desperate episode 2

DESPERATE - 2

But why was I feeling as if I was under a spell? I thought as I finally got
to them. I didn't know what to do, so I stood like a statue before them.

"Can you give us some shots, please?" One of the girls asked. Okay, so I
became their photographer, shebi na me wan make friends.

I gave them different shots. I was agape at the various styles they
displayed while I snapped them. The annoying part was that they were not
satisfied after I had taken them about thirty shots, if not forty.

"Thank you for the shots. It seems you like us. You can add us on Facebook
if you wish to see more of us," the second girl said.

I was very happy. I quickly brought out my phone and gave them to type
their usernames. They laughed at my phone after typing and handing it back
to me. It was outdated, they said.

I felt ashamed of my phone since then and promised myself to do anything I
could to get their type of phones. Theirs looked smart and sparkled with
beautiful pouches while mine was mom's very old Tecno phone that she gave
me.

When we got home, I barely entered my room when I got a notification on
Facebook that the two girls had accepted my friend request. I was very
happy.

I explored their timelines, viewed their status, watched their Snapchat
videos and finally fed my eyes on their pictures. They were hot.

I was a novice on Facebook, I barely had up to twenty likes on my posts and
photos. The highest likes I had was fifty and I was so happy the day I had
it.

But when I opened those girls' timeline, I realized they had more than two
thousand likes on almost every post they made. They were indeed slay
queens, as they nicknamed themselves.

I felt depressed. I hated myself all of a sudden. They were my age mates,
yet they had everything, but I didn't.

On every picture they posted, they wore different clothes and shoes and
even hair style. Why was I different? Why didn't I have a smart phone?

Why do I look so ugly that I don't have likes on my posts? Why didn't I
have beautiful clothes and shoes like them? These were the questions that
got me depressed and angry.

I was so curious to know how they did it. I wanted to be popular like them.
I wanted to look beautiful and sexy, I wanted to wear their kind of clothes.

I dropped a message for them, asking them how they did it. They told me
they could make me popular within twenty four hours. I was very excited.

"First, you need to stop being mummy's pet. You have to learn how to work
by your rules and not your mom's, else, she will stop you from being
popular," one of the girls whom I got to know that her name was Didi
replied to my message.

"How do I do that?" I asked her

"Slay queens are smart. If you must be one of us, you have to be smart. You
have to learn to take decisions. You need to start going out because once
we get acquainted with you, we'd be taking you out almost everyday" She
said.

I was worried because I was more like a prisoner in the house. Mom never
let me go out. I was her only child and she was very protective of me.

As if the girl knew what was on my mind, she said

"Don't worry about your mom, I'll tell you how to go about it without her
finding out. We aren't harmful, we just want to make you have fun and
become popular, that's all"

I was calm. I smiled because I couldn't wait to have on those beautiful
outfit and have thousands of likes and followers.

I was going to be more popular than Mhiz Shuga, Itz Sizzy and a host of
other classmates of mine that had been intimidating me with fine pictures
and many likes on their posts.

Didi and Tami, my new Facebook friends are going to make me popular, I
thought, smiling.

"So, how do I start?" I asked her.

"Okay, there is a group on WhatsApp that Tami and I belong to. There, we
will let you know everything. Drop your WhatsApp number let me add you to
the group" she said.

I sent her my WhatsApp number and she added me to the group. I noticed that
there were only girls in the group and there were about hundred of them,
all looking beautiful and classy, except for me.

It got me feeling more depressed. For goodness sake, I was eighteen and was
sure those girls were my age mates, so why was I looking different?

I went through their profile pictures, one after the other, it got me more
depressed and desperate to be like them.

Tami and Didi introduced me to the group as the new member and the other
girls welcomed me. They made me feel very special, like I was a queen.

"Victoria" Didi called me in the chat.

"Yes?" I replied

"You will have to change your Facebook username from Victoria Ekpo, it's
too local for a slay queen," she said.

"Okay, what should I change it to?" I asked.

"Guys, suggest some sexy names for our new slay queen," Didi said,
referring to the other girls.

Within two minutes, the girls flooded the group with different names for me.

"I think I'll go with Vee Kee," Tami suggested.

"Which do you prefer?" Didi asked me.

"I love Vee Kee, it sounds perfect," I replied.

Immediately, I changed my Facebook username to Vee Kee, and came back for
the next instruction.

"You'll have delete all the pictures in your profile because from
henceforth, you'd be posting something different.
You have a very beautiful skin, you shouldn't hide it, " Tami said.

I was so happy to hear that I had a beautiful skin.

"We'll teach you how to take sexy selfies, not those passports you've been
posting on Facebook," Didi said and the others sent laughing emojis and
stickers, provoking me to be more desperate.

"My camera isn't sharp because of the kind of phone I'm using," I said.

"Don't worry about that. You will send all the pictures to us, we'll edit
them with good filters till we get you a new phone. Is your bathroom
beautiful?" Didi asked me.

Get me a new phone? I'm so loving these girls!

"Yes, I have a big and beautiful bathroom," I replied.

"Good. Go to your bathroom with your phone, make sure you lock it so your
mom won't see you, I'll tell you what to do next"