EMPIRE HIGH SCHOOL - Episode 1

?Katherine’s POV

“Wakie, wakie, it is a beautiful Morning..” The alarm sang loudly.

The sound of the alarm jolted me up from my sleep. My hand reached for the snooze

bu-tton,pressing it down to st©p the noise. It was 6:30am. I yawned loudly as I hopped out of be-d

lazily. I sli-pped on my soft sli-ppers and was almost headed to the bathroom when a knock

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sounded on the door.

“Katherine are you up?” The voice said behind the door. It was my mom.

“Yes mom” I replied

“Can I come in?” She asked

“Yes mom” she popped her head in. “Good Morning Sunshine” she greeted with the brightest

smile as she stepped in.

“Good morning Mom” I went to her and hvgged her.

“How was your night?” She asked. I pu-ll-ed back and yawned again.

“It was fine..”

“Uhmm you’re still sleepy?”

“I supposed so Mommy” I sat on my be-d. My mom went to my wardrobe and brou-ght out my new

school uniform. I rubbe-d my eyes.

“Come on sunshine” she tapped my l@ps. “Go and take a good shower”

“Oh mom..I’m so tired”

I was up late last night. I’d sle-pt around 11:45pm.

“Do you want to be late on the first day of school?” She asked

“No” I stood up and headed to the bathroom. I picked up my toothbrush to brush my teeth.

“So Sunshine what were you doing online by 11:45pm?” She asked in a loud voice. I wish she

could just keep her voice down so dad won’t hear I sle-pt late last night. I poured the foam in the

sink and opened the door slightly.

“Can you keep your voice down?” I said in a ti-ght whisper

“Oh! I’m sorry” she said in a low tone.

“But he alre-ady knows..” She pointed to the entrance.

OMG! Now I have to answer a query this early morning.

“How did he find out?” I asked

“He was online talking to a business p@rtner. And why didn’t you block him at first?”

“I didn’t stay online for too long. I only checked my messages before going to be-d”

She nodded

“Let’s talk when you are done” she said

And I closed the door gently. Now I’m in a h0t soup!

My name is Katherine Adebowale. I am the only female child of my parents Mr Bayo & Mrs Joke

Adebowale. And a sister to 5 Big Brothers, only one of my brothers left not married – the 5th Child.

He is in Italy studying. All the others married,with children. I missed them so much. My mom and I

go on a round of visits every year. Vancouver, Wales,Scotland and Manche-ster. I turned 18 two

months ago. I am what you might describe as “Tall” with a long black hair,very fair skin and plump

li-ps. I am unbelievably shy. Everyone makes me nervous actually. I’d so adore being the cool sort.

I can say I’m very reserved. And once I get to know someone and we become close all of sudden I am entirely different. Confident and very capable.

My mom own several boutiques in Lagos. My father is a Businessman. They are very busy people.

They both travelled a lot. When I was 12,I left home for the boarding school since no one was around to look after me. I attended the Girls College in Abuja.

My mom is very funny,kind and generous. My dad is kind and nice but not funny. I loved my parents,no doubt about that. But I was p@rticularly close to my Mom. She was the only true friend I had even though she wasn’t always around. But she c@m£ around on my birthdays and whenever she was less busy at work. My Father h@rdly remembered birthdays,including his own. However, Mummy would never forget. I remembered mom fought with him when she found out he didn’t s£nd me a pres£nt when I turned 16. He apologized and made things up to me.

When I turned 18, dad s£nt me greeting card and gave me a Teddy bear when I c@m£ home.

Whenever mom was around, she always made me feel I could discuss anything with her. My dad could be strict on some things. I recalled on my 17th birthday,mom gave me a cellphone as a gift but dad didn’t let me use it. He said I was too small to use a cellphone. I had cried that year but there was nothing I could do because his mind was made up.

“After your secondary you will use a cellphone” He’d said to me.

My father is so old fashioned!

All thanks to Banjo,my brother in Italy,he c@m£ home for a vacation last month. And he managed

to convince dad to let me use a cellphone. He was reluctant at first but later gave in. So Banjo took

me to Slot at Ikeja and bought an IPhone 6X plus.

“Katherine” my mom called

I opened the door and stepped out.

“You have to st©p spending too much time in the bathroom. Se o fe di Eja ni?” She asked in her

native Language

“No, I don’t want to turn to fish. I’m not a mermaid” I answered

And she laughed

“plea-se get dressed before old soldier go vex” she said again

Old soldier? Well that’s my dad. I can’t speak the native language fluently but I un-derstand when

someone speaks it to me.

“So have you heard from Charles?”

“Charles?” I snorted

“What’s wrong? Are you guys fighting?”

“No mom”

“So what?” She threw my undies at me

“Listen Mom, Charles and I are not a thing”

“Well I thought he was your b©yfri£nddue to..”

“No”

“But you liked him when he was in Nigeria”

“Yes but as a friend”

“So what’s up with him?”

“He’s d@t!nga white girl now”

Mom spre-ad out my new uniform on the be-d.

“I’m confused here..you sle-pt late and you weren’t chatting with Charles.. ”

“Yes I was digging up some old stuffs in my wardrobe”

“Oh yeah I noticed it well arranged” she nodded

“Mom do you think my cl@ssmates will accept me?” I asked

I bit my lower l!pwhen I realized how foolish my question was.

“Never mind”

“I’m sure -”

“Darling!”

Mom was interrupted by dad’s call.

“I have to go sunshine. Come down for breakfast when you are done”

“Okay Mom”

She walked out of the room. I stared at the uniform on my be-d. It was pretty. A short navy blue Sk-irt, a short cream shi-t with a red bow tie and navy blue jacket. The Sk-irt expo-sed the skin on my

l@ps and I don’t like that, so I asked mom to buy me a sock..a navy blue long sock.

Empire High school was imprinted on the left side of the Jacket. I got dressed and moved to the large mirror in my room. I exhaled de-eply as I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

A knock c@m£ on the door again.

“Kate”

It was Nanny Patricia. She’s the new Nanny dad hired to take care of me while he and mom are out of the country.

“Come in Pat!” I said

“Wow! You look good Kate!”

I turned to face her

“Thanks Pat”

She was short and chubby with very black skin and Black eyes, with strong and able looking hands.

“Your dad want you downstairs now”

“Okay” I went to the wardrobe and brou-ght out my backpack.

“re-ady?”

“Yes Nanny”

I moved out of the room while Pat stayed behind to set my be-d in place and switched off the electrical devises.

“Wow! Sunshine looks good!” My mom said with her hands on her eyegl@sses

“The uniform suits you”

“Thanks Mom”

“What do you think Honey?” She tapped my dad. He dropped his newspaper and stared at me. I moved slowly to the chair and sat in it. I knew he wasn’t going to say anything good like mom did.

“Check your time Miss” he said

I glanced down at my wrist watch.

“7:05am” I replied in a low tone without looking at him. Patricia c@m£ around the table and served me Moimoi and yellow pap.

“Now tell me what took you so long?!” He yelled and my heart raced

“You still have to finish your registration and I also have meeting at the office by 8:00am. You woke up late and spent the whole time dressing up. Is this how you want to continue living?” He

asked in a low tone.

“No sir” I replied shakily with my gaze fixed on my plate.

“But you promise to change and be a good girl -”

“Yes dad”

Tears, I felt them the corner of my eyes.

“But you were up last night..chatting with Charles is it or Faith?”

“None of them Dad”

“Honey plea-se let’s not do this. It’s too early” mom said

“You are the one spoiling this child”

“She’s not spoilt. And you have to st©p going off the hook”

“Well maybe I will when she starts behaving like her father’s child”

“What do you mean Bayo?” Mom asked

She only calls him that anytime she was angry. He cleared his throat.

“I’m just saying she should behave like her brothers. They are good children”

“So she’s the bad one?”

“I didn’t say that..”

“Well If only you could give Kate the chance to explain things to you”

“There’s nothing for her to explain. I saw the evidences of what she did. She wasn’t accused falsely. She did it”

“No Kate was Innocent”

“You have any prove?”

My head snapped up and my gaze met hers.

Dad was wrong. Everything that happened was a set up. I told mom the truth because she was the only one that was re-ady to listen to me, but dad never did. The evidences shown to him was

enough to make him believe i did it.

Tears rolled down my cheeks at the thought of what happened at Linda Girls college.

“Where is your cellphone?” He asked

I wiped my tears with the back of my palms.

“Its in my room” I replied shakily

“Get it Patricia” he said

Pat stood up. I picked on my food as i listened to him call out his new set of rules.

“No More cellphone till I see changes. Your driver won’t be taking you to school anymore. You find your way to the estate gate and take a taxi to school. And since you won’t be buying food at school,no more feeding allowance except T. fare”

Patricia brou-ght the phone and gave it to him. Mom tried to talk but he raised his f!nger and moved it from side to side.

“If you are not re-ady to train her in the right way then I’m willing to help” he said with a frown

“I hope you un-derstand me Kate?”

“Yes dad”

“I’ll be waiting in the car” he stood up and walked out of the room. I had alre-ady lost my appetite so I let my spoon drop. I stood up and followed him.