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Dining Orientation

Author: Jay_Rhem

Last Updated: 2020-12-09 00:29:57

It was dinner time when Bliss was awoken from her slumber by her corner mates. The SSS3 girls in the hostel we're counting for their juniors to leave the hostel.

"10 counts to leave the hostel"

The seniors repeated. Bliss noticed that the seniors who were counting were in different states of undress, only putting on their undies.

"One"

"Two"

"Three"

When Emmanuelle noticed that Bliss wasn't ready yet, she pulled her up and threw a daywaer at her

"Get dressed and leave. They won't hear you are a new student"

"Four"

"Five"

"Six"

Bliss hurriedly got up, dressed her bed as she saw others doing before she bent to get her slippers.

"Seven"

"Eight"

"Nine"

"Y'all are still waiting for me, right?"

Bliss ran out from the hostel, her zip left flying, her hair left uncombed and a bit of vaseline in her hands. To her surprise, she wasn't the only undressed one, a lot of students had run out wearing only their singlets and tights or shorts, holding their daywears in their hands. Some held powders and mirrors, others wetlips, brushes and combs. The scene looked like a out of a movie.

"Point one"

"Point two"

...

"Ten"

"On your knees"

Those outside the gates all began clamoring, some were laughing at their friends inside and ready to receive their share of the hangers the seniors held. Some were interested in getting dressed. Some girls walked around shouting,

"Who has a comb?"

"Who has powder?"

"Who saw my keys?"

And so on.

Some of the girls kneeling had their bunkies or senior friends come bail them out. Others who had no one to help them out, were left to receive the strokes.

Bliss was watching the whole drama until someone shouted

"Mama Meti is coming"

Everyone scattered. The SSS3 girls who were not dressed instantly returned to their rooms, while those who were dressed headed out, leaving only the prefects to continue the flogging.

The students who were initially milling around the hostel instantly ran off. It was said that Mama Meti was a military retiree who had decided to spend her retirement amidst the student in the school. However, one thing they all knew we that the woman seemed to enjoy running alongside them three times a day during the chase hours. She would always find reasons to chase them until they all left the hostel area. She was a stop watch for a lot of them. And at that moment, the said woman was walking towards them with a mob stick in hand.

It was movie night, every fortnight the school organized a movie night on Saturday and every last Friday of the month there was a bon fire night. The students had to first go for dinner and then organize the hall before the two hour movie night.

Bliss headed towards the dining hall. The seniors and juniors shared different dining halls in other to avoid excessive bullying. Since the JSS1 girls had just arrived, they had no tables so the prefect had arranged for them to stand in a straight line so that they would be counted into temporary tables. After they had been counted, a temporary table head was asked to go and collect food for the table. The prefect had told them to remember the table head in order not to starve over the next few days and to remember to write their names in hostel according to classes when the prefects decided to them so as to ensure they get a table for the academic year.

After the food had been served, they realized that it was a very small quantity easily the half of what they usually had in their various homes. Besides, a few of them actually did not like eating beans.

Beans and pap, wasn't that a combination most children hated. Infact, no one would take that combination into their lunch packs in elementary schools as they believed it would make them the butt of school jokes.

They prefect had simply smiled before lightly saying

"Make sure you are ready to leave in 15 minutes".

They all looked at each other in dismay. The food was unpalatable for them. But what could they do? It's not like they had the option to go home. Besides putting the beans and pap together in the same plate looked rather off.

One of the girls, who felt the situation was rather unfair ran to the prefect.

"Excuse me, I can't eat that"

" You can find someone who'll eat it or just drop the plate and leave".

"What will I eat then?" The girl retorted evidently not knowing where to stop.

The prefect grinned, her expression expressing her total amusement at the situation.

"Go stand on the stage and wait for everyone to finish eating, then fill an entire basket of plates and send them to the kitchen."

"But why?" The girl who hadn't even realized she was being punished. Bliss smiled, it was really fun to watch someone else get punished.

"You don't talk to your seniors that way and definitely not to a prefect. Make that two baskets please" Another of those cat smiles.

The girl burst into tears. Defeated, she ran off.

"I'll advise you to ensure you complete your punishment before the day runs out or I won't be able to guarantee you won't get a place next to the kitchen women for the rest of the term".

The prefect casually said before she turned around and left.

They looked at one another, and slowly began to eat. A few mouthfuls in, they heard the voice they had learnt to dread

"Few minutes to leave the hall"

They hurriedly ate their meals

"Leave the hall" a voice spoke up. They began to leave only to be stopped at the door, go in and get a plate before they leave.

Bliss grabbed a plate off the nearest table and left.

Lesson 1 Don't contradict your seniors and don't act tough.

Bliss chuckled, that girl should have found it extremely regretful. She went for wool and came back shone.

The movie halls were to be arranged by the JSS3 students. The arm responsible for the cleaning of the dining hall instantly went to work. Within minutes, the hall had been transformed, the tables pushed to the back and more chairs brought forward.

The social prefect, a short red house senior who she'd had was named Ejeh came up on stage. She informed them that the movie was going to be a two hour something and that they were all expected to return to their hostels immediately afterwards to observe the lights out.

Soon, the movie began. It was an interesting new movie named Life of Pi. It was the story of a young man who survives a disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. Whilst cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger. It was n intriguing mix of adventure, drama and fantasy. The 127 minute movie had been the perfect end to her first night in Royal College or so it seemed.

After, the movie ended, that same voice had repeated.

"Get ready to leave the hall"

They all rushed out of the hall, causing a mini stampede at the door as they all hurried out.

Bliss returned to the hostel, aiming for her bed, I my to be stopped in the hostel quadrangle. Apparently, the seniors wanted to address them. After they all lined up in front of the seniors, they were instructed on the dos and don'ts of the boarding house.

Do not talk back to your seniors.

Don't use any contraband items in the hostel.

Don't steal, but tapping is allowed. (Don't ask me the difference.🙊)

Leave the hostel at proper times.

Do not report the happenings in the hostel to teachers for any reason.

Colouring of your senior's garri was absolutely necessary.

Torchlights should not be seen after lights out to avoid burning ones eye's (a very important rule which they prolly did not understand then)

After the orientation, another SSS3 student who appeared to have not been paying attention to the seniors finally spoke up:

"Present your welcome gifts"

They all looked at each other.

Weren't welcome gifts given by the host to the visitor. But of course, the very first rule was do not talk back to your seniors so they had simply walked to their various corners to get their provisions. Some students had insisted that their provisions were with their guardians, others had simply claimed that had nothing. To everyone's surprise, the seniors had merely asked this ewho brought nothing to write their names and go in and those who brought something to also write their names.

Bliss brought a small pack of chocolates and a box of biscuits for them. Her brother had asked her to give something reasonable if she was asked to give a welcome gift.

She didn't know why, but she simply wrote down her name and returned to her corner. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep

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My Almamater, My Training Ground The Corner mate
A room.Five SSS3 girls gisting.A JSS1 girl, head bent and eyes on the various sheets of paper before her."Hey are you all going for Alice's bash on Saturday?""There's a junior girl here, control your mouth.""Hey, junior girl""Sochi, She has a name, you know""Eehmmm, junior girl... What your name biko""Senior my name is Bliss.""Oh Bliss, do you know the rules of staying in a senior's corner"Bliss thought for a moment, her brother had once mentioned something he called 'Rules of Existence' and the first had been 'Hear nothing, See nothing'."Never say what you hear in the corner elsewhere and never question what you see."She didn't know how correct those answers were but she felt it was plausible after all they seemed to not want to speak in front of her to avoid her saying anything outside."Well it seems like you have a bit of sense"."That's correct, at least you have sense"
My Almamater, My Training Ground Sunday
Bliss woke up to the sound of banging on the the hostel gates.For a minute, she was disoriented.Who was banging on the gates but then she turned around and there was a face in front of her. Bliss furrowed her brows then it hit her.Royal College.Banging on the gates, didn't that represent a wake-up call. A lot of the juniors were slowly getting up, ready to start their day. She looked at her wrist watch, it was barely 5o'clock. She'd never woken up this early.Bliss got up, she took her bucket of water and her toiletries and headed outside into the chilly weather. For the first time, she was treated to the luxury of cold water on a cold morning.She dressed and left the hostel, she didn't want to get caught up in the morning duties of her seniors. Since the new students had not been given morning duties, she could take advantage of this time.She left the hostel sneakily under the cover of the darkness, two cracker biscuits in her b
My Almamater, My Training Ground Dining Orientation
It was dinner time when Bliss was awoken from her slumber by her corner mates. The SSS3 girls in the hostel we're counting for their juniors to leave the hostel."10 counts to leave the hostel"The seniors repeated. Bliss noticed that the seniors who were counting were in different states of undress, only putting on their undies."One""Two""Three"When Emmanuelle noticed that Bliss wasn't ready yet, she pulled her up and threw a daywaer at her"Get dressed and leave. They won't hear you are a new student""Four""Five""Six"Bliss hurriedly got up, dressed her bed as she saw others doing before she bent to get her slippers."Seven""Eight""Nine""Y'all are still waiting for me, right?"Bliss ran out from the hostel, her zip left flying, her hair left uncombed and a bit of vaseline in her hands. To her surprise, she wasn't the only undressed one, a lot of students had ru
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My Almamater, My Training Ground Admission
Noise.Maybe that was one thing that filled the house whenever Brad came home. The boy never stayed quiet. He was always poking at someone. Since his mom had learnt how to ignore him, he had fun teasing his sister and countering his father's teases.Currently, it was breakfast time.Bliss and Brad sat opposite each other with Bliss sitting closer to her mom away from the prying hands of her dad who thought it was fun to tickle people in the morning. Her parents sat one at each end of the table.The two males in the room had never understood the meaning of the words Staying silent at dinner tables as the both of them always used their dinner tables as their court rooms.Once, out of annoyance, her mom had suddenly began adding extra pepper to both their plates to choke them but they came up with the idea of bringing chilled water to the table. The pepper hadn't been able to stop them even after being painfully choked several times and she had stopped to
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It had been three weeks since Bliss wrote her National Common Entrance Examinations and she was waiting for her results. During this period she had relentlessly pestered her mom into taking her to work on a daily. Mrs Jones was a nurse at the Federal Medical Centre.Today however was the day her elder brother Bradley was coming home. He was thirteen and in JSS3 in his school. He was a tall and lanky boy, taller than his peers and very sassy.Mrs Jones had decided to go and pick Bradley from school since she didn't want him to take the buses plying that route. Her parents had reached a consensus that Bradley would only be allowed to come home alone from his SSS1.Bliss spent a few hours seeking convincing reasons to get her mom to let her go with her to get her brother. It was a 2 hour ride in the absence of bad roads, traffic congestion, road accidents or other issues. However Bliss had closed her eyes the moment the car pulled away from
My Almamater, My Training Ground How It All Began
It was a pretty cool morning in April.In an upscale apartment in the nicer parts of the city, a woman bussled around in her home, making breakfast for her family. Her husband, Mr James was getting dressed for the day while her 11-year-old daughter Bliss, was still asleep. Bliss was the second child of her parents, her elder brother, Bradley, was in high school already."Get up Bliss, it's morning"Mrs Vera entered her daughter's room, lightly shaking her as she murmured."Can I sleep a while longer?"Bliss intended to get herself a few extra minutes for sleeping but her mother seemed to have read her mind"You can, if you intended to not sit for you exams."She groaned, wanting to turn around and continue sleeping when the words stuckBliss jumped up, running into the bathroom. Just before she shut the door she remembered'Good morning Mom'She didn't wait for a reply as she jumped into the bathroom. Speedily picking
My Almamater, My Training Ground Prologue
It was a hot afternoon, most students were in the dining hall. The SS3 students could be seen milling around in crazy dress styles. Some all packed and waiting for their rides, some had left and the rest packed, carried or said their final goodbyes to their juniors, teachers and friends. Some flew their shirts, some unbuttoned theirs, some had long pulled off their ties looking like ruffians and like every year, the teachers would turn their eyes away pretending to be blind.Yes, on a day like this every year a batch of SS3s' would say goodbye to this institute where they had spent 6 years of their lives.Looking at this young adults, each filled with the joy and sadness of leaving a place they've come to view as home.Bliss, sat on her bed, her hands dexterously folding up her cloths, she, like most of her mates, had given out most of her belongings to her juniors. Her uniforms, daywears, sports outfits and a few other articles of clothing had all been
My Almamater, My Training Ground My Almamater, My Training Ground.
Welcome to My Almamater, My Training GroundI am glad you chose to click on this story.This is an unedited work so you could call my attention to any grammatical error you notice in the course of your perusal.We also welcome your thoughts on plots and scenes which you believe will make this book better.Copyright©Rhe_joyceAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, media transfer, or otherwise, without the prior permission from the author.©starifonia@gmail.comYou could contact me on social media @rhe_joyceon the gram.

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