April 2019

BIANCA'S POV

I zipped up the back of my dress and took a three sixty turn in front of the mirror. I smiled satisfactorily at my reflection on the mirror. It was Amara's day, but very funny how I was more concerned about my appearance.

"You already look perfect, Bianca!" Mom shook her head in disbelief, as she walked into our room. "Get busy with assisting your sister." She ordered, and I nodded. Amara chuckled from the other side of the room and I gave a sheepish smile. She waited for mom to be out, before teasing me.

"I thought it was just my convocation. Do you have a date?"

"Really? Amara really?"

"What?!" She threw her hands up in the air, and I gave her an 'are you serious?' look. "Who knows? you may have invited Kylie..."

"Kyle!" I corrected. "His name is Kyle. And no, I didn't invite him. He wouldn't even come if I did." I muttered the last part, feeling quite shitty.

"Oh, don't say that now." She shook her head in disapproval and fully turned her attention towards me. "I'm sorry for teasing you with such a sensitive topic."

"Kyle is far from being a sensitive topic." I countered stubbornly.

"Yes! You're right. Someone like him shouldn't even be classified as that. But then, he hurt you and I shouldn't make jokes about him. I'm sorry." She pouted, giving me that puppy dog eye.

"He didn't hurt me. He only told me he was way above my league, and if we are being quite honest, he never lied." I muttered sadly. In as much as I wanted to act neutral about it all, I had actually been hurt by Kyle. He was the first guy I had ever liked as much as letting him know that I did. Being humiliated in the presence of other students had never been part of the plan. Kyle came from a really rich family, but he was so full of himself and always rude. Most times, I wondered why I fell for someone like him. It was no suprise that I did though. He was the school's biggest kid and literally every girl wanted him. I remember how he laughed along with other students, after announcing that I was way out of his league. This had happened after I confessed my feelings to him. I had privately spoken to him about it, so seeing him tell everyone about it made me feel so bad. Unshed tears welled up in my eyes and it took great strength to not let it fall. Fortunately, I had been able to will my legs to walk, and made my way out of my place of mockery. What was I even thinking? Mama had always asked me to leave boys and focus on my books instead. At school I had always been a loner, so I literally had no one to console me and tell me that It was all going to be fine. It was my final year in high school, and Amara was already in college. I had saved up my tears and pain for when Amara returned from lectures that day. While narrating all that happened, I cried so hard.

Amara had consoled me and reminded me that it was already my last days in high school. Soon, I would be in college and all the high school drama would be left behind. I had nodded in agreement, feeling quite better. If only I knew that Kyle was going to the same college as myself, I wouldn't have felt such peace. Presently, It was just the second semester of my first year in college, but I had changed directions, hid behind flowers, and literally ran a long distance a thousand times, just to avoid bumping into him. I very well knew that I should have gotten over the embarrassment he caused me, but that was going to take a whole lot of time. So far, I had just one dream. To work so hard that a man would never have the opportunity to tell me I was way out of his league. Don't get me wrong, I have never been ashamed of my roots. Even though my parents weren't the wealthiest, they ensured we were very comfortable and never lacked the basic things. My parents had bore just Amara and myself, so fending for us was so difficult. My family was a lovely one, and it was something I was always going to be proud of. But then, I had dreams to do better than my parents did.

I had dreams to achieve a lot of goals that my parents were probably not able to achieve. I wanted to make a name. I wanted to build a long standing legacy for my children and generations to come. I wanted a very great empire, and I was gonna get it. I wasn't sure how I would go about it, but I definitely knew I had to work hard. The first step was graduating with an awesome degree from college. I was on it already.

"Could you help me braid my ponytail?" Amara asked, patting me out of my thoughts.

"Yes. Sure." I gave a small smile and went ahead to do my business on her hair.

"Hpheew!" She exhaled, looking at the mirror before her, as I worked on her hair. "If only I had as much hair as you do?" She said dreamily, making me scoff.

"Everyone knows that my hair is the least bit desirable. Excessively full and can never be tamed. The color is rather appalling." I frowned, looking at my weird hair color in the mirror. It wasn't the first time I had the thought of mutated genes whenever I looked at myself. My mother had this really beautiful shade of brown hair. My father had black hair, which Amara took after. So where exactly was my burgundish~burnt orangey hair color coming from? It seemed like a mixture of orange, red, brown and... not nice.

"I know what's in your mind right now." Amara eyed me. "It's normal for children to have hair colours that are a few shades different from their parent's. Your hair color is just a few shades lighter than mom's." She shrugged.

"But I don't like it."

"But it's beautiful." She maintained, trying to make me understand what I just couldn't. "I have really never seen someone else with a hair as beautiful as yours." Her eyes lit up in sincere awe, and I wondered what it took for me to see things like the way the rest of my family did. To me, I just looked like a cheap doll.

"Stop now."