TEENAGE TRAUMA

FIRST DAY!

Hey! I'm Deborah, let's go through my experience in my secondary school somewhere in Nigeria, usually called GHSS.-Gifted Hands Secondary School. A prestigious private school which only the rich attended.
       To begin with, I can't exactly say I was up to a good start in that school😅imagine becoming a target for Amber, the most influential-and kinda most popular girl in that class .I don't know why she disliked me from the first day I resumed into the school, maybe because I was asked to take her seat in the middle of the classroom or because I had accidentally knocked over her bag and walked away without apologising🥲don't judge, I didn't even know I knocked over the bag🤷‍♀️
  Amber and her friends, Emily and Janet were known to be very intimidating, as Amber was usually called the most beautiful girl in the class, she made sure she upheld that title and dealt with anyone who disrespected her, she never got in trouble for that, no surprise there 🙄she's the only daughter of the owner of the school.
To make matters worse for me...Amber's seat-which was now mine was next to Kevin's, the class captain on whom Amber had had a crush forever! Everyone knew Amber liked Kevin but were all surprised when Kevin refused to date Amber and claimed not to have any feelings for her. People suddenly began to believe I also had a crush on Kevin and that was why I decided to sit next to him. Amber either started that rumour or was more pissed off at me because of that rumour.
     Let's just skip the boring part...my first stressful experience was when Amber decided to implicate me one way or the other. We were meant to all give our Biology books to Kevin, the captain for him to submit to our teacher. Failure to comply resulted in six strokes of cane from the teacher. I checked my locker for the book but I didn't find it. I looked everywhere; my bag, my mate's bag, the toilet but it was nowhere to be found. I was still trying to retrace my steps to figure out where the book could be when I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. I turned around and to my shock, it was Kevin! He was so close to me so I had to move back a step but I accidentally stepped on Emily who pushed me back in anger. I was about to fall to the ground when Kelvin just held my hand and stood me back up. I know what you might be imagining...it must have been something romantic. But no, it wasn't. He just stopped me from falling, he didn't catch me in his arms in slow motion😒
     The whole class saw this happen and began to tease Kevin and I. They felt their belief that I liked Kevin was evident when that happened. That wasn't what was in my mind anyway. I left to go and see the teacher and tell him I couldn't find my book. And on my way out of the class, I looked back and saw Kevin smiling, like he took no offence it what just happened and After that, on my way back to class, I went to use the toilet. I was in one of the stalls when I heard Amber, Emily and Janet walk in with Amber screaming at Emily. "What the f*ck was that, Emily? Are you trying to pair them up or are you just stupid?" Amber began. "No, it was all Deborah! I didn't even push her with a lot of force, she just overreacted and fell into his arms!" Emily said in her defence. "I didn't even fall into his arms, you're all just overreacting". I thought to myself and hissed, rolling my eyes. Janet also defended Emily saying "Yes, that girl is just so slutty". "Ugh! She's being so pathetic, Kevin can't like someone like her, right?" Amber continued and Emily and Janet agreed with her.
     I walked out of the toilet stall and was going towards the door when Amber said to me 'look who it is! I guess you heard everything we said about you, right?". "Yh, I did", I replied. "Kevin already has a girlfriend, so I'll just advise you not to try to make a move on him." Emily said to me. "And who is his girlfriend? Are you sure it's not a one sided relationship cause Kevin believes he's single." I replied. Amber moved closer to me and slapped me in the face! She then said, "Make sure you tell the teacher that you need to switch seats with me. I don't care whatever excuse you're gonna give. Just make it happen! I wasn't such a good fighter but I wanted to hit her back, but I was unable to because i was outnumbered. I had no experience on how to handle being bullied so I wanted to report them to school authorities.
They all walked out and a classmate of mine, Tricia walked in and said to me, "So what do you plan to do?"
"Oh, you saw that. I think I'll just need to speak to the principal". "😂I thought as much, but You can't do that." She replied.
"Why?🤨" I asked
"Amber's parents own this school, among many others. Reporting her will only cause you more trouble from her"
"So that's what you guys do here? You just let Amber go around like that treating people however she wants?" I argued. "The only way anyone can get to Amber safely is if she doesn't know you were the one who did something to her" Tricia informed me. "I never liked her anyway, she calls me a less privileged😅" she added. "That is not okay at all, I'm so sorry" I replied. "But, if you can become friends with a particular someone, it's progress" Tricia informed me.