Senators lodge
4:00pm

Cynthia

Bullies are insecure.....

I pushed the front huge door and walked into my really large house, the large house that was the beginning of my frustration, the reason I couldn't wait to leave for school everyday.

No one was in the sitting room and then I tiptoed to the staircase.

I was already on the 7th step or so.

"Walking in like a thief again aren't you?" My mum's voice came out loud.

God, I thought luck was on my side.

"I saw your result sheet, as usual, you couldn't get to the top 3 in your test"

I was backing my mother and so I slowly turned around to meet her gaze and I saw the look on her face, look of disappointment that usually marred her face about any matter concerning me, looks that I felt were now specially reserved for me.

Damn St Louis school for always sending our test result to our parents.

"I'll do better mum" I tried to convince her.

The look was still on her face, it had morphed to something like anger and disgust, I was her last child for goodness sake, wasn't I supposed to be the most loved?

Well welcome to my home, I was the least loved in a family of perfectionists, a family that was obsessed with fame, with records. You could see it from the application of gel to the academic achievement.

My mum intimidated me, yes she did. She wasn't a typical African mom, she was a modern African mum,she knew all the  clothes brand, the makeup, slangs, anything.

She had a light skin that she took care of really well, average height and a smile always on her face but I rarely saw such smile in my situation. It was suffocating.

"I always hear that always. For someone who is my daughter, I'm beginning to think you were switched at the hospital"

Two stabs in my chest, my breathing slowed but I didn't blink, I heard it over and over again from her.

I looked at my feet this time, my sneakers seemed more colorful now, somehow I wondered how come I never noticed the tiny stain on my shoelace.

"Your elder sister graduated from Harvard with distinction and my twins are doing well in their respective school works"

I wanted to remind my mum it was just a test, just a secondary school test.

"What do you think life is all about Cynthia, what exactly?"

I still had my eyes fixed on my sneakers, I just came fourth in this test I wanted to scream, when I came first the previous term, my mum didn't say anything beautiful, she didn't hug me like she hugged my sisters, was it because I wasn't the first child or because I wasn't a twin?

What had she said

"Your sister made an excellent grade too in class, she took first place for 6 straight years"

My mum shook her head and walked away back into the kitchen where she was clearly supervising the cooking.

I walked towards my room that was at the edge of the passage way, see, even in sharing of rooms I was marginalized.

I tried to ignore the faint voice of  Kidi's Say Cheese coming from my room probably cos I could be hearing things but that wasn't it, it was coming from my room, loud and clear. That only meant one thing;

I opened my door quietly and then I saw them, Sandra and Stephanie, my mum's twin.

The two identical humans that annoyed me to the core. Sandra was sitting on my bed applying some nail polish and Stephaine was in front of my mirror doing some video, what else did they know? All they did was invade my peace and now my space.

I stood at the door and observed them for a while, my room seemed to be their favorite place in the house, thinking of it, my room was even plain compared to theirs, just purple walls, a large vanity table, a small reading table close to my large bed that was covered with brown duvets and pictures of Micheal Jordans all over.

A walk in closet by the left and my bathroom just close by.

"This one you are standing there looking at us like a zombie, don't you miss us?" Sandra asked not looking up from her fingers.

I wanted to scream at them that I hated them, that I didn't want them in my space, encroaching my personal space, I wanted them to take a flight back to their school, but I didn't.

"When did you both come back?" I asked instead and walked into my room properly and closed the door. I dropped my school bag on the bed.

"This afternoon" Sandra replied. Her twin was still engrossed in making a video that was probably going to be seen everywhere.

I sat on my bed and watched them both, both light skinned like my mum, pointed nose, well carved faces, just a perfect definition of perfection, the ideal twin that was found on the covers of books, magazines and the sorts.

They were the perfection I couldn't be.

The Ifeanyi twins. 20 years of age,both already winning, both academically sound, Sandra studying accounting and Stephanie medicine, yes medicine and they were both going well, so well that I felt empty and useless everyday. What have I achieved compared to them?

They once hosted the Headies award, once ran a program that had over 5million people watching before they even became University students. And here I was, just useless. I tossed my uniform into the basket inside the bathroom and had a shower.

"How was school today?" Stephanie asked me once I got out of the bedroom with the white towel tied around my chest, she was finally done with her video, though few people noticed, she was the quiet one and the most beautiful though it wasn't really obvious.

"Fine" I replied.

"We would be staying for a few days" She suddenly said and I stared at her, the way she said it, like she knew I didn't want them around.

I shrugged and bounced on my bed "okay" I replied.

"How is Yobanna?" Sandra suddenly asked.

What should I say, fine?, I sighed. Despite all the years it seemed I took one step forward and twenty backwards. It was just, complicated. To say I've liked him for so long, I couldn't believe it too.

"His fine" I finally replied.

"I don't know why it's so difficult for you to hold that nigga down though, what's so hard?"Sandra asked.

I ignored her,it was so easy for her to say, she was dating a rich nigga so she could bluff all day. Stephanie casted a sympathetic smile at me as though she felt bad for me.

They both left and then I ran to the mirror to look at my self properly.

But seriously, what was so hard about Yobanna, maybe my nose was a little flat, just little, it can't be bad right!? Just maybe if I had smaller waist I would be attractive or was it my eyes, they looked dull I noticed. Or probably my lips or hair,what was bad about me?

I slumped on the chair. I was Cynthia for goodness sake, the girl who had it all, the girl with thousands of likes on social media, thousands of messages left unread but here I was sucking over just one person and feeling useless compared to my siblings,just here with a messed up life.

Bullies are insecure....

***
St Louis Secondary school
8:00am

Selena

Civic Education

Miss Juliet was standing in front of the class,my favourite teacher, Civic Education was really simple and somehow Miss Juliet made the class really fun. Maybe because she was really young, she couldn't be more than 22 from her looks.

"So I'm going to group you in pairs, I would have used the class register but there would be no need for that, your seat mate would be your partner"She was smiling, she always smiled.

Seat mate? Partner?

I turned to my right to see my partner and I met his eyes and I turned away, what if he didn't want to work with me? He didn't seem to be very fond of me and we rarely spoke because he didn't come to class often and he was just being himself. God, I thought this day would turn out well.

I was too engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't notice him go to pick a piece of paper from Miss Juliet,on it was our group topic.

"Feminism and Gender sensitivity in the 21st Century" He read aloud probably so I would be aware of it.

I didn't say anything in response, there was nothing to say and I was even nervous as hell, wasn't it enough toture that he sat beside me.

"You aren't saying anything"

I turned to meet his gaze on me. There was a way Yobanna looked at people that made me stay away,he looked at everyone as though he was brooding,as though he had other important things to do other than talking.

"If you don't want to be my partner,you can always meet Miss Juliet for a switch"He said casually as though he actually hoped I'll take the first offer

"No no no!" I took calm breaths as he narrowed his eyes on me wondering why I replied so fast.

"That's not it,I don't want a new partner,it's cool"

I saw him shrugged.

"Then I'll come over at your cafe where you work, when do you have a break?"He asked

"You..You You..want to come over to the cafe where I work?"I asked stuttering as though I wanted a reconfirmation from him,there was absolutely nothing wrong but he was Yobanna,you get?

"Yes,or do you have other ideas?" He cocked his brows at me. I swallowed the huge lump in my throat.

"No,I have a break by 5,it's a 25 minutes break"I told him and he nodded.

And that was the end of the conversation with the way he turned his eyes away from me and focused on his phone.

***
Nick's Cafe

He actually came.

I saw him walk through the glass doors,dressed in nothing but white joggers and a dark shades over his eyes probably to conceal his identity. A bag hung on his shoulder and a frown on his face.

He looked handsome in anything he wore and I watched as his eyes swept over the cafe probably in search of me or a booth and I got my answer when his eyes landed on me,though I couldn't see his eyes because of his expensive looking dark shades, I knew he was looking at me.

I quickly followed him.

"Good evening" I greeted him.

"Hey" he said in response.

He took out his laptop and  some books and laid it on the table.

"Have you read anything at all on feminism or gender sensitivity?"He asked. He was looking so serious, I wondered why he was always like that.

"No, but I know something about it"

He didn't respond for a while because he was taking his dark shades off.

"So how do we go about this stuff? Give me your opinions" He told me and looked at me.

I stuttered under his gaze.

" My opin... ion?" I asked. I nearly facepalmed myself. Why can't I seem to be confident?

He rubbed his palm over his forehead repeatedly as though I was giving him an headache. He was clearly tired and I was probably making it worse.

"Look,let's get things straight Selena" He paused.

"I don't care what people have told you about me or things you've heard,I don't care but stop all these act as though am going to bite you or something,I don't bite,I'm here to do this assignment and after then I leave, it's all for the mark and you are a scholarship student so that means you are bright,so please let's be guided,we have less than 25 minutes right?,so I ask again, what's your opinion on feminism and gender sensitivity?"

That was the longest stuff he had ever said to me.

" Sorry" I muttered.

"For me, feminism is all about empowering women, trying to free them from  the general perception that they should be seen and not heard. Feminism is all about giving power to the women, making sure women excel in every area of life"

"And gender sensitivity?"

" Trying to use gender sensitive word like human kind instead of mankind, chairperson in place of chairman and the sorts"

"So you don't think words like gun men,man slaughter also hurts men?"

I didn't respond. There was nothing to say.

"It's all messed up and it becomes a sort of competition by the time men and women begin to make a mole out of nothing. Feminism is more than coming online and asking for words to be changed, making absurd rules. No, feminism is more than that. The goal is to make sure that females are free from harassment simply because she's female, access to education and every other good thing but certainly not sidelining the other gender, I'm not saying it because am a boy,at the end of the day,the goal is to make sure that everyone has equal access to good things of life"

"No one is sidelining anyone and just because there are some fake femininst online does not mean feminism should be wiped out, Chimamanda still remains a great inspiration for goal oriented feminist, because even  in  this  modern  age women  are still treated badly,rape still  exists  and there are lots of  notions that should be  corrected about a female child and that is the goal of  feminism. Women  still have to learn to speak up, the system is still unfair to the them and that is the goal of feminism,to give voice to the women and until the goal of feminism is achieved,real feminism would stand, the problem is that these modern day feminist only come online to make noise but feminism is a good cause"

Seems it was indeed a time for long talks,I've never spoken for so long too.

He nodded at my point,I couldn't tell if he was impressed not,he was typing some stuffs when he suddenly looked beside him and his stare lingered for a while and then he stood up and walked to the table beside us while I watched him.

"Delete them" I heard him say. I couldn't hear who he was having the conversation with and I couldn't see his face but I knew he was displeased.

When he returned after some few minutes,he was looking very calm as though he didn't have a heated conversation with someone some minutes ago. I looked at him and I wondered if it was a great idea asking him if he was fine but I decided against it.

"I'll organize the points today. We'll continue tomorrow probably" He told me,stood up,hung his bag properly and he left.

***

Mansion
6:00pm

Yobanna

What was the problem with trying to have a little privacy?

I pushed the door to my room open and threw my bag on the bed before throwing myself on it.

I was really exhausted.

I knew I needed a shower but I laid there quietly and against my resolve my mind went back to the cafe.

Selena,the way she made her point,it was the first time she was really confident about something. I wondered why she always seem to want to run away,like I was scary or something and honestly,I meant every word I told her,I was the last person to listen to people,it was just kind of a default setting,I shared the same trait with Matthew I guess.

And then that girl at the cafe, taking pictures, really?it wasn't the first time people were taking pictures of me but I was scared for her,she wouldn't be able to probably stand the look from people so basically I had to shield her.

I picked up my phone and tried to groove to Kilometer by Burna boy,it was my latest jam. I stood up from my bed and tried to do some crazy moves and I ended up looking like a clown.

Dancing wasn't my thing I guess.

Ping ping

I picked up my phone,it was a message from Paris,I cringed at the yellow emoji she added recently beside her name but I left it there cos the girl was a handful.

Paris💛
Guy,there some pictures going viral about you

Guy? Seriously? She was my manager for Goodness sake.

She sent in some pictures immediately and I saw them,the pictures from the cafe and then I sighed. Guess there was more than one person taking pictures but all for what,clout. Thankfully Selena's face wasn't really visible since my head was blocking her face majority of the time.

Paris💛
So you have a girlfriend without my knowledge?😒

Me
Try to stop that pictures from going viral,she's my partner in an assignment

Paris💛
She'll soon become your life partner. So you don't want us to know our wife?😂😂

Me
Paris abeg,stop playing around and do this stuff for me.

Paris💛
Say please or I'll post it on my status and you know what that means 😌

Me
Please. I'm sure the please has added money to your account.

I turned off my data before she bombarded me with her messages again. Paris was a synonym of headache.

I peeled off the clothes off my body and played Geng by Mayokurn while I took a shower.

***
Who else agrees that Paris is a handful 😂😂
I love writing chats I don't know why and don't worry,you'll surely meet Paris in person 😂😂.

Yobanna,my love for this my character ehn,like he doesn't care oh, it's just for the marks,e be things 😌

What's your take on gender sensitivity and feminism,that's your assignment students,10 marks.😂

Today is a Saturday and I'm so fine. I wrote this chapter on the  1st of May,so I'm happy.

What else again sef😂, anticipate the next chapter x💓