My classmates sounded like they were auditioning
For Who's the Loudest?—Season 11.
Meanwhile, I was chilling at the front,
Hoping no one sensed my presence.
I didn't feel like interacting today.
Not with the NPCs. Not with reality.
Then the bell rang.
Tesh popped out of nowhere,
Claiming the teacher had sent him
To instruct us to head to P.E.T.
Till this day, I still don't know what P.E.T stands for.
Probably Please Everyone Today—or Painful Exercise Torture.
Either way, we moved.
We headed to the sports field in high spirits.
The gents were singing amagwijo—
I don't even know what that's called in English,
But it had that warrior energy.
When we got there, we split into two groups:
Males and females. "Only."
The girls took the open area,
We boys claimed the soccer side.
Before we kicked off, let me confess something:
I'm notoriously bad at soccer.
Low lung capacity.
High lactic acid build-up.
Basically, I'm allergic to cardio.
Trash at most physically intense sports.
Two players were elected as captains.
They picked their squads.
I landed on the blue side.
No kits, no problem—
The other team took off their blue blazers,
Revealing white T-shirts.
Boom. They're now the white side.
We took our positions.
I was playing defense today.
The whistle blew.
Kick-off.
It started slow—each team probing,
Trying to find an opening.
But my luck?
Always on vacation.
They scored off a corner shot.
Phama, of course.
Guy's got sniper feet.
After that, my team locked in.
Heat levels rising.
Aggression activated.
The goalkeeper passed the ball to me.
I tried to catch it—missed.
The ops striker snatched it,
Blazing toward our goal.
But defense was my thing.
I tackled the ball away,
Shot it toward their post.
One of my mates caught it mid-air,
About to fire it in—
Then our Life Orientation teacher called us back.
Urgently.
Confusingly.
Her period hadn't ended,
But she wanted us back in class.
Something was off.
We walked back,
Passing other classes like ghosts.
A shiver ran down my spine.
Tension thick as fog.
We entered the class one by one,
Sat down.
Silent.
She stood at the front,
Staring at the ground.
Her aura?
Tense.
Furious.
"I don't know what kind of behavior this is," she snapped.
"Going to P.E.T without my supervision or permission?
You didn't even consult me.
Is this how you repay my kindness?
Maybe I should stop laughing with you.
Is that what you want?
You don't want to meet my other side.
You know what?
I'm no longer your L.O teacher!"
She stormed out.
We tried to apologize—
All in vain.
She gave us the stink eye,
Mumbled curses,
And vanished.
I don't know why she blamed all of us.
We trusted Tesh.
We didn't know he was lying.
But the damage was done.
The class scrambled for strategies
To win her back.
She was the best L.O teacher we'd ever had.
Tesh promised he'd take the fall.
Said she'd be back tomorrow.
Said he'd carry the burden.
It was his fault, after all.
Then the bell rang.
We checked the timetable.
Next up:
Mental Abuse To Humans.
Maths.
We'd left our books at home,
Thinking she wouldn't show up on the first day.
We were wrong.
So wrong.
Students ran past our class.
Each step silenced another room.
We knew.
It was her.
The one and only.