Abigail looks up at the tall building that is now her new school, it doesn't even look like a school at all, it's bigger than her church and old school for sure and she couldn't stop staring at the surroundings.
Stop acting weird Abigail, it's just a school. The voice in her head says and she breaths in then out trying hard to shake the nerves out. Then she struts toward the school block.
It feels like she's in a Netflix TV series, Elite? Gossip Girl? The students all look rich as hell. She saw five girls holding the latest iPhones and she saw two guys walk out of an expensive car. She even saw Tife Adeoye, an influencer she had admired since she got her lame Tecno phone.
She was live on Instagram telling her followers about starting the eleventh grade. Abigail tried hard not to stare. This is something she and her best friend Susan were always fangirling about. Tife and her boyfriend Daniel Matthews who is also an influencer.
God, the pressure of going to a Porsche school filled with privileged kids. Abigail knew she could shake the intimidation away from her face, besides despite their expensive bags, phones, and clothes they were still human like her.
The inside of the school is just as beautiful, it's like a whole new dimension, it's like she's not even in Nigeria at all.
The floors are beautifully tiled, the place looks more like a fancy hotel than a school. There's a huge portrait of the founder of the school.
Sir Andrew Smith.
A British guy who hated racism and wanted to build a school for Nigerians to learn more and more and also to easily get a scholarship abroad.
That is the main reason Abigail is here, her dream of going to Brown has been set in stone since she was twelve. She heard the school had a great writing program. She also never knew a writers competition would get her into Pinehurst.
They didn't tell her a scholarship was involved, they promised her a shout-out on TV and their platform with millions of followers on IG and five hundred thousand naira.
Once they announced that she was the winner they dropped the bomb that she was going to get into Pinehurst Academy. She was shocked, happy, in tears... All emotions came in at once.
She became a star. A writing star.
She started having loads of followers on Instagram, last night she got into 10k and she thanked her followers for that. She never really posts pictures because she thinks Instagram needs great pictures from great phones, like an iPhone and not a stupid Tecno F1. She needed a new phone badly to promote her writing on other platforms like Tik Tok and YouTube. But she can't do that with a stupid camera.
She mostly posts quotes from her Wattpad books and other amazing authors, and that surprisingly gets her so many likes.
Now she's here, in a school she and Susan dreamed of going to ever since.
She felt bad that she had to leave Susan at her old school, but she had to if she wanted to go to Brown.
Besides, Susan was so supportive. Even though she was in tears she wanted Abigail to be happy.
Your happiness is my happiness.
They hugged, and it's not like they weren't going to see each other again. They could always go to each other's houses.
The portrait to the left is of Daniel's dad. Reginald Matthew, the principal of the school and he's as handsome as his son. Low fade, dark skin, pink lips.
"I'm so going to sleep with that man, thank God he's divorced."
"Ew! Susan! I don't think he's a pedophile"
"I know I wasn't being serious, girl!"
Abigail laughs at the memory and she moves away from where the portraits were hung.
She got into the admin office. A petite dark-skinned lady is punching the keyboard with her fingers. The admin office is beautiful, organized, and cold thanks to the air conditioning.
Abigail is about to greet but she stops when the lady starts speaking
"You're early, that's good." She says without even looking at her, she's still engrossed in whatever she's doing.
"Good morning ma," Abigail says trying to keep her cool.
"Good morning" the lady still doesn't look up.
Gee, rude much?
"Here." She hands her a large brown envelope. She finally looks up. And this lady looks sweet. Her smile makes Abigail smile. "There you have your schedule, your locker number, and your Pinehurst buddy"
What the fuck is that?
"Uh... A Pinehurst buddy?"
"Here I am!" She hears someone say. A girl her height struts into the room, bag hanging over one shoulder, red headphones around her neck. She's wearing skinny jeans instead of skirts, her braided hair in long pigtails, and her Brown skin and full pink lips made her look extraordinarily beautiful. Her accent is American too, is she from America?
"A Pinehurst buddy are students assigned by the Vice-principal to show new students around, get familiar with the school." The petite lady says.
"And you happen to have the most amazing Pinehurst buddy in school!" The girl says enthusiastically. Abigail smiles and follows it with a nod.
That's nice. She thought. At her old school, it was every man for himself. If you're a girl and you end up in the boy's toilet then it's your luck.
"I'm Maeve Ayeni," the girl says, and the way she says "Ayeni" is fresh. She's Yoruba, she doesn't look like it at all.
"Abigail Akin" they shake hands. This girl looks nice, Abigail thought. Her appearance is a giveaway of how cool and fresh she is.
"Okay, Mrs. Ade I'll take it from here."
"Whatever just don't mess up like last time." The woman says and it causes a little bit of panic for Abigail.
What happened last time? What did she do? Should I reconsider saying in my head that's she's a nice girl?
"It will never happen again." Maeve put on a fake smile, she legit looks like she's about to murder Mrs. Ade. "Now, let's get out of her." They cross arms and then walk out of the admin office.
"Let me just say as an artist and a woman I must tell you there are a lot of snobby bitches at this school." Maeve starts and Abigail just loves her accent and besides, Abigail kind of knew not everyone was going to be nice here. There are a lot of privileged entitled brats here and she's ready for them
"Oh, I know." Abigail says, "they don't scare me." Abigail shrugs. And Maeve smiles, the kind of smile that shows someone is impressed.
"I like you already," Maeve says and Abigail blushes.
Why am I blushing? It's just a compliment.
"Now." Maeve says, "Let's take a look around and see what you got yourself into."
