Beautiful people don't lie

New Beginnings

He didn't die. Junior didn't die, he only got some new scars on his back which were pretty normal and very not painful, I prayed whenever dad would ever be angry at me, it would only end at lashes on my back and cuts on my skin, nothing as painful as pouring hot water slowly on our legs while giving us sermons or kneeling in the courtyard for a day and a night without blankets or food or shelter till the next morning.

It happened to Toby and I once and we stayed outside from afternoon till the next morning. It rained that night but dad only watched from his windows upstairs because according to him, life was not going to be easy on us and we should always accept our mistakes and bear the consequences.

Mum and Aunt Risifat had begged dad but he wouldn't hear any of it. We heard him scold:

"Unu emebigo umu nwatakili ndi a" you people have spoilt this children.

Long story short, Toby fainted the next morning because of cold and I had a short relapse because we were both Asthmatic, hereditary though. Our knees were sore from kneeling for more than twelve hours that we had limped for a week and more.

Today was the third Monday of the term, I hated school, but I didn't like home either, another day to put up with hormonal kids running around with uniforms.

I was standing before my full-length mirror which I had cleaned a three days ago.
I sighed for the nth time since I had been trying to pull my hair into styles so that it didn't have to be too ' basic '. Too bad the only result I got was a rather messy bun because it either slipped off my hand as I tried holding it together with my scrunchie or it came out hilariously messed up and rough after my several battles of fixing it, my arms were already hurting.

I never really bothered about my looks on a normal day. I could always come off as average, besides I was invisible or I just felt that way. The only things that stood out were my hazel eyes which I loathed so much and my unusually long hair, coupled with my light skinned brown color that popped so much that it highlighted the not-black pupil I had, which was not very common. These ocurances were rather rare and unnoticeable.

Hazel.

Mine screamed that greenish-brown color called hazel from afar, you didn't need to need an upfront confront to know that. It glistened so much and my skin color seemed to highlight it.

No wonder my parents had been eager to name me Kainene Hazel Coker when I was born. My eyes were probably the most existent thing about me since birth.

People made comments that I looked half-caste,some said I was too pretty for my own good, some schoolmates had asked whether they were contact lenses. I hated my face. It made things seem like there was nothing more to me than my outstanding face. The way people looked at me like I was just the regular bimbo;beauty and no brains said it all.

Maybe that was the impression I always gave off because of my introverted nature. I never really spoke up or proved them wrong... I just let them believe whatever they believed.

'Not like there's even anything behind the face after all' my subconscious mocked.

True.

I tried as much as possible not to be too basic most of the time as much as I hated to stand out. I mean being too basic would make me standout, why not blend in? Average was the key!

I didn't wear high tops,kicks, boots or sneakers like most of my classmates or schoolmates entirely, I preferred a lug sole loafer kind of shoe. It was comfy and simple, not necessarily basic!

I snapped out whatever trance I was in as I examined my body which I rarely did. The attention I gave my appearance that morning was rather... Strange. I didn't do that on a normale.