BAD DAY.

My legs have turned to jelly, and I have a lump in my throat. Even though I don't want to cry, I feel like I should. In the background I distinctly hear Ruth snickering to her friends. I plaster a wide smile on my face, trying to hide how nervous I am before looking forward.

I take one quick glance at the essay I wrote in my notebook before looking up. David Is staring at me with what I think is an encouraging smile. I try my best to return it before I start marching towards my impending doom. My body feels hot and cold at the same time. I've already leaned the words by heart and part of my fear is forgetting the words because of my fear.

When I go to the front of the class, Miss Stephanie took my seat and the rest of the class sat down after her, all eyes trained on me. I notice that my hands a visibly shaking so I clasp them together behind my back and start speaking.

"Bonjour mademoiselle Stéphanie, et mes camarades de classe, je m'appelle Emmanuella et je suis là pour vous parler de moi - "

I managed not to stammer when I started speaking but I couldn't hide the tremor in my voice. The smile on my face is still very much wide though and I can still remember what I memorized. I use that opportunity to power through it.

"- Je suis Igbo par tribu. Certains de mes passe-temps incluent la lecture, le dessin et le chant. Je n'aime pas me battre et je déteste être au centre de l'attention"

I hadn't noticed when my hands and feet stopped shaking, and all that's left is for me to finish,

"-J'espère que nous pourrons nous entendre en tant que camarades de classe, et si vous avez besoin de quelque chose, n'hésitez pas à me demander, merci."

Everyone claps and Miss Stephanie comes up to the front of the class and directs me to my seat. Shes saying something but I cant hear it. Now that im sitting, the adrenaline is wearing off and I'm suddenly very tired.

"You did well!" David says giving me a thumb up and a smile,

"Thanks. Even though you didn't understand anything I said." I say dryly.

"Who said I didn't understand", he laughs, "I know French." he says smugly.

I don't doubt that he does though, he's smart, maybe even too smart. Unconsciously, I roll my eyes.

"Don't worry. When It's my turn, I'll show you", he winks at me and faces forward.

Now that my turn is over, I can do whatever I want, and that means draw.David is the last one to present and that's the only time I pause my drawing to pay attention. He gets up awkwardly, making me to laugh softly and he shoots me a look.

He walks up front and picks up a marker – the only one that has touched a marker during their presentation- and writes 'About me' in French on the board. I stifle alaugh. Then he rasps his knuckles on the board and clears his throat loudly, the class chuckles, including me.

I think this is the way he manages his nerves, by acting weird.

He finally starts speaking but his eyes are darting all around the class. It's almost as if hes unsure of what to keep his eyes focused on, then they land on me and I smile. He wasn't joking as I suspected, he's good at French, though he still struggles on some words, it sounds good.

Miss Stephanie looks like she's enjoying it too, if the smile on her face is anything to go by. David is still staring so I decide to make try and make him laugh and slip up his words. I tried everything I could think of but it doesn't work, and he finishes without a hitch.

Class ended early because something came up for Miss Stephanie so she had to leave. Noticing that one of my notes is torn, and with nothing else to do, I take out my sellotape to tape the torn parts together. When I'm done David asks me to lend it to him for the same purpose and I do.

We spent the next 10m minutes talking and laughing until a junior student came by the class to ask for me. The girl shuffles awkwardly into the class and whispers in my ears that a senior, one of the final year students, asked her to call me up to their class. David frowns a little but says nothing. I flash hiss a reassuring smile and get up.

[What position am I in to be reassuring someone when I, myself, am the least bit

assured.] This day just keeps getting worse.

The final year's class is on the top floor out of three floors in the building, with the doors and a terrace facing the general hall.

I still don't know which one of the 'apes' sent for me but I have a bad feeling about it. That feeling just kept getting worse with the more steps I climbed. When I finally got to the top floor, I was met with the ape from sports day and the one that has been giving me hateful looks since after that day. A chill runs through me.

"Ah -", he began, "-I'm the one that sent for you."

He's short, not that much taller than me, and stubby and really dark. He has a mean face that almost looks like its saying "Stay away from me."

"O-kay", I say slowly, and he frowns. I think I said the wrong thing.

"You see my problem with you? You don't have respect. You're always feeling arrogant, ever since that day on the court, and whenever I look at you and you see me, you look at me like you want to beat me."

By now I'm getting irritated because he's making things up,

"Sorry, but I don't do that." It comes out more confidently than I feel.

"So now I'm the one that's lying? You're calling me a liar, eh?!" he's angry now and his voice is higher. Some of his classmates have stopped what they're doing to stare.

"I'm not calling you any-", before I could finish my statement, I felt a hard slap across my cheek followed by another. He grabbed my arm and shoved me into his class. I was too surprised to be shocked, [what the fuck?] I scream in my mind. Saying that out loud would be my death.

"Lie down flat and face down on the floor!", the ape roars and I do as he says. Some of his classmates come up to him and asks him what happened, and he feeds them the same lie he tried to feed me. Some of the female apes comes and stand by my head and start yelling some things at me but I can't hear them, my

ears are still ringing.

After a while, the guy punishing me tells me to kneel with my hands straight above my head.

"You this girl, you think someone will come to save you? You're just annoying Me." he says then slaps my arms. I think he's angry because I'm not crying. I want to but I don't want to, does that make any sense?

The bell rings, signifying the end of classes, and the start of club meetings, but it doesn't look like the guy is going to release me. After some minutes, a girl who had been quiet through the whole drama suddenly gets up and walks towards the ape. I didn't hear what she told him, but whatever it was, it made him to release me without a word.

He gives me one last dirty look and sends me out the door. Once I'm outside I hurry downstairs to my class, when I get there, it's empty. I move to the farthest corner of the class and bury my head in my arms on the locker, then the tears flows out.