It all started when I thought doing my school duties at the last minute was fun, after all, I was still getting good results. I didn’t think there was any harm in my way of doing things until one day things went sideways.

I never really liked my physics teacher because she would always paint us as fools if we struggled to get the answer to an equation that was on the board. She would insult us individually to make us hate the subject and leave it, as the physics class was already full, and getting rid of the dumb children would make her life of marking empty scripts a lot easier.

But even though I disliked my physics teacher, I was passionate about the subject, so the upcoming final exam would determine if I stayed in that hell teacher’s class. So I studied late and then woke up at 8am. The exam was at 9am and I lived far from school; clearly my alarm did not go off. My heart shattered when I realised everyone had left me and I was home alone. I tried asking my neighbours to help me by giving me a lift to school but unfortunately their car had broken down.

It was 9am and I was still at home filled with disappointment and anger at the fact that my siblings and parents didn’t have the decency to wake me up. Did they forget that I was writing?

Missing that exam has taught me the value of using my time wisely.