The girl named kindness

I enjoyed my high school days so much, I had very nice classmates who were also my friends and they were always fun to be with.
I remember there was a new girl, her name was "Kindness".
"Ah, kindness, what a nice name", we complimented her!

Since her name was Kindness, somehow we thought that she would be the nicest of all, kind and interactive, at least that's what we thought! So we all welcomed her nicely! But we soon learned that a person's name doesn't really reflect or represent who he is, something happened that changed our hearts toward the girl...

Well, one of the male teachers took a liking on the girl, I think they hung out even after school, but none of that was my concern, though few were jealous. The teacher would buy her lunch and even pay more attention to the girl in his teachings.

The girl wasn't even that brilliant in class so even after all the attention given to her, we were still the ones answering questions in class.

When it was time for exams, the teacher gave us areas of concentration for reading like they normally do, but for the girl, he gave her the exam questions secretly. Now that really got me concerned, why would he do that, it's cheating!

Kindness didn't hide the paper from us, but she refused to show us the questions written on the paper, she flipped it to our faces and kept holding it. She kept the exam questions to herself!

Well, we weren't going to report her if she had showed us the questions, because of that, we decided to report both she and the teacher to the principal.

"You can return to your class now!" This was the only response the principal gave us. But he took no action against the teacher, most of my classmates said it's because they are relatives. I felt really bad about the injustice, we all did! But there was nothing else we could do.

Well we had another good idea, not to fight with the girl, but not to let her pass above us. So we all decided to do a group study in the areas of concentration we were given. We knew the girl would still need help locating the answers to the questions she had.

There was only one day left before the exam so we were all very nervous. I took it very personal and decided that the girl will not get a higher score than me in that exam or any other one. So I was reading all night and made sure I understood everything, I even set questions for myself and made sure to answer everything correctly.

So the next morning I knew I was ready for the exam but I was also very nervous, but prayer always helped me out in this situation, I said a prayer!

Soon it was already time for the exam and we had an hour to finish 50 questions. I was happy to see that most of the questions were what I read so I wrote the answers with confidence but with a lot of discernment and a but of nervousness.

"Extra sheet please? " I asked the supervisor. I was handed some extra sheet to contain more of the answers I was writing. Soon it was time to submit and I was all ready to hand over my papers.
We all submitted our papers and went home for the day after writing two more subjects exams.

I waited eagerly for the day of the results and it soon came. This time, I was more nervous! I sat very quietly for my name to be called out so I could finally see my result.
Next thing I saw was that teacher waking towards me. His expression gave me no clue of what he had in mind or what he was about to say to me, I was scared!
But my face brightened when he said these words to me: "Congratulations Mary Adindu, you passed! You had a 95% in my exam and you are second only to one". Wow, I was so excited but I still hoped that it wasn't kindness I was second to. God , let it be anyone but not her. I said in my mind!

I was going to the toilet when I saw Kindness and her sister arguing, I was curious to know what they were discussing. Then I heard her sister asking her why she got a 50% despite everything that was done for her. My excitement grew at this point, I didn't even get to the toilet again, I went back to burst the news to my friends who also got good grades like me, we all laughed together and happy she didn't pass us even though she cheated.

In the end, justice prevailed. The teacher left the school for whatever reason I don't know. The girl had no other person to help her.
Though she later humbled herself and she didn't have an attitude again. We decided to take her in again and she became our friend even to after high school. Well, she was a great friend, we enjoyed her new being!

The story of Kindness taught me that true character is revealed through actions, not just names. Also, that justice prevails and that people can change for the better, when given the opportunity.

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