Lucas’ head was buried in his hands. He ran his hands through his bushy hair, then stood up from where he sat. He paced back and forth in his room as different thoughts raced in his head. He stopped his pacing, and picked up the paper that he had crumpled and thrown on the floor. He straightened it out, and scanned it critically but it didn't change what was written in the paper. Lucas had failed his third year exams, passing only four out of ten courses. The four courses he had passed were just a grade above F.
Lucas didn't need to wonder how it had happened. He knew he had never been an intelligent student. But he had learned not to get below D in any of his courses. It was majorly because of fear of his father. His father had already resigned to fate that Lucas was not a brilliant child and had grudgingly accepted the C’s and D’s he brought home. But Lucas’s father had sterningly warned him that if he ever failed any course, he should not bother coming home. So, Lucas had tried his hardest every semester, or so he thought.
Now, he had failed six courses. This meant he would have to spend an extra year in school. Something he knew his father could disown him for. Lucas knew that he was to be blamed for his woeful result as he had spent majority of the semester partying away with his new friends. But, he thought that if he just crammed a lot of text and theories, it would go down well for him. But one thing Lucas had overlooked the fact that it was to be his first written examinations since he entered university. And to successfully ace a written exam, a student had to actually understand the course thoroughly. In overlooking that, it had led to Lucas’ failure.
Lucas sighed and picked up his phone, then texted one of his new friends, Danny.
”What’s up, Danny? Have you gotten your results?”, He typed in the chat box, then sent it. Soon, he could see bubbles above the chat, meaning Danny was already responding to his text.
”Yes, bro. What about you?”, Danny's text came in.
”I have too. Can i see yours?”, Lucas asked.
A picture came in from Danny. Lucas loaded it. Danny had gotten straight B’s in all of his courses. Lucas closed his eyes and opened it again. The B’s glared back at him. Lucas felt betrayed by Danny. He couldn't believe that Danny had gotten a good result. Danny was the one who had proposed friendship to him. Danny had shown him the ropes in clubbing and partying. Lucas vividly recalled when Danny had said, “Yo, bro. Schooling is a scam. I'm just here to get a degree to prove that I actually attended school. Nothing else. It's not like I'm going to use the degree to work anyway. So, why aim for first class or second class? Nahh” At the time, what Danny had said had made sense to Lucas.
Of course, Lucas was not enthusiastic about school and was just in university because of his dad. Left to him, he wanted to open up a store where he could sell technical gadgets and accessories. He remembered when he had summoned up the courage to tell his dad about dropping out of school and opening a gadget store. He could still see the way his dad eyes had reddened and twitched. The veins at his temple had pulsed in anger and his dad had screamed, “No son of mine will drop out of school and do that rubbish. Do you hear me?? No son.” Lucas would never forget the way spittle sprayed on him as his dad yelled.
It was one of those times when Lucas wished his mum hadn’t died. He knew his mum was the only one who could soothe his dad’s anger and make him see reason. But, she had died minutes after giving birth to his baby brother. Before she died, she had demanded to see Lucas and he could still hear her last words, “Lucas, no matter what, do not give up on your dad. Do not leave him alone. Take care of your baby brother. Promise me.”
Lucas had nodded and promised. Now, he regretted binding himself to that promise. There were periods when he wanted to pack out of his father's house in anger but he would always remember the promise he had made to his mother on her deathbed. And whenever he saw his baby brother, the anger just sort of vanished. Now, he wondered what his dad would say when he saw his results. He could imagine his dad towering over him and yelling, “I disown you. I disown you.” Lucas knew he had to find a solution to this problem.
After deciding to find a solution to his problem, Lucas reached out to Egalitarian. Egalitarian was known to be a handyman. He had answers and solutions to any problems. Egalitarian could be soughted after to carry out any job, except murder. His services were not cheap either but the results of his services were always perfect which was why people patronized him. That was what Danny had told Lucas anyway.
Lucas stepped into Egalitarian’s office. His office was air-conditioned and furnished in a simple way. Egalitarian was after all, a simple man except in matters of his job. Egalitarian was sitted behind his desk, typing in his laptop. Lucas stood quietly. It seemed like hours before Egalitarian took notice of him and motioned to him to sit down. Lucas took his seat on the soft plush cushion by the corner.
“How can I help you?” Egalitarian asked, while still typing on his laptop. Lucas cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together nervously.
”Uhmm, I have a problem with my results that I need to fix.” Lucas answered.
Egalitarian’s hands paused over his laptop and he peered at Lucas now.
“What problem?” He inquired.
“I need to upgrade my results, please. I can't do an extra year in school. I will pay any amount.”
Egalitarian typed something on his laptop, then shut it close.
“Let me see it."
Lucas handed his result sheet to Egalitarian. Egalitarian looked at it and shook his head. Lucas saw it as a sign of mockery and he knew he deserved it.
“To upgrade this result is going to be hard. It's a lot of E’s and F’s here. If we were to upgrade it on the school portal, it might be noticed.” Egalitarian said.
“What is the next step then?” Lucas asked, desperation tinging his voice.
“I didn't say I can't do it. Just that it might be noticed. But, if you want a clean job, it will cost you a lot of money.”
“How much are we looking at?”
“100k. And that's just a discounted price because you are a student and I can see that you are desperate.”
“That's a whole lot. Where do I get it from?” Lucas didn't know where he was going to get such huge sum of money.
“You can either sink or swim, my bro. I'm sure you wouldn't want to sink. So, find a way. Or do an extra year.” Egalitarian opened his laptop and returned back to typing like Lucas was never there.
After a lot of scraping, begging and borrowing, Lucas was able to raise the money to pay Egalitarian. Egalitarian beamed at him and said, “Expect to see your result upgraded in two days.”
Lucas sighed in relief. It had been sorted out. No disowning or yelling from his father. But, Lucas had sighed too soon.
“Hello, dad.”
“You failure. I just checked your school portal. You are not my son. How could you get 6 F’s and 4 E’s? Where did you get your low IQ from? Definitely not from me or from your mother, God bless her soul. Do not bother coming home.” The line went dead. The phone slipped out of Lucas’ hand and bounced on the couch. He let out a deep sigh.
He had expected the results to be upgraded by now but Egalitarian had stopped picking his calls and at a point, his contact had ceased to exist. He had gone to Egalitarian’s office and had met with empty walls. Egalitarian had moved. It seemed that Lucas had been scammed after all. Even Danny didn't know where Egalitarian was.
Lucas’ dad had been pestering him for his results and he couldn't postpone it anymore. So, he had given his dad his school details to check the results himself. And he hadn't expected any other reaction from his dad except what he just did
“Well, mum. I tried to fulfill the promise I made to you. But Dad broke it for me. And I'm sorry it happened this way. I should have done better. I'm sorry.”
