The WASSCE timetable was out.
The tension on campus was thick.
Some boys walked with their books like sacred scrolls. Others pretended to be calm, but the fear in their eyes betrayed them. And then there was Kingstar carrying a storm inside.
He still hadn't told his mother about the fees.
Every time she called, he'd pretend.
"Mum, I'm fine. We're revising. I dey prepare."
But deep down, he wasn't fine. He was surviving.
Half-fee paid. No receipt.
One decision from being sacked.
The week before the exam, rumors filled the dorm.
"They'll start sacking people who haven't paid. Maybe even before English paper."
Kingstar panicked.
He memorized answers like never before.
He read all night under his bedsheet with a flashlight.
He stopped sneaking out. Stopped joking around.
He wasn't praying out of holiness, he was praying out of fear.
Day One: English Paper.
He sat in the exam hall, heart racing faster than the clock.
When the paper dropped, he didn't even look at the heading. He just started writing.
Composition. Summary. Comprehension.
Boom, boom, boom. No time to think twice.
He finished everything one hour early.
Then he leaned back, watching the door.
Just as he expected admin staff entered with a list. Whispered to the supervisor.
"Start calling names. Sack them after this paper."
His name wasn't called… yet.
Next day: Science.
Same thing. He wrote with the speed of thunder. No breaks. No daydreams. Every mark mattered.
After the paper, he sat outside and looked at the sky.
His hands were tired.
His brain drained.
But he was still in the fight.
He swore to himself:
"If I survive this exam… I'm changing."