The two boys quieted down when they were told to.
Jesse stared at Kwesi for a while before Kwesi waved to get his attention. "You good, Junior?"
Jesse snapped out of it and climbed onto the top bunk to sleep. It had been a long day.
The loud siren blared, signalling that it was 4:30 am. Jesse groaned as he sat up, causing the bed to creak. "Hey, lazy bones, this ain't your home to sleep however you want," Kwesi teased.
Jesse looked down and saw that Kwesi was already dressed and writing something on his bed. "You already bathed?" Jesse asked with his groggy morning voice. "Mhmmm," Kwesi nodded. He yawned and looked up at Jesse, who was still half-asleep.
"Form 3s wake up crazy early, before 4, to shower and study. So I've been up, and you were snoring and drooling. Eww."
"I don't drool, Senior Kwesi," Jesse retaliated back, feeling embarrassed. Kwesi chuckled and grabbed his backpack and water bottle.
"I was waiting for that idiot to unlock the house, and now it's open since it's 4:30. I gotta go to class. Bye."
"This early?" Jesse was surprised.
"You'll understand when you get to Form 3, Jesse. Go shower before the bathhouse gets packed, or you'll be late for morning assembly," Kwesi advised before leaving.
Jesse wanted to ask if Senior Kelvin was still around, but he had already left. He lazily got out of bed, grabbed his bucket, sponge, and shower gel, and headed to the crowded bathroom. Luckily, he managed to find an empty stall with only one person bathing. He undressed and took a refreshing shower. Afterwards, he squeezed his toothbrush with some Pepsodent toothpaste, grabbed his bottle water, and went downstairs to brush his teeth.
Once he returned to the dorm, he started getting dressed. Since the freshmen hadn't been given uniforms yet, they had to wear their green check shirts and brown pants. Jesse had both long and short brown pants, but since it was Monday, he chose to wear the long ones. He put on his clean green check shirt, applied some spray, and neatly made his bed, taking inspiration from Senior Kwesi's spotless bed.
To complete his look, Jesse decided to wear his church shoes to go with the brown long pants. He packed his Gucci school bag and wondered what to bring. He ended up taking a notepad, one storybook, a pen, and two bottles of water.
He also grabbed his wallet and placed everything in his bag. Finally, he hung his towel on the handle at the front of the bunk bed since he didn't know where else to hang it.
Now, Jesse was ready to go. He decided to go and call Ben so they could go to school.
As he was getting ready to leave, Senior Kelvin's voice froze him in place. "You're not supposed to wear those shoes on a Monday," Kelvin said sternly. "And sprays are not allowed in school. Didn't Dan inspect your trunk? Also, hang your towel on the drying rope outside the house, not inside the room."
Kelvin pointed out these rules firmly and looked at the boy whose demeanour screamed money.
Senior Kelvin opened the door to leave the room, but before he could, he added, "And don't forget to put on a belt!"
Jesse didn't know how he felt, whether he was embarrassed or something else. He took off his shoes and put on the well-known Play deck brown sandals. Then, he grabbed his Gucci belt and wore it. After that, he picked up his towel and a peg, and took his backpack. He remembered he needed to take his lunch bag, which had his cereal bowls, plates, and cutlery sets. He didn't feel like taking any snacks, so he went out and knocked on Ben's room.
A tall guy came out wearing a green check shirt and brown shorts, but it wasn't Ben. "Hello, good morning. Is Ben around?" Jesse asked. "I'm here, Jesse. Wait up!" Jesse heard Ben's voice say loudly. The other boy who opened the door went back inside and later came back out with his backpack and lunch bag as he went to desscend the stairs to go out.
Later on, Ben came out fully dressed with his bag.
"Who was that?" Jesse asked as they began to descend the stairs. "Oh, that was Nkansah. His school father is the dining hall prefect. He's my roommate," Ben answered.
"I see. What position is your school father?" Jesse curiously asked.
"He's the health prefect. And you?" Ben asked back.
"Oh, he's the protocol prefect," Jesse replied.
"Oh, nice! What's up with the towel? Are you sending it to the assembly hall?"
Ben giggled as he asked. "No, I'll hang it outside,"
Jesse embarrassingly said.
As they reached the entrance, ready to go out, they saw the house prefect Dan with keys, standing at the entrance.
"I'm locking the door in 15 minutes' time!" Dan shouted loudly and went back to his prefect room. Jesse noticed Dan staring at him as they went out.