1.

At that time, I was called "the ndon-ga" because of my pride, the influence I had, and the lack of emotions in me.

My family was very poor at the time, so I didn't have doughnut money like my friends, I didn't have pocket money to afford what every girl should have at a certain age.

All I had was my charisma, my pride and my influence that I decided to use to get back at this injustice that life had done me.

     At the age of sixteen, I was in high school in Douala with my friends.

We went through sixth, fourth, third and then second grade together and we weren't about to part ways.

     One day during recess, they went to the canteen to buy food and as I had nothing as usual, I stood in front of the window and an idea came into my head while I was looking at a little girl who seemed to be rich: she had a big pink bag with a new outfit and rasta (braids with locks) on her head, but it was forbidden at school. But hey, corruption exists when you have money.

She was eating a cake with a yoghurt pot and her friend who was with her was eating the "sakiss" (corn + peanuts).

The two girls in question must have been between ten and eleven years old.

     I went to stand in front of them and blocked the passage...

- Hey, don't let anyone pass!

"I'm going to tell my dad, he's the governor of the country," said the rich girl!

The other one said nothing.

- Ah, my father runs shoes at the market and my mother is a housewife. As for me, I'm a fucking nobody! So what you're going to do is you're going to give me your cake, okay? Because your daddy is going to buy you some more! And if you say a word to him, you're gonna be sorry!

     I snatched her cake and left.

Her friend calmed her down and gave her some corn to eat: It's amazing how poor people like to share, unlike rich people who are stingy.

     My friends came over and saw me eating.

- JESSY: So you had the cake in your bag?

- No, I forced it out of a little rich girl who was walking through the yard.

- PATRICK: You're already taking things from people?

- Everything has a beginning... Eat and leave me alone!

     The days passed, the weeks passed. I didn't limit myself to snatching food from the students, but I also stopped them to take their money, their bracelets, chains and necklaces that I would sell once outside the school.

I wasn't afraid that they would report me because I was confident enough of the terror I represented.

     

     I was told that I was like a boy because of my style of dress and the way I was cold-blooded, but a girl was supposed to be gentle.

While the girls wore dresses, I wore pants and a shirt like the boys.

The school representatives had reproached me for this, but to no avail.

I refused to change because it was my style and it represented me better.

          Several months later...

It was the last day of the school year: the day of the report cards.

Parents and relatives of the students were there. My father was at work and my mother was at school with me.

She had left my brothers and sisters at the neighbor's house to come.

     We started by handing out the first five report cards and I noticed that the little rich girl whose food I used to snatch was among them and I started to look at her and so did she and then she went back to sit next to a man and what I thought was weird was that she pointed at me while talking to him.

     I put my head down so he wouldn't notice me because I knew what she had said to him.

The other students' report cards were handed out in class and I came out twentieth in my class out of a hundred students with a thirteen out of twenty average.

     I may have been weird, but I was still smart.

My mom congratulated me and took my report card to go home with it. She liked to brag about my good grades.

     I stayed with my friends to talk because I didn't want to go home quickly.

I was chatting with them when Jessy's boyfriend from another school came over. She kissed him.

- JESSY: Finally you're here!

- Yes baby, I'm here! How are you doing?

- JESSY: I'm fine and you my love?

     Ah love! I had never known love. Boys were afraid of me, no one dared to approach me even though I was beautiful and quite intelligent.

But they were not attracted by my behavior at all.

Anyway, I didn't care about that!

      Patrick on his side was chatting with his "women" as he used to say.

Indeed, he had several girl friends but no girlfriend. He was a rather serious and reserved boy. He had decided to preserve himself for his future wife. The idea of jumping from girl to girl did not pass in his head, but he could be friends with them without any ulterior motive.

     As for me, I was thinking about my fate. The little rich girl had reported me to the man she was with.

I was afraid that this would be reported to the school officials because I was afraid that it would make too much noise and that the other students from whom I had taken things would also report me. In fact, I was afraid that my parents would find out.

     To get rid of the stress I had, I started to draw on the floor because I liked to do it and it was my passion.

I was drawing a man and a woman inside a heart.

I was concentrating until I heard a voice: "Hey you, are you the one who spent the time to tear the snack of my little sister?

     I wasn't afraid of the students but when I heard that voice, I knew it wasn't a student but, someone who was there to defend a student I had hurt.

I knew right away what was going on...

My heart started beating fast and my body started shaking.

I looked up to see the person who had spoken, although I suspected who it might be, and then...