Valeria phone kept beeping throughout the night with notifications so she barely had a good night rest.
"Good morning mother" She greeted her mother as rub her still sleepy eyes
"Good morning dear, how was your night?" Geraldine asked not looking at her daughter.
"I did not have a good night rest" Valeria confessed walking inside the toilet
"The notifications were too much right?" Geraldine asked stating the obvious.
"Really much" Valeria replied from the toilet
"There's something called dnd right?" Geraldine asked as Valeria walk out of the toilet
"Yes mother" Valeria replied wondering why her mother was asking
"If you want to have a sweet night rest then put your phone on DND before going to bed" Geraldine said
"Oh! Didn't thought of that" Valeria said walking back to pick her phone
"I will be going back to Skokie today" Geraldine said and Valeria turn to look at her mother who was cooking
"I'm done with my job here since the day before yesterday even picked extra yesterday, I have to go back to sell them so I can come back soon to get the new batch they will be bringing soon" Geraldine explained to the sad Valeria
"How do I survive here with father? We've not stayed together for more than two days in seven years now" Valeria said feeling bad
"I've been thinking of it too and we've discussed it too, we both know how difficult it might be for you to stay with him for two weeks before your final resumption and we came up with a solution" Geraldine said
"Not that I don't want to stay with father, it's just that we've not stayed together for two weeks and we've settled up to three fight in few days not even up to a week" Valeria said clarifying her point
"We both understand you and were you are coming from and that's why we came up with a solution. Will you come back to Skokie with me? Stay with Esmeralda? Or resume school early? You have three options to choose from" Geraldine said leaving Valeria speechless
"You have up to three hours to decide, so take your time darling" Geraldine said packing food in a lunch box
"I'm going to give your father this" Geraldine said and leave the room.
Valeria sat down speechless weighing her options.
"I would have love to go back to Skokie but I can't say goodbye again, it's too hard. Miss Esmeralda's place is total enjoyment with luxury but how would my parents view me if I choose her instead of school, I don't want to resume school early though. I will be the only one in my room" Valeria said to herself. She was still thinking about it when a call from Hannah came in
"Hi Hannah" Valeria greeted
"How are you Valeria?" Hannah asked
"I'm good and you?" Valeria asked hoping the conversation ends soon so she can decide fast
"Good too. I want to ask you for a favor" Hannah said
"What's that Hannah?" Valeria asked
"Can you please resume earlier? My parents wants me to go for a vacation at this my uncle's place and I don't like the man so I acted irrational and told them I'm resuming school early" Hannah said in one breath making Valeria chuckle
"When are you resuming?" Valeria asked happily as the solution to her problem is here
"Today" Hannah replied biting her lips with fear of rejection
"I should be there by evening then" Valeria replied and Hannah jump up for joy
"Thank you so much Valeria. You are my best girl" Hannah said happily making Valeria blush.
"Did you ask the others?" Valeria asked
"You are the first person I called. Why?" Hannah replied
"Don't you think they should know we are resuming early?" Valeria asked not sure if it was the right thing to do or not
"Let's drop a message on the group then, the more the merrier" Hannah said and Valeria laugh
"Okay, drop it then" Valeria said and she ends the call so she can eat breakfast and check her notification. Their roommate group notification came in almost immediately.
@Hannah [Good morning guys, I and Valeria will be resuming early. Who else will love to?]
@Valeria [The more the merrier as Hannah said]
@Catherine [I will love to but I will be going to Paris with my cousin and her Dad]
@Sandra [I can't resume early, I'm going for music classes]
@Margret [I will resume a week later, I'm currently at Canada with my aunt for her wedding]
@Priscilla [Big girls doing big things. I'm going to visit my grandmother in Evanston]
@Hannah [Y'all going on vacation....wish I had somewhere to go]
@Valeria [Enjoy your vacation girls]
The girls continue chatting and Valeria forgot about checking her instagram notifications.
****
Dennis who is not a social media person now spends time on instagram especially EmJay's page, he was reading every comments under the post and saw many fake accounts throwing shades at her, he didn't feel happy seeing them and wondered how Valeria will feel seeing them. He called her up
"Hi Ria" He greeted
"Hello Den, was thinking of calling you later this evening" Valeria said
"Oh! How are you doing? Hope you are not letting the shades get to you?" Dennis asked with concern in his voice
"I'm good and what shades is that?" Valeria asked cluelessly
"Oh! Seems you haven't seen them yet. Different fake accounts have been throwing shade at you but seems the person stopped already" Dennis explained
"Things like that can't get to me, not that I wanted the life of a celebrity" Valeria replied
"I'm so glad. I was so worried the comments will be getting to you, don't mind it, they are faceless and online warriors that can't come to your face to say it" Dennis said showing concern.
"Thank you Den. It's possible I resume early and might come to the dorm tonight" Valeria said happily.
"That's great news which means you will watch me play during the university sport competition" Dennis said happily
"That's great. I will be glad to see you play and win" Valeria said happily
"Will I see you tonight?" Dennis asked hoping to see her
"I'm yet to read the residential rules maybe when I get there I will let you know if we will be seeing" Valeria replied
"I will be looking forward to it dear" Dennis said and end the call after a response from Valeria.
****
After her call with Dennis she became curious to check out the comments on Instagram. She clicked on her instagram app and saw over one thousand notification.
"Wow I have a thousand followers now!" Valeria said looking at the followers she now has. She clicked on EmJay's page and saw a new video of her, she was about to get angry when she saw it was a compilation of her pictures, she smiled watching how pretty she was. The comments under the video was full of both hate and love, Dennis commented too
@denaldo [EmJay found a gem]
Valeria blushed reading the comment, she kept scrolling and saw Benjie Baker comment too
@benjiebaker [Best girl! Love it for her]
Valeria couldn't help but blush at the comment, he was been sweet and reading her the same time. She knows he would have texted her so she checked her inbox and she was right.
@benjiebaker [Best girl! I need your contact, seems you are not always on this space]
@valeriamelvin [Mr Benjie Baker]
@benjiebaker [EmJay's gem!]
@valeriamelvin [You saw the comment?]
@benjiebaker [What comment? Seems you don't know you already have a fan base]
@valeriamelvin [What fan base? I don't want it! Celebrity life can be so difficult]
@benjiebaker [You need a manager]
@valeriamelvin [Where do I find one? I know nothing about celebrity life]
@benjiebaker [A friend of mine manages celebrity and he will be more than glad to manage the internet sensation]
@valeriamelvin [Can I meet him now?]
@benjiebaker [He will be more than happy to]
@valeriamelvin [choose a restaurant or coffee shop]
@benjiebaker [Jokes! Share your location a van will pick you up]
@valeriamelvin [Here it is]
@benjiebaker [See you soon]
Valeria rushed to the toilet to bath and dress up as fast she could before calling her mother.
"Hi Mother, I've decided to go to school and resume early" Valeria said
"That's a great choice" Geraldine replied happily
"Mother, seems I'm growing on instagram and seems some unrelated brand will want me to be their brand ambassadors so I'm going out to meet a friend who wants to introduce me to a company that manage celebrities" Valeria said as clear she could
"Be home in an hour" Geraldine said
"Thank you mother" Valeria said happily and end the call. She walked out of the room to wait for the van outside, she was still waiting for the van when three girls probably her age or older walked up to her.
"I told you she's the one" One of the girls said
"She's more beautiful in person" Another said
"Hi EmJay's gem! We are part of the gem fan base" One of the girls said blushing
"So nice to meet you girls" Valeria said even if she's clueless about the gem fan base
"Can we take pictures together?" One of the girls asked
"Yeah sure girls" Valeria replied smiling. The girls bring out their phone and they took different pictures with Valeria. They were still taking pictures with her when the van arrived, a bouncer came down from the van and walk up to the girls.
"Miss Valeria?" The bouncer asked
"Yeah that's me" Valeria replied with a smile
"Thank you for your time Miss Valeria" The girls said and Valeria smile before following the bouncer to the van. She entered the van after the bouncer opened the door for her.
"Hello" A thick voice greeted and Valeria look at the back seat of the van
"Benjie Baker?" Valeria asked with surprise as she was not expecting to see him.