PRETTY PRIVILEGE

When we left the ss3 boys, I could feel their eyes burning through our backs as they stared at our asses. Their stares made my skin crawl, and it was moments like this that I wish I could go back to being the invisible Ose.

Then there were other moments that made me want to live in Angel’s body forever. Moments beside by my king- Solo Solo.

During break time, he bounced into class, his eyes fixated on me and nothing else. One hand in his trouser pocket and the other brushing his short kinky hair with a mini shoe brush.

“Angel.” He called out to me, coming to stand next to me by the classroom window.

I gazed at him, my heart thumping loudly in my chest like somebody was pounding yam inside me. He moved closer, almost making me to explode. He has never stood this close to my original body before. No guy had ever stood this close to me before.

“How body?” He asked in pidgin.

Me trying to act all fly, forgetting that I was Angel not Ose, responded, “Body dey inside shirt.”

“Hmm, naughty girl.” He smirked, his eyes trailing down to my shirt, or boobs rather. He misinterpreted my wittiness for flirting. Another perks of being Angel and not Ose.

He moved his face close to my ear, causing me to suck my breath in, before he whispered, “Remember what those lips promised to do.”

I had zero clue what he was talking about, but I just played along and told him that the promise was still standing.

Later that night, Angel and I talked in the bathroom alone after lights out. For some weird reason, she enjoyed being in my body because she didn’t have to worry about back aches since I didn’t have big boobs pulling my body down.

I was quite offended because she didn’t understand how privileged she was to have the face and body she had. She didn’t understand what it was like questioning your self-worth because not a single boy had snuck a love letter into your locker.

Being thick was the beauty standard in this school. If you had nothing to show for it, be it breast or bum bum, you will be pushed aside.

And I had neither and I was pushed aside every single day.

“I get body shamed for being flat and too skinny.” I said to her.

She scoffed, “I get body shamed too. They call me ‘dick lips’ because they say my lips is big enough to suck a dick. I hate boys.”

I rolled my eyes, “Just shut up. Your problem is nothing. You will never understand what I go through.”

She looked taken back by my words before she said, “Just because our experiences are different doesn’t make my problems insignificant. If it hurts, it hurts.”

Before I could say something, she asked, “I hope you talked to Bassey today?”

Shit. I had forgotten the purpose of our body switch. Her crush.

She looked annoyed, “I didn’t ask you to switch bodies with me to enjoy the attention. If you don’t grab Bassey’s attention before the end of this week, it will not end well with you.”

And that was a threat from the Queen of Sheba herself.

The next day, I mustered up the courage to talk to the school’s head boy, Bassey. It was hard to get hold of him because of all the responsibilities he had and the one million people that surrounded him.

It was during siesta time, he sat alone in his classroom, reading another William Shakespeare’s masterpiece, The Tempest. One that I had read too, luckily for queen Angel.

“Bassey.” I called out to him by the classroom door.

He looked up at me before he exhaled, “Hey...uhm, Angel, what’s up?”

His tone didn’t sound inviting.

“I just came to keep our head boy company.” I sat next to him, but he moved a bit farther from me like I was an evil spirit.

“The Tempest.” I looked at the book in his hand, “I swear this book is better than the overrated Romeo and Juliet.”

I began rambling about all the William Shakespeare books I have read that were better than Romeo and Juliet. I did it to impress Bassey, maybe this would make him more interested in Angel and my mission would be complete.

But from Bassey’s constant yawning and avoiding eye contact and only responding to “cool” to everything I had to say, just showed how uninterested he was in having any conversation with me- or Angel. Which just makes this Angel’s whole mission harder.

And from the looks of it, something else was probably bothering him.

“Look, Angel,” He cuts me halfway through my babbling, “let’s just get straight to the point, hm?”

I looked at him in confusion.

“I know the last time we spoke you confessed your feelings for me and ran off.”

My eyes widened in surprise. Angel didn’t tell me about the confession. Or... did she just use me to escape humiliation?

“And I know you’ve been avoiding me for days.” Bassey added, avoiding my eyes, “I just want to be honest with you-”

“You don’t like Angel- sorry, me.” I finished his sentence.

He looked at me and nodded, slowly.

“You’re a beautiful girl, Angel. But you’re not what I want.”

I opened my mouth to speak then kept shut. I was speechless. So pretty girls do get rejected too?