My whole life back then was made up of the library, the lab, and stacks of heavy textbooks.
But Zion was the opposite.
He skipped class, showed up late, had no interest in lessons, and was often called out by instructors, a walking warning sign in my academic world.
If it weren’t for Grandma Ravenna, I would never have crossed paths with him.
That year, with Ravenna’s financial help, I was able to finish school smoothly.
She treated me kindly, and she was very straightforward.
She said, “Zion has a wild streak. You steady him.”
I agreed.
So I began dragging Zion to class, pushing him to hand in assignments, pulling him to review, even sorting his notes for him.
I used every simple method I could think of to make him “act like a student.”
Later, he slowly changed.
He started arriving for class on time, started avoiding those messy circles, and started putting his energy into studying and real work.
And later, Zion fell for me, openly and loudly.
He ended all unclear relationships, wanted everyone to know he was chasing me, and even began seriously taking over work duties just to make me happy.
People in our circle all said I was the rope that held Zion down.
Back then, I believed it too.