It was all so new to me and I found it easy to adapt because I had rich friends back in Nigeria, who used to give me updates on their stay in the States; plus, I watched American movies a lot and few white people were in my school back in Nigeria.
I was so glad that uniforms weren't a thing in American public schools and I had the chance to show off my style and dress sense. "Trust me, you'll get tired of it," Arthur had told me.
In my ex school, the uniform was a grey pleated skirt above my knee and extremely long, black socks underneath and definitely not heels but annoying, formal shoes; a white T-Shirt and a grey jacket making school like hell—𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙩, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙝𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙮?!
I was so new to recess and multiple lunch breaks but it was so fascinating! I used a foosball machine, played ping-pong, played basketball, volleyball, soccer, wall ball and football.
I in no way portrayed the usual reserved act of a new student. I was gregarious enough to talk to people and participate in school activities.
In my ex school, we had a short break by 10:00am just for snacks or using the rest room and a long or lunch break by mid afternoon and that was all. There was nothing like a passing period or any other period order than school work with at least six subjects a day, but school still seemed fun despite being constrained in class all day. We did have few free periods, but had some persistent teachers ruin it for extra lessons on some occasion.
We of course did sports all through Friday, in our gym outfits and as well had Wednesday to attend to various clubs.
I no longer had to load my bagpack with titanic textbooks due to available cool lockers! I did have lockers in my old school but it was there in class with me and served as a table for me; and when school was over, I'd store up my things in there and get it locked with an actual padlock.
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When school was over, after getting Arthur's phone number, I then went to use the restroom. Arthur had told me to wait for him and we would leave school together since we actually lived a bit close; and after doing business in the restroom, I left to find Arthur to inform him about leaving when suddenly, I viewed Nicky prancing down the hallway.
I couldn't believe myself when I actually halted and was watching Nicky talk to a guy. She pulled out a paper from her purse and accidentally, a flashy lip gloss dropped from her purse. She handed over the paper to the boy and walked away, leaving the lip gloss behind.
"Now's my chance," I said to myself and went to pick up the costly lip gloss. I scurried off to her and as she stood, making a phone call; I walked behind her and waited by until she was done with the call, then I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
"Hey, you dropped this," I said and she slowly slid to turn to me; she shot a gawk at me. An I-don't-care reaction was spelt unsubtly on her rosy-pale face and she stood with her left hand raised halfway as her purse hung on her forearm; she leaned on one leg—a pose.
"Yeah, you can keep it," she replied and blinked twice with her lips pursed and I simply assumed that she was weirdly smiling but she actually wasn't smiling—that look told she was looking down on me but I was too gullible and making-a-superstar-friend-centered to realize it.
"Okay thanks. I'm Stephanie," I pressed further.
"Yeah, good for you."
"I was wondering if you could let me join your club," I said with a bright smile on my face and waiting for our conversation to get longer but she gave a total opposite reaction.
Before school was over, Arthur had showed me around the school and introduced me to the various clubs all over again.
Nicole headed the 'Superstars Rock It All Club' for young entrepreneurs and I was dying to join. I was waiting for the right moment to ask of her approval and I actually pulled it off!
"Gosh! What accent is that?" She asked with a horrendous look on her face like she was disgusted by my accent; inside of me, I condemned myself for not going with an American accent… or a British accent for that matter. 𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩—𝙨𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙮. I felt so timid when people noticed my 'Mother tongue.'
"Um, I'm from Nigeria," abashed, I replied in an American accent.
"First off, you wondered wrong, and second, in case you don't know, Superstars Rock It All Club is a club for cool people of extreme high class and not the low ones who wear such unfortunate... Things like you. And FYI, you can never fit in here and that's the truth. Oh you think you can just poof out of nowhere, completly nowhere cause you're nobody, and then indirectly try to befriend me and I would stupidly agree to be friends with a low life like you? Hell no! Now beat it trash!" She said and strutted away.
Few of her friends gathered around her and they gossiped about the whole scene, while one of her friends claimed if I knew who she was, I wouldn't dare approach her like that.
Wow! That really melted my heart. I couldn't even think clearly anymore. Her junky words really got to me; no one had ever been that mean to me before... I didn't even do anything wrong. Arthur was right.
I wore my bagpack properly and slothfully walked out of the school, tears about rolling down my eyeballs. I met Arthur talking to his friends and I walked past him, not knowing what to say. Instantly, my Dad arrived in his car. I wasn't aware that my Dad would be back to pick me up from school, I preferred taking a stroll home like I often did back in Nigeria. I could tell from Arthur's look that he was startled by my attitude at that moment. I didn't say goodbye or inform him about my transportation with my Dad.
Dad on the other hand read my facial expression and asked what the problem was but I gave no answer.
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As soon as I arrived home, I took a long shower in order to wash away all of my worries and when I was done, I locked myself up in my room and promised myself I wouldn't exit that room until I felt ebullient again.
I also prayed to God, asking Him for help and I believed He listened.
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I broke my promise as soon as I heard Emlyn's voice in the living room. I left my room and pretended like I wanted to get a snack from the fridge. 𝙒𝙝𝙤'𝙙 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙚? 𝘿𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙝.
"Hi," he smiled.
"Hi," i scowled.
"How was school today?" He asked as I followed him to the room where my Dad kept his dogs.
"Good, bad, annoying, fun, stupid, great, bad, don't ask me."
"Okay," less concerned, he replied.
"Well aren't you going to ask why?"
He chuckled softly. "Okay Steph, why?"
"I don't want to talk about it"
I stopped to hold one of my Dad's incredibly adorable dogs in my arms as it wagged its tail excitingly. "Yup. Perfect for cuddles," I said and walked out with the Bernedoodle breed dog.
Emlyn simply laughted at my silly attitude and shrugged.
I moved back to my room and I layed on my bed while gently touching the dog's furry body so that it slipped. I held it so close to my heart and played with it as it tried to give me a saliva wash in return.
It was pathetic to know that I hadn't given Nicole a piece of my mind—the Yoruba style. If I had retaliated, I would have trashed her whole generation but I wasn't trained that way. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 '𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨' 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩.
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I woke up later in the evening and moved to the living room where my Dad sat and watched television with two other men. They had tattoos drawn all over their arms and body that it really started to give me the creeps—it looked crazily Intense.
"Oh my Princess is here." Dad said as I drew nigh gradually, gazing at the sick tattoos disgustingly.
"Really? This kid is yours man?" One of the men asked in astonishment and my Dad ostentatiously nodded. I stood beside him in displeasure.
I whispered, "Dad, I need to talk to you," not wanting to attract the attention of those men.
"What is it Olamide?"
"It's Stephanie and I need to talk to you... Privately. You know, somewhere away from here." I replied but the white men wouldn't face the television like they were doing before I showed up. They kept gaping at me.
"Oh Sweetie, you can say anything you want to, right here. You don't have to be private about anything, those guys are like your uncles."
"Olorun ma je."
"God forbids what?"
I waited for them to turn away from us and when they didn't, I had to speak up before wasting any more time.
"Daddy, you said you would make my career happen here in Olive Valley but you haven't spoken about it ever since."
Dad smiled and looked at the men,
"But we just arrived here."
"And you never spoke of it again. That's the only reason I ever agreed to come here with you and if you can't work it out, tell me so I can go pack my stuff back to my country, and back to my sales business, and back to my Mother."
"Okay, okay. Those guys sitting over there are the ones I was talking about whom are involved in the movie industry. Dale over there is responsible for that kids show you love watching, he wrote some scripts."
"Really? For reals?!" Somewhat bewildered, I exclaimed. But I was getting joyous already and starting to take that phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover,' seriously.
Later on, Dale and Patrick—the two white men, gave me some admonition and some information based on my career.
"If you dream of becoming an actor but have no experience, there are many things you can do to prepare yourself for this career; like taking acting classes, further your formal education, join a local theatre, learn about the industry, build your resume, take a professional headshot, create a demo reel, hire an agent… and a lot more. The industry is pretty competitive so you might wanna chill out a sec. Follow the necessary steps and be a patient dog." Dale said. "Since you're new to this, I could have someone give you proper guidance and information in the next few weeks."
Dale wanted me to be extraordinarily patient but I wasn't willing to allow a teenage superstar continue to intimidate me. I was just as much as beautiful as she was and I was also full of imitable qualities and potentials. I desired becoming a successful actor at once and not just achieve my goals, but also prove to that witch that I could be just as great as her.
I was massively ambitious.
Dale listened to my enthusiasm and ardent desire and then he informed me about the auditions happening for a new movie and asked me if I would like to get involved. 𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙨𝙠?!
He offered me the greatest opportunity of my life and he coincided to coach me a bit but he still insisted I hold up for certain reasons that were obscure to me because I never listened.
"I don't want to wait. I need to fulfill my dreams now."
𝙄𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙚𝙧.
Dale shrugged, "okay girl."
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"I don't get why your daughter is rushing into this. She's got no acting experience… In fact, I don't think there's any way she'd be able to suddenly go into auditions this way if one of the producers wasn't my sister. She doesn't enjoy sentiments, you know. I'm only doing this because of you."
He continued, "Stephanie can keep pulling off school plays without having to jump into auditions like this one. Now there's just so much she needs to know, to learn…"
"That girl is persistent. If she doesn't get what she wants, she'll pack her bags. Just let her have her way and realize things for herself." I over heard Dad and Dale's conversation but it still didn't turn me down.
I did get involved in school plays back in Nigeria but it wasn't good enough. There was scarcely any chance to take up my acting career. 𝙀𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙣𝙚𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨.
My Mom wanted me to become a doctor—typical Nigerian parent. She was like some of the African parents who never take their kids career choice seriously but would rather decide for their kids, what they wanted them to become.
I was impassioned about acting that I rehearsed movie lines from my favourite scenes, all by myself. I often imagined myself signing autographs, posing for the press, prancing on red carpets.
An hour later, I and Emlyn ambled around and he showed me around. I notified him about my first audition and how hyped I was about it after surmising that those guys were serial killers on an account of their insane tattoos—Emlyn laughed at me for that.
"Don't be ridiculous Steph, tattoos are cool."
"Oh please," I rolled my eyes. "You know, the first time I saw a person with a tattoo, I thought that parents put tattoos on their kids just so they can be able to identify them especially when they've got twins or more. And I was only three to think that way." I said and Emlyn immediately burst into laughter.
"Whatever girl. Just don't get your hopes too high cause there's gonna be lots of acting freaks for the same role as you, and when I say acting freaks I mean those who began the acting game from their mother's womb."
"Oh please."
We arrived at an ice cream place and we got some ice cream. Emlyn paid. 𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙮—𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙪𝙗𝙖 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧?—𝙬𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙖 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙙𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙮.✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆✮☆
The next day at school, I shyly stepped in and slowly turned to wave at my Dad in his car. I had already told him I would be doing the feet style back home since my house was not so distant from school and prove my penitence for ditching him the other day.
I walked in and some girls kept laughing and gawking at me, in fact everyone was doing so.
"Oh God, I want this to end right now," I mouthed to myself, trusting God to save me from the annoying looks. It was as if I had precipitously became popular in school for something I knew nothing about and it was all starting to give me the chills.
As I moved further to my locker, I noticed a paper hung on it. I got closer and on the paper was written, 'NIGERIA'S GREATEAT FREAK,' and underneath it, 'STEPHANIE FAKEWELL.'
I halted and dropped my jaw, looking at the horrible picture drawn on the message which was to be me. I couldn't locate the exact words to say or whom to point a finger at. Arthur then walked up to me.
"I can see Nicole got to you. You didn't listen, do you?" He said but there was no answer to give. I turned away from Arthur only to observe that I hadn't even seen the same paper hung up everywhere on the walls around the school because I was only inquisitive and keen to know why everyone was staring.
I looked at everyone stupefyingly and they took pictures of my bothered look and laughed and pointed fingers of ridicule.
"Look at the dumb look on her face!" A boy called out and they laughed even more.
I wanted an earthquake to take place at that moment so I could get swallowed by it and escape the insufferable scene. I felt like crying but Arthur already has his hand on my shoulders and was trying to get me away from there when ferociously, Mrs Kayla flung out of her office with a stick; other teachers gathered around in fury.
"What is going on here? Everyone to your class this second. Lorna, Tyler, I want every single paper on the wall brought down right now!" Mrs Kayla demanded.
"Some people are just hungry for detention." Another teacher said.
"Is this what school is meant for? Nicole, to the principal's office," Mrs Kayla authoritatively spoke out of anger and the students snappily obeyed the teachers.
"But you can't prove I did anything," Nicole said as she walked out of a classroom.
"Try me. March down to that office right now!"
"Whatever dude," Nicole swaggered away.
Mrs Kayla held the stick out straight and those who stood by the corners flew away. She gripped hold of my hand and led me to the principal's office.
When we got to the principal's office, Mrs Kayla showed me where to sit and Nicole sat beside me, paying no attention.
"What is the case?" The principal asked and Mrs Kayla replied, "bullying and atrocious acts towards fellow student. Nicole Martin."
"Nicole, you being rich and famous doesn't mean you get any special treatment or attention, and it certainly doesn't give you any right to act the way you want against school policy, I've told you that a million times."
"Yeah tell me about it," she rolled her eyeballs.
"Okay here's the deal, if she bullies you one more time, let me know and she gets suspended immediately. But for now, detention." The principal strictly proclaimed and Mrs Kayla nodded in agreement. "I'll personally see to that," she said to Nicole's face who even barely cared.
On one note, Nicole didn't know she would spend most of her time learning to be good in the detention hall, and also 'volunteering' to help out in the school's cafeteria and that was why she couldn't find a reason to care.
Nicole left the principal's office as I was about leaving and Mrs Kayla patted me on the head with a smiley face.
I left the principal's office and as I walked to my classroom, someone grasped my hand and yanked me into an empty class. It was Nicole again.
"Look here your royal Highness, my Dad plays a very important role in the contributions of this school so keep your numb head busy and go think about that." Nicole harshly emphasized on the 'think' part and tossed my hand back to me in a very unpleasant manner. She did the exit thing she was fond of, whereby she would lift one shoulder up; turn around, whipping her hair to the side, at your face, and cat walk away on her designer shoes.
I sighed and made for my class, wondering how it concerned me that her father played an important role in the contributions of the school. Perhaps she wanted me to know that she was untouchable.
I greeted nervously the teacher who was writing on the marker board, "good morning sir," and went straight to my seat.
I could hear everyone in the class talk in whispers, then look back at me and laugh in mockery of me, then stare at their phones once again. Arthur's phone then beeped and he picked it up to look at it. "Oh boy," he said and placed the screen of the phone back on his table.
"What is it?" I probingly asked and Arthur answered, "nothing."
"Let me see," I said again but he refused. I took the phone myself and to my uttermost shock, it was a picture of me as a meme—which was the face I made when I saw all those papers hung up on the wall.
I threw a deep sigh and just when I was about returning Arthur's phone, the teacher turned around.
"Hey young lady, no phones in class." He ordered me to place the phone in a box on his table and I did so, slightly embarrassed.
I couldn't believe that it was posted on such rapid-spreading place called an Internet. I felt so down in the dumps, though I was grateful to God that I and Nicole weren't classmates.
I grabbed my bagpack to get my biology textbook as the teacher commanded and Nicole's flashy lip gloss fell from it. I couldn't tell why I still had it with me, it seemed like that statement she made, asking me to "keep it"' was compulsive. I picked up the lipgloss and returned it to my bagpack.
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During lunch break, I sneaked into the abandoned teachers lounge that I and Arthur had previously discovered. I sat there all alone until I heard a knock on the door.
I got petrified it could be Nicole or a teacher or the principal. Arthur had notified me that students were prohibited from going in there.
"Open up sweetie, it's Mrs Kayla," i heard and sighed in relief, "phew!" Then went on to unlock the door.
"Are you okay? What are you even doing here in this abandoned place?" She looked around. "You are aware of no student is allowed in here."
"Nothing. I just wanted to be alone," quietly, I responded. "How did you find me"
"I've got eyes everywhere. Don't tell me Nicole got to you. Is she still picking on you?"
"I guess." I said and Mrs Kayla suddenly opened her eyes wide. "The thing is, I don't want someone to get suspended because of me, knowing I just arrived here. She'll eventually stop sooner or later."
"Great thinking," she smiled. "I'm here for you okay? Just feel safe," she said and hugged me.
"Why are you being this nice to me? I'm black... I'm odd..."
"You know, I never really had a child and I really love kids. The doctor said I might never produce any children cause I'm infertile. That aside, you're a great kid. You shouldn't let any one bring down your worth or make you think less of yourself.
What about your colour? It's fantastic! You don't get sunburn, your skin doesn't react to everything, you rarely get irritable spots... White people are great, and black people too! We should aim for judging personalities not judging personalities through skin colour. Your body is great and you are great too."
"Thanks but..."
"There are no buts. Be confident in who you are."
I became so emotional and wondered why good things tend to seem far from good people.
I waited desirously for the auditions.