The inkwell prompt #60 : TEMPTED TO TOUCH

Everyone got agitated because of the way Prof. Zulu embarrassed Judah. Even if he wasn't well dressed, wore the wrong colour codes and plaited his hair, calling him crazy and dumb wasn't still a good way to discipline him or set him straight, moreso, the fact that he appeared that way didn't make him any of those. Although the students didn't like Judah so much, they hated the negative stereotyping by Prof zulu, it wasn't right what he did but he would never accept he was wrong, even if everyone in the world told him so.

Professor Zulu sent Judah out of the class after saying his class would never accommodate gangsters. He told him never to come back until he was properly dressed and had cut his hair. Although Judah was provoked and tempted to speak, he still managed to keep his hat on, It was really a shameful experience.

Everyone had thought Judah would react, that maybe he'd talk back at prof or maybe escalate the issue but he didn't, it was surprising how he Just said "thank you sir" and left.

The surprise didn't just stop there, Judah came back after an hour looking transformed. He had loosened and cut his hair, his clothes were in accordance with the department's stipulated colour codes and his shirt was now well tucked in. Prof. Zulu was amazed, Judah stepped into the class, he greeted the Prof and said softly" I'm sorry for interrupting your class sir, please can I join your class now ?". Prof was really happy, he was amazed, he asked Judah to see him in his office after the class. From that day, Judah became prof's favourite student, infact they became close friends.

Prof later did a little research about Judah, he found out that Judah was one of the brightest students in the college, he was quite amazed at Judah's previous results and he wondered how someone so smart would appear the way Judah did. Judah's incredible results made prof. love him even more and it made them even closer.

With time, Judah graduated from just being prof's friend to a friend of prof's family. They all loved him and even invited him to dinner on weekends.

At some point, Prof. started entrusting Judah with important informations and tasks, he would secretly call Judah and ask him to help him mark examination scripts of freshers(100 level students) he was lecturing. He taught Judah everything he needed to know about marking and recording, about the process of result compilation and evaluation , he knew Judah was more than capable but he still never failed to supervise what Judah did.
At some point he stopped the supervision, Judah never made mistakes so at some point he no longer saw reasons to supervise him whenever he gave him such task.

He gave Judah freedom and unrestricted access to his office, he could go and stay there as much as he wished.

Judah had always dreamt of graduating school with a First class degree, Prof. Zulu even confirmed that he was a first class student, according to Prof, Judah knew his course of study excellently. Judah knew that being called a first class student doesn't always connote that one would graduate with a first class degree. He wanted the results, the first class degree and not just a name or knowledge.

Although he knew he was smart and believed that he was indeed a First class student like Prof always said, his results showed otherwise. Last year during his 400 level exam period, he wasn't feeling so well but he managed to Join in the exams because he didn't want to repeat the year as is the policy for forfeiting an exam. When the results came out, it wasn't so good. Although he didn't fail, he still didn't do very well, it was just mediocre and it badly affected his CUMULATIVE GRADE POINT AVERAGE( CGPA). He needed a CGPA of about 4.5 to be awarded a first class degree but what he now had was 4.4.

Judah wasn't so worried, he felt he would make up with this final year but things didn't go as planned. After one of his exams he realized his chances of fulfilling his dreams and getting a first class honours were slim, he had made some terrible mistakes while he was answering some questions, It was prof's course, he knew prof, he knew Prof wouldn't help him . He was really sad and was even depressed. Although he was very close to the Prof and always helped him in marking and the sorting out exam papers, Prof never let him see his own results or even those of the members of his class, but he knew where Prof kept them and always peeped them when he wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

Since he knew he had done badly and this single result could ruin his dream of graduating with a first class honours, he thought of altering the results, he knew the marking and recording processes, he knew how he could get it done without even the Prof knowing.

He thought so much about it, it gave him sleepless nights, everytime he was in profs office, the temptation always came, sometimes he would pull out the exam files and would put it back in because he just couldn't get himself to do such a thing, he had never done such a thing before, he never planned for it and it was against his principles.

He kept on thinking about it, he thought about the pride and respect it would bring to himself and his family, how it would increase his chances of getting a good job, how fulfilled he would be if he gets a first class. He also knew that if Prof eventually finds out, he may just be expelled from the school and his relationship with Prof would be ruined. " This is a big risk but it's worth it, there is no way he would find ", he said to himself as he made up his mind to make the change.

The next day he went to Prof's office like he did everyday, Prof had given him a spare key so he had unrestricted access to the office whenever he liked. He brought out the file containing his exam papers and records, he put them on the table but couldn't get himself to alter them. He stared at the documents for a while then put them back. He left the office shedding tears, it was painful that after all his efforts, all the nights of studying, his dreams still eluded him, it even pained him more because he had the opportunity to fix things but couldn't just do it .

Later that day, he went to Prof's house, he met them having dinner and he joined them. After dinner, Prof told him to come seat beside him so they could watch a video together, Prof always did this when ever he saw a video of an incredible scientific discovery. He would always narrate the process and procedures to Judah.

This time what Judah saw was rather shocking, so shocking that it left him speechless. It was a video of himself at prof's office. He never knew that Prof had a secret camera in his office. Prof turned to him and said "Judah you're lucky you didn't succumb to the temptation...else !!!" , he paused and took a sip of water," meanwhile , I had a meeting with the school's Senate, you know that you're one of the finest students the school has ever produced and we understand that you made a mistake in your exams, we wouldn't want that mistake to define you so we have decided to upgrade your results and award you with a first class degree, we have also decided to give you a scholarship to do your masters and retain you as a lecturer here after graduation, Thank your God you didn't tamper with those results, I would have dealt with you", Prof stood up, shook Judah's hand then left for his room.

Thanks you so much for having me in your contest. I want to specially thank @acidyo for alway supporting me and encouraging me. And to everyone that always take time to read my posts, I'm really grateful. Thanks alot and God bless you