My name is Lizzy Simeon. I have a teddy bear I call Amanda. I regard my teddy bear as a girl, and it is very precious to me. It is so precious to me that I go everywhere with it. I see Amanda as my only friend. A certain day at school something happened; something that made me know how much I cherish Amanda.
* * * *
One day I went to the school with Amanda in my bag. Christie, one of my classmates, secretly opened my bag in an attempt to maybe steal Amanda. Unfortunately for Christie, another of my classmate saw her. While she was trying to hide her dubious intention, she ran to our class teacher with the bag.
“Mrs. Biggs, Lizzy brought a teddy bear to school,” she said.
Now, Mrs. Biggs never really liked me. Bringing a teddy bear or any kind of toy to school was against school rules. I knew that I was in real trouble. Mrs. Biggs brought Amanda out of my bag and she was really angry with me.
“Lizzy, why did you bring this teddy bear to school?!” she shouted.
I was crying. I felt humiliated. My teacher went with the teddy bear to the headmaster, Mr. Davies. She told him everything that happened and asked what manner of punishment to give me.
“Why do you hate Lizzy Simeon even though she is a good girl?” he asked quietly.
“I do not hate her,” she replied.
“Give the teddy bear back to the child and tell her to see me after school,” said Mr. Davies, “and call me that troublesome girl, Christie.”
Mrs. Biggs threw the bear angrily at me when she got back to the class. She told Christie that the headmaster was going to scold her. Christie was very sad. She wanted to cry. When she got to the headmaster’s office he flogged her. Christie loved telling tales about her classmates and she had been rebuked several times. Mr. Davies called a special assembly and he scolded Christie in front of everyone.
“Christie Johnson, as you all know, behaves badly and she is going on two weeks suspension,” he announced to the teachers and students.
After sometime, school closed for the day and I went to the headmaster’s office.
“Lizzy, do not bring teddy bear to school again, do you understand?”
“Yes sir,” I said. I ran home happily with my dear friend Amanda safely in my bag.
OLUWATOLA KOMOLAFE
Oluwatola Komolafe is a JSS 2 student at Gbara Community Junior Secondary School, Lagos State
