Tina was disliked by a lot of persons in school. People barely had nice things to say about her. She was described as a very rude person.
I met Tina for the first time when I just resumed school. Prior to that day, people had told me about her and how rude she was but I didn't want to believe them. They made her look like the most terrible person on earth.
"Nobody is that bad" I told myself.
Tina was in charge of collecting documents from the class so she could submit them for registration. I also had to submit mine to Tina. Eventually, I met Tina.
"Hello, you must be Tina" I said
"Yes. Who are you?"she replied with a stern voice.
"I'm Victor. Your classmate."
She looked angry. I wasn't sure if someone had annoyed her that day or if that was how she normally looked
"I want to give you my documents" I further said
"Hope they are complete?" she asked
" Yes they are" I replied
I gave them to her, and after seconds of flipping through them, her frown got worse
"Your documents are not complete. Check for what is missing and bring them back!" she yelled as she threw the papers back at me.
I stood there in disbelief from what had just played out. She was indeed rude. I got my documents complete and I took them back to her. She finally accepted them.
With time, I got to see for myself why she was well disliked. She didn't show respect to people. The also appeared to not care about what people thought and said about her. It was as if she loved the reputation she had. She only has two friends. Those were the only persons I had seen her close with. I wondered how they coped with her. However, I didn't want to write her off yet. I believed there was some sweetness in her somewhere.
One day, I got sick but I had to go to class because the lecturer took attendance very serious. Before the class started, I tried to act strong but strangely, Tina was the first to notice that I wasn't feeling well. She came to meet me
"Hi, you don't look well" she said
"I'm not feeling well" I replied
"You can't be in class in this state. Go home and take care of yourself. Don't worry about attendance, I'll cover up for you" she said
I was surprised. The lecturer was a really strict man. I wondered how she was going to pull it off. I was even more surprised that she was willing to do this for me.
That night, I got a call from Tina
"Hey Victor. How's your health now? Are you feeling any better?" she asked
"I'm still down, but I have begun treatment. I should be better by tomorrow" I replied.
I got to class the next day to see that she actually covered for me. Tina wasn't so bad after all. I wanted to know her better.
"Thanks for what you did for me Tina. I really appreciate" I said
"You're welcome" she replied
"Would you like to have a drink with me?" I asked, ready to take whatever insult she throws at me
"Yes. I would love to" she said, to my surprise.
As we drank, we talked. The more we talked, the more I saw how good she was deep down. I couldn't resist the urge her why she liked being rude to people.
"Tina, you know a lot of persons dislike you right. They say you have a terrible character and you're too rude" I said.
"I know what they think, and I don't really care" she said
"I know you don't care. I also know that you want people to see you that way. But I know that deep down you're a nice person. So why do you keep showing the rude side of you?
She kept quiet for a while, thinking. Then she replied
"I wasn't always like this. I was a really nice person before. But people took advantage of that. Even people I thought were close to me hurt me. They did things that damaged me emotionally. So I put on this act as a survival strategy. I'm not as tough as I act. I'm vulnerable and I don't want people to see that because I know they'll take advantage." she said, almost at verge of shedding tears.
I watched her unfold right before me
"I've been really hurt, and even though I've tried to heal, the scar tissue remains. It's a constant reminder that I should put up a wall and be rude, and appear tough" she said.
I understood her perfectly. All the act was her way of protecting herself.
"Tina, you have to get past it and turn a new leaf. There's nothing vulnerable about being a nice person. The sad thing is that if you continue this way, you'll end up without friends, and that's bad. Just try changing for a month. Show people your good side and see how it goes" I said.
"Alright, I'll try that" she replied.
Over the next set of weeks, Tina actually changed. I watched her make effort towards it and I was glad. Everyone was shocked. They were surprised that she was capable of being nice. Some didn't want to believe it. There were times when she would be provoked, and would want to react rudely, but she showed restraint.
She made more friends, and it was obvious she liked this new side of her. Eventually, she became really loved by everyone by the time we graduated.
