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I wish this was an embarrassing moment I learned from, but I didn't learn. I'd probably do the same thing if I was caught in the same situation again. We've all experienced one embarrassing moment or the other that we can't seem to get over. The one that lives rent-free in our heads. The kind that makes you want to move to a new city where no one knows you. The kind that makes a mockery of your confidence. The one that humbles you and brings you back to reality.
If there was a crown to be given to the person with the most embarrassing moments, I'd be both King, Queen, and probably the whole royal family too. I've had more embarrassing moments than normal. I'm awkward by default, and everything I do is embarrassing. But in this life of continuous embarrassment, one moment stands out more than the rest, am taking top tier humiliation.
Let me take you back to my secondary school days. Now, this was exam period. Tension from exam questions, pen scribbling away non stop, suppressed joy of the upcoming vacation, stress from the fear of passing this examination by a thread. I was in the large hall, where the whole school gathered to write the exam. A thin layer of sweat on my forehead, as I tried to collect data from my brain, my pen was moving with just enough ease to keep me calm for the time being. Seriously thinking, I heard someone whisper my name. I was shocked at first. For a second, I thought the pressure had finally made me start hearing voices. But I quickly realized that it was just my classmate trying to ask me a question.
Normally, I knew what I was about to do was indeed illegal at that time, but she pleaded. I obliged, and so the whispering started, like a spy, on a mission. I was feeding her answers, oblivious to the fact that one of my teachers was watching. We were caught. My teacher was threatening to deduct my mark, for an exam I was not even sure I was going to pass. Now I didn't know where the flood of emotions came from. I didn't even know what I was feeling at that moment. Maybe anger for the fact he caught me, or that I indulged in malpractice. I don't even know where I got the courage to defend myself when I was clearly in the wrong. But at that time, I felt other people were doing it, so why is it me that he caught?
I was angry. I made a scene without even knowing it. I tried to stop him from writing the deduction on my paper, and slowly but embarrassingly, during the back and forth, my anger turned to frustration, which eventually turned to tears. In front of the whole school, ABIGAIL, a notable PREFECT, cried. The embarrassment turned back into anger. Angry at the fact that I let myself be embarrassed. I left the hall after he successfully deducted the mark. I just looked for a quiet place to arrange my thoughts. Questions like “Why did I do that?” occurred repeatedly.
After the exam, jokes and ridicule did not end, even from my juniors. My friends said I overreacted. Yes, I did, I literally turned that little incident to a full on Netflix production. Even the girl I was caught with was calm about the whole issue. I didn't know why I blew up. After ridicule from my friends, my teachers were shocked because they never thought I was one to do what I did. They advised me to apologize and not repeat it again, and that's what I did. He was lenient and was glad that I saw my wrong and apologized.
When the results came out, I was shocked. I PASSED. How? Although I wrote a considerable amount, I still had doubt. Coupled with the deduction, I had written that subject off. I went to my class teacher to ask, then she showed me my test papers. I saw the deduction cancelled. Joy, pure unfiltered joy. I immediately went to the teacher and expressed my deepest gratitude.
That incident earned me the name "crybaby." I still am. I guess I'm just sensitive. I cry over little, over big things, over nothing at all and I accept it now. Embarrassing stuff will happen, and we will make mistakes, but it's how we handle it after that makes all the difference.
Moral of the story...... Maybe don't cheat but if you do....... Remember to cry dramatically enough to cancel the deduction😂
It's still Abeegail 😉 ✨
Still a crybaby, still dramatic, still passing my exams.