The Billionaire's protege

Chapter Two

NAOMI’S POV

When life throws you lemons you don’t have to always have to make lemonade.

What if the lemons are rotten? _Ashe Favour

NAOMI’S POV

There are so many things I would love to accomplish, there are so many things I would love to do and say, there are so many things I know that I should do. But I didn’t do them.

All my life I have always been on the giving side but I have never received. The only thing I’ve got is good grades.

I blame that on my stupid intuition.

My naivety. Ugh that’s even the worst.

But then, that would change nothing. I am still going to be me. It’s my comfort zone. It’s a place of my very solace. I’m not ready to give that up.

Helping people is good thing, no matter the outcome, I think the problem is not me. It’s the people.

Why would you exploit people just because of what they can offer you.

Oh and trust me I know I am being used. Call me gullible or stupid but I don’t mind.

They are my flaws and strength.

I am brought out of my thoughts by the ringing of the school bell. I pack my books and bag and walk into the already crowdy halls. People are really in a hurry to go home.

“Naomi!” I know that voice anywhere. It’s the voice. It’s the voice that makes my day every time.

My best friend Sarah, her short figure squeezing through the crowd. She waves at me and I send a big smile.

Yes she’s my best friend. Sarah and I have been friends since forever. Well it’s only been four years. But for me it’s been forever.

Sarah and I clicked almost immediately. When we met, it was under some awkward situation that Sarah made light of.

I had just lost my purse and she saw me standing awkwardly in the streets of Fordham University. I had just gotten in and I was checking out the dorms.

It had been awkward because of the reason my purse was stolen in the first place. A trained dog stole it.

Don’t even get shocked cause it happened. Yes there are maniac people out there who train their dogs to steal things from people.

People around me that day didn’t seem to mind as it had become a norm and they just went with it.

While the newbie, Naomi Campbell Judge decided to be a victim of a stealing dog.

Well the day got better because she just walked up to me and called me out for looking so out of place.

I’m Afro-american, so being black kinda gives me this anxiety as I still feel xenophobic.

I know New York City is a place for everybody but in Chicago, especially In the suburbs where I come from, they are stupid racist. They could call

Names just because you sneeze.

“Oh don’t stain our clean roads, pretty sure your huts were covered in sand”

Now that I think about it, racist says the stupidest of things, but it doesn’t change the fact that it ruined the confidence for me and when I just stood on the street that day and a white girl comes up to me and calls me out for standing around awkwardly.

The first thing that comes to my mind is “She is definitely a Karen”

Those people behave like Mexican old grandparents. No offense to the culture, but y’all are violent for no damn reason.

Well Sarah wasn’t violent but she just comes up to me like a “I could be your boss but imma let you go” kind of person.

But then that was how we met. And that short stack of a bottle is my BFF .

Sarah jumps on me and hangs around my waist

“S..Sarah you have gained s…so much weight” I strain the words out as I try to adjust her on my waist. Having a five feet best friend with your 6 feet self can be a lot of work sometimes.

Like come on!

“But I want you to carry me” She pouts in a baby tone.

“You are going to pull my waist off” I tell her and help her down. She pouts and I smile.

She is the only person I can be free with and at the same time be black. I could be less innocent around her.

Yes my being innocent is just a façade, it’s not like I can’t be ruthless but for me it’s just something that brings drama.

The only drama I’m in for is the one that involves my best friend. I could call her out on things and she could call me out on things.

“Come on let’s get you Ice cream” I tell her and she lights up

“Oh the scholarship student trying to show off her wealth now?” She teases with her brows raised.

“Oh shut up” I say and grab her hand.

We squeeze through the crowdy halls of Fordham University trying to get out as fast as we can. Sarah gets antsy when you don’t get her ice cream.

Especially after you promised to get her ice cream. She’s like a kid in the park when it comes to Ice cream.

We finally get outside and she stretches like she’s about to run a mile. Jumping and hopping on both feet.

“Sarah, the ice cream shop is just over there you really don’t have to start stretching now” I tell her tentatively.

“I know that Nerd! I just want to get there fast enough so I could get the ice cream before it ever gets exhausted” She says as she looks at me impatiently like I was supposed to be ready to run by now.

I roll my eyes

“It’s an ice cream shop for a reason Sarah” I say as matter of fact-ly

“Yeah an ice cream shop that’s about to get crowded come on let’s go” She pulls my hand and begins to run.

This is the time I wish I did more exercise. This girl runs like a deer.

We get to the ice cream shop—Which was just across the street— panting. Well I was the only one panting.

She was still all happy and giddy. Someone bumps into me and I apologize shyly

“Sorry I didn’t see you there” I quickly say but he was out of sight before I could get to see his face.

I furrow my brows as I turn around. I see his back and think it’s just some creep.

I don’t always feel comfortable when I hit people on the road or on a street. It just kinda gives me the creep and the fact that this dude just hit me is just unnerving.

I’m brought out of my thoughts with Sarah hitting me frantically.

“Naomi, Naomi, Naomi! Chocolate and strawberry and cream and then sprinkles and-“ She begins to list almost everything on the creamy max list.

“Okay slow down. You are not about to spend all my money cause of your cravings, you are only getting the vanilla and that’s all you’re going to get. Got it?” I scold her like a child and she folds her arms and pouts.

“Can we get two vanilla ice creams and strawberry toppings please?” I place our order

After getting our ice creams we walk towards our dormitory.

“So what do you want us to do now?” She asks

“Let’s just go to our dorms. We are finally getting out of school finally!”

“And you want to spend the rest of the semester in your dorms. For a black American you live a very boring life” She shakes her head.

“Oh come on it’s not like there is anything interesting to do. You know I don’t go to parties and I hate outings. I only go out with you and-“

“And Beyonce’s sister has a little dog” She rolls her eyes. “You gotta live a little girl!”

“You are a meanie” I scrowl at her.

“You love this meanie” She says proudly and I huff.

“Are you coming back for your masters?” She had been asking me that for weeks now but truthfully I’m not even sure. It’s something I might take into considerations.

I wouldn’t mind extra certificates but I’m just going to see how it goes.

I could have said all that but I just shrugged non-chalantly.

“You are really just going to shrug? Again?” She questions as she throws her ice cream cup in the trash.

“Well I’m not sure yet, I could get it, I may not be doing it, maybe I might be doing it” I tell her.

Then it was her turn to shrug.

“Oh so you shrug now” I raise an eyebrow and she chuckles.

“I can’t wait to get out of this hellhole” She groans

“Why do I have a feeling you said this words in high school too” I squint my eyes

“Guilty” She says in a sing-song voice and bats her eyelashes shyly. I laugh.

“You are so predictable”

“No I am not” She gasps dramatically.

“Dork” I mutter and she laughs.

“You love me don’t ya?” She says as she shoots out her tongue.

Sarah could act like a child for hours after getting ice cream and it never gets old.

Others get high on alcohol, cigarettes and drugs but my best friend says imma get high on sugar cause I can.

Yeah she is one of a kind.

There was this one time when she ate so much cotton candy the we literally had to go to the hospital. I was scared but this little ball of fire laughed the whole way to the hospital even while in pain.

The doctors decided to flush her system instead. I don’t know how hospitals work but my best friend was safe and got better, but not without my savings getting so low, it could only buy a candy from a bar.

Which you must have guessed, Sarah used it to get a candy from the bar.

We got so broke, we had to get two jobs each to make ends meet.

It was funny when she had the sugar rush but it was no longer funny when we had to do school and our jobs at the same time.

But that didn’t stop Sarah, with every little penny she could spare, she made sure she got sugar.

“Naomi?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I get more ice cream over there?” She says in a little voice. Trust me I am not thinking about this twice.

I already knew my answer before she even said “Over there”.

“No. Let’s get back to the dorms I have so much to catch up on.” I tell her and drag towards the direction of our dormitory.

“But you’re a nerd you always catch up” She says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Uhhh duh! But the earlier the better. It’s my final semester in the hellhole as you call it and I’m not ruining my perfect grades” I clap back.

She huffs and pouts.

“Now let’s get to our dormitory” I tell her and start to walk away.

“Okay what if I do the chores today and tomorrow then you can buy me ice cream now” She suggests.

For some reason I knew my best friend was lying, but I still know how much she loves ice cream.

Even though I knew she would not end up doing the chores like I said, I knew she would not let my ears rest if I didn’t give it to her.

I groan and roll my eyes.

“You are getting only one cone” The only good thing about our jobs is that it pays really well. But Sarah doesn’t save, I do the savings so I know how much we can spare per time.

“One?” She says almost hysterically

“One or nothing darling”

“You are mean”

We get her the once cone Ice cream and get back to our dorms.

The dorms were arranged in a hotel rooms form. Where there were number tags on the doors and a now dirty red carpet in the hallways.

There were better dorms to choose but Sarah does not come from a wealthy and My

family….Well… it’s not something I love to think about.

Sarah plops on her bed and brings out her phone.

I just have to go through this semester. I just have to get through the annoying professor’s just one more time.