Curate, connect, and discover
TW: bad teaching?, bullying, quitting, name calling, angst with a happy ending
Daphne never loved school. She loved learning, just not what the schools had to teach her. She just never understood what the teachers were saying and never cared enough about the subject to try to figure it out. Eventually Daphne gave up trying in school, opting to focus on her social life and influencer career.
Daphne’s teachers seemed to actively encourage this abandonment of school by never encouraging her to challenge herself and placing her in the easiest classes. They viewed her as ‘too dumb’ to understand the complexities of the subjects they taught and never bothered to try and make her understand. As a result, Daphne’s grades began to slip considerably, with her pulling ‘Ds for Daphne’ frequently, especially in math and science, her worst subjects. Donita and Dabio worried about her and her academics frequently, but neither of them were well equipped to be teaching her, barely understanding it themselves. Zach eventually caught wind of Daphne’s struggles and offered up himself and his daughter, Vera’s assistance, which Donita accepted immediately.
Daphne began tutoring with them, especially Vera, and waited. Waited for them to announce she was a lost cause and too stupid to understand like all of her other teachers did, but that moment never came. Her grades began to improve and Daphne began to foster a great relationship with Vera; she admired her passion for music and how she was able to ‘do it all’, at least according to Daphne. Daphne’s grades began to rise, with her eventually becoming a solid student, with Zach and Vera’s consistent efforts to make her understand enough to do well on the tests.
Daphne’s classmates, however, did not appreciate or notice this stark improvement. They continued to speak badly behind her back. They never told her directly because she was still a very popular and influential girl, having dated some of the most popular boys and amassed thousands of followers on social media, but they viewed themselves as better and smarter than her, thinking she was just a pretty face with nothing substantial to offer society. Henry, Daphne’s father, and Allison, her stepmother, did nothing to refute these claims, with Allison actually encouraging them, calling Daphne a ‘airhead’ and claiming there was ‘nothing behind her eyes’. Henry felt bad for Daphne but didn’t believe she was really trying in school, so he thought his wife’s comments may encourage her to start trying harder, and Allison was a distinguished student in high school, so she must know what she’s talking about. Daphne tried to ignore these comments, but they added to her insecurities and she began to see herself as an academic failure. She didn’t even want to bother to apply to any colleges, being convinced she would just be rejected, and would just focus on her influencer career, the only thing she seemed to be good at.
Dabio, someone who experienced similar things in high school and ended up not going to college because of it, becoming Donita’s henchman and model, managed to talk her into applying. He said while he loved Donita, her, and his life, not going to college was one of his biggest regrets, and he didn’t want the same for her. Together, they applied to many colleges for a plethora of majors. Daphne ended up being accepted to one of these majors and began her communications and marketing major. Her professors quickly noticed her fame and ability to amass massive amounts of followers through her social media, encouraged her to keep going, and taught her a lot about the internet and social media. Which later helped her get an invite to a prestigious content creation house, and start a PR business in addition to her global influencer career.