STEPHANIE

CHAPTER 20

A week later, I was caught up in party decorations.

I had to make everything perfect and so I called the girls to help out—Jasmine and Jessica.

Marz O'Neil had payed every single dime needed to pull off my birthday party. He provided some event planners to put things in order and allowed the party to hold in Nicole's magnificent house. How crazy!

The party went on outdoors and indoors.

The girls supervised the cake. It was a really huge, heart-shaped cake with a sign on top of it stating, "Happy Birthday Steph."

The cake had melted chocolate dripping from the top and it was as well decorated with fresh berries and more chocolate and candy.

One of the most famous DJ in the city, invited by Marz O'Neil, made it to my party and turned the place into an exciting arena.

There were roses at every corner of the hall and beautiful lights; the chairs and tables looked so costly and were perfectly placed in order with gold and black coloured ribbons on them.

It was no small celebration.

I wore a strapless black dress on ankle-strap heels and my hair was styled into a braided faux hawk with my natural hair. I wore a light make up and I had few fancy jewelries on me.

I felt so on top of the world.

I went through the list of people whom I invited and just assumed the maximum of people that would attend my birthday party would be fifty.

Out of the blue, Emlyn and Arthur jumped out of nowhere.

"It's time to par-tay! Hmm, Ice cream," Arthur said and grabbed a bowl of ice cream and cupcake, eating both at the same time.

"You eat a lot," Jasmine remarked.

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I stayed at a corner trying as much as possible to make sure Mrs Kayla's number went through; I was going to invite her to the party and apologize sincerely for my obstinacy. She had backed out on me for so long because I failed to heed to her warnings.

Just as I kept trying out her number, I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned and it was Emlyn. He looked so gorgeous than usual; he was wearing a white sweat shirt and nice white sneakers, and his brown hair made a curl.

"Happy birthday!" He looked me over, "Wow."

"What?"

"Nothing... I mean, you look really stunning and irresistible."

Again with the flattery. "Oh thanks. You look great too."

"So what are you up to?"

"I've been trying out Mrs Kayla's phone number but she won't pick up. Do you think she's still mad at me?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I mean, things are settled now."

"But she never called to check up on me," I threw my face down and sighed. Emlyn held my chin and moved my face to look up at his smile and I smiled back.

"Don't worry about anything. Today is all about you. So I was thinking... after your party, would you like to hang out? Arthur and Jas can come with."

"That'll be great."

"Yeah. I got you a present, hold on a sec." Emlyn took light steps to a cupboard and pulled out two massive gift boxes and struggled to fit them both in his hands as he came back to me.

"Awww, sweet," I grinned.

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It was my sixteenth birthday! I celebrated my outlandish one, it was my first birthday so it had every right to seem bizarre, terrific two, triumphant three, fabulous four, fantastic five, sizzling six, sick seven, ecstatic eight, nice nine, thrilling ten, elating eleven, flabbergasting fourteen, it's also evident why that was a flabbergasting experience, in frightening fifteen; and finally, my sweet sixteen!

I hadn't really celebrated my fifteenth birthday. It just seemed to bring up memories and a feeling of depression so I decided not to celebrate the new age even as Nicole greatly pestered. NICOLE!

People began to turn in, those I knew and those I hadn't met in my entire life. I made a count and shockingly, there were a hundred and sixty people present.

I didn't even need to worry about a single thing. My birthday was already planned out beforehand and I was marvelled to see that things were going great! There was dancing, singing, games, presentations, and comments from people.

I kept an ecstatic look on my face all through and continued to have a wonderful time.

Arthur and Emlyn did humourous karaoke and Jessica did a science-related presentation about me while Jasmine sang a song.

I was bowled over to see Jerome, Christian, and Bella at the party and they offered their presents.

"My Dad owns the biggest mall in the city and you can go there and grab whatever you want, whenever you want," Jerome said. And then I expressed my gratitude to Christian for taking such intrepid stand on my behalf and playing a vital role towards my success.

Some minutes later, my Dad blind folded me. He said, "trust me honey, my present is the best of all."

He held my hand and directed me to a private room then finally took off the blind fold. I found my Mom and screamed for joy as I hopped in her arms.

That particular month was actually when I was meant to go pay her a visit in Nigeria.

"That's not all," Arthur said coming to me from behind. He wasn't alone, he had Mrs Kayla with him.

I slowly walked to her, unable to look at her in the eyes. She said, "don't bother explaining anything to me. I understand everything. Darling, I'm three weeks pregnant."

"That's great news! Glory be to God!" I exclaimed passionately. I knew it could have never been possible without God, considering her condition.

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Four exhilarating hours later, the party was over. Well, some people still stayed back at my house.

I and the others moved out to observe the astonishing view of the city and it was indeed a remarkable experience.

I didn't cease thanking Jessica for finally making me see through the fog that covered my eyes; she was God-sent.

"You really are God-sent. That explains why you were friends with me irrespective of my personality."

"I'm so glad He got to use me and believe me, I learnt so much from all of this, from you."

"Thank you so much," I widely smiled and trapped her in a warm hug.

"Okay, you're crushing me."

When Jessica left, Christian walked up to me as I sat alone on a bench. There was an awkward silence.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For everything."

"Oh come on Steph, are you just gonna keep thanking me each time you see me? I didn't do anything, you know. I should be the one thanking you."

"Well I don't know what else to say order than to thank you. And why do you need to thank me?"

"Hmm. I aspire to be a detective in the future so I enjoy taking out cases like this and making investigations. Just after I posted that video of you, a lot of people tuned into my YouTube channel and now I've got millions of followers!"

"Really? That's wonderful!"

"I know right? So I wouldn't have gotten this popular if someone didn't mess up. With this much followers, I could achieve so much before fully becoming a detective. So here it goes Steph—Thank you."

I smiled, "It's true what my aunt said."

"What'd she say?"

"That a lot of people rise when you rise."

"Wow. Your aunt sounds wise"

"She really is."

I and Emlyn left the others and took a stroll around and he eventually confessed his feelings to me.

"Golly gee wilikers, I still cannot absorb the idea that Marz O'Neil knows my name!"

"Emlyn, why don't you fully go into acting?"

"Cause I'm not sure about that. I'm only good in writing scripts and guess what, I spoke to Marz O'Neil about that. I'm hoping he'll help me gain connections."

"It'll be amazing if we both can act, don't you think? Just show me something."

Emlyn shrugged. He worked on his voice then structured a charming look and even more charming eyes.

"Stephanie Olamide Bakewell, you warm up my heart. It wasn't love at first sight though, but the more I get to know you, the more I realize how much of an angel you are. When I look at you, I think 'Lord, one of your angels slipped right outta heaven.' You're amazing and that triggered feelings beyond friendship."

I knew it!

I broke down and laughed out loud.

"What?"

"Try to be more real. Acting is all about convincing your audience to believe what you're bringing to the table and making your actions feel real. Try to maybe give your audience your cutest smile and soften your voice a little," I grinned.

Emlyn gave the cutest smile and softened his voice while going over again.

"Aww, that's the sweetest acting ever."

"So do you actingly feel the same way?"

"Yes Emlyn, I big time, actingly feel the same way."

We both laughed and hugged.

He had taken me into the woods where I found a bench filled with yellow and red ribbons, balloons everywhere, a food cart, candles which formed a big heart on the ground and then fireworks. "Happy birthday!"

Everything continued to go flawlessly.

I opened Emlyn's presents when I arrived home and it was an enormous teddy bear and five huge boxes of chocolate and a well constructed poem.

I was happy as a box of birds; I finally had the chance to live an impeccable and comfortable life with my parents and get so much love, understanding, and attention from them.

The whole event also taught them to be good parents.

A lot of people gained from my experience than I thought or expected. Something that seemed to me as a tragedy, it created opportunities for the people around me.

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I walked up to my window and opened it wide. I gazed at the smiling moon and the happy stars. I looked further into the thick clouds as a cold breeze hurriedly approached my window and played with my hair.

I awaited the better days ahead.

You see, sometimes life tosses you up and down; life did the same to me, but I stood strong and being surrounded by really good people and through God's help, I overcame.

Not every bad experience is to be handled with remorse, sometimes the only way to teach you is to allow you go through a bad experience.

That caring Lord is always there to set the right people to help you feel important, the ones to help you realize your mistakes, and even the ones who would make you make mistakes just so He can pull you out and teach you a life lesson.

He wants us to be patient and he wants us to stick to our purpose.

God uses the worst of our experiences and even our mistakes to create a positive life-changing event.

I vowed to be stronger, to change the world.

"People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." -ROB SILTANEN