I will go with second term of upper 6. My memory can be so disappointing. In my whole life of boarding school my parents never missed visiting days and they always came early, because well I had a reputation of crying if they came late…PLEASE NOTE: this was in form one!

On that particular visiting day, I received a message that no one was coming because family was busy and groceries would arrive on Monday and I think that’s when the devil saw an opportunity to use me LOL. I honestly had no problem with the fact that no one was coming, I had grown up, and I have always been an understanding child. Also, I knew I was going to eat rice and chicken from one of my friends so it was cool. Fresh food from home apart from the groceries of course, was one of the things I looked forward to on visiting days. That nkukhu (chicken) hit different.

So, I had no visitors that day and for whatever reason three of my dormmates had no visitors as well. One of the three girls is my good friend, the first friend I made when I got to Inyathi High School, Cassie. I will just name the other two girls X and Y because we haven’t talked since high school and they might not be comfortable with the publication of their names.

I don’t know how the four us got together, probably we were just 4 girls with no visitors chilling together and passing time. Then there was this junior boy we knew and we saw him and talked to him; next thing I see we are in his parent’s car and we were driving out the gate. I genuinely don’t remember how we got to that decision. He was driving. Where were we going? To the nearby shops. To do what? Buy ice cream…I think and that sounds stupid now. Was getting out the school gate allowed? Hell NO. You only passed the gate to go home on closing day.

Yithi labana, pfee on the road we get to the shops and do a U-turn to go back to school. We didn’t look for the ice-cream *shakes head*. Our gods were not with us that day, on the way back we had a puncture! Talk about wrong time and wrong place. Long story short, word got to school that there were school children on the loose.

In no time the school bus was there with a few teachers, I don’t remember how may they were and who they were, I just remember one in particular who hit us really bad. Kulokutshaywa then kuloku katswa. Sakatswa that day and sir was hitting anywhere and everywhere. No one dared to cry. We were put in the school bus and taken back to school. It felt like a high criminal case, which it was I guess. We were made to sit on the ground in front of phamb’ kwabantu. We were questioned and they believed there were boys and alcohol involved and at that time I had no clue what boys and alcohol tasted like.

We were told to go home and come back on Monday with parents. Jesus! I called mother, I don’t remember with whose phone and I told her I was coming home. She was calm and I wasn’t buying it on the way home I was preparing myself for another hiding. I got home and there was no one. I waited and I wished I could die. Mother came first and I told her and she said I should wait for father. Father came later and that was the only time in my life I was not looking forward to seeing him.

“Fi udingani la?” (Fi what are you doing here?)

“Kuthwe ngibuye ngoba ngiphume igedi leskolo” (I was told to come because I went outside the school gate) and that time I am shaking.

Fast forward a family meeting was had, I was asked why I did what I did. I had no answer. Fast forward again Monday morning came and at 5a.m Mr Father and I were preparing to leave for school. I did not hear Father’s voice the whole journey and I dared not to speak. Silent treatment much. By the time others went for their first period, we were in the headmaster’s office, waiting to hear my fate.

As if the whole experience had not been enough, one of the disciplinary hearing board members then brought up the issue that I had been punished before for being in a relationship at school. Ah guys! I thought all was forgiven and forgotten. I managed to lie myself out of that one… what was a girl supposed to do?

On Wednesday assembly of the same week, after merit awards (there were monthly awards for best students in each form…I NEVER RECEIVED ONE) we were made to stand up in front of everyone. We stood up to the following words from the headmaster, “while others are seeing the light, others are seeing the darkness. Four upper six girls were driven by a form three boy…” I rely on Cassie for verbatim…because like I said my memory is not loyal.

I was not a naughty child, I just happened to make a foolish decision that time. What I appreciated in the midst of this unfortunate incident is that, there was still love at home; I was sent back to school with groceries. They could have just sent me back as I was and survived the rest of the term on samp and beans.