The Ilorin Shock EPISODE 18

Episode Eighteen: When Respect Changed Sides

Things changed the moment I returned to school.

Not loudly.

Not with announcements.

But in the way people looked at me.

Before, I was just that boy the one connected to a teacher’s wife. Quiet. Manageable. Easy to push aside. Some teachers spoke to me anyhow. Some students barely noticed me.

But now, the story was different.

This time, my name was tied to the principal.

And in school, that changes everything.

Teachers who barely greeted me before suddenly smiled. Some asked questions softly. Others called my name twice, as if they wanted to be sure they were saying it correctly. Even my seat in class seemed to carry weight I didn’t ask for.

The whispers started.

“That’s the boy staying with Mallam Babulhameen.”

“Isn’t that the principal’s father?”

“So he’s the one…”

I pretended not to hear, but I heard everything.

Students began to act carefully around me. Some tried to befriend me overnight laughing too hard at my jokes, offering me space on benches they never shared before. Others watched me from a distance, eyes full of questions.

And then there was jealousy.

The quiet kind.

The kind that doesn’t speak but burns.

Some classmates stopped greeting me. Some suddenly became rude for no reason. A few tried to provoke me, hoping I would react so they could say, “See him. He thinks he’s big now.”

But the truth was simple.

I wasn’t bigger.

I was just safer.

The hardest part was seeing my former teacher’s wife.

She was still there still teaching. Still moving around the school like before. But something had shifted between us. She avoided my eyes. When our paths crossed, her face tightened for just a second before she looked away.

Once, she tried to correct me sharply in class maybe out of habit, maybe out of pride.

The room went quiet.

Another teacher gently interrupted and said,

“It’s okay. Let him finish.”

She froze.

That was when I understood: power doesn’t shout it rearranges the room.

I didn’t celebrate it. I didn’t abuse it. I just observed.

For the first time, I felt what it meant to be seen differently not because I changed, but because my position changed.

And yet, inside me, I was still the same boy who once stood outside a gate at midnight, too small to reach the latch.

That contrast stayed with me.

Respect felt good but it felt dangerous too. Because when respect comes from position, jealousy is never far behind.

And I could feel it building.

Watching.

Waiting.

Because in Ilorin, every new level comes with a new test.

To be continued… Episode 19