Dedicated to Fame_lanky
              A new reader!🎨💙🎨
                      ♠ Chikamsi ♠

She wriggled out of the  blue skirt she had been wearing,and quickly put on a pair of dungarees, packed up her hair in a bun and folded her school uniform into her pink bag.

Nobody would recognize her as a school student dressed like this, she ran down the narrow path that led to her house and approached the white picket fence at the back.

Chikamsi looked both ways before throwing the pink bag she held in her hand over the fence, it landed with a thud in the backyard.

She didn't hear any sound,the coast was clear.
Chikamsi hoisted herself over the fence, not wanting to risk using the gate because of the screeching noise it made when it was opened.
She brought out the spare key she had taken earlier from her mother's room, and she let herself in.

Chikamsi walked up the stairs, stopping to admire her picture on the wall for a minute.
She was holding a huge cheque, smiling up at the camera when that picture was taken.

It was her first influencing gig, Chikamsi smiled fondly at the memory of that day.
Her phone buzzed, reminding her that she needed to get going, she had an important assignment to meet up with by 10 o'clock that morning.

Trip Market was opening their very first  convenience store, and Chikamsi wanted to be there.

She had heard that they were choosing new faces for their brands, and maybe, just maybe, with the right crowd she would gather when she was there, Trip Market would notice her.

Her mother had strictly warned her not to leave the school premises today,she smiled to herself.
She didn't even reach the school premises, so she wasn't disobeying her mother.

Chikamsi went through her walk-in closet, frantically searching for an orange bucket hat to complement the new outfit she had changed into.

Bucket hat found, she left the house, mm of forgetting her school bag, her mother would probably go through the back door to enter the building, and she didn't want to leave any traces.
Chikamsi landed on the other side of the fence, with a low groan as her body collied with the ground.

“This sneaking out thing is inconvenient" she muttered while rubbing her sore elbow.

She took a shuttle to Eastwell Village where the convenience store was located.
She had been posting updates on her Instagram page, letting her fans know that she would be in Eastwell that day.
She wanted to gather a crowd, and show Trip Market just how much influence she had.

Her lips were starting to hurt, she had been taking numerous selfies with people since she got here, fans requesting for her autograph, and she hadn't seen any Trip Market team member yet.

The convenience store was packed with people, each person trying their luck to see if they would earn any of Trip Market's free shopping session they always gave to their 10th, 50th and 100th customers.

A woman walked up to Chikamsi with her daughter,asking her to give her an autograph on her face.
Chikamsi smiled  and signed the girls hand instead.

People walked up to her, telling her how they loved her content, her style, her non chalant lifestyle and everything.

She basked in the praises of her supporters for a minute,until she remembered why she initially came here.

Chikamsi walked over to  a team of people with name tags wearing red, she assumed they were Trip Market representatives.

She greeted at them, offering the oldest looking one among them a handshake.
The lady took her hand, shaking it slowly and then vigorously,as she realized who she was speaking to.

“Chikamsi Omonigho Benjamin" she said introducing herself to the other three employees who gazed at each other with questioning looks on their faces.
One of them hissed, the other two waved back at her and continued with their discussion.

“To what do I owe this surprise?" The older woman asked Chikamsi.

“Well, I heard you guys were opening a convenience store, and I decided to drop by" she lied, trying her hardest to look serious, the wide grin that spread across her face next gave her away.

Chikamsi looked like a creep, but she didn't care. She was happy to be meeting a Trip Market personnel and she couldn't stop grinning,  if she tried.

“Wait, don't you live at Orion Estate, that's a bit too far to just come and see us, don't you think?" The old lady questioned, making air-quotes at the see.

Chikamsi nodded, “I do" she said,“But every successful venture is full of risk taking." she said sounding sage, she was pitching herself.

Her strategy worked, the older woman was impressed.
“For such a young girl, you're very wise" she complimented, bringing out a flyer and handing it over to her.

“Take this flyer, there's an Influencer's Meet on Monday, If you can make it, I'm sure Trip Market will reconsider their stance on you marketing for them  even when you're still underage."

Chikamsi grabbed the flyer, thanking her profusely, she waved off Chikamsi's thanks,and excused herself to rejoin her team.

Chikamsi started to turn walk away, heading for the exit when someone blocked her path and shoved a magazine in her face.

She was on the cover page, the edition she had refused to read since it came out was here, bold red letters mocking her, she grimaced.

The Lasgidi Vault

Lasgidi's Sales Girl of the week,
A salesgirl who can do maths, or Chikamsi Benjamin?

They had released another article after the first one,when her last terms results had been leaked, and they had published another article, telling her fans and supporters all they needed to know about Chikamsi's current academic performance.

Ofcourse she accepted it with dignity, she had gone live that night, telling whoever it was that ran the Lasgidi Vault to come out so they could settle this face to face, but untill then, she had no words for an infamous cowardly reporter.

The girl who was shoving this magazine in her face seemed unbothered by the fact that they were both in public.
Somewhere like the bathroom would have been a nicer place to do this,Chikamsi thought rolling her eyes.

She did not care about her grades, neither did she care what other people thought of them, and she most definitely didn't  care if they saw them,but Trip Market would  care and, that was the only reason she was pushing this girl towards the bathroom and  offering her a selfie and a shout-out.

“Wo, Chikamsi Omonigho" she said, Chikamsi winced at the way the girl destroyed her middle name.

She forced on the fakest smile she could muster and politely asked the girl,
“Yes dear?" The words felt bitter in her mouth.

The other girl looked at her, an evil grin on her features.
“I want you to feature me in a live video, I have only six hundred followers, and you have a whole nine hundred thousand, if your followers saw me in any of your videos, my followers would fourple" she said bringing out her phone and shoving her Instagram page in Chikamsi's face.

“What's fourple?" She asked, pronouncing the word slowly and unsurely.
Chikamsi burst into laughter when it clicked, “wait, you mean your followers will multiply by four, is that what your calling fourple?" Chikamsi asked, holding her stomach and bending over in laughter.

She took the outstretched phone from the other girls hand and scrolled through her Instagram page, wiping a tear off her eye and sighing.

“Fourple." She chuckled, concentrating on the page now.
Jemma Osondu had only twelve pictures, and each of those twelve pictures were filled with her showcasing a random terrible quality picture of her in her room, a beach house or a park.

No inspiration, no content, nothing.
Chikamsi sighed, deciding to give this girl something more valuable than a live video, quality advice.

“Um Jemima" she called, grabbing the other girl's attention.
“Your pictures are low quality, your content is zero and your page lacks aesthetics." Chikamsi deadpanned.

“And you post like.. once every two months" she added, “Consistency and self development is the key!"

Jemima nodded slowly, seeming like she understood what Chikamsi said, until she opened her mouth to speak.

“I know, that's why I need a live video" she replied twirling the magazine in the air.
Chikamsi groaned and snatched the magazine from her.

“Your IQ is smaller than a pack of chewing gum."

The other girl gasped in astonishment, as Chikamsi walked out on her, leaving her in the restroom by herself with her six hundred followers.

Monday morning came faster than expected, Chikamsi was up by 6am, reading and brushing up on the presentation she had later that day.

Trip Market had sent her a confirmatory email, with her password and everything that was required for the  Influencer's Meet.
Where she would meet some of their biggest influencers and rub minds with them, seeing as she was already a shoo-in once she turned 19, Influencers from all over the globe would be there, and she was supposed to talk about growing an authentic brand.

Her alarm went off, telling her it was time to get ready for school, but she was already ready.

According to Chetachi, she had promised him she would be in school early that day.
Chikamsi rolled her eyes, as she remembered trying to defend herself the previous night.

“I was high on sugar Ezi Enyi, you're taking advantage of me" she whined over the phone, Chetachi chuckled, asked her to keep to her words and hung up.

“If not that I'm an honest person and my reputation precedes me will I be rushing with this boy to get to school early?" She grumbled to herself, as she put on her school uniform.

Her mother was seated at the dining table, reading a newspaper when Chikamsi got downstairs.

“Nne, Otutu oma" (Good morning)she said kneeling slightly to greet her.
Chikamsi's mother looked up,her dark ebony skin shone in the morning sunlight that flooded the room through the drawn back curtains, her hair, neatly packed in a bun sat graciously atop  of her head.

“Well done." she replied going back to her newspaper.
“Kamsi,"her father called.

She knelt down before him and greeted him. He patted her back and asked her to sit down.

“Kate, have you noticed that Chikamsi is ready for school early today?" He asked his wife, as if just noticing that, Mrs Omonigho looked up from her newspaper again, folded it and placed it on the table.
She glanced up at the wall clock, her eyes widened in astonishment.

“Yes, I've noticed" she smiled at Chikamsi watching both father and daughter.

“Keep it up Kamsi, anyway, I have a surprise for you when you get back home." he said smiling lovingly at his daughter.

Chikamsi ignored the feeling of guilt in her chest and convinced herself she was actually going to get to school this time around, so it wouldn't be wrong to sneak out for just a few hours.

After exchanging small talk with her parents, she entered the car where  a driver was already waiting, and asked him to leave.

Jasper High was noisy on Mondays. They seemed happy to actually be in school today, and she wondered why.

Eniola skipped happily beside her, her hand hooked in Chikamsi's arm and gisted Chikamsi about her weekend.

“Tryouts is even this week sef" she added, and it clicked.
Tryouts were usually after school,  people would be expected to stay behind and prepare for sports and other activities, Chetachi had told her on Saturday at Lumens place, he had asked her to be there to watch him play, and keep him company.
She slapped her forehead in agony,
she had gone and given out her word to Trip Market. Another thought hit her and Chikamsi started to wonder just how forgetful she was becoming.

She had been given the duty of handling the school's Instagram page and she had forgotten to update the page all weekend.

Eniola spoke at length about how she hoped to win this year's Nationals and get the opportunity to study abroad, Chikamsi nodded and wondered how to tell Chetachi she wouldn't be available.

Eniola was going to compete as a runner, so she had spent the whole weekend training.

“No wonder I didn't see you at Pink Dessert House on Saturday" Chikamsi said, earning an eye roll from the darker girl.
“I wanted to go there and support my girl o, but Chetachi was there." She shuddered, now walking ahead of Chikamsi as they reached the class block.

A crowd gathered infront of their class, they were mostly arts students, boys.
Chikamsi walked closer with Eniola, wondering why they were gathering,in the middle of all the noise and chaos, she saw Tobiloba in the middle,he was the center of attraction.

Chetachi pushed through the crowd, and took him out of their midst.

The crowd slowly dispersed, and Eniola shoved the remaining boys roughly, ordering them to move.

She walked into her class alone, James and Denzel, the school's star tennis player were making out in the classroom.

Chikamsi groaned and walked out, leaning by the wall of the class waiting for them to finish.

“Is today Melodramatic Monday? Why is all of this drama happening on a Monday. And why is Chetachi even taking sides with Tobiloba now?" she said peeping inside to check if they had finished.

                     ♪Gracious♪

Another sigh escaped her lips as she texted Lumen.

Chetachi had offered to take her to get something again this afternoon, something to eat at Rainforest Cafe he had suggested, Gracious wanted to go, wanted to see where this thing with  Chetachi would take her, but once he had mentioned food, it felt like he was mocking her.

Me that hasn't eaten since Saturday morning, He wants to spoil my fasting, she thought to herself.

She didn't fall for Lumen's cupcakes again,and when he had come into the backroom that Saturday he wanted her to eat ice cream, with him, she had scoffed and pushed him away.

“You're not that dumb Gracious" she said logging into her Instagram account.
It had been a while she went on this place, mostly because the people here were fake, just like her.

She went to the body closet she had found online and ordered some snake oil.
It was supposed to make her loose belly fat, the rolls James had played with on Saturday would soon disappear.

Lumen had transferred her wages to her that night, the night she almost had sex with James.

Gracious wondered sometimes, if her father actually knew what she did,and  was just waiting to catch her red handed.

She remembered how James had begged her that night, telling her she was ready to have sex with him, her cheeks flushed at the memory.

While she had wanted to, to please him, to make him stay with her, she wasn't so sure that she was ready to take that final step.

She wanted him to keep coming back for more and she knew that if she gave him what he asked for, he would never come back.

Her father had questioned her again that night when they got home, asking her why her shirt was so tight and demanding to see all her bras since she didn't seem have any proper bra on these days.

He had placed her on a strict diet, claiming she needed to loose a little weight so she would fit into the tee shirt she wore better.
Lumen offered her a bigger size but she declined.

She didn't want a bigger size, and even if she did, her father wouldn't let her have one, all clothes will fit with time was his mantra.

James called her, asking her how she was doing, telling her he missed her. She was happy. Her refusing to give him her body had kept him like she wanted.

“Will you be staying for tryouts next week?" He asked.
When the silence after she told him yes was getting too long, she double tapped on the phone screen, he had hung up.

She went back to contemplating whether to order an additional bottle of snake oil, when a call came in from Chetachi.

“Gracious" he said, funny enough she knew he was smiling. She heard it in his voice,“Chetachi how are you?" she asked, getting off her bed and putting on a robe.

If he was going to tell her something, she might as well use that time to check up on her brothers as they slept and make sure everywhere was locked up.

“How have you been? I didn't see you again after Saturday, and I still have your face towel" he informed her.

Gracious rolled her eyes and left her brother's room, after making sure they were asleep.

She went downstairs to the kitchen, and walked into her least favorite place in the house, leaning on the gray kitchen island.

“You can return it on Monday," she replied lowering her voice a little.
He grunted in response and asked her how her day was.

She filled him in on the rest of the events after he left, leaving out James, as she spread butter and jam on a few slices of bread, made herself a cup of cocoa and fried two eggs.

Chetachi laughed, she was starting to think he saw her as a joke, he was always smiling when he saw her.

“You're eating better now abi?" He asked, she heard the concern in his tone, she swallowed and nodded.
“Yes," she responded.

He had asked her about it, telling her that her waistline was becoming increasingly smaller, asking her about the health implications and her prescription.

She had scoffed, nobody needed a prescription to be able to buy a corset, let alone wear one.

Her waist trainer was no longer doing what she wanted, so she had simply upgraded.

He asked her what she was doing currently, looking down at the plate full of her second helping of bread and fried eggs, and her fourth cup of tea, she told him goodnight.

Breakfast the next morning was postponed, Gracious loved the taste of food, but she had eaten her last meal for the week last night.

Gracious examined the  stretch marks that had started spreading to her upper arm, they had started coming out last week, but she hadn't paid any attention to them until now, the thin lines suddenly had become thicker and blacker, denting her skin.

She put on a sweater to hide them, nobody would notice.Her father had insisted on taking her to school that morning, instead of letting her take a shuttle or calling Lumen. As she greeted him and entered his car, she knew the ride to school would be awkward.

They had seen a lot of plus sized girls on the road, and her father had taken it upon himself to use each person as a teachable moment for her.

“That girl, she's bigger than you" he said, “see the way she carries herself."

He had given comments on how they didn't give a hoot about what others thought of them, how they didn't care that they were plus sized until she had begun to feel uncomfortable.

One day, he was placing her on a diet, and the next day he was talking about body positivity in plus sized women.

He bade her farewell at the school premises, after asking her to pull down her skirt countless times.
Lumen met her in the restroom where she had gone in to change.
Gracious' second skirt was shorter than the first, she took of the longer skirt she had worn to please her father, putting on the one she prefered.

They were walking together, her and Lumen, to class when a junior student ran up to them, to call Lumen and other club members for a teacher.

She decided to settle down in class while Lumen went to answer her call.
James walked in, settling down beside her, and held onto her waist. She winced a little, her corset was a bit too tight, and the pressure he applied hurt her.
She mustered a smile instead and greeted him a cheery good morning.

“Gracious why did you leave me like that on Saturday, no pictures after that, nothing,"he complained, leaning in for a kiss.
She met his lips with reluctance, afraid of another student catching them in there.

When students started trooping into the class block, he reluctantly let her go.

The first lesson for the day was chemistry, organic chemistry.
Lumen waved a little at James when he started hyping her, Chetachi turned back and mouthed a good morning which she didn't bother to reply, she would talk to him later.

The chemistry teacher was already in class and any further conversation would have gotten them punished.
“Who can remind me what Organic Chemistry is all about?" The woman asked and the whole class groaned.
“Ma you're the one that taught us last week na, how can we now be reminding you?" The whole class burst into laughter at James' comment.

She ignored him and asked Lumen to explain.

Authors Note
Three whole thousand words!😭
Well well well😗
Happy Sunday children of God, how are you all doing?
I didn't want to update today because I was feeling a bit under the weather and I didn't want to, but I'm realizing that consistency is the key.

If you're a new reader, or a ghost reader and you've voted on my story and I haven't told you thank you or appreciated you, it's because Wattpad isn't letting me see who votes for now. I don't understand this glitch, the vote counts are increasing, but no notification, so I can't see who voted.

But thank you 🧡🧡🎨

And for clarity, Chikamsi's point of view is on a Monday, the Monday after the opening while Gracious' pov starts Sunday night and ends Monday morning.

Which point of view do you guys enjoy most?
And who saw a hint about James I dropped in there?😗

Chikamsi also got invited to an Influencers Meet 😭💚
Baby girl will soon market for Trip, or maybe not😗🌚

Have a nice rest of the day, remember to vote comment and subscribe 😗💚