Chapter 2: Admission
Barnes entered the office and gently pushed the door back. He briefly gazed at his surrounding before aiming his gaze at the lean man seated in front of him on a comfortable leather recliner office chair.
"Good morning sir" Barnes greeted the lean man in the chair.
"Ah, what do we have here? if it isn't Barnes Bronson."
The man in the seat lifted his eyes from the paper work he was doing and looked and exclaimed. Barnes smiled and kept quiet for pleasantries because he knew this man wasn't about to stop talking. as a matter of fact he was just starting his banter.
"You're really inconsiderate, after all these months without even checking on us? really?"
he paused for a hundredth of a second before continuing
"Is that how your teachers groomed you?" Daniel Marven asked Barnes; the Bronson child prodigy and let the question hang for a minute.
"I am sorry for not visiting but it was just because i was held up with running the family business. I couldn't find time."
Then as if the storm had been awoken by Barnes' reply, Daniel flew out in rage
" really is that all you have to say for yourself? is that it? really? It seems all you have in you after these two years of A-level is your family pride and nothing else. I even doubt if you still have the humility and humanity we pumped into you when you were still studying in here."
" but..... but sir..... " Barnes stammered with a response.
" No 'buts' i don't want excuses. I want to see a well groomed young man without your family pride. What do you think your parents brought here for? Huh ? do you think it was a waste of time?" Daniel then slowly let his rage and temper cool off because he had achieved his required results. He wanted to see if Barnes still held respect for elders like he was trained while at Lumos academy.
'Well then. I think i have driven my point home. This young man won't slack off anymore with social etiquette and behavior.' the Dean of academics thought to himself and a faint smile appeared on his face but vanished as soon as it appeared. He sized up Barnes and sympathized with him because the young man appeared shaken up.
"Have a seat." the dean of academics motioned with his hand to Bronson to sit in the leather chair before him. Barnes hurriedly sat on the chair and averted his gaze from the dean of academics and instead looked at the tiled floor. He focused all his attention on his hoes and didn't hear the dean of academics ask him two times in a row.
"How is your family faring?" the dean of academics bellowed.
When Barnes got out of his stupor, he was surprised to find out the dean of academics was frothing at the mouth while looking at him. 'Could the dean of academics be having a heart attack?' he thought but quickly pushed the idea at the back of his mind when he saw how reddened his face was by anger and spoke up.
"Uhhm .... Sir, please forgive me for my absent-mindedness." I was quite lost in my reverie! I was contemplating upon a certain topic." Barnes defended his previous absentmindedness and cleared his mind to clearly answer the dean of academics' question.
"If you will pardon me and ask your question once more! Maybe I'll be in position to answer your question."
"How is the family and the businesses doing?" the dean of academics asked his question again after he had stabilized and got out of the fit of rage that seized him because he failed to get the attention of this young man before his sight.
"The family is doing great. And the businesses are running smoothly according to my understanding! There was a boom in the textile industries, all our customers placed orders for linen and organic wool because of the new trend set by the fashion designers. We had an early stock turnover than we expected! Fewer expenses mean more money saved hence a profit for us!"
"Business seems to run deep in your Bronson blood, it has permeated all your fibers and sinews! Anyway it would surprise me and the rest of the world if you weren't a competent businessman like your family members." Marven added as a matter of fact.
" in fact you will surpass all the achievements of the entire previous generation of the Bronsons! That is if you uphold the values we instilled in you."
"Hahaha hahah aha! Teacher you flatter me! I might be a businessman like my family members but I'm quite far away from surpassing their achievements, though i sure will surpass them given some time." Barnes exclaimed and told the dean of academics. Though in his thoughts he felt delighted and deeply appreciated the compliment made by the dean of academics, he couldn't let it show in his reply or his facial expressions.
With all said and done; the dean of academics asked Barnes"What brings you here because I am very sure you didn't come here to pay me or your former teachers a visit? It must be very important to you otherwise you wouldn't be here." He literally spelled out every word in the last sentence to drive the meaning home.
"Yes sir! As you have mentioned, it's very important to me and my family! I came around to check whether the MCE certificates were released from the Mwavura National Examinations Board (MWANEB) head offices! I need to start searching for an school to start my A-level in! My applications in Leos college were accepted and they offered me the opportunity to pursue Biology, agriculture and geography, however I turned it down, that's why I need the physical document to try other slots. The Leos college opportunity was got with a little 'help' from my grandfather."
"I have a better opportunity; there is a request from Trust academy, they suggested a pleasant deal; since you scored highly in Biology, and topped the charts in the district, they suggested you offer chemistry, biology and mathematics so that they also offer you a fully-fledged bursary to cover all you A-level expenses! why not think about it?" the dean of academics ignored Barnes' talk about desiring for a better A-level education in the central region and gave him an offer too good to turn down. He was the dean of academics in Lumos academy however he had links to the top administration in Trust academy that is why he wanted to grab this genius for his own benefits. To bring him under his tutelage and make him his personal disciple.
Marven was a teacher of chemistry and biology therefore he desired to get an exceptional talent, groom him and use him to prove to the world that talent does not only sprout from the central region but also from the eastern and he wanted to see the faces of his colleagues in central when they read the news and saw a star from the east. He just didn't know about the surprise that Barnes had prepared for him.
"Thanks! A lot! but I am not interested in any bursary nor offering chemistry anywhere in my combination." Barnes blatantly said without consideration for how hurt the dean of academics would be after his offer got turned down.
"Honestly I really think you should reconsider your decision and see the benefits in this opportunity. It is a win-win solution." Marven cajoled Barnes and if anyone saw his face now they wouldn't agree that he was the same fiery man that was pissed off with Barnes one hour ago.
"I am really sorry for your disappointment but I am not interested in anything apart from Lumos academy! I want to pursue my A-level in Lumos academy because my family agreed and said I have to come back here and finish my A-level." Barnes totally crushed the dean of academics' dreams and hopes completely by divulging the drive behind his interest in getting an admission into Lumos academy. It was his family. It goes without saying that Barnes' family; the Bronson's were the sole judges in all life- altering decisions he made, and he therefore couldn't dispute the decision made by them.
"I actually came to do two things today; to pick admission forms, fill them and hand them in and to also pick my MCE certificate and take it back home! i didn't know you had an interest in suggesting a school for my A-level." Bronson finally uttered words that smothered all the flailing hopes of the dean of academics.
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