EPISODE 2: Arusha
September 19th 2008, Mr. James
September 19th was jotted down as one of the ultimate funny days in my life. There are some people in this world that you can never take seriously. Mr. James is one of them. He placed his rear-side on the farthermost point of his chair, bent his back and in a gay accent spoke these words “Hey! Do you understand the meaning of silence, tsk!” I broke up into laughter in front of
Him, “Hey, Keep quiet in the class!” he snapped, Several huge cackles rushed out of my mouth and I was gasping for air, my head went dizzy and I slammed my head onto my desk, I gasped for air and as I lifted my head up, his strange, orangutan-like face, was literally 60cm away from my face, he screwed up his face in the largest frown and he observed my facial expression. My smile widened from ear to ear. “Hey, You boy! Do you have any manners? Do you have any respect?” his voice carried with it the foulest smelling odor I had ever come across. I held my breath, my chest rose up and he took it as a challenge, He rose to his full-height and stared at me, I couldn’t hold my breath any-longer, I kept my mouth sealed for 3 more seconds and then it happened….
Rule 2: Never laugh at a teacher
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” it all escaped, my brown face reddened. I gasped heavily, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I couldn’t help it, and that’s how I earned my first detention. I didn’t mind though, It was all alright. After speaking to Mrs. Shindika (Principal), and explaining to her that I couldn’t help but laugh at Mr. James’s accent, she excused me from her office and I went to join Mustafa and Godfrey. “Oi, What was goin on in that French lesson? I mean, I could’ve laughed but I held it in like a man,” Mustafa said, “Yeah whatever man! I could hear you cracking up in the background and I only got a detention anyways!” I said, a cheeky smile arose from Godfrey, I searched for the reason of his smile and I noticed straight away. A tall, skinny Indian boy was in meters of us, a strange cheeky smile sprawled across me and Mustafa’s lips. “Oi, Wha’s your name?” I asked, the squeakiest voice emanated from his mouth,
“Ali, What are your good names?” he replied,
“I’m Mustafa, this is Levi, and that’s Godfrey,” “Very Good names, can I join you guys?”
“Yeah…. Sure” I replied.
“So… I’m guessing you guys are not from hear,”
“Nah, were...” I pointed at Mustafa and me “Are from England and Godfrey’s from here,”
“Yes, Yes I have understood you, I am from India unless you didn’t know,”
“It’s Kinda obvious Paki,” retorted Mustafa.
Ali just smiled, a really cheeky smile.
Detention was horrible! I had to sit down on a wooden chair and grade year six papers! I took the red pen and started grading Lisa Joseph’s paper. I picked up the mark scheme and started to work. Every now and then I would look up to the clock, hoping the time was almost done but the clock didn’t seem to change much. I was pissed. I fell asleep and shapes formed in my head, after a while the shapes formed into a blurry face, and after a few more seconds, the face turned into the girl I’ve been thinking of, her face was perfect, her face was round and shaped perfect, her hair fell into her shoulders and her smile glowed in front of me. She leaned forward towards my face, her eyes slowly closed as her lips formed a kiss and I leaned towards her, I slowly closed my eyes and I felt nothing. I slowly opened my eyes and another scene had formed, there were a bunch of girls around my lady, they were all laughing. Some of them looked at me. My feet kept on marching towards her, I sensed something bad was going to happen, and it was destiny. I felt butterflies swarming in my stomach. I didn’t recognize the landscape, it was different and we were wearing casual clothes, not the crappy old uniform. She looked at me one more time and her group excused her, I was a meter away from her face.
“Hi” I mumbled.
“Yeah, Hi,” she replied. She was staring at the floor.
“I… Err… wanted to ask you erm… out,” my lips trembled, ahh! I was so embarrassed.
“Yeah, I know.” A cheeky smile spread across her face, she was holding in a laugh.
“So… will you go out with me?” I stammered.
She let out a small laugh.
“NO! You’re… fat! You’re unattractive and seriously stop staring at me! Don’t get me started on your….”
The scene faded away and my head shot up from the desk.
I gasped.
The scene created a harsh feeling in my heart. I was struggling to breath properly.
‘It was just a dream’ I thought.
Its Just a dream.
October 20th 2008, ‘What happens in Arusha…”
In the morning of October 20th 2008 I was probably the happiest boy in the whole world. I rushed into the shower and scrubbed my body. I wrapped my towel around my waist and picked up my toothbrush and started scrubbing at the plaque. After brushing my teeth I grabbed my toothbrush and chucked it into my luggage. I crossed out
October 19th in my calendar. I wore a red t-shirt and my old black jeans I wasn’t good with fashion. I grabbed my luggage and set off into my red rav-4, I jumped into the rear seat and my sister sat in the front seat. I quickly combed my hair in my car as we set off for school. I arrived at my school and I rushed out of the car, carrying my luggage towards the school bus where some people were loading the luggage on top of the bus.
The trip to Arusha was long, but we weren’t even going Arusha anyways, we were going some place called Moshi first for the night and then we were going to set off for Arusha in the morning. I’m not gonna describe the ride to Moshi. It was long and boring.
We arrived at the YMCA hotel in Moshi. We carried our bags to the reception where we had to be paired with a partner. I roomed with Godfrey. I went into the room and it was tiny. Two beds, a lamp and a ‘panoramic’ view of the gardens. I set my luggage next to the wall to my left. We were leaving in the morning, there was no need to unpack. I found myself lying down on the bed until a knock on our door came telling us to go for dinner.
Dinner was usual and I went back to bed where I dozed off, asleep.
October 21st 2008, Finally going to Arusha!
We arrived in Arusha in the afternoon and rested in Crater View Inn and we set off thirty-minutes later to learn about agriculture, I snapped a few looks at the girl I liked a few times and she took notice of it, a smile crossed her face, ‘Maybe she likes me back’ I thought, little did I know that those thoughts were misleading. We saw some rural farmers and to be honest it was boring. Me and Mustafa dozed off during speeches and I don’t remember much of that first day. It was the second day that changed my life.
October 22nd 2008, ‘My heart will go on…’
The day that changed my life was upon me. We went to Ngorongoro crater, it was a fun ride. We saw; Lions, Hyenas, Leopards and all sorts of animals. We set off into the crater in three groups in old jeeps. Some of us took it as a race to see who’s Jeep was in the lead. That was a memorable part of the day. I exchanged looks with the girl and she blushed. I was going to ask her out, I was sure of it. I told Godfrey and that little snitch told the girls, but I didn’t care. I was confident she was gonna say ‘YES!’
When we arrived back at Crater View Inn, I saw my lady surrounded with a group of girls, “You look bare batty!” said Mustafa. I ignored the comment. I walked over to her. I had a weird sense of déjà vu…
“Hi” I mumbled.
“Yeah, Hi,” she replied. She was staring at the floor.
“I… Err… wanted to ask you erm… out,” my lips trembled, ahh! I was so embarrassed.
“Yeah, I know.” A cheeky smile spread across her face, she was holding in a laugh.
“So… will you go out with me?” I stammered.
She let out a small laugh.
“NO! You’re… fat! You’re unattractive and seriously stop staring at me! Don’t get me started on your teeth, get some braces and when your teeth get straight, maybe, just maybe, you can come over and talk to me again.”
“Uhm… But you..” I muffled but she interrupted.
“Uhm what! Don’t get your hopes up, a girl like me don’t like boys like, haha, YOU!”
I swore at her after that.
My heart was in pieces and to be honest, It took a year to mend my heart. As there is no love without war there’s no need to start a war for someone who will NEVER love you.
END OF EPISODE 2
Episode 3 Coming soon!