African beauty

Chapter 4 - Rebellion

I would tell you how my Sunday went, but lets just say I did absolutely nothing. It was boring and Alex didn't even text me. Did I do something wrong? I could have sworn that I tried my very best to walk around his feelings and consider what he was going through. Maybe he was just busy. Either way, I slept through the day, even though my mother kept calling my name numerous times, I stayed in, even though I wasn't tired. I just was not ready to get distressed by her bickering and endless questioning from last night. Though she did not ask me me a lot of questions yesterday, it was a volcano ready to explode, and I was not going to be in front of it, coupled with the fact that I was incredibly horrible at lying, so I prefer to escape the situation before I said something stupid. It was about 5:30 AM in the morning and I had school this morning. Wonderful. What better way to start the week than spending it with rotten, stuck up Hailshaw students? Ill wait. I felt rather odd, as i did not tell myself I was beautiful on Saturday and Sunday, which was very unlike me, but to be honest, it was getting tiring, so I only told myself I was beautiful about 5 times this morning. I took a very speedy shower, and brushed my teeth, while checking my face for any new breakouts. I washed my face and actually spent more time on my appearance today. I had on a thrasher top and my favorite black leggings, with some Vans and an old Jacket I got from topshop. I slicked my natural hair in a bun and ran downstairs. To my absolute horror, my mother was just sitting there, looking at me with utter disgust, to the point where I had to smell myself and my breath to make sure she couldn't smell me from miles away. "WHERE WERE YOU THE WHOLE OF YESTERDAY WHEN I WAS CALLING YOUR NAME? EHN FOLAKE???"she said, calling me by my yoruba name. When my mother called me by my yoruba name instead of my English name, I knew she was annoyed with me, or ready to slap me. "Maami, I was so tired from being with Alex yesterday."After saying that with utter confidence, I immediately realized that I had said Alex, instead of making up a female yoruba name to go with my previous lie. "WHO IS ALEX?"she asked, while I was trembling so hard you could hear my knees shake. "Alexandra is her full name, but she prefers that I call her Alex ma."I said. I was getting pretty good at this whole 'lying on the spot' thing, and I have to admit, I was really proud of myself for that. "Erica watch yourself, do not start following these wayward kids, remember where you came from, and how easy it is for you to go back". She always did that. Anytime I did anything seemingly bad, she threatened that I would rot in Nigeria and not go anywhere in life, But this time we were in London, so she was basically threatening to send me back to live with Grandma. God forbid.

I was not hungry this morning, so I skipped breakfast and went straight to the car so I could get to school. As my mother got in the car and started the engine, I felt a vibration from my bag. I knew it was Alex, and it was all the reason not to answer, because I could already feel my mother giving me the 'cut eye', a term us Nigerians basically use to say side eye. She was paying close attention to my hand movement, if I would answer that text, and who it could be. Its safe to say I got my sneakiness from her. She was awfully quiet, as though she wanted the guilt to build inside of me, forcing me to say the truth, because lets face it, she was not stupid. She always knew when I was lying, but these days she got less and less bothered to page me for it. Anyway, after that nightmare was over, we were already in school. I was about to unbuckle my seat belt when I caught a glimpse of what could ultimately kill me. It as Alex, and he was coming this way. Immediately, I jumped out of the car and ran the other way, forgetting the fact that I had not waved my mother goodbye, or closed the car door. While I was running away, I heard a car door close. It was Alex again. Goddamnit. He shut the door behind me, and my mother thanked him with a sinister smile on her face, driving away. I was dead. I could smell my dead body already. She knew what was going on. I was so deep in thought and fear that Alex could detect it. "Whats wrong? and why were you running?"he asked, trying to give me a hug, but I pulled back, fearing that my mother, or someone else, was watching. "Sorry Alex, I have to go to class, see you later?" I asked. I didn't even wait for his answer. I just ran to class immediately, even though I regretted every bit of it.