Chapter 3 Definitely Daring I see

My relationship with my mother had never been a tight one. People often wondered why I wasn't close to my mother considering the fact that I was her only daughter, but I just feel we never clicked . My mother is a little too quick at wearing her emotions on her sleeves, she doesn't hesitate to show you just how she feels at the moment and tends to escalate things a bit too much . I'd say that's a typical African mothers style but sometimes , I feel it still surpasses the African mother thing, and it annoys me .

Most times , I feel she doesn't check to see how much her words or actions affect the other person she's talking to. I think that's why I was closer to my Father and immediate elder brother. My eldest brother is a little too reserved for me though, and he became much worse after my father's death.

My brothers are all in a Boarding school in Benin City so that means I would be the only person at home , and for a very long time because they don't come home till the Christmas holiday. They stay with my aunty at Benin.

I'm dressed in my school uniform, a white shirt buttoned down, a tie and pleated grey skirt , which is a little above my knees, a lot different from my usual school dressing. But I'm aware this was how Private school students dressed. I'm seated in the chair in the sitting room when my mum comes out, wearing her earrings . Her light skin shines under the white light, she looked fairer today, and a little too dressed up for everyday. As much as I knew my mother, she wasn't one to do makeup, she believed strongly in natural beauty, but she was wearing a lipstick today and maybe a mascara, I'm not too sure because she had natural long lashes .

My mother is beautiful. It's not just a statement, I'm not just saying it because she's my mother, it's a fact. One look at her and you can tell that she was gorgeous when she was much younger. She had thick black hair , little freckles on her nose and cheeks and those thick long lashes that many women envied . She was also very fair, People do tell me I look like her though but I don't see it. I feel we're very different. Although my lashes aren't as thick as hers, I'm sometimes told I have thick lashes by the girls in my school, I also have thick black hair which I never knew how long it could grow since I'm unfortunately always on low cuts, because my mother believed it could prevent me from getting distracted from my school work. She classifys hair in early childhood as 'unnecessary'. I had more freckles than her, although I was dark and it is splashed all over my face, on my lips and hands . But I have my Father's color, light chocolate. Okay maybe I do look a little bit like her but not color wise.

I still feel I look like my Father..

" Why are you looking at me like that?", my mother asks while putting on her bracelet.

"Nothing", I reply

" Oya let's go", she stays behind and locks the door as we make our way out the house.

.......

The school is beautiful, breathtaking because I stopped breathing when I entered the school. No wonder people spoke so good about the school, infact , it was located at Lekki, the place where rich people resided , very close to the Dolphine estate, so you can only imagine the kind of people that schooled here. I totally understand why my mother was getting really decked up this morning.

The school is painted in grey and white , just like the unform, grey gate, white building with the name CRYSTALLINE INTERNATIONAL HIGH written boldly at the top of the building in grey, the insides are all white, the compound is surrounded with flowers , the compound is really neat , the air smelt of money. I looked up at my mother and held her hand , suddenly nervous .

We made or more or found our way , to the reception and were told to sit down , that we would be attended to soon.

I think we may have been there for about 10 minutes before my mother was called into the office.

A student came to the office to press a button that caused a loud siren sound to be heard around the compound, I want to guess, that is their bell. WOW!, I exclaimed internally.

The student that came was definitely not a Nigerian, her skin was very light, and she had a long ponytail pulled above her head that sways as she makes her way out of he reception office

It didn't take long before a teacher came and motioned me to follow him. I looked back to the closed door where my mother was and clutching my bag close to my chest instead of my back, I make my way to my class .

I was led to a small class at the end of a long corridor and was asked to enter. My breathe got stuck in my lungs when I entered. I almost cried. First of all, the classes where white , everything was white and so breathtaking, the atmosphere was so cold that it has me clutching my bag tighter to my chest . Then the students , God those kids , I felt so intimidated.

The teacher motions for me to sit on a chair in the middle of the class and leaves.

Nobody as much as lifts their head to acknowledge that someone just walked into the class, everyone was busy with their work and some chatting away.

I look around the class, taking note of the airy environment, there was an air conditioner in the class. The class is painted white and grey, just like the uniform. I move my head a little to look at the students who are busy discussing and laughing across me. Their attention was mostly drawn to someone in the middle who must of been the main object of attention. I strained my neck a little to see who it must have been and at that point, I wish I didn't.

Sitted in the middle of those pupils, happened to be the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. His dark black curly hair is packed behind his head, he has a foreign skin color, not completely white per say but not dark either, he looks a little Indian, he surely looked Indian but not completely. He is smiling at something someone says and turns to pick something from his bag beside him, I hadn't noticed I had been looking for long until our eyes meet, I shift my eyes away immediately, feeling heavily embarrassed that I had been caught staring at someone, especially a boy. I never really had time with Boys outside my brothers, and going to an only girls school made it very hard for me to communicate or relate with boys, so it was really embarrassing for me.

I start to feel I was wrong about him being Indian because of the colour of his eyes, they were golden brown, he was ...so beautiful.

----

I had my classes without anyone noticing my presence, even the teachers didn't take note of me, but I was fine by it anyways, I really didn't like attention. A loud siren was heard, and I took that as being the end of classes and the beginning of break. It seems like they don't make use of bells in this school. Everyone stood up and made their way out of the class, chatting and laughing. I had no idea of what to do so I decided to follow the last three girls that left the class. Everyone was headed to one direction, it should be the Refectory . I made my way into the large room that was filled with students , students of different colors, race, they looked really rich and intimidating. I took a deep breathe and decided to hide myself amongst the large number of people that just entered the ref.

I turn to to look for where I'm supposed to sit, I see a girl from my class earlier (a beautiful dark girl with braided hair), a Japanese girl and four other boys sitted on the table. I decide to make my way to where they're sitted because I thought it must've been arranged according to classes because that was how we ate in my former school.

I was about to move to them when someone's arm bumps into my shoulder from behind. I turn around immediately to tell the person they almost tripped me,

"Hey.."

"You're on the way", says the guy I had said was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen . He had an accent like all those American people on television, he moves past me and sits at the table I had been citing before he bumped into me. I take it as a cue to sit there since most of my mates were sitted there.

I sit down, feeling awkward and out of place , I raise my hand to say hello and smile a little, and place my sweaty hands on my lap.

"You're not supposed to sit here, that space is already reserved for someone", the Japanese girl says, looking at me with concern.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought we sit according to classes.."

" We don't ", comes the stern accented voice from across me, I shift my eyes to him and see him splayed on the chair, his hand is placed protectively behind the shoulders of the beautiful black girl.

"Ohh..", I look down,embarrassed

"Yeah, so you can leave", he says

"You don't need to be so mean, I think she would've understood if you had just told her in a calmer voice." the beautiful black girl says turning to look at him.

He doesn't reply, just shifts a little on the chair.

"Urhm, okay I'm sorry, I'm going now".

"Sorry about that". The black girl says, I nod and stand up, and try to look for another sit. I see a table with a few students sitted and make my way there. A bell is heard and people start making their way to the front of the Refectory to collect food in the tray that they will share on their table, a representative of two people from each table. I sit on the table filled with a few students and smile at them hoping they won't send me away too.

" You're new here", a voice says from across me, I turn my eyes to him.

"Yes" _

"Oh, no wonder, cuz I noticed you sat on Mirabel's table, earlier", I look at him in confusion

" It's the girl with the braids" , a girl says from beside him, pointing to the table I just left , "alot of girls are on braids but she's the only one on braids on her table".

"Ohh , yes_I_"

"_Don't make that mistake again sha, her boyfriend is very grumpy and he enjoys embarrassing people", "I'm sure he said something mean to you" , she mutters

" Boyfriend?"

" Yeah, they're dating ", the boy replies nonchalantly, " they've been together for like three years now_"

" In secondary school? "

" Yes", the other girl says while the guy goes to the front of the ref with a tray from the table, " people date in secondary school, you don't know?"

" I , urhm, yes, I do", I say , giving her a small smile. The guy that spoke to me first earlier comes back with a tray of food and passes it to everyone sitted, then sits down.

"I'm Chinyere, by the way and this is Chigozirim, my twin brother" , " we don't look alike, we're fraternal twins"

" Oh, okay, nice to meet you ", I was about to pick my fork.

" What's your name?",

I look up and stare at her for 5 seconds, her hair is plaited in all backs , making her facial structures more pronounced than it should, she's beautiful but in a masculine way.

"Glory" , I say, I would've said my native name, but I think against it, I want to start with a new name , a name I'm hardly known with. I smile at her and pick up my fork, diving into my food.

I finish my food and make a move to clean my front but then somehow, my eyes makes its way to the table across from me and my eyes comes in contact with that of the boy I had seen earlier in my class. I stare for about two seconds and drop my eyes first, I don't understand why he was staring at me like that, but he definitely didn't back down even though it started to look weird, it makes me draw a conclusion about him immediately.

"Definitely very daring I see" ..I mutter to myself and stand up, making my way to the line formed in front of the kitchen to drop plates.