Amaka was the prettiest girl in my class while in primary two. She was loved by everyone including teachers and students alike.
Everyone wanted to be her friend and I wasn't an exception.
I used to pray for the day she would borrow sharpener from me so that I could have the opportunity to talk to her but she never borrowed anything from me because she had lots of whatever she wanted.
One day, the names of noisemakers was written by the assistant class monitor who was a girl and didn't like Amaka like the rest of us, so she wrote Amaka's name.
My name was in it too.
When it was time for us to be flogged, the teacher said he was giving us three strokes each.
Even though I had a phobia for _'shamoboko'_, I decided
to do _'sign sign ummwenso nimfwa'_ for my three strokes because I didn't want Amaka to see me cry.
After my three lashes, I went to my seat.
It was from there I saw my pretty Amaka shivering out of fear.
She was already crying even though it wasn't her turn to be flogged.
My heart melted for her.
Finally, her turn came.
As the teacher was about to cane her, I stood up from my seat and shouted, _"Uncle I will collect the cane for her!"
The whole class became quiet. Everyone's mouth was opened.
The teacher turned to me and asked, _"what did you say?"_ I replied again, _"I want to collect the...