Chapter 1 – The Breaking Point
The large digital wall clock told Alex that forty-one more minutes remained of the most mind-numbing lecture he would attend that week. He was not suffering alone. The fact that some of his classmates had already succumbed to sleep while others were visibly struggling to stay awake was proof of that.
On its face, it was easy to blame the lecturer for the situation since he insisted on class attendance only to then ignore everyone except for a handful sitting in the first few rows, but Alex knew better. He recognised that the real culprit was the genius in his department's administrative office who dreamed up the idea of picking out core courses taught by notably boring lecturers, and piling on double periods of each into an eight-hour stretch, weekly.
The result was a first semester timetable that had Alex questioning not just the individual's motives, but also their life choices.
Alex had stayed awake throughout by doodling in his notebook and the half-drawn caricature of the current lecturer's face, staring back at him from a notebook filled with pages of similar caricatures, was a testament to his endurance.
He tried yet again to pay attention to the lecturer's words but this attempt was no more successful than the last. The clock showed thirty-nine minutes left. Alex stared at his half-drawn caricature of the lecturer, then at the three classmates already asleep in the row ahead. His phone buzzed.
Desperate for any distraction from the lecturer's droning monotone, he reached into his pocket expecting to see another junk text from his mobile network. Instead, he found a text from Moji, his girlfriend.
Can we meet at Heritage Park after classes are over? Her message read.
It was only a simple question but it instantly caused Alex's mood to make a 180-degree turn. He immediately typed back "Sure" but his one-word response grossly understated how deliriously happy the idea of seeing Moji that evening made him.
They'd been together since last semester, though the long break apart and Moji's heavy workload this term meant they'd barely seen each other in weeks. Her text felt like oxygen.
That evening, Alex made his way to the rendezvous point in an excellent mood. He was excited about the evening and very optimistic about the future of their relationship, and he couldn't stop smiling.
About midway though, it occurred to him that Moji would expect them to grab a bite to eat at some point and he knew his bank balance would not sufficiently fund a meal for two at any nice restaurant on campus. Even so, he rechecked his balance in case a credit inflow had magically boosted it.
He checked his balance: ₦2,840. Not enough.
The chapter continues...