An Encounter With AkinBully

Being a junior in high school, I was so naive and always loved to stay out of trouble because, for some reason, I hated to be lashed or embarrassed.

Throughout my school days, I've kept noticing a particular senior who looked so mean and arrogant and was always abusive with his words. I would call him a tyrant and bully because he loved to oppress the junior students and even his classmates because of his physique. His name is Akin, but because of his trait, everyone knew him as Akinbully, and that became his new name in school.

One fateful afternoon during lunch break, I heard someone calling out to me, with a footstep approaching where I was, "Hey!! Hey!! Come here." I knew I was the one the person was referring to, but I paid no attention and kept walking to the cafeteria until this giant physique was right in front of me, right on the staircase, a few meters away from my class.

"Come here, go and get me five puffs immediately." Akinbully, the most popular bully in my secondary school, called out to me, giving me a stern look.

"Where's the money?" I managed to ask because I just didn't want to get into any trouble with him. I was willing to go get him the puff until I heard, "Use your money." It was as though a nut in my head had loosened when I burst into laughter. "Excuse me, you say?" I asked again to be sure of what I heard.

"I said, Use your money and hurry up now!" He repeated it with a very loud and clear voice, and all I would do for a while was stare at the audacity of this guy. To think that many students are so afraid of him must have given him the guts to keep bullying everyone.

"So sorry, I won't get anything for you with my money; if you want me to get something for you, then you have to give me your money to do so." I politely replied as I resumed walking to the cafeteria when I felt someone dragging my school uniform. "If you move an inch, I'll beat the hell out of you. How dare you? I asked you to get me puffs; you had the effrontery to refuse, and you have the guts to walk out? Have you heard about me at the school? Nobody dares do what you've just done." I could see how upset he was; he was so furious and was ready to fight. I paused for a moment, thinking of my next step. "Fight or flight? I soliloquized, First of all, this isn't his right to ask me to use my money to get stuff for him."

As much as I was quite fearful of what he would do to me, I learned from my parents never to allow anyone to intimidate me, regardless of how fierce they looked. "Speak up for your rights, no matter who it is," the voice in my head resounded.

"Hello Senior, I understand you have so much power over your juniors, but that doesn't give you the right to bully others; buying stuff for you with my money is never my responsibility, and no matter how much you try to bully me, I will never use my money to get you anything." I tried so hard to steady my nerves, as my voice was already shaking.

His fist was already clenched, and his face was so full of rage. "Wait a minute, do you want to punch me or what?" I asked him yet again, "Obviously, you think I just fell from the sky, right? I'm not sure you have an idea who my parents are; wherever you run, they'll find you and make sure you pay for hurting their child," I monstered the courage to talk back at him.

"Look how small you are and so confident; if I deal with you, you'll never cross my path again," he replied, and there were minutes of silence. I guess both of us were contemplating our next step. , I never had the intention of fighting; I was just looking for ways to get out of the ugly scenario and then report him to the authorities and my parent, but the silence was cut off by our principal, who walked into the scene.

"What's going on here?" Mr Idowu asked, and suddenly Akin pretended to be correcting me for something, and I was so gobsmacked at how funny he could be. "Really? Senior Akin? Were you not trying to force me to get you stuff with my own money? Even with a threat?" I spoke out, not minding his gesture of wanting us to keep the event to ourselves.

Immediately, he was summoned to the office, and suddenly others began speaking against him and all the things he had done to them, which led to his expulsion from the school, and then we all had peace. I was glad I could beat a bully without using my fist, and of course, my parents were proud of me after I reported the incident to them.