Facade (Romola 1)

77: Fired

Romola focused on teaching the children how to split as she tried to shake off most of the apprehension that the scene with Mrs Eddo had brought but she couldn't shake off the sense that something had gone terribly wrong.

Nkechi's re-entry to the dance studio caused Romola's heart to convulse. Her boss walked to the speaker with a disappointed face.

Nkechi turned down the music and faced Romola. "My office. Now."

"Wait. We're almost one with this routine."

"I said now!"

Romola bowed her head and walked to Nkechi's office. The air conditioner dominated the room and aided the rise of goose bumps on Romola's skin. She practised her defence against Mrs Eddo's words while she placed her ear against the door. She could hear Nkechi addressing the children but she couldn't make out the spoken words.

The fall of Nkechi's foot sounded louder with each second and Romola stepped away from the door into one of the leather seats in front of the table.

"What happened with Mrs Eddo?"

"Romola?" Nkechi turned the key in the keyhole. "When you joined this dance group, what did I tell you about the person whose job you took? Why did I fire her?"

"She was acting irresponsibly but I don't know what that has to do with me. I promise you, I have never seen that woman in my life."

"That woman was supposed to sponsor our dance trip to the competition in Italy." Nkechi folded her arms.

"Oh no." Romola's jaw dropped.

Nkechi walked to the small fridge beside her table and produced a glass of champagne. She popped it open and placed two glasses in front of them. She filled both glasses and pushes one of the glasses to Romola. The bottle tipped over and the content splashed on Romola' body. The cold drink on Romola's skin forced her to rise, causing the glass to fall on the floor and shatter into a million shard.

"Ha, I really don't know what this woman said I did to her. Whatever she thinks I did, she's lying."

"Oh... So, she's lying?" Nkechi drowned her drink in three gulps before refilling her glass.

"Yes."

"About what?" Nkechi pulled a tablet from the drawer in her desk. Her fingers tapped the screen in quick successions.

Romola picked the glass shards off the floor. She hadn't seen this woman at Olumide's party but then again, she'd been too busy trying to understand what was happening to notice who and what were around. Her memory of the party was starting to get fuzzy.

"Whatever it is, she was obviously lying."

"Watch this video first." Nkechi stretched the phone out to her and Romola picked it up.

She could see the dark background of Nkechi's twitter feed staring at her. There was a thread of nudes. Someone's nudes. She scrolled down the page and her hand hovered over the first media in the thread. She didn't need to hit the play button to know its content. She knew the day it had been filmed and who filmed it.

Nkechi drowned another glass of the sizzling champagne. "Does it still look like she's lying?"

"This wasn't me. I never sent these videos to anyone."

"How could you have forgotten everything I said to you?" Nkechi screamed.

Nkechi took a deep breath then grabbed the phone from Romola, scrolling through her feed furiously as she showed Romola the different pictures and videos that had surfaced.

"I would never post my nudes. I'm not stupid."

"Well, someone was stupid enough to do it for you." Nkechi pulled open a drawer an produced a bundle of naira notes. She tossed the notes on the table and refilled her glass. "You can't work here any more."

"Because of a couple of videos?"

"Nude videos. On the internet. You're trending!" Nkechi screamed. "And you had the guts to demand money to release more nudes?"

Romola's jaw dropped. "I'm not even with my phone. My step father- oh no."

"Thank you but your service is no longer needed. This is your pay for today."

"Nkechi, please. You know I need this job. My mum and I depend on this."

"If you want to become a video vixen or porn star, you can always go and join my brother upstairs but I can't have parents pulling out their children from my dance school because of your mistake."

"I promise you, I'll fix this."

"Unless you can get these off the internet, then I don't think you can fix anything."

"Does this mean I won't get to dance with the other girls too?"

"Do you not understand English? I don't want you within six kilometres of my studio or dance group." Nkechi added.

Romola picked up her pay with shaky hands.

Ruined. She was finished.

She tried to keep the tears in her eyes as she got on her knees to plead for her job. It was the one resemblance of sanity that she had left. There was certainly no where left for her to go. 

Author's Note:

Have you heard of Pabpub?