C3 First day at school..

My eyes slowly drifted open, something loud was ringing and it was disturbing my blissful sleep. I was still exhausted from the happenings of the previous night and I knew for sure that I hadn’t slept for up to six hours that night. I sat up and looked around the room- “What made that noise?”.

I couldn’t find anything and there was obviously no alarm clock in the room that could make such a noise.

I heard the sound again, this time it was way louder as I was fully awake. It wasn’t any alarm, it was the doorbell from downstairs. I got down from the bed sleepily and staggered towards the door of my room. I was eager to see Edward, I had it mind to question him on his sudden disappearance the previous night.

I went down the steps slowly, watching my steps as some of the stairs were broken- “Ugh! Stupid house” I grumbled as I got to the end of the stairs.

I looked up and saw Edward sitting on the table beside the window, he was holding a newspaper and seemed not to notice me as I starred at him in surprise.

“Urrm, the doorbell is ringing” I said trying to gain his attention. He looked up at me, he had a stern lookon his face.

“It’s 7:05 in the morning, Philip. You are late for school” he said.

I shook my head.

“Sorry. I was too tired they up early. You can’t blame me though, not after that long drive from yesterday” I replied.

The doorbell rang again, I walked towards the door and pushed it open and out there in the open stood a young and pretty girl of my age.

She was of average height with blonde hair, she was fair and she had a few freckles scattered across her cute little face. She had deep brown eyes and looked at me with interest.

She stretched her small hand towards me; “Hi, I’m Alice McGuire”.

I shook her hands warmly.

“I am Philip”. She didn’t seem to stop staring at me so I knew I had to keep talking; “Can I help you, or do you want to speak to my uncle. I could go get him” I asked calmly.

“No. I am the girl next door and your uncle told me about your arrival from Nigeria. We go to the same school, so I just want us to be friends” she explained.

I looked at her closely; she was wearing a pink sweater and a pair of jeans with white sneakers. I looked at myself; I was still wearing my while vest and blue jeans from the previous night.

She chuckled softly and I smiled at her; “Can I have fifteen minutes of your very precious time, Alice” I pleaded. She nodded and was still smiling as I ran up the stairs to get ready. In a few minutes I had showered and relaxed my full hair. I wore a white body-hug and a Nike T-shirt on top of it, I also wore my tracks trousers and my old school vans. I speedily grabbed my bag and ran downstairs.

It was going to be my first day of school in the US, I knew it was going to be tough to get along with others, but I was going to try making a good impression and I knew everything was going to work out for me.

Edwards stared at me as I stood a few steps away from him. “Yo, I'm ready to go now!” I said.

He stood up and walked past me towards a small cupboard. He opened it and brought out a small envelope. He threw it at me and I caught it, I opened the envelope and saw neat and new hundred dollar notes neatly arranged in the tight envelope.

“That’s your weekly allowance” Edward said as he walked back towards the table to sit on it. “Do you drive?” he asked.

“Yeah. But I’m 17 and back home you had to be 18 to drive” I replied as I turned to go.

“Wait!”. I turned back and he threw a car key at me. “Take the Porsche”.

I shook my head in disbelief. “You playing with me?” I said as I stared at a smiling Edward.

“Ain’t playing with you kid. You should try getting yourself a girl though and have fun” he said. I grinned as I turned around and walked into the garage. ‘Firstly, he gives me $1000 as my weekly allowance and now I get to drive a Porsche to school'- This is sick!

I opened the door of the car and entered into it, I started the vehicle and pulled out of the garage. Alice saw the car but didn’t know that it was me in it. I pressed the horn twice to get her attention, She heard it, walked towards the car and got in.

She looked at me and smiled; “You drive?!” she asked as she wiped dust off the glass beside her. “I do now” I said and she laughed. I opened my bag and brought out a towel, I cleaned the dust off the windscreen of the car- There were claw marks across it, I stared at it quietly for a few seconds before shrugging it off.

I turned to Alice who was texting on her cellphone; “Lead the way to the nearest carwash”. She looked at me, she had this 'What the fuck!' look boldlywritten across her face.

“We’re gonna be so late” she said.

I laughed; “Its my first day and I have to make a good first impression”.

We drove out and cruised through the quiet streets heading towards Cliffland High School.

It was exactly 8:05 am when we pulled up in front of the high school. I stopped the car engine and came out of the Porsche. A few students who were around the area stared at us; Well I guess they had never seen a seventeen years old dude riding a Porsche before.

Alice bowed her head lightly and was grinning from ear to ear when she saw the other students staring at us. I looked at the school building; Cliffland High was a big school even though it wasn’t built in stores. It was only a large building with lots of space around it; a large school field with a huge pavilion on the right and a garden or more of a relaxation park on the other side of the school.

The school bell rang and we both went inside. I walked closely behind Alice looking left and right and observing everything I could see. There was a long corridor with lots of lockers on both sides, the walls were brightly painted and everything gleamed in neatness.

Alice made a sharp turn and stopped at a door, she fumbled with the handle a little bit before pushing the door and walking in. I felt abandoned, I hesitated for a few seconds before I gathered up courage and walked in.

All eyes were on me except for the one and only dark-skinned girl in the class. She stared at the book on her desk , she was the first girl I was attracted to. Murmurs of “He is Nigerian” tore through the classroom, I bowed my head as I had expected this to happen.

The male teacher turned to look at me; he was tall and fair and had surprisingly bushy eyebrows. I couldn’t remove my gaze from the tall man- He was certainly the Vampire that bit Luke the previous night! Damn!

He turned and dropped the huge textbook he was holding in his hands, then he smiled at me; “Welcome to Cliffland High. Will you like to introduce yourself to the class?”. I nodded my head and looked at the class, feeling like a tyro. Luke was sitter at the back of the class, he looked pretty ok to me as he was grinning from ear to ear. The seat beside him was empty and the dark-skinned girl sat beside the empty seat.

“I am Philip Jnr” I said and turned back to the smiling man. He nodded his head and beckoned me to move to my seat. I walked slowly towards the empty seat beside Luke and sat down. He turned to me and whispered something in my ear.

I turned back this him with a confused look on my face; “What do you mean the injury disappeared?”.

He pulled the white shirt he had on down his shoulder- Surprisingly, it was smooth with no scratch at all. I looked at his face; he was smiling- Why the hell was he smiling? Doesn’t he know what this could mean?

Luke turned away.

He looked at the teacher who was busy drawing something on the marker board.

I shrugged, then I turned to my left and saw her- The dark-skinned beauty. She had long and sleek black hair and her face was smooth with no spots, unlike mine which was filled with a few black spots I had gotten from my battle against acne when I was 15. As I stared at her I just knew I had to figure out a way to talk to her, she seemed to be all I wanted.

I looked away.

I faced the marker board and saw our “Vampire” teacher staring at me. 'Crap! He must have seen me staring at her' I thought. I was embarrassed as I bowed my head lightly.

“Yo! You two would make a great couple though!” I heard someone yell from the other end of the classroom. The class roared in laughter. I turned to look at her; she was glaring at me with anger in her brown eyes. I just had to look away again 'Jeez! What have I done' I said to myself.

“Now tell me Philip, What is Melanin?” the tall teacher asked. I turned to Luke and he shrugged in a way that made me understand that he was saying; “you are on your own, bro” I gathered up courage and stood up.

“Urrm”, I stammered. “I think it’s a kind of substance in the skin that causes the dark color of a person’s skin”. Luke started clapping and in few seconds almost everyone in the entire class was clapping. I was happy until someone yelled from behind again; “Gwen has lots of Melanin!”.

I looked at her, she wasn’t so dark as my skin was even darker than hers. 'Why we’re they being so mean' I thought. Tears welled up in her eyes, she stood up and ran out of the class. I was still on my feet as I turned and saw the bad-mouthed bastard that had said those hurtful words. I grabbed my bag and went out of the class in search of Gwen. I had to apologize to her because I knew it was all my fault.

She was sitting on the floor at the edge of the corridor, sobbing softly. I walked towards her and sat beside her, she rose her head and looked at me; “You! You have caused enough harm already. What else do you want from me!” she said angrily. I was speechless for a few seconds as I didn’t know what to say. She shook her head and shouted “Go away!”

“I can’t” I replied calmly. She turned at me angrily, I continued talking; “We are both blacks. Look my skin is even darker than yours. We are probably even of the same origin”.

She shook her head immediately and stood up unto her feet, I stood up too and faced her as I was ready for anything she would say;

“I am Ghanaian! We have nothing in common. I hate you!” she yelled and sent her fist dashing towards my face, I dodged the blow and her fist smashed into the wall creating a large hole in the wall. She ran down the hall and straight into the female rest room. I looked at the hole she made in the wall, it was so deep! 'How could she have done that' I asked myself.

Suddenly, the school bell rang- I froze.

I looked left and saw that I was standing right in front of a teacher’s office. The door’s handle twisted- Someone was coming!