High School

Bernice Laia is my given name, but I was nicknamed Bonnie. In high school, people made fun of my name behind my back. Bonnie Laia, oh, that Laia. I was not popular at school. And my grades were not good. I often felt lonely. I didn’t really care about school. I only cared about dancing. My teenage life was filled with it! 

The people I danced with were not really close friends. Faye, my cousin, was my only real friend in high school and I spent the most time with her. Dolores was also a cousin and we were friends, just not as close as Faye and me. 

I tried to be popular through dancing, but wasn’t. So I joined lots of clubs outside of high school that didn’t require good grades, like dance, youth, student, and church clubs.