Baskadia

As the alarm blared, jolting him awake, his weary eyes flickered open, greeted by the same sight he had grown accustomed to:

He had a class to attend, an important one at that, his first class in the school. “Sh*t” he blared, realising he was late. He Jumped into the shower and came out within minutes.

As he stepped onto the bustling street, he couldn't help but notice the sea of faces of students going towards the direction of the school, some in groups discussing, some walking alone, some on phone trying to reach their friends and others doing their thing. He arrived at the hall and met the serious faces of students focused on their sheets. “Settle down quietly Mr and get an answer sheet”. The old man commanded.

“Dammit” he whispered to himself, having noticed they were writing a test and he had no pen. He dared not ask anyone because the lecturer was directly standing in front of him. He noticed that the girl beside him was rounding up her work and going through it, so he thought he'd wait till she was through and request for her pen. But to his amazement, she stood up and said for the whole class to hear “I don't lend people my pen mr”. 'Today couldn't get more bad’ he thought as the lecturer was strolling to where he was, someone passed a pen before the lecturer got to his seat and he immediately pretended to be concentrating on what he was doing.

He finished the test and submitted. “Finally”, he said to himself as he strolled through the entrance. “Hey bro” he felt a tap and looked at a young guy who looked like he was in his early twenties smiling at him. “I saved your a**, that old bull would've sent you out of his class for the semester”. He rambled “Are you also one of the transferred students?” he asked “Yes bruv. I appreciate your kind gesture, I actually thought I had a pen with me, but life has its way of f*****g you up”. He said.

“I'm Ben, computer science, year two” he said, extending his hand. “Collins, same level”. He replied his savior as they continued their conversations.

Meet Collins, a handsome, intelligent and bright minded guy who has been fascinated with mathematics and other science related stuff since he was a young boy. His parents died when he was a kid and their properties were withdrawn from him by his uncles. He lived with his Grandmother who was a petty trader and they basically survived from hand to mouth. He started his bachelor's program at a publicly funded university but was given a scholarship to study in the University of Queensland, one of the top ranking universities in the country.

“Hey buddy” he was brought back from his thought, “I'll be taking a cab to my estate, catch you later bro” Ben said stretching his hand for a fist bump. “Thanks for today, i appreciate”, he said, stretching his own hand too.

He got home and made something to eat. “I’ve got a lot of tasks to complete tonight” he soliloquized, while connecting his laptop to his screen and powering it. He made money from helping students with their project. This has been his side hustle so it was nothing new. He handled final year students' projects even when he was a freshman.