Ch.4

" why are you taking a big part ?" I asked annoyed " I am thrice your size and if you have a problem with that get your own " baba says back " baba I brought it " I defended

" hush" he says with a tongue click . his statement is exaggerated but also true . I am somewhat taller than the average teenage girl being 1.70m , Baba is 1.90m he likes to brag every time we watch basketball that he used to be really tall cause he played too , and Everytime I say back " the shrinkage is real ma boi" most of the times he rolls his eyes or gives a good 30 minute talk explaining the story or making typical excuses like " age" .

" as I was saying .." he says giving me judging look " when your mother and I decided to move here it was just for the job but also because you didn't have the most joyful childhood back there you were always so optimistic but whenever it came to school you would insist and say you are feeling sick or beg us to let you skip a day " he said and I recalled . " it was obvious that something was wrong but I would try to convince your mother that you just didn't like school and that it was normal but she insisted on talking to your teacher and once we did I felt angry with myself " he stopped to see my reaction but I nodded for him to continue. " she said- well you already know what she said " he said looking me in the eyes the same eyes that I inherited , half inherited .

my teacher said that I had gotten into many fights and disputes cause I got bullied often . I have heterochromia a disease I was born with and I honestly thought it was cool until the bullying started when I was 9, before then the kids feared me . when I was new I remember one kid cried when she saw my eyes and her twin brother wouldn't stop staring . while I have one dark grey eye like my dad the other is a very light brown.

" when we moved here we expected you to feel more at ease with you being exposed a lot more eye colours than brown ". he continued . "I didn't expect that" I said in a sad voice " don't flatter yourself I said partly " he joked and I turned to him a second of silence passed before we laughed. " ok but what does it have to do with what happened earlier?" I asked " when we enrolled you in Northway the principal promised to keep a good eye on you and we didn't have to worry about you fitting in because it was a common disorder and after your mother's- death things fell a part slowly and I couldn't afford your tuition well you know that . but after the principal saw your grades he decided to give you a full scholarship and bump you up a class . Malik's family is a very rich family they can get him in any school , even if I decided to enroll you in another school it wouldn't be as good as this one plus if it's not your principal at Northway it would be a student at another school " he said .and if it's not my eyes then it's my skin color or my hair or my muslim name even though am not muslim "but we used to be before we met Christ" that's what mama said. I am black , I am a girl , I have a Muslim name , I have heterochromia and am in America but whether am in America or Rwanda I would still be an outcast . there's no escape . but I wouldn't change any of the above if I had a choice.

' WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD '

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