Taboo

5

"Davina could I talk to you for a minute please?" My plump, green eyed, blonde haired English teacher Miss Lawrence asked me with her usual friendly tone. Miss Lawrence was nice and all but she irritated me. She was one of those people who faked enthusiasm so much that you could tell it was clearly fake.

"Davina honey, I know you've been here only a week but I can already tell that you have potential." She gushed. "This is why I would like you to create a piece for me. Whether it be a short story or a poem. Hand it in whenever." I think she noticed my reluctance because she added, "Think of it as extra credit."

I sighed. "Alright I'll do it." I said, just managing to force a smile onto my face.

"Great!" She exclaimed grinning, showing off her gummy smile. "Have a great day."

"What was that about?" Valentina asked. I could tell that she disliked the teacher by the look on her face.

"Just some stuff about extra credit." I said dismissively.

"I need the extra credit anyway. I need all the extra credit I can get if I want to go to medical school."

She rolled her dark eyes. "You work too hard for your own good. You need to loosen up." She stated seriously. Then her face lightened up. "Which reminds me, are you free tonight? My friend Rafael is throwing a party and I don't have no one to go with. Everybody is either gonna be with their boyfriends or are just boring as shit."

"I'll think about it." I said, knowing that I probably wasn't going to go.

"I'll call you." She said while looking at me suspiciously. She probably knew that I wasn't planning on going.

I smiled before walking out of the front door.

I was glad it was the end of the week finally. The first week of school went by so slow I wondered if it would ever end.

Ethan hadn't come into school just like he said. Which was fine because I didn't need to be bothered. The week had been fine as a whole. The only thing that annoyed me was when random people would stick their fingers in my hair and then get pissed off when they got stuck. One thing that I noticed is that i would get a lot of stares. Some people looked fascinated, some gave me weird looks and some people just looked straight up grossed out. I knew the stares were because of my hair which was weird because no one even gave me a second glance back in LA. I didn't mind people's curiosity, just as long as they didn't touch.

When I had travelled to Nigeria a year earlier with my family, my aunt was baffled. "Ah-ah!" She exclaimed. "This your hair is so hard. I promise next time I see you I will perm it." My mum just laughed and shook her head, but she could tell that I was annoyed.

I had decided for the rest of the week, to walk to school and back, since it wasn't too far from where I lived. Talia told me that the group of people she had befriended had cheerleading practice after school, which she intended to join so she hung out with them after school and came back home whenever.

My dad hadn't been too happy with the way my sister was, in his words, "Gallivanting with the locals", but my mother somehow managed to persuade him that Talia needs a social life and that not everything is about school and studying.

As soon as I walked into the door, my dad who was surprisingly at home for once, called me to the kitchen where he stood conversing with my mom.

"Davina!"

"Yes dad?"

He then kept quiet. Something that he always did after he called our names. He expected us to come to him. When I got into the kitchen, a big goofy smile transformed my father's normally brooding face and he brought me into a firm hug. He was much taller than me which caused him to tower over me. My mom used to joke that if it weren't for my dad's height, she wouldn't have noticed him.