Waver✓

P R O L O G U E

<And so the trouble starts>

|prologue|

"I HATE school," murmured the little girl to herself, but her mother wasn't listening.

"It's time for me to drop you off at school. You know you're entering first grade today and you're gonna be a big girl, right?" Sasha asked her daughter Olayinka who sat down on the park bench clutching a brown teddy bear.

A small cute girl of six, Olayinka was gifted with a chubby body, peachy cheeks and big brown eyes that were so adorable.

When Sasha noticed her daughter wasn't responding she glanced at her, face frowning a little. "Baby girl, what's wrong?"

Olay lifted her head full of black glossy curls and said in a wobbly voice, repeating what she'd mentioned earlier, "I hate school and I don't wanna leave you."

Sasha sighed. "Now darling, don't say that. School is fun and besides it's your first day so you have to be happy. In fact, I'll tell your teacher to treat you real nice, you hear baby girl? Not only that, I'll buy you a big can of pringles on our way home if you take my hand right now. Will you do that for me, Olay?"

Olay nodded and mumbled something that sounded like I guess so. She stood up and held out her palm to her mother while using the other hand to hold the teddy bear.

The park was a five minutes walk to Nebula Elementary School and it didn't take long for the mother and her daughter to reach there.

The school, three storey tall, was built with bricks which were painted white, a signboard that advertised the school's name mounted there. Soon enough after all the requirements and arrangements were made, Olay was taken by her new teacher to her classroom, after being hugged goodbye by her mother.

"Now dear Olay. . . my gosh. I can't quite get the pronunciation of your name. Do you have any other name dear? One that I can pronounce easily?" the teacher asked Olayinka. She was a fair tall woman, her square glasses making her blue eyes smaller than they seemed.

They stood in the hallway that led to the grade one class.

"You can call me Jamila," Olay whispered.

The teacher bent down to hear her very well. "What did you say?"

"Jamila. My name's Jamila."

"Oh okay. Nice name. Way better than Olay. . . whatever that is." She strengthened herself up.

"Okay Jamila, let's go into the class now." Gripping Olayinka's fingers, she led her inside.

Olay glanced around, her eyes widening as she took in the strange yet familiar surroundings. The classroom was big. It was painted yellow and had a wide window where sunlight filtered through casting a golden warmth to the room. The class had learning materials like drills placed on the wall and the tables and chairs were arranged so that a group of students could sit down on one table.

Some students were writing, others were staring into space, while most were playing and talking loudly to each other. It was a noisy place to be at that moment.

Olay could not see a face that had the colour of her skin and she was puzzled.

No one here looks like me, she thought.

Olay's teacher clapped her hands together. Everyone started, unaware their teacher had come back.

"Okay children, go back to your seat. I want to introduce someone to you. She's starting school later than usual and that's why you all have to get to know her." Everyone returned to their seats and the class was quiet.