Okay, talking to Stephanie was not an easy task. I tried asking her questions about herself and family but she just gave me one word answers. She was behaving very cold towards me but she could be very talkative whenever she was with Daphne or in rare cases, with Alfie. I wasn't giving up but I decided to focus on my costume designing for now. I wondered what I was doing wrong. I decided to talk to Ellen, who was very close to Stephanie. I talked to her when we closed.

"Ellen, can we talk for a second?" I asked her.

"Sure", she replied and took a chair to sit by me.

"Can you tell me a little about Stephanie?" I questioned.

"She lives with both her parents. She has two sisters and one brother who are all older than her. Her favourite colour is blue. She loves animals and wants to keep a pet but her parents won't allow her to", Ellen told me.

"Does she have many friends?"

"No. Marissa and I are her closest friends".

"I don't know why but every time I try to get close to Stephanie or even talk to her, she just ignores me and seems to push me away from her".

"You should give her some time. She doesn't like talking to strangers. Maybe you should take her out someplace. She loves going to the school playground".

Wow. For an eight year old, Ellen spoke with a certain type of boldness. I really admired that in her.

"Thanks so much for your time, Ellen".

"It was nothing".

"Goodbye. I'll see you tomorrow".

"See you tomorrow".

   I never expected to get so much information. Now I knew the next step to take. Daphne and Alfie were not really on speaking terms with me. They spoke to me alright, but it was only a "hello" here or a "goodbye" there. Nothing much. I also learned that they hang out together, leaving me out. What had I done wrong? I was just being totally honest with them. Now look at where all this has taken me. I knew I would have to apologize to them sooner or later because the way things were going, it didn't look like they were going to apologize to me anytime soon. I just didn't have time to make an apology. We were all so busy especially now that the "D-day" was getting closer and closer.

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I loved walking.  I loved the feel of my legs on the ground and walking gave me a good opportunity to observe and admire God's wonderful creations. I walked when I was sad, happy, angry or lonely and now, I knew I really needed a walk just to clear my thoughts. One Saturday, I stepped outside to take a walk. I loved the cold air. I decided not to take the usual route I took on my walks. I ended up in another part of town that looked unfamiliar. Before I knew it, I was standing on the premises of the elementary school. It looked deserted. Of course it would be. Everyone was on Christmas vacation. I'm sure Cathy and Melissa were having a much better Christmas vacation than what I was having. I heard a sigh. I thought no one was here. I listened for the sound again but I didn't hear it again so I thought I was just hallucinating.

I explored the school premises and finally, I explored the school playground. It was quite a big place. There was a small field for running around, swings, slides, monkey bars, etc. Looking at the playground reminded me of what Ella had told me. I don't think I would ever have time to take Stephanie out. Things were just too hectic for me.

As I was thinking about all this, I saw Stephanie sitting down on a swing. It didn't look like she was playing or anything, she was just lost in thought. I took a seat on the swing that was next to her.

"Hey", I said.

Stephanie jumped. Apparently, she hadn't seen me.

"What do you want from me?" Stephanie asked.

The question caught me off guard. I was hurt by her question. Why was she behaving like this towards me? What had I done to her?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked her.

"i don't need your help. Daphne told me you wanted to help me overcome my shyness and I don't want you to help me. So many people have tried. Therapists, psychologists, counselors, you name it.  What do you think you can do that other people haven't done?"

Daphne. So she was the one behind all this. She didn't want to help me and she doesn't even want me to talk to Stephanie. What was her problem now?

"i just want to be your friend. If you don't want my help, that's okay", I said.

"Why do you want me to be your friend? There are so many other people you can be friends with".

Stephanie was very persistent.

"Well, you're very hardworking, friendly, bubbly and cheerful", I told Stephanie.

"Okay. I guess you can be my friend", Stephanie said at last.

We spent the rest of the time just chatting about random stuff. It was getting very late so I took Stephanie to her home, which she showed me and I walked to mine.

The next day when Susan came to the church, I told her about Stephanie. She welcomed my idea and agreed that we needed an understudy because everything was so unpredictable. I took it upon myself to prepare Stephanie as an understudy. I knew Daphne would not help me even if I asked her to. She had already made that clear. Stephanie would rehearse the lines without knowing because she thought it was just a game.

Days turned into weeks and soon it was time. The Christmas play was only a part of a program called "It's Christmas" organised by the Sweetwater Community Church. The program had lots of features like Christmas carols, choreography, talks, etc. I couldn't wait for it! The morning of the program, I was so nervous. There were so many butterflies in my stomach and I found it difficult eating my breakfast. I did not even mind it when Kevin took the car in the morning. I was so excited. I hurriedly finished up and took a bus to the Sweetwater Community Church. Soon enough, I arrived at the church. There was a smile on my face. I was so happy! The smile soon disappeared from my face when I entered the classroom. By the look on everyone's face, I knew something was wrong.