Part Twenty-Three

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Daphne's POV

Someone wake me up from this nightmare. How can this be possible? How can that foreigner just come from nowhere and win the crown just like that.

I stood transfixed at a point, this must be a dream because I can't accept the fact that my enemy just won over me.
Sooner or later I'll be the laughing stock of the school. My friends from other schools who hear of it would be shocked as well.

And what about my Mum, she's never pressurized me to win but I always want to win as a way of showing her that she can be proud of me. I even told the audience that she's one of my driving force and source of inspiration. I wonder how she's going to feel when I come back home today without the crown.

I will always be remembered in GCH as the girl that lost the position of 'Smart and beautiful' to a new student. Daphne Okoro has never known defeat.

Gosh! Why is this happening?

The universe seemed to be working against me. I watched as she was crowned the winner of the 'Smart and beautiful girl in GCH, 2018'. My poor heart couldn't take it while everyone hugged and swooned over her, it was like I suddenly became invisible.

Just like flash, I ran out of the stage and continued running until I arrived to a quiet spot. The PE teacher's office was a place students rarely go to because they can't make loud sounds around the vicinity, failure to abide by the rules meant doing the frog-jump for the rest of the day.

The tears were threatening to spill so I slowed down and walked briskly until I arrived at a safe spot, I sobbed quietly for my loss. I didn't know how to handle loss, it's been a long time since I've felt like this and it's disheartening. I'm just sad that something that has kept me going and been my source of joy for a while was taken away so easily.

My closest friends were nowhere to be found during the time I experienced the breakdown and to be honest, I'm happy they were not here to see me like that. I wiped my tears, cleaned my dress with my hands and decided to go back in search of those friends of mine. I walked down the hall for a while and on getting closer to my classroom, I heard noises coming from inside. I peeked in quietly to know what's going on and to my greatest surprise, I saw Nnenna, David and a couple of other guys.

I wonder what that goody-twoshoes nerd is doing with three guys, alone in a classroom. From the look of things, she must be having a good time. I've been friends with David for five years and I have a crush on him to which he's ignorant but I've never tried to get close to him like the way Nnenna is. I wanted to crash their little fun cause it was getting me irritated, David can't possibly be having fun with any girl who isn't me.

"Hey, what's up all?" I said,waltzing into the classroom.

"Hey Daph, how did it go?" Adams asked me.

I sighed,not really sure how to reply to his question.

"Is it true that Bella won the contest?" Ernest asked, looking into his phone.

"How do you know that?" David looked towards Ernest.

"Someone just posted the results on the school's account on Facebook. Even your pictures were uploaded." Ernest replied before raising his head to stare at me.

"Who did?" Adams asked scrolling through his phone, probably trying to login to the account.

"Someone by the username Padi Stargazer. All these names ehh, me I no understand am." Ernest answered.

"And the post has gotten over ninety-six likes and twenty comments." David chipped in when he looked into Adams' phone to see what they were talking about.

I simply stood my ground, doing nothing to defend myself. I wonder if some students hated me this much, for the update that hasn't been posted for two hours to get such amount of likes. This seemed so frightening to be real.

"One person comment be like, 'it's a good change for GCH, better people should be given a chance as well.' What the f**k!" Adams spat thoughtlessly.

Nnenna gasped at his action but I wouldn't let her too-good-to-be-true facade, get to me. I rolled my eyes at her and looked at David, who was also staring intensely towards me.

"How are you doing?" David asked me sincerely, I could see the concern clearly written on his face.

"I'll be fine. But first, you do remember that I have to attend the final dance and you're my partner, so come on hurry." That got him to stand up. After whispering few words to Nnenna who nodded in return, he followed me out of the classroom. We headed downstairs and straight to the students' hall where every function in the school takes place.

"Alright, it seems we're right on time." I said to David when we got in.
The hall was already filled with so many students who took dance classes. I was one student who loved dance classes and David has been my partner from day one, though he always claims not to enjoy it.

After the usual order and instructions from the dance instructor, we paired up with our partners and begin moving our bodies slowly to the sound of the music piece 'Canon ', playing in the background.
I love this piece, it's one of my favourites.

I had such wonderful time with David. For sometime I actually forgot about my own problems, I'm certain it's because of David. The incessant fluttering of butterflies in my stomach during the time I was dancing with him, was like nothing I've ever felt.
Sooner than later I would have to tell him about my feelings for him, I know he feels something for me too but his pride won't let him admit it, so I'm going take the first shot.

I'm going to probably surprise him on Christmas day with the news, I hope we get to kick things off from there. I've always wanted to have a real boyfriend. I've dated a lot of guys before but I've not felt anything for them that I've felt for David, David is the one for me.

After the dance, I gathered my belongings while he offered to take me home. His younger brother couldn't make it to the end-of-the-year party so that's enough reason for him to take as much time as he wants. I couldn't stop him, I didn't want to. All I wanted was to spend time with him.

When we arrived at my house, he dropped me off at the door and turned to go back into the taxi. I couldn't get the music 'Meant to be, by Simi' out of my head, it was exactly how I feel about David and I.

I graced the sitting room with my presence and met my mom lighting the candle on the chocolate cake she was carrying.

The silver banner tied to the ceiling fan read, 'Congratulations on your victory, Queen.' I felt so bad, mummy worked so hard for this yet I didn't win. There were no words to tell her so I just broke down before her and shook my head. She seemed to understand my actions and dropped the cake on the center table before engulfing me in a very warm hug.

"It's okay sweetheart, you'll always be the queen of my heart. You're my little girl and my favourite celebrity, you don't need some crown to prove that to anyone."

I chuckled at her words and held her really tight, I never want to let go. I don't want to lose this moment.

"O zugo, stop crying." (it's enough, stop crying).

I've truly missed this aspect of our Mom and daughter relationship, if losing the crown would give me back my caring mother and best friend, then I don't mind at all.

There really is a silver lining in every cloud.

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How touche...Daphne and David...who can give us an adorable ship name for these two?

Thanks to chessaandersen for the wonderful banners she created for this book, we're all really grateful.

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