Now I was aware I said Nicole's despicable acts toward me would cease sooner or later—well I was wrong.
The next two days at school was nothing but a nightmare for me. Nicole's one week detention was still on and she tortured me for it.
That Thursday, I got to school as early as I could and approached my locker. As soon as I got my hand on the handle of my locker, it felt wet and Nicole swiftly sprung out of nowhere with her minions—as I called her friends.
"Hey freak," she said and the rest giggled at the back like Barbie dolls.
"What do you want?" I asked, trying to stand my ground. That was a bad question because she obviously wanted to make my school life miserable.
If there was one thing I was aware of when it came to dealing with bullies, it was that they feed on fear.
"You got me in detention!" She hollered.
"What you did got you in detention"
"Oooh, someone is becoming a huge blabbermouth. I've got tons of things to do and wasting my precious time on a freak like you isn't one of it. Have a dry and sticky day," she responded and bounced away with her minions.
I went back to my locker and tried unlocking it; I opened it but then my hand was stuck to the handle like someone put glue on it and it was none other than Nicole!
𝘼𝙧𝙧𝙜𝙝! I freaked out but still I couldn't get lose, the glue was firm to the extreme. Some students began to laugh at me and take pictures until Arthur finally came to my rescue.
I had no clue about what that glue contained but whatever it was, it made my skin so dry, rough, and grody.
I ignored every single word she said to me that day and ignored everything she did to me. I believed that if I showed no possible reaction like she expected me to, she would eventually quit.
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I got home that day thinking mostly about my acting career.
My Dad's friends, Dale and Patrick, took me to the place for the auditions. Everything was all so delightful and I felt on top of the world!
I prayed to God about the auditions and went on with it. I had been rehearsing the scripts for days.
I didn't fail to put on good clothes.
A lot of people were present for the audition than I expected and much more people chased just one role each; a heck of a crowd were as well after my role and that was my greatest fear.
Patrick helped me with my demo reel and headshot which was somewhat not impressive, mostly because I wasn't like the others—experienced and trained.
I didn't want to squander my chances for a callback due to separating my resume from my headshot and so I neatly stapled them together.
I as well warmed up before the auditions—from vocal exercises to stretching.
I did my best to avoid going over the time limit and by convention, I was asked to direct my speech to the audition panel; I was asked by them to interact with them. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙯𝙚𝙧𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚! 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜!
I was being called out from the back of the stage to come out front and I was the last person to audition. It seemed as if, being the very last person to audition after so much stalling, they simply re-considered me and wanted to give me a minor chance.
I started off by introducing myself and my role and then I began acting. I tried my best to pull out every single acting talent I had in me for just the audition and when I saw the dazzled looks on the face of those to judge, it proved that I was pulling it off!
Few hours later, the auditions were over and I was proud of myself. I was to play the role of a calm and good school girl who would later turn antagonistic due to peer influence.
In few weeks, the results were out and unfortunately... I wasn't given any part to play in the movie, not even an extra! 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡.
I became so pale and majorly disappointed. How did it happen? Or rather, how did it not happen? Right when I got the news, I began to shed tears.
I left the environment where I was, to call my Dad and to make matters worse, he showed no concern about what happened or how crushed I was; he ended the call saying, "Dale will fix it."
I also mulled over why God wasn't there when I most needed Him. I had tons of unbearable thoughts rushing through my head. I wondered if God heard but chose not to answer or maybe He didn't even hear at all.
As I was about taking a taxi back home from where I and Dale had met, he approached me and said, "I'm so sorry that you weren't included in the movie. I did my best. If you would agree to come to my house by 6pm tomorrow, I'll be sure to help you work some things out."
"Okay" I struggled to gather some faith.
"Now cheer up baby girl."
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I heard a loud knock on my door, it was Arthur. I felt so glad to see him, at least he was the only one who really cared about me. He did all he could to cheer me up and it worked.
"Okay here's a joke."
"Listening."
"What do computers eat for breakfast? Microchips!"
"I'm waiting for the joke."
"Come on Steph, that is the joke."
"So that's how you whites define a joke. Chai."
"Chai? Don't chai me... You're the one who's chai... that's one of the best jokes I've got. I suppose you guys invent more hilarious jokes in your country," he rolled his eyes and I laughed out loud.
"Who cares if you didn't get the role? That's the least of auditions that are gonna pop up this month. There's always a next time and I still think you're the best actress ever." He smiled.
"Thanks," I smiled back. "Well, that guy Dale I told you about asked me to see him in his house by 6pm tomorrow. He wants to help. Would you come with me?"
"Sure, anything for you."
As we proceeded, a knock came in from Emlyn. I stood by my door and slightly opened it to stick my head through and attend to the fine lad. I didn't want him to enter cause I didn't want two guys around—𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩... 𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.
"Hey Steph."
"Hello. What's up?"
"The usual, I'm here to pick up the dogs. Wanna hang?"
"No, I've got a visitor."
"Okay. Catch ya later," he said and left.
Arthur said, "that voice sounds kinda familiar. Who were you talking to?"
"Someone—a friend."
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The next day, on Friday, before heading to school, I grabbed my Dad's thick and strong gloves then placed them in my bagpack.
When I got to school, I wore the gloves, so as not to be once again, a victim of Nicole's previous stunt. Of course I knew Nicole wouldn't repeat a stunt twice but I had to be canny and I couldn't take any more chances. I opened my locker and a mighty stench hit my nose.
"Ugh, what is that stench?" I said to myself. I opened the locker wide; Lo and behold, I found a dead rat, ants, and sugar all around, and my books were awfully tattered.
"What the... Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no," frustrated, I said and called Arthur to meet me by my locker.
"Well, apparently, Nicole did this. She put sugar in your locker so ants could get attracted by it and she planted the rat in there so it could feed on your books and the ants, on the rat. "
"Oh thank you Arthur, it's very needful of you to state the obvious," sarcastically, I implied.
"Plus, I saw one of Nicole's giggle buddies with the same rat in I cage yesterday."
I sighed a sigh of devastation and got prepared to pick up the dead rat. The gloves didn't go to a waste afterall.
"Stephanie, this has to stop. You have to show Nicky you are not weak and dumb and go tell on her to the principal so she can get suspended and learn her lesson," Arthur said, pretty serious about it.
"But I don't want her to get suspended because of me, I'm not like that."
"What you are not like is a dumb person so show her that and shut her down once and for all."
"Trust me, if I keep ignoring her, she'll stop."
"Come on Steph, what are you afraid of? She is only fifteen. Well I warned you."
When Arthur was done talking, he helped me take care of the disgusting locker and my books.
Like what she earlier did wasn't enough, I got sprayed in the face by Nicole with something like a pepper spray but softer. "That'll teach you not to mess with me. Oh and since you love yellow so much, you wouldn't mind being the colour itself," Nicole said after spraying me on the face.
I screamed aloud and struggled to get to the toilet; I heard a feminine voice say, "come, let me help you."
I had no idea about who it was but I cared more about getting the stuff off my face. The person took me to the toilet by my hand and helped me wash my face gently. When I eventually opened my eyes, I found out that it was Bianca—one of Nicole's minions. I became even more perplexed.
"You are welcome," she said and walked away.
All I kept thinking was that maybe the girl wasn't really like Nicole. In few minutes, I walked down the hallway and once again, I became the laughing stock of the whole school.
"What is it this time?" I said to myself and just immediately, Mrs Kayla walked by with her head slightly bent to the side like she was trying to see through me.
"Darling what happened to your face?" She asked.
"My face?"
"Yeah." Mrs Kayla pulled out a mirror from her purse and showed it to me. My face had suddenly become all round yellow!
"Oh my God!" I exclaimed and that was when I got Nicole's message—turning me yellow. The girl used water mixed with dye to wash my face.
Nicole was mad at me for getting her into trouble but it had gone too far. I explained what Nicole had been doing to me and how much I'd been fed up. Mrs Kayla took me to the principal's office.
The bumming part of it all was how the principal misregarded my complaint and didn't keep to her word. She claimed that detention was enough for Nicole at that moment. Even as Mrs Kayla tried to stand in for me, the principal made no move. So I stopped worrying about her and decided to face more crucial stuff, like my career.
After school that day, I got prepared to meet Dale at his house by 6pm. I earlier spoke to my Mom on phone and she didn't sound much interested in anything I spoke about.
Often, I wondered why they chose to have a child together when they weren't ready to be parents. I usually got all I wanted from them—every materialistic thing, but never really got their attention. I lacked parental responsibility.
I was capable of doing anything I wanted to, as long as it seemed right to me. No one gave me counseling or directed me to the right path, it was my own rational choices that made me that much of a cultivated girl I was. I learnt almost everything I was aware of, just through the help of myself... well school added to it. My parents were avoidant and unconcerned about me, excluding aunt Dabira who checked in on me once in a while, and Mrs Kayla, at school.
The teenage world got me down on my knees. 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣.
I needed my parents to encourage me and show me love but all I got were reasons to question my birth.
Aunt Dabira, my Dad's older sister, was the only person who really stood for me. She taught me a lot of life lessons and corrected my shortcomings.
Arthur arrived at my house and together, we followed the address my Dad gave me to Dale's house. When we arrived there, we both entered the house as we were invited in by Dale.
I was astonished to see that Dale lived alone in such a massive house; I had assumed him to be a family man .
"You didn't come alone," he said, oddly looking at Arthur and I nodded. He switched on the television and handed the remote over to Arthur, "hey watch some television while I and Stephanie go chat upstairs."
"Upstairs?" I asked and he replied, "yes."
"But why? Can't you say whatever you want to right here or let Arthur come with us upstairs?" I asked, not only because I was petrified of those tattoos but also because it was strange that he wanted it to be that private.
"It's either we go upstairs or your acting career is done," he said to me and those words made me agree with him. He went to the fridge and got drinks, food, and snacks for Arthur and then he led me upstairs. Still numb, I grabbed my phone and texted Arthur while I walked the stairs behind Dale.
"I'm kind of frightened. Isn't this strange?"
"Seems so, but don't worry I'll be on the look out for anything freakish."
Though I was a bit dazed but I didn't want to let that one chance of fulfilling my dream at a young age get destroyed all because I refused to go with my helper upstairs for some sort of obscure reason.
We got to the room upstairs and it was so enormous and few places were covered in glass. Dale offered me a chair. I sat and he sat on the opposite side and weirdly close to me.
"Well Steph, it's awful that you weren't picked for the role. I didn't really have a say about that."
"Oh well," I placed my fist on my cheek and frowned.
"I can actually help you if you are willing to go through the necessary procedure," he said in a whispering tune and glided closer to me.
"Necessary procedure?" I innocently asked.
"Yes but it'll be our little secret, no one has to know. In this life girl, you've gotta use what you have to get what you want. Some of those top actors had to go through the same process to succeed," Dale spoke and slowly reached out to rub my laps. 𝙄 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙖 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮!
I rapidly stood up from the chair and moved away from him, drifting backwards. "Oh would you look at the time? My-my Daddy needs me," I stuttered.
"You can't leave. Do you want your dreams to get terminated?" He said in a sort of stern manner, but then he got nice, "don't be scared, I won't hurt you." He got close every moment which started to freak me out. As soon as Dale grabbed me, I shrieked in so much terror—I was for sure aware of his loathsome intentions. I could not believe he was attempting to rape me. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚!
I may have been physically feeble but totally not a fool. Glad for me, screaming was my jam. I screaked so loud to the extent that I thought the glasses were going to shatter. Arthur heard and slowly walked upstairs with a rod. While Dale still faced and contended against me, Arthur walked to the rear of Dale and when I gave him a sign to proceed, he hit Dale on the head with the rod but not so hard.
I thought Dale was going to pass out instantaneously like it happened in the movies but then he turned to Arthur and when he tried to get Arthur back for what he did, I speedily snatched a large vase from a shelf and violently smashed it on his head from behind and that did the job—Dale swooned.
I panted heavily in so much fear and we both ran out of the room together.
"Do you thi-think-we-we should leave him there?" I spasmodically stuttered and Arthur responded, "of course, he'll be fine."
"I can't believe this."
"Let's just hurry, my hand feels dirty"
"And why's that? I was the one who took him down and all you technically did was massage his head with your baby boy hands." I giggled.
"I gave you a head start. I saved you."
Arthur then got a bag and packed all the leftovers of all he had eaten before we left the house. "What? He is even lucky I didn't empty his fridge," he said when I kept gawking at him.
Watching a lot of action movies did pay off for me; the usual me would have panicked and let Dale have his way due to terror. I considered what I did to Dale a vicious action to take and also thought I would get arrested for it but Arthur assured me that it was out of self-defense.
On our way back home, we met Emlyn who was walking the dogs and I couldn't help but tell him about everything that happened. "Oh dear," he said as he followed us.
"Emlyn? You and Steph are friends?" Arthur said somewhat muddled about I and Emlyn being friends while Emlyn tried to give Arthur a sign to shut his mouth.
"Yeah we are friends. In fact he is the first friend I made when I first arrived here."
"I thought that was me. Ouch," Arthur held on to his chest dramatically,
"Do you guys know each other cause it seems like Emlyn is trying to make you keep quiet. Is there something I should know?"
"Of course we know each other. Emlyn attends our school, he is a classmate. He got two weeks suspension because Nicole got him into trouble."
"Dude! Why can't you cover up for me man?" Emlyn shot a glare at Arthur.
"Sorry bro but you should have told her. Why didn't you?"
"I was sort of embarrassed and I was also trying to surprise her by showing up at school."
"Wow, looks like Nicole holds a record," I said.
"We'll about that later," Emlyn said, "let's focus on Steph here."
We stopped to sit by the riverside and Emlyn tied the leashes of the dogs to a pole as I gently made their fur slip.
"You don't need to be worried this much, just be patient for God to help," Arthur said in the most soothing way and Emlyn scoffed, "another Christ fella."
"It's called Christian. Steph dear, I observed that you haven't been patient and that's why you keep failing. Chillax, if it doesn't happen now, it soon will." Arthur said as we watched the view of kids playing.
"Yeah Steph, the blonde boy is right," Emlyn added.
"Of course I am. Anyways, you know you've got what it takes to become a top actress so why worry? Just relax and everything will fall in perfectly," Arthur guaranteed.
"You sound like someone who is working his ass to get a teaching job," Emlyn laughed.
"Yeah yeah. So teach us the common Nigerian language."
"You mean Pidgin English? Oh it's very easy," I smiled. "It is just a broken English, easier for most people to speak than the normal English. Since Nigeria is filled with different ethnic groups and languages and some people still can't communicate through the normal common language, we just speak the messed up form and produce what is known to be Pidgin English. Plus it sounds way cooler."
"So how do I say 'how are you?' or 'what's up' in Pidgin English?" Asked Arthur.
"You say 'how you dey' or 'wetin sup'."
"Ooooh!!!" Both hollered and began making a joke out of what I said. I tried explaining the Nigerian accent and intonation that's needed in pronouncing such but all I got was a different language entirely from them—gibberish.
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I became a bit relaxed and pondered about what Arthur said when I sat alone in my room, cuddling my Dad's adorable dog in a way that satisfied.
When I returned back home, I stayed in the living room and awaited my Dad's arrival from work. He stayed out late and I got tired of lingering, I also felt sleepy so I headed back to lay in my room.
While I layed and continuously stroked the dog's fur. I imagined my fourteenth birthday and how my Dad ruined it just to bring me into a half nightmare-generating and half fascinating place. Well it was a nightmare because I got tormented by an Olive Valley celebrity and it was amazing because... it was Olive Valley, it had every reason to be magnificent!
Nicole and I were supposed to be sisters in acting, 𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩,, but clearly I was not like her—a rich and famous brat.
Nicole grasped attention to herself where ever she went; she had millions of followers on social media and a super strong fan base. Everyone thought of her as the best and her father's fame added to it.
She mostly tweeted about her activities in school, and her personal life just to get likes and views from people—that was all that mattered to her, and going to school was just a medium of signing more autographs and hitting new fun topics to talk about on her fan page.
Oftentimes, she provided free stuff for her classmates and her friends.
She was usually scurrilous and loved being the center of attention. She had a predominant lifestyle and behaved flamboyantly.
I clutched my phone to look up a text I got from Arthur and he mentioned to me that Nicole was going nuts.
Following what Arthur said, I looked up Nicole's page and everyone was talking about me, "THE NIGERIAN FREAK."
Viewing such, I literally freaked and became provoked. Nicole had suddenly given me an internet fame and name—a terrible one.
Every person was talking about me and the things I did in school in the past few days. They made uncountable and hilarious memes—all thanks to the Olive Valley superstar. The criticism was unbearable. I couldn't really point out what I did to her that made her despise me so much.
I wasn't all that perfect, I had flaws too but I often reasoned sensibly to become someone great and famous, someone who people out there would look up to. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to direct the right path for young people to trail and succeed; rather than telling them things like, "who's got the spice? The girl with the money" or "do whatever it takes to be at the top." 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙤𝙗𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝.
I planned on helping people build an unblemished life; bringing honour to God and my loved ones, not rubbing my luxury on the less privileged, innocent ones. I considered giving out funds to orphans and to the poor. I wanted to help build a positive mindset for teenagers.
I didn't mind being mocked or underestimated a bit.
I just felt like it was what I was born to do.
I was only fourteen but my thoughts were stupendous.