The Bad Egg

So when i was in SSS 3
They brought this guy to a private 
hostel close to mine 
He had written WAEC many times and 
had been enrolled as an external student 
His parents rented a room for him 
His girlfriend was also like Him 
She was registered in another school but 
came to stay with him during the weekends 
All he did was smoke marijuana, smoke 
cigarettes and drink 
The examination centre was one of those 
special centres renowned for examination 
practices 
All he had to do was show up for the 
examination 
The rest had been taken care of 
I was sleeping in the hostel when one 
of my roommates came to gist us 
about this rich boy 
The guy who came with the gist is 
one of those guys who you can call 
a pilot fish 
He likes attaching himself to the 
"rich" or the so called "hard guys" 
with fancy stuff 
He had a serious challenge with 
self-esteem
The other guys quickly dressed up 
The hostel was boring and we 
would do anything to kill the boredom 
Sometimes we go mango hunting and 
do other weird stuff 
I once went to a party at the college of 
education wearing a borrowed shirt and 
Jeans 
Really, those days were very wild
I told everybody i wasn't going 
They didn't believe it
I was an alpha and i wouldn't concede 
my territory to another 
My badness had a limit, I cannot come 
and let my mummy's CAC prayer bell 
break on my head 
I had always been her number one 
prayer point since i was a child 
I knew the guy would be bad news 
They left 
I used the opportunity to catch up on 
my geography notes in the hostel 
By the time they returned that night 
They were all howling like jackals! 
Apparently, the guy took all of them 
to a prostitute joint and they all had 
sex for the first time
I wouldn't pretend it didn't pain me 
I was 16 and they had all done what 
most of us only imagined 
I had been left behind 
Even Gbengele, my namesake and 
bunkmate from Ogbomosho did it 
Chai! 
They made fun of me so much 
Chai! 
Boys can be wicked when they want 
to get at you 
Chai!
We got to the bathroom the next 
morning and they told me to wait 
while the "adults" have their baths first 
I thought they were joking but they 
really meant it 
I had to wait until they were done 
Later that evening, they dressed up
 to go again 
I really wanted to go with them but
I was too proud to concede that I 
wanted to be like them 
So i told them no 
Sleeping with prostitutes at the time 
cost only 50 Naira 
The rich boy was paying 
They went and had a treat 
They came back at 11 pm 
They began to mock me mercilessly 
They called me "Virgin Sammy" 
It was hell
Gbengele, sat with me and told me 
he would pay for me if i went with 
them the next day 
He told me they went to a snooker
 joint where they smoked and drank 
from 6pm till 8pm 
They they went to eat Dokunu, a 
foreign food somewhere before hitting 
Channel 10 (A football viewing centre
which showed movies for a fee on
the days when there are no football 
matches) to watch x-rated films
after the movies, they went to the 
prostitute joint to experiment or practice 
He said the rich boy has warned them 
that they shouldn't bring to many people 
He could only sponsor those he 
already knew 
This was why my bunkmate was 
offering to pay for me 
I was really missing out and he knew the 
other guys would continue to tear me 
to pieces 
I said okay 
That evening, I went to the school area 
at 4pm 
I didn't read 
I just went away 
I didn't want to be part of anybody's 
gang 
I can do all the bad things i desire by 
myself 
I hate the idea of coasting along just 
for the fun of it 
I was no saint I had led these guys 
into raiding the school store several 
times and we had dealt with wicked 
seniors as a unit just the previous year 
I was smoking but not yet drinking 
and yes I wanted to do everything 
that they were doing but not on 
someone else's term 
It just didn't feel right 
After that third night, i was simply 
frozen out 
They had formed a cult of sort and 
i was doing holier than thou 
I had refused all entreaties to be a 
team player, so I was thrown out
They didn't mock me again 
I was simply deleted 
Like, shut out of the team and 
discarded
My only consolation was that we 
would start the WAEC exams soon 
and go home
 I wouldn't have to bear it for long 
As weeks went by, they began to 
spend more time with the rich boy 
in his room 
Sometimes they would be with him 
from 2 pm Sometimes they would be 
with him all-day 
WAEC examination commenced 
On the day we were to write English, 
I got to the examination hall and 
realized my roommates were not there 
We had written a paper in the morning 
and we were to report for the second 
paper around 1 or 2 pm 
Twenty minutes after we started 
I heard a commotion outside 
They had arrived 
The principal treated them to twelve 
lashes of the cane each before they 
were allowed to sit and write their
papers
After the paper, Gbengele came to 
me and said "You cant believe what 
happened to us! We went to Rich boy's 
room and he gave us beans to eat. 
We didn't know the beans had been 
laced with Marijuana 
Within thirty minutes we had all 
slept off 
We would have remained there if 
The rich boy wasn't going to write 
his paper too 
He woke us up and started laughing 
at us for being soft and "liverless" 
I couldn't even laugh! 
Gbengele, stopped hanging out 
with rich boy from that day 
The others also dropped off one by one 
When the WAEC result was released, 
all my friends failed 
I passed a little but had to resit for 
two papers the next year 
Rich boy now lives in the UK, he is 
married with children 
Gbengele is in Ilorin
He is also married with children 
The last two guys to run away 
from Rich boy were brothers 
They were from Moniya in Ibadan 
These guys had money to spend 
and rich boy opened their eyes to 
the nightlife 
They ran after they got gonorrhea 
from a girl they shared with rich boy!
Whenever I remember this episode 
of my life, I laugh heartily 
I remind myself to make my decisions 
and bear the consequences all 
by myself 
I became a believer that way too 
It was a very deliberate and conscious 
decision, not a herd thing 
You must know what you are doing 
and why!