I swear to God, I didn’t mean to call her ‘Leopard Face’ to her face. The Headmistress ended her boring speech with, "You’re all beautiful, my girls.” and I turned back to whisper to my best friend Rita, to say, "...even Leopard Face?” I had just seen the girl heading towards our queue but I realised it, too late, that she had chosen to stand in front of Rita and thus, right behind me. So now there we were, in an awkward moment that seemed to last eternity. I turned and faced the front and pretended to concentrate on the announcements. But I could feel her breathing very fast and very heavily, and very close to my neck.

Leopard Face’s real name was Anita Azairwe. She, like the rest of us teenage girls, was dealing with body image issues. Some girls’ chests refused to bulge. Other girls’ chests bulged in excess. Some of us were growing fat at such a fast rate that forty percent of the school budget went to buying us new uniforms. Anita’s problem was that she was as dark as the night. No, seriously, that girl was so dark that whenever she used petroleum jelly, she looked like a shiny opaque surface. If you squinted, it was possible that you would see your reflection on her skin.

Enter Diprosone, a bleaching cream. A certain girl discovered it and started using it. In no time, her face changed from chocolate to fair. Everyone wanted in on the action. In no time, there were many girls with light-skinned faces but with dark necks, dark hands...okay, just know they were not evenly coloured. In no time, the school administration got wind of the bleaching spree and went into panic mode. What would they tell parents when they came to collect their daughters at the end of the term and found that their faces were completely unmatched to the rest of their bodies?

The school administration thoroughly searched our property until they were satisfied that they had confiscated every diprosone tube. Unfortunately for Anita, she had just started using it. And in the early stages, the cream had a tendency to put patches on a user’s face. So, that’s how the name Leopard Face came to be. It’s important for you to note that I didn’t come up with the name and neither did I endorse it. So my only crime was that I accidentally used it in her presence.

I would rather she had confronted me and hauled insults at me. Instead, the snitch went crying to the Headmistress. In tears, Anita said that I had called her ugly. My heart was pumping from places in my body I didn’t even know existed. The Headmistress’ skin complexion was darker than Anita’s. In fact, she was dark blue. She insinuated that I had called Anita ugly because of her, no, their skin complexion.

If I denied calling Anita ugly, the Headmistress wouldn’t believe me. If I accepted, even if remorsefully, it would be taken as a confession that I find dark-skinned people ugly. I was caught between a rock and a hard place. So I started praying, promising to be a better person if God helped me out. God did help me out. I was let off with a warning. But you don’t think God took my promise seriously, do you? He should have known by then, that I was incapable of being good. I’m going to hell, aren’t I?