My Dramatic Life in Uni

Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Hmm hey, yeah, it’s me again. And oh wow. There are a lot of things I want to share here! If I were to say them all, it would take more than five hours straight of typing. Haha, so for today’s post, I’m just gonna focus on one :)

As already known by people who are reading this blog, I am in the second semester of my first year in University now. This semester I am taking two of the four compulsory modules and one of them is MIB. It is a fun module! Really! And on Saturday, 19^th April, marks the end of the tutorial class for the module. I mean, on last Saturday was the last class before the exam.

A lot happened during the semester. Well, I will just start with how it started. For this module, our grade depends on the full semester assessment. I mean, we don’t have written exam. We only have individual presentation and group presentation. Well, what I am going to talk about here is about this group presentation thingy.

On our first day entering the tutorial class – I’m lucky because I am in the same class with Azee, Reena, Didi and Yuki. So I am not alone – we were divided into two groups. I got separated from Azee and Yuki but Reena and Didi were in my group. Alhamdulillah.

I think I’ve talked about this whole MIB video grouping in one of my posts, right? Oh yeah! I did. I talked about our first meeting at the library. Yeah! I did! LOL! I just remembered! HAHA! But in that post, I talked about how lucky I felt for having them us my group members and it seemed like we were gonna work well as a team.

Too bad~ that is not what happened. Well, I am OKAY with all of the members EXCEPT for this one girl. She was the reason that our group got in trouble. If it wasn’t for her, we would be having so much fun doing the video project!

I still remember I was the first one who talked to her when she was alone in the class. Well, I thought she wasn’t that bad. I THOUGHT. And she even showed up during our first meeting that did contribute a bit of ideas. But turned she is not what I thought she was. I started to realize it when she kept on refusing to come to our meeting and she got a lot of excuses. Then, one day, Reena and I have some ideas for our video and I needed to see everyone so that I could explain the ideas to them because I found it hard to explain by text on the Whatsapp group.

I SWEAR! I didn’t force anyone to come. I just simply told them that I would be in the library from morning and whoever was free could just come and see me at anytime they want. That girl said she couldn’t come because she needed to look after her house. Oh well, I am okay with that. But then she started to text rudely on the Whatsapp group! She kept asking me to just type in my ideas on the Whatsapp. I tried! But I couldn’t make up proper sentences. I said sorry and even requested to the others who have met that day to put the ideas into words for that girl. But they were also having the difficulty to do it. BECAUSE IT REALLY IS HARD!!! But she kept on pressuring me.

“Don’t you have a word to sum it up?”

Isn’t that annoying? Yes. I found it very annoying and I really was stressed because she kept on forcing me. I tried! Seriously, I tried! But… URGH! Didi was mad and she started to text on the group and told the girl to understand people situation and how respect is important. The girl didn’t reply and I thought that was it. It settled. Since that incident, I started to feel uncomfortable around her. But still, I treated her nicely because I know we were going to have a lot of work to do together as members of the same team. So I didn’t want to start a trouble.

HOWEVER!

She really was starting to get overboard. During our first filming day, she went home early even though the filming was supposed to go on until at least 4 pm in the afternoon just as we have planned. So we decided to just save a scene for her and film her part on another day.

The next day, she approached us and asked to do the filming but unfortunately, none of us available for the filming so her filming was postponed to another day.

Then! This is where it all started getting more and more troublesome. On the next Monday, she started texting on the group asking about her filming and she wanted to do it on that day. But Reena said she didn’t bring her camera. Well, how can you expect us to do the filming without a camera?

So we told her we couldn’t do the filming that day. She didn’t reply and I thought she was okay with it so I went on with the plan to meet up with Ohayopo-kun. He came unexpectedly and it had been awhile since I last saw him, plus we were going to see the IAW exhibition. When we were on the way to the exhibition, I got a call – no name – so, because I afraid it was an important call, I picked it up immediately.

It was her. The girl.

I wasn’t surprised actually. She said she wanted to do the filming on that day but again, I tried to convince her that we couldn’t without the camera. Then someone took the phone from her and then another person started speaking. Well, not exactly speaking, the person was SCREAMING and SHOUTING into my ears. I lost for words! Then I learned that was the girl’s mother. She kept on shouting into the phone, calling me irresponsible, fooling around, no plan, etc. I lost for words. She didn’t even give a gap for me to speak for myself. So I ended up saying sorry, over and over. But she wouldn’t stop shouting. That was… that was so… I don’t know how to explain my feeling at that time. I was surprised. I mean, I didn’t expect that coming. I was holding my tears as I listened to her shouting. Finally after 2-3 minutes, she finally stopped and handed the phone back to her daughter. I tried my best to keep my voice as calm as possible and said to her, “Don’t worry, we will think about your part. I will talk to Reena” she replied with an okay and hung up.

I thought it was over and for now, she wouldn’t disturb me anymore. But I was wrong. Then I received a text from her saying that she really want to do the filming no matter what, didn’t matter if the camera was available or not. And she also told me that her mother was with her at the time and they were already in UNI. Of course, I freaked out! I was freaking scared! I mean, her mother just shouted at me on the phone, scolding me and now she was in the UNI! Imagine how scared I was? How do you expect me to see someone who just scolded me through phone?

I ignored the text and tried my best to look okay in front of Ohayopo-kun. We continued with the plan to see the exhibition. Even though I was emotionally shaken at that time, seeing the Islamic exhibition made me feel a little bit better. But just when I slowly returning back to my mood before the call, we ALMOST bumped into the girl and her mother. I stopped dead on my track and before they could see me, I quickly hid behind a wall, clutching into my chest. I am sure I looked pale as I watched them passed by. Ohayopo-kun was a bit confused but he didn’t say anything and let me stayed behind the wall.

Until I was sure the mother and daughter were no longer in sight, I quickly asked Ohayopo-kun to bring me out of UNI as soon as possible. I was so scared and seriously, I was holding my tears. If only I didn’t care about the people around us, I would be crying so hard! Fortunately, Ohayopo-kun didn’t say much and together we headed to his car. On the way, we bumped into ka Raudah and I cried in her arms though she had no idea what happened, she reassured me that everything will be okay. After that, Ohayopo-kun sent me home. Again, I am so thankful that he was there.

Arrived home, again, I cried so hard in my room. I didn’t tell my dad but I talked to my grandma – only simple details like I got scolded by someone I don’t know on phone – and she told my dad. That night, my parents came to my room and we talked. I felt a bit better after that as I know my parents supported me in this.

So yeah, that was it; one of my ‘wow’ experience with the girl. But that wasn’t all.

So, because I didn’t show up that day since I went home, she carried on with her plan to film her part but of course, without the camera. She used phone and her mother as the cameraman. She managed to bring out two of our group’s members to join her. And as the result, her video was in a very low quality. The others and I were so shocked and so after thought so hard about it, we decided to just ask her if we can re-do her part. And Reena was so determined to help her in whatever she needs. But she refused to. Not simply refused. But RUDELY refused to. It was on the Whatsapp group and other members were of course reading. Because of her rude response, Reena got mad. Well, everyone would get mad for that. I was in the verge of getting mad to. The girl then started talking about our group had no plan and that we were simply fooling around, scattering around and we were not serious with the project and stuffs. Didi then joined in and talked in a nice way – in my perspective – advising her and so on. The conversation became heated and then finally I got the courage to type! I said whatever I had on my mind. But I am sure I wasn’t rude. I was just simply voicing out my satisfaction and I accidentally mentioned about her mother shouting at me. And then, the conversation ended that way. I thought…well…I thought that settled everything. Yeah, it didn’t.

Another group’s member texted me in private that night. He was a bit confused and worried with what happened. So I told him a part of the story – minus the phone call part – and he said he would do something about it and told me to not worry. Then this member, he organized a meeting by privately texted the other members. During the meeting, I was surprised because he didn’t include the girl – yup, all members were there except her – and then we talked about what happened. They watched the video of low quality sent by her and they were also thinking of the same thing; TO RESHOOT her part. So in the end, we agreed that one of us will talk to her about it. Because this project was a GROUP project, and our grade for the module depended on it so yeah…

But a few days after that, Reena, Didi and I were called to the office. Oh wow. Can you see how things were getting serious? And believe me, it became worse…

We were shocked when the lecturers told us that the mother had reported us to the police and they even showed us the complaint letter against the three of us by the mother. To defend ourselves, Reena told our half of the story to the lecturers, and I also told them about the phone call. They were on our side because they seen no sense in the complaint report against us. WELL! It was clearly her fault and as I read the report, most of them were false statements… Of course, we had a lot to talk about it so the lecturers suggested that we better write our own report against her and the mother.

It became a serious case because it involved the police.

*headaches*

I had assignments to due on the following week and then now I had to write an extra report. I was so annoyed but still I had to do it because this concerned our name. I don’t want my name to be on the police record! T.T when clearly I haven’t done anything wrong.

We consulted about this with some of our friends and those friends were so supportive and they helped us in figuring about what to do and how to settle this; including moral support. Reena’s dad was planning on getting a lawyer and Didi already had a lawyer on her side. But I… I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t have any relative who has relation with law stuffs. How to get a lawyer; I have no idea.  But thank Allah; I have friends who are so nice and supportive. Reena didn’t leave me alone – Didi too – I am so glad. Alhamdulillah.

That week was one of the exhausting weeks for me so far. But hey, I never expect I would be in this kind of situation. I mean, this kind of thing only happens in dramas. So at the same time, I was kinda thrilled.

Days after that, we got news saying that the uni is on our side. And that the girl’s scholarship would be terminated if she didn’t pull back the report against the three of us. That kind of telling us that we have won the case.

What a week, I had to write extra report, compiling evidence and stuffs. We even see the counseling officer. It was tough for me and my two friends. But Alhamdulillah we managed to go through it because we were sticking together.

And I guess, it ended like that.

In the end, we didn’t include her video in our project but we put her name on the credit list. Well, what happened had cost us our grade :( because our grade has been affected by the incident…and there was nothing we can do about it.

We decided to just forget everything… like pretend that it never happened. We put smiles on our face and yeah, pretend as if nothing like that ever happened. It was awkward, of course, every time we entered the class. I tried to actually talk to her again but no, I couldn’t do it. We didn’t do it on purpose but it seemed as if we outcast her. But what else can we do? We didn’t want this. But she started it. We could have settled things just between us in a good way but then she got the police involved in this. AND, we were falsely accused for something we never did. And we didn’t ask the other members of our group to actually be on our side. They, themselves chose to be on our side, instead of on her side. I feel sorry for her… I know how it feels to be left out and alone… But yeah… I don’t wanna get near her…

So as I said, last Saturday was the last class for MIB. Reena and Azee planned beforehand to make a small party :) So during the lunch on Saturday, the three of us went to buy food and a cake for our beloved lecturer – because we know she had gone through a lot for us especially the ‘incident’ …

AND YAY! The small party was a success :) After watching our complete videos from both groups, we ate and had a little fun. The girl didn’t stay. She left the room even before we started the party. I feel annoyed at how she just walked in front of our lecturer and left the room not saying anything… But, well… never mind, we had fun after that. Didi also brought her baby and he is so cute!

I love this module. A lot happened but we managed to stick together until the end. Alhamdulillah. I will miss this people.

Sorry for any spelling or grammar errors :( too tired to check and we are in a middle of revision wee right now. Fuh! EXAM IS COMING! BRACE YOURSELF!!!

- Miki Ariake