I was lost in thoughts when my bedroom door swung open. My mum entered with my freshly washed school bag and my polished black shoes. I sat up and watched her place them on my chair.

"Leah won't you iron your uniform? You know the light is not reliable" I stretched before answering "ehn I will iron it after I've eaten lunch" the food was already on the fire and almost done.

"Ha so if you don't eat you can't iron your uniform? If NEPA take light before you iron it, I promise you will wear it like that" she said angrily as she opened my wardrobe and brought out 2 pairs of uniforms.

Our uniform consists of a cream top with a wine skirt, pure white socks and black laced shoes.

"If I don't eat then where will I get energy to iron the uniform?" I asked sitting back on my bed. My mum shakes her head in disappointment and hisses, a lecture is about to commence any minute now.

"See when I was your age I was so hardworking. I would cook, clean, do all the house chores before joining my mother in our farm" I groaned inwardly, not this story again.

"My mum would sleep at the farm but I would come back home and sleep alone, the next day I'll wake myself up and cook before getting ready for school. You you're enjoying now, you only do few house chores, you don't cook breakfast it's me that will cook for you. You've never been to farm before or done all those strenuous things and this little that you're doing you still won't do it well"

I cut her short "wait o, it's not me that said I can't be cooking in the morning o. You're the one that said I should not be cooking so what did I do nah?"

"Ehn when if you cook early in the morning for 2 days like this you'll be complaining of head pain, leg pain and back pain. You were even threatening me that day"

"Ha I didn't threaten you o, all I said was that if I start cooking early in the morning and then I get to school only to be sleeping like pregnant woman then don't complain if I don't have straight A's at the end of the term because it may affect me academically. That's all I said o"

"So is that not threat? It is a  compliment abi (Right?)" I shook my head quickly "me I don't know o" in order to avoid story I quickly packed my uniforms and rushed to iron them in the laundry room.

When I was through I arranged all my books into my school bag and put my uniforms on a hanger. I made sure everything was ready for my first day of school tomorrow. We will be resuming for our second term and I'm so excited.

By the time I was through with Everything the food was already being served and I went to the dining table to eat. I'm excited about resuming tomorrow. I haven't seen my friends in 3 weeks, that and I also missed jack. My thoughts drifted off to my conversation with Samiat 2 days ago and I couldn't help but frown, she said she had something important to tell me but wouldn't say it until we meet in school tomorrow.

I tried to pressure her to tell me but she refused and her tone of voice sounded a bit sad, I wonder what this is all about. I'm too lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize my mum was calling me. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard her yell my name "LEAH"

"What happened?" I asked her. She was sitting near me, beside my dad and they had been eating silently until now.

"She eti e di ni? (Are you deaf?) She asked dropping her spoon and staring at me. I shook me head "no I was thinking about something" she looks at my dad who by the way is staring at me suspiciously.

"What were you thinking about? At your age you're lost in thought" "can't I think again?" I asked frowning as i folded my hands and stared down.

"Kilo fe ma ro? Shon ronu omo to fe fun lomu ni? (What do you want to think about? Are you thinking about the child you want to breastfeed) she asks sarcastically but I just continue eating.

She interrupts again "where is your brother and why hasn't he come down to eat?" I look at my brother's empty seat before shrugging "I don't know, maybe he's chatting with his wife or maybe he's dead" my mum threw the napkin at me and my dad frowned.

"I reject it in Jesus name, my son will not die" my mum said tapping her fingers over her head in a 'God forbid motion'

"But me I can die abi (right?)" She shakes her head "I'm referring to both of you, nothing will happen to any of you" I sighed "but you only mentioned your son's name" I said drinking water. "Well aren't you my daughter? You're both my children so I'm automatically referring to the two of you"

"No o, you're only talking about your precious son, if any little thing happens like this you'll be shouting 'where is my son? Go and check on my son' but even if I'm rolling on the floor in front of you, you won't ask what happened to me" I told her but she only hissed "iwo omo yi ma ro mi lejo (you this child don't question me) silly girl" she says before going back to her food.

"Leah go and get your brother from his room, tell him to come and eat" my dad says. I nod and get up before heading to my brother's room. I make sure to knock before entering because the last time I entered his room without knocking he pushed me to the floor, sat on me and pinched the hell out of my life.

"Brother Raphael daddy said you should come and eat" I saw him on the phone and started making kissy faces at him. I'm sure he's talking to his female friend Mary. I usually call her his wife and he hates it.

He flings his pillow at my face ad I dodge before sticking my tongue out at him and laughing. "Okay I'll talk to you later, bye" he says hanging up the phone and coming towards me.

I quickly back up and run out of his room yelling "come and eat downstairs o, I've already delivered the message and if you like don't come" I run down the stairs but quickly slow down when I get to the dining.

"He said he's coming" I tell my dad before I continue eating my food. Almost immediately my brother comes down and joins us at the dining. My mum is the first to talk.

"Why didn't you come down earlier? Do you want your food to get cold?" I rolled my eyes. "I was talking to Mary, she has gotten an apartment" he tells my parents.

"Really? That's good" my dad says nodding. "Is it near the school?" My mum asks and my brother nods.

My brother is 2 years older than me and he just got admission into university to study Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He is preparing for school and Mary is one of his friends. She has gotten admission to study Accountancy in the same school.

They are always talking so I keep saying she's his wife. After we're through eating my brother and I return to our rooms. I check my phone to see that I have some wattsapp messages from Glory.

Glory is my classmate. The guy is really REALLY stubborn. He's the best cane duster of our set. We've been classmates since j.s.s 1 and up till now I've never seen him cry, not even a tear.

I reply him that I'm online and we chat for a while, he sends me funny videos,memes and twitter savage replies. We chat for about an hour before saying our goodbyes, we're going to meet in school tomorrow.

I look at the time and it's 5:00 in the evening, I'm bored so I decide to watch a movie, it's the last movie I'll be watching for a while cause my phone is usually seized when we start a term, I won't be getting it back till I'm through with exams.

I decide to watch wonder woman 1984. Almost 3 hours later and I watched the credits roll on the screen. I had tears in my eyes, I can't believe they didn't end up together, AGAIN.

I switch off my phone and plug it in for charging then leave my room. I head towards the kitchen and the aroma of fried plantains hit my nose. I meet my mum frying eggs and beside her is a bowl of fried plantains.

I reach into the bowl to take one but she slaps my hand away and I frown "I'm hungry" she glares at me "is that so? Then why didn't you join me in cooking?" I laugh and quickly take one plantain throwing it into my mouth.

It burns my tongue and I spit it out onto the floor and scream. My mum bursts into laughter before going back to the eggs which were already fried by now, she packs them from the oil and switched off the gas. "Oya go and bring the plates so I can serve the food.

I bring out the plates and my mum starts serving our dinner. I pick up the plantain I spat out and throw it in the food waste bin.

I carry the tray of food to the dining where my dad and brother are already sitting. Of course, plantain with egg is their favorite food. I put the try on the dining table and we start eating.

After we're done eating I take the plates to the kitchen and wash them. When I get back I meet them talking about education and stuff. "Leah you better read well for your GCE exams so you'll pass like your brother did" my dad says

My face falls. Of course they're talking about me, they've been pressuring me about exams since I started s.s.s 2 last term. I'll be writing my GCE exams after third term, in the holidays and they've been making sure I get prepared.

"Yes you must read well so you can clear your WAEC and NECO" my mum adds. I sit down and listen to them talk all about MY exams. "If you know what you're doing then you're not meant to score anything less than 270 in your JAMB" my dad adds and my brother just stares at me with a stupid smirk.

"I won't even be writing JAMB, WAEC or NECO till I'm in s.s.s 3 so why are we discussing this one now" I grumble. "We must discuss it o, don't you know that you must set a record?" My mum says.

"What record?" I ask frowning. "You must score the highest in JAMB amongst all your classmates" I cough loudly as I stare at her in shock. "Yes when they see me and your daddy they'll be like 'those are the parents of those brilliant children, if you see how their children performed wonderfully" my mum said smiling.

Of course, it's always about being the best and boasting about how they're the parents of the best. African parents have this problem like it's in their veins, in their blood, infact it's in their bones.

My brother tries to defend me "270 is high for the first try o. She should sha not get less than 220" my dad shakes his head "why will she be getting 220? She should score like 275, 280" my dad says. "or even like 325" my mum adds and I turn my face away.

My brother starts laughing "325 ke? How many students have scored 325 on their first try In the history of our school?" My brother asks and my mum hisses. "That one doesn't matter, she can break the record. Abi (right?) She asks turning to face me. I quickly nod and she smiles.

"Okay but let's firstly see her GCE results when she writes it" my brother finally says and they nod. I excuse myself and go to my room laying down on the bed. They've started pressuring me again and I'm scared I'm not going to meet up with their expectations.

I groan and get up, I need to get my mind off it. I grab my phone and switch it on. It's already 9:18 in the night so I decide to read some stories on wattpad. Right now I'm reading a book called "the Mafia's nerd" the book is SO interesting.

I'm already lost in the book when my mum calls me to come downstairs. I see that the time is already 10: 34 and I quickly switch off my phone, I remove my charger also and take them downstairs.

The tv is switched off and it's time to go to bed.  I hand my phone and charger over to my mum and she takes them. We all sit down and have our nightly prayer. I bid my parents goodnight and head back to my room to take a shower.

By 11:00 I'm already on my bed as I think about school, I wonder what adventures await me this term. I feel myself drifting off to sleep as excitement courses through my veins, I am so ready for school this term.

         AUTHOR'S NOTE.
For those who aren't nigerians.
The GCE exams is an exam mostly written by final year students but now parents have s.s.s 2 students write it as a preparatory exam, it's simply to prepare them for their final exams.

To get a feel of how the exams are being set, to know the standards, the topics mostly asked of which are s.s.s 1 topics have the highest questions.

JAMB exam is written by s.s.s 3 students it is the only CB (computer based) exam for secondary school students. Four subjects will be done each 50 marks, multiplied and the total over 400. The basic pass mark is 180 over 400 but that's not the marks needed to enter university.

Each university has its own cut off mark for each course and it varies. In some universities the cut off mark for courses like medicine is 270 while for some schools it's 300. Each course has its own cut off mark and so it's advisable that one scores high in the exam.

A person cannot get admission into ANY university without writing the JAMB exam. It's a requirement and there is usually a 4 subject combo based on the course you want to study.

A person aiming to study medicine will write Mathematics, English, chemistry and physics. One planning on biology related courses will write english, biology, physics and chemistry.

For Art courses like law, theatre arts, linguistics etc one may use a combo of English, literature, government and Economics/c.r.s/ i.r.s

It all depends on the course one is planning to study. The WAEC and NECO exams are also written by s.s.s 3 students. A minimum of 8 subjects and a maximum of 9. The result is also used for getting admission into university. The combination of the WAEC or NECO result (depending on the one used), the JAMB score and the final exam which is written in the university of one's choice.

That exam is called the POST UTME exam. The combination of these three exams determines if one gets admission into university or not. At times one's total score doesn't meet the cut off mark for the desired courses so one may be offered another similar course.

One can be given Anatomy, microbiology, pharmacy and such instead of medicine if the person's total mark was close to the cut off mark, at times one is offered courses that aren't even related to the person's desired course and in some cases the person is not offered admission at all.

I think I've been able to explain the admission process as best as I can 🤔, correct me if I made any mistakes though 🙃.