Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!

Authors: David Oletu and Alfred Marvelous Amarachi

‘Good girl no dey pay bills!’

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‘Good girl no dey pay bills!’

My flawed mentality about being a good girl almost led to my death and total failure in life.

If not for the tiny changes I made in my past uncultured way of life and association,

I would have ended up being a waste to myself and my family.

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!

My name is Onome, and I am 19 years old.

I lived in a small town called Araya in Delta State with my parents, who were struggling to make financial provisions.

They gave birth to six children, of whom I am the first.

As the first child, my head was filled with so much responsibility—I assisted my mother in taking care of the home.

And I didn’t, however, allow such heavy responsibility at a very young age to affect my academics.

I was so focused that I couldn’t sleep at night until I burned my midnight candles completely while studying.

I couldn’t hide my tears anymore—they flowed like a river from my eyes. My heart breaks. Words were heavy to spew, and all I could do at that spot to respond to my friends’ unending questions was to scream.

I was described as the most admirable girl in my town and school because of how hardworking I was.

and, at the same time, how beautiful I was to behold.

Who won’t admire such beauty and brains as me?

In all my days in secondary school, no student has attempted to surpass me academically. I had always topped the class.

That was how beautiful and remarkable my academic journey was going until the devil almost snatched my future when I was in SS3.

For the first time then, I failed woefully in almost all my subjects and repeated SS3 class with my head lowered in shame.

It all started when my father died.

He died as a result of a snake bite on his way back home from the river where he went to fish.

My father was a small-scale, hardworking fisherman.

That was the only business he used to provide food for the home.

However, death took him away from us so suddenly,

leaving us in abject penury and total confusion about where next to go and how else to survive.

The death of my father affected the health of my mother—my once bubbling mother became so pale and weak for weeks.

Her love for my father was beyond what words can describe.

She had always wished and prayed that their union would last till old age.

Father was 54, while she was only 49, and death broke them apart prematurely.

Mother couldn’t bear the pain of losing her soulmate. I hoped she would survive it and not join him so soon in the land of the dead.

As a result of my mother’s ‘weakened strength,’ I became fully responsible for everything in the home.

Consequently, I was no longer an assistant but a full mother to five children, in addition to my mother, at a very young teenage age.

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!

The things that ran through my mind at that age were no longer how to excel academically,

but how to provide for my family.

My academics, particularly the class I was in then, SS3, were so important to me as much as my family was because I didn’t want to fail my examinations.

But then, how do I balance it all together? I thought.

No close relatives were willing to take responsibility for catering for us because,

according to them, we were too much for them to cater for, together with their nuclear family.

Heavy rains of thoughts ceaselessly ran through my mind wherever I went.

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!

“Onome! Onome!!”

My friends, Chisom, Ruona, and Efe screamed my name,

but my ears were deaf to their call—not until they poured a full bottle of water on my head, to be sure I wasn’t half gone.

I was already lost in thought on my desk at school.

“Onome, what’s wrong with you?” Chisom asked, feeling disturbed.

“We’ve been observing you since.

You are not that bright, ‘Onomski’ we used to know,” Efe remarked.

“Darling,” Ruona moved closer to me, wrapping her arms around me and placing my ‘heavy’ head on her left shoulder.

“Onome, we are friends. Talk to us. What’s happening with you?” Ruona asked empathetically.

I couldn’t hide my tears anymore—they flowed like a river from my eyes. My heart breaks.

Words were heavy to spew,

and all I could do at that spot to respond to my friends’ unending questions was to scream:

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

My friends, who couldn’t bear seeing me create a sorrowful scene in class,

immediately raised me and took me straight to the school field, where no students were (except during breaks and sports days).

They managed to wipe my tears away and took me home when the school closed.

Having observed the grave that had the picture of my father in my ‘tearful’ house,

and entering the house to eventually see my bedridden mother and the sad faces of my hungry siblings,

my friends got a clue of what was going on and sympathized with me more.

“Where do I start from?”

I voiced out my thoughts and began to shed more tears.

My friends once again wiped my tears and laid me to rest.

They fed my hungry siblings and mother that day and ensured they left more money for us to take care of ourselves.

I wondered how they got thousands of naira to give just like that while still in SS3.

But I had no strength to question them—

all I needed at that moment was a good rest to regain my strength and be able to take up my ‘home’ responsibility fully.

So, I rested until the next day.

On the next day, after school activities, my friends were so excited to escort me back home.

This time, I was stronger to voice out my troubles with them.

I told them how hard things have been in my family ever since my father died—

that I was now automatically the caregiver of the home.

Rather than pity me for having heard my story, my friends laughed!

My friends were sassy and seemed botherless about life’s troubles.

Many times, I wondered how they ended up being my friends because they always had poor academic performance.

Perhaps that was why they drew closer to me.

Despite how they drew so close to me, they still didn’t gain any inspiration to become better;

they refused to change their habits of not paying attention in class.

Sometimes, they even sleep while the teachers are teaching. I wondered what they used all their nights to do.

Even if they used it to study just like I did, it would reflect in their grades, but it didn’t.

“They must probably be hiding a skeleton in their cupboards,” I suspected.

“Onome, you are a beautiful girl. You don’t need to worry about money,” Chisom said.

“How do you mean?” I asked with a confused look on my face.

They looked at each other and laughed again.

This time, I couldn’t bear their mockery anymore. I became pissed.

“So, the best you all can do is to laugh at my situation?”

I questioned them angrily and increased my pace, leaving them behind.

They ran after me to apologize.

“Look, babe, we are sorry.” Ruona held me back to apologize.

“We understand your situation.

All we were trying to say was that you do not deserve to suffer as a beautiful girl.

You deserve a soft life,” Ruona said, with a slow gaze at me from my head to my toe, down to my backside.

I still didn’t understand them, but I was quiet.

“Don’t worry, we will take you somewhere with us this night where we are sure you will earn nothing less than 50,000 Naira,”

Efe said excitedly, while Chisom and Ruona nodded their heads in agreement with smiles on their faces.

“Expect us in your house tonight!” Chisom added.

I didn’t know exactly how to feel.

A whole 50,000 naira?!

For one night? Not even for a whole day?

I couldn’t resist the temptation to go with them because I needed money.

The moment I got back home, I thought deeply about their words.

My reservations about the kind of work they did had no place in my mind to give more thought to.

All that was on my mind was how I would use the money to feed my family for a month or two and pay for all my outstanding fees at school.

When the night came like a flash, with my siblings and mother already asleep,

my friends came over to my house silently as promised, ensuring I got dressed up,

and took me out to a nightclub where I met several other young ladies who were dressed half-naked,

trying to sell their bodies to men who may be interested in spending the night with them.

“Where are we?” I asked, pretending not to know.

“We are in a church. We came here for all-night prayers.” Efe replied sarcastically.

“Free yourself and come in, my friend!” Chisom said, dragging me in like I was a sheep prepared to be slaughtered for a sacrifice.

The interior of the club was dark with a red rolling light.

The sound of the music was so high, with female strippers moving their half-naked bodies slowly and seductively around a long pole.

My friends took me to a round table that was surrounded by young men who already looked so high on hard drugs.

My friends took their positions, each with a man.

They kissed and hugged each other to exchange pleasantries.

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!

“Before we forget, meet our friend. Her name is Onome.”

Chisom excitedly introduced me to their male friends, who looked at me, waggling their tongues like dogs.

I noticed one of the men whispering to Efe in her ears while staring deeply at me.

That wasn’t my main concern, anyway. All I needed was the money.

They offered me a drink to entertain me.

I drank the drink without any second thought that it might be very harmful to me,

only to find myself the next morning completely naked in a room, lying on a soft bed.

Surprisingly, I saw Efe’s man coming out of the room’s bathroom. He was also undressed.

“What did you do to me?” I asked him while trembling.

“Common baby, we both had a good time together last night. Can’t you remember?”

He replied so confidently.

I nearly ran mad hearing such a response from him.

“Oh, you are surprised?

I have the clip of the beautiful time we spent together,” he said,

bringing out his phone and showing me how I gave him my body to toy with.

It seemed as though I truly enjoyed the moment in the video.

“How did this happen?” I wondered.

He further threatened me that if I made any move to do anything crazy, he would release the clip on the internet for the whole world to see.

My mouth became glued—I couldn’t utter a word.

I don’t think I will be able to bear the shame if the clip eventually gets exposed to the world, as he had threatened.

So, I cooperated with him.

Later on, he brought out a bundle of new notes in naira from his bag.

“That’s fifty thousand naira for the sweet service you offered me,” he said,

throwing the money at me, giving me an evil smile, dressing up, and leaving the room.

That was when I saw and experienced how my friends make 50,000 naira per night—by sleeping with rich young and old men!

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!

The next day at school, when I eavesdropped on my friends’ conversation,

I realized that they added some toxic substance to my drink,

and that was what made me horny as though I were drunk, making me unconsciously demand sex last night.

Perhaps that was why I gave my body out to Efe’s man in the clip without thinking.

On second thought, the money I was able to earn for that night fascinated me, so I had to compromise my dignity to join my friends fully in the act.

I followed my friends to more club nights, and I earned lots more money that was able to meet my needs, take good care of my mother, and feed my family.

Fortunately, my mother was already getting better, coming out of her sick and depressed self.

However, I still didn’t opt out of the act—I became addicted to it.

All that filled my head was sex and money!

I valued education a lot and still aimed to top the class.

However, my mental health stability had been tampered with. I couldn’t think straight to concentrate on my studies anymore.

My once-study nights had been occupied with overnight ‘hookups’ services.

My consistently newly adopted bad engagements and habits made me fail all my subjects and repeat a class.

I felt really disturbed and shared my pains with my friends, Ruona, Chisom, and Efe, and all they could say was:

“Who first position epp? Good girl no dey pay! Do what makes you happy!”

As they repeatedly made those phrases, I became fired up to level up my game in the ‘hook up’ business.

My class teacher and my mother became curious to know what was wrong with me and how I turned out to started performing poorly academically.

But I fabricated all sorts of lies to them to make them feel less suspicious about my sex work and habits.

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!

The day I learned more about the ripple effect of the bad habit I had been enjoying was when a rich young man approached me one night at the club with my friends for an overnight service.

He offered to pay me more than I would ask for.

I was so excited.

However, the moment I was about to accept his request,

I received a phone call from home saying that my mother was dying.

Upon hearing such news, I immediately ran back home without changing my seductive dress.

(each time before I leave home for my nightclub,

I ensure I hide my miniskirts and armless revealing tops inside my bags and change once I get to the club).

I got home panting so hard, panicking to know what was wrong with my mother, only to realize that they lied to me.

My mother was perfectly fine.

She had only planned with my siblings to call me back home; they were fed up with my consistent night outings.

“Why are you dressed like this? Where are you coming from?” my mother asked, almost in tears.

I couldn’t say a word.

I felt exposed already, merely with my dressing, in the presence of my family.

My mother quickly shut the doors;

to prevent neighbours from suspecting that something was wrong due to how highly esteemed I have been in my neighborhood for my hard work and brilliance.

If they found out that I had been into hookups, I would be the talk of the town, and I would put my family to shame.

The next day, I heard another breaking news story: Efe ran mad.

According to the report, she took my place to ‘service’ the rich young man I almost sold my body to for a night.

The moment the man gave her money and dropped her off with his car in front of her house, she ran mad immediately.

Before passersby could attempt to catch the young man, the young man sped off with his car.

Everyone suspected that the man must be a ritualist.

This meant that if I had not received the call from my family to come back home, I would have been the mad person and not Efe?!

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!

The floodgate of tears of regret opened in my eyes. I felt ashamed of myself.

“I’m sorry I disappointed you, Mother.”

I went closer to my mother, begged her, and confessed every single bad act I engaged myself in,

all that while in my quest for money to meet the family’s needs.

I also went ahead to confess to my class teacher, who had been eager to know why I changed suddenly towards academics.

To my surprise, my mother and class teacher didn’t scold me as much as I thought they would.

They embraced me in their warm arms and advised me.

According to them,

the only way I can start achieving remarkable results once again,

is to break out completely from my adopted bad habits, and engagements and the kind of friends I seek advice from in my troubled state.

My friends gave me the wrong advice when I was confused about life,

and I gave in to their ideas out of no choice, without consulting my elders.

Even if my friends led me down the wrong path, I still felt pity and compassion for them.

I sought to reunite with Ruona and Chisom, sympathized with them over Efe’s terrible situation, and further advised them to change their ways.

Thankfully, they gave me listening ears and promised never to engage in such bad acts again for money.

We all joyfully went back to school, to the SS3 class we repeated together.

We converted the energy we used to spend our nights at nightclubs and hotels with men to begin to face our studies.

The changes we made truly yielded remarkable results.

We all passed our examinations, and our story became a moral lesson,

we didn’t fail to share with other female and male teenagers who are struggling to excel in other important areas of their lives due to their bad addictions and associations.

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Result!