KAIRA

Centre of Table

Her godmother, Lucille came out of the kitchen with a plate of pancakes In her right hand and a kitchen towel in the other. she quickly dropped it when she saw Kaira.

" Kaira, what's with the face? " Her Godmother asked. " first days sulk, that school sulks, I ain't goin back there anymore " she replied. "wanna share what happened? " " racism,.... racism happened". Kaira replied. "I sensed that coming, you know, you shouldn't really care about what other people think of you ". Lucille said. Kaira kept silent and didn't act like one a human being was talking to. She kept twisting get fingers. Lucille looked at her, and then continued. " you're black yeah, but so what? you're pretty and loving and caring and funny and the best teenager I know so why bothering? " Lucille added. " you're not saying anything K". " what am I supposed to say? you're saying all this cos you've never been there, yeah, that's right, you don't know how it feels to be a black, of course, you ain't one". Kaira said and left her godmother's house for her aunt's.

Kaira just walked straight past her aunt who was sitting on a couch in the sitting room without uttering a single word.

"Hey young lady, what's the meaning of that attitude? no greetings?" her aunt, Simone asked. Kaira paused on the stairs. "Bad noon aunt" she said and continued climbing.

" Kaira, get down here, what the hell's wrong with you?" Simone talked in top of her voice.

" I'm sorry aunt, u really wanna know what's wrong huh? firstly, that damn Godforsaken school, secondly, the fact that I'm a black and lastly, having to talk to you right now, now if you would excuse me, I'd love to be left alone for a while"she said and went inside her room.

'what has gotten into her?' Simone thought.

The next day, she had to walk to school in order to avoid further insults from her school mates in the bus that morning. Simone insisted on not taking her too as a punishment for her rude attitude. During lunch, everyone was stunned as Gracie walked up to her.

"mind if I join?" Gracie asked. "um....no, no, I mean yes u can " Kaira said out of surprise. Gracie made her forget about the racism and the likes of them.

*. *. *. *.

Perry and his guys rounded a table. Perry noticed how Bryan was constantly looking at Kaira.

"Dude, don't tell me you're falling for the girl from hell " said perry. " ooh!!" The guys echoed. " chill guys, I'm not, I'm just stunned by how Gracie's talking to her" he defended.

"Jace, Gracie's got u a new mutual friend"Charles said to Jace. "whoa, don't go there bro, that's totally not acceptable by me, can't have a girl from hell as a mutual friend" Jace said. "why are you sent Tex?"Perry asked. "if all u guys'll do today is to insult her and the likes of them, then I'm leaving" he said and carried his tray of food to the table where Gracie and Kaira sat then he sat.

" um dude, no one said u could join us"Gracie said. "the new girl did"

Tex replied."I didn't hear you" Gracie said and turned to face Kaira. "did you?" she asked the ready more than shocked Kaira. "I?..... I mean , yeah "

"I'm Tex and you are?"Tex introduced himself to Kaira." I... um... I'm Kai..., I mean Kaira" she stammered, her heart pounding fast. 'This guy was damn f*cking cute' she thought.

On the other hand, Tex's move stunned everybody. It kept Perry and his guys startled and perplexed. "oh my gosh, how dare she? what does she think she's doing?" Avery. oiled in anger as her entourages tried calming her down. Bryan's eyes were nearly red as he looked at the Tex. Perry and the rest had their mouths opened. What was Tex doing???