Classmate boycotts final exam paper to get married

It is about 8:46am and I’m I headed to my final 4th year exam paper that begins in 14 minutes time. I meet Shadrack, my class representative along the academic highway, slightly some distance from the usual spot. He is in a hurry much more than I am. His face is wrinkled, devoid of any smile and unlike him, he isn’t enthusiastic to talk. Something must be eating him up.

Shadrack, or Shaddy as we usually referred to him, has been a classmate since first year.  Unlike the rest of my colleagues in the IT class, he has been very aggressive in class; quick to ask and answer questions, does his assignment in time, finishes exams before the rest, inquisitive, follows every lecture after class to create rapports with them. He is the type you would call a teacher’s pet. Birds of a feather flock together. While I don’t possess some of those traits, we became good friends. When I joined the Student Governing Council, I resigned from being a class rep and he enthusiastically took over. Still, he consulted me on a lot, especially on how to deal with the stubborn classmates. Whenever he had personal issues, he’d openly share them. But today, something wasn’t right. Being the last paper, majority of us were all smiles, it was a moment of achievement. Instead he seemed disturbed and couldn’t talk about it. Perhaps this fella doesn’t want to finish this campus, I thought. Unknown to me, the fella was just about to end 8-4-4 in style.