“That’s left for you to figure out” she said as she took her leave… this was going to be terrible, I could feel it…
I was still thinking of what excuse to give my parents that evening when mum called me. I went to the parlor and found she and dad seated, they told me that there was an early Morning Prayer meeting the next day in church, so they would be leaving very early the next morning for it. I tried to hide the excitement in my voice as I told them not to worry about me.
The next day was awesome, mum and dad had left the house as early as 5am, and I on the other hand hardly slept the whole night. I yanked off my blanket as soon as I heard them zoom out of the compound and I started to get ready for school. It was awesome because I didn’t have to go to an uncompleted building this time, I wore my uniform from home; not my normal uniform, but the one mum stopped me from wearing because she felt I had out-grown it. It was a bit tight and above my kneels, and put my inner cloths inside my bag.
I rushed to school as early as 7am that morning and as instructed, I went straight into the washroom and waited for almost an hour for Barbra to come… she finally did;
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long” she said smiling scornfully
I gave her a disgusting look; “of course not” I said sarcastically; “how could you?”
“That’s good then, don’t you think?” she said rubbing my cheek.
I yanked her hands off my face as anger flushed through my cheeks; “this had better been worth it”
“Don’t worry, you are going to love it” she winked at me, I gave a mocking look; “today, we will be doing a complete make-over for you”
“Make what?” she didn’t bother to repeat because she knew I heard her. She just concentrated on her bag, and I stood there and watched her as she brought out all sort of makeup equipment from it.
“Where in heaven’s name did you get all these?” I asked amazed.
“What do you think we do in juvenile?” she asked rhetorically, then she smiled and continued what she was doing, then she suddenly turned back and looked at me; “sit!” she said with a stern face. I quickly sat as if I was being drugged.
“Are you going to apply that on my face?” I asked stupidly.
“Ohh no, would you rather I apply it to your stomach?” she said with a big annoying smile
“Your humor is really absurd” I said with twitching my nose.
“What exactly are you worried about?” she asked looking at me straight in the eye
“I am not sure how I will look” I said truthfully.
“don’t worry my dear, no matter how bad it will get, it won’t be worse than you look now” she said with a scornful smile; “now do you want it or not!” she said seriously now; “I will count one to three” I sat down and waited for her to count; “THREE!” she said and started to pack her things.
“Whatever happened to one and two?” I asked as I stopped her; “Fine! Let’s do it” I sighed.
“That’s my girl” she started to apply them on my face…
I entered the class that day looking like an angel; the makeup wasn’t that obvious, but I definitely looked different. She also did some magic with my hair, and let it loose; I never let my hair loose, it was always packed in a ponytail style. I must admit, I almost didn’t recognize myself in the mirror. Barbra had left some minutes before I did, and I almost missed the first lecturer. As soon as I entered the class, all eyes were on me, I couldn’t believe it, I mean, I always had the attention but not with so much awe, I felt on-top of the world. I quickly controlled my now shaky legs and went to have my seat.
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I never believed what they said that your dressing influences your confidence, but that day was incredible, it was like I was possessed by a demon. I answered almost every questions asked without the fear of intimidation, and I did it was so much confidence and smiles. All my class-mates couldn’t help but admire me, I could see it in their eyes. Then it struck me; ‘what is more shocking than a bad girl, is a good girl that turned bad’. I smiled to myself as I continued with my class.
It was soon time for lunch, I could almost hear everybody whisper as I passed them. I felt even greater when two of my class mate walked up to me and asked me to takeout time to help them solve some problems they were having in mathematics, I blushed as I told them to see me after the close of the day. This was what I ever wanted, and thanks to Barbra, I finally got it. Then I was walking to our table so as to thank her and eat, when Alice and her mate came;
“Would you like to seat with us?” she asked.
I looked around just to be sure she was referring to me; “Me?” I asked perplexed
“Do you want to or not?” she asked as she stood akimbo.
“Of course” my throat almost jumped out of my mouth; “Just give me a moment”
“By the time you are done with your moment, there won’t be any space left for you to seat” she said as she walked away.
I stood there, confusion written all over me, I looked at Barbra who signaled me to come over, and then I looked at Alice who is sited this time, I signaled Barbra to give me a minute as I went over to Alice’s seat.
Sitting with the big girls in school was like sitting close to God Himself. I felt so excited, and so engrossed with their discussion. They talked a lot about guys and parties; ‘So this is what big girls do’ I muttered to myself. I didn’t realize when Barbra left the dining hall, that wasn’t a problem, I would see her in class, I just needed to enjoy this little time I had, because only God knew when I would get that opportunity again.
Then, I caught Alex’s glance, he actually winked at me! Alex id the most popular guy in school, he was very cute and very rich, and I have had a crush on him for since junior high, and he almost never knew I existed, and now, I just couldn’t figure out the reason he was looking at me;
“Looks like somebody just got herself a crush” I heard Alice said.
“What? Me?” I asked aback; “how can Alex have a crush on me, that… l mean, that’s absurd… right?” I looked at her confused.
“Are you kidding me? He’s totally hitting on you” she said brushing my shoulders
I turned and looked at him again, then looked away as soon as our eyes met; “He is?” i asked as i raised my brow
“uhuumm… you know what? Why don’t you come to my birthday party this weekend” she said smiling
“What!” this was like a dream come true, I was so excited, and was about to accept, when I remembered my parents. My smile suddenly melted as I looked away.
“Don’t tell me you are turning down my offer, you know I don’t just invite people over to my place” she said looking at me.
After seeing the disappointment on each of their faces, I felt sad, I didn’t want to lose these friends before I even had them, so I said; “sure!”
I couldn’t wait to tell Barbra all of it, but I couldn’t. As soon as we got to the class, Alice told me to come sit in the front with them, which I sheepishly accepted. But, I was able to tell Barbra the whole thing after class, even about the invitation I got. I didn’t get the reaction I expected from her, she was skeptical about the whole thing and told to be careful. I felt hurt, but I didn’t show it, I just left her with the thought that she was jealous I didn’t hang out with her that day.
I left the school quite late in the evening because I had to help some girls out on their mathematics. I got home that day and greeted my mum, immediately she turned to answer me, the plate she was holding fell off her hands and she stood still as if she had seen a ghost... then it came to me; ‘I forgot to change before leaving for home; I did remember to wash my face because I was sweating, but I didn’t tie my hair either’… this was going to be horrible…