ThrowBack Thursday: An unexpected turn of events
On the 10th of August 2023, I woke to a call from my classmate in Uni. I answered the phone sleepily and without so much as a good morning, he screamed loudly :
" Emmanuel results are out, check to see the shock of the century." And almost immediately hung up.
Those words sent chills down my spin, I got down from the bed with a sense of urgency, brushed my teeth and logged into the school portal to check my results and could not believe my eyes. I logged in and out four consecutive times to confirm if those weird looking alphabets truly belonged to me but alas nothing changed. I could not believe my eyes for the first time as an undergraduate student the letter F finally found its way into my grades and to make matters worse, there were three of them.
I was both shocked and confused as I knew deep down this could not be my result because that semester happened to be my most serious. I resumed super early, missed only five classes the entire semester all of which was due to health related issues, aced 90% of my tests, read like crazy and participated in activities that contributed to academic growth. So how was it possible to end up with 3Fs, 2Bs, an A and an E, it made no sense at all except admitting all my effort was pointless but how does one accept such a heartwreck.
I wasted no time in calling my friend to express my disbelief. He told me that I was not the only one going through this mess and the entire class is still lamenting on the Whatsapp group chat.
The class representative had promised to look into the matter and urged the entire class not to panic as there was definitely something wrong somewhere.
News of the result ruined my mood for the rest of the day and my roommates noticed. I told them about my predicament but they simply told me it might be a glitch so I should not let it way me down. One of them suggested we all head out to a party that was happening that evening. I was surprised as I never knew the school hosted parties on a Thursday night. After hours of persuasion, I finally gave in realizing it would help get my mind off things.
As soon as it was 9 pm, we all got dressed and off we went to get our party on. The event was very close to where we lived and within 7 minutes we were already at the location. The party was lit, there were girls everywhere, the music was crazy good and the entertainment top notch but I was still struggling to blend in. My roommates finally forced me to at least get up and walk since I didn't want to dance. As I was walking and watching people have fun, I discovered more than half the class were at the party. Apparently they all had the same idea of using the party to free their minds. I talked with a few of them and within minutes I was already dancing. The party was a vibe and I'm glad I gave it a try instead of wallowing in a pool of frustration at home. We partied till about 2 am before heading back home to get some shut eye due to an early class.
The very next day we got a response from our course representative that the results on the portal were not uploaded properly and was undergoing alterations.
Three days later, I checked my results again hoping to see something new. I leaped for joy as all the Fs had been replaced by something fulfilling. What I saw may not be part of my original plan however it will always be better than the monstrosity staring back at me days ago.
Till this very day I still look back to what had transpired that thursday and how I would have missed out on a really good time if there was never a mistake in my result.
Thank you.
▶️ 3Speak