Over the years, I had fallen in love with Lorna but feared expressing my feelings. She was the apple of my eye and was terrified of telling her how I felt. I also feared rejection. She had fallen in love with a handsome, dark, burly boy, a footballer and the top scorer in the junior football league.

Ntale was a bully and intimidated all students and the teachers. He was the son of the Headteacher. Nobody dared to cross his path. He had a crew of notoriously stubborn boys who had unkempt hair, did not put on uniforms, swung from class to class. Sometimes, they jumped through the large classroom windows and escaped before lessons ended.

To compound it, this naughty crew always skipped examinations and were...