Mine. S.A Partridge
like it, then toughies for you.”
“What. Ever. Lorenda. You’re just going to make whatever Jerome likes anyway,” I say without turning around.
She sighs. “You used to call me ‘Mom’, you know. When you were still small and lovely.”
The barb stings.
“You mean like back in the day when the Teletubbies were still on TV? I was a child, Lorenda.” I say it to hurt her. I don’t want to fight – I just want her to go away so I can concentrate on choosing an outfit.
The satisfying sniff tells me it’s worked.
“I try to be a good mother. But you’re … you’re so …”
I turn around hotly. “I’m so what?”
“Nothing,” she says. “I’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.”
She always does that. Starts a fight and then leaves just at the moment I bark back so that I’m the one at fault. Like the time I dyed the tips of my hair blue. The school sent me home with a note. I thought she was going to explode, but she didn’t. She just accepted it and we never spoke about it again. It doesn’t matter what I do – she’d rather avoid the problem than confront it.
I choose a denim miniskirt and a black ruffled shirt to go with my gladiator sandals. I’ve only worn them once for a concert. They are the one and only pair of non-skater shoes I own.
Craig doesn’t come round. I delete all his old text messages. I don’t want anything to ruin my date. And I start a new page in my diary to list all the reasons why Sebastian might just be boyfriend material.
Reason’s why Sebastian Brown might be The One:
He’s smart.
He’s not a total dumb-ass like the other guys in my class.
He doesn’t care what other people think.
He broke up with his steady girlfriend about three months ago, so he’s single.
And he’s super-hot.
Maybe this is it. My chance at happiness. I mean, we’re both music nerds. That puts us in a special club. While everyone else is blasting Rihanna and Drake, we’re fanning overselves over Mozart and Beethoven. That alienates us from the rest of the school. Obviously he doesn’t think like other other people – and maybe he’s the one I should have been aiming for all this time. I’ve been wasting my time with that asshole Craig. No wonder he doesn’t want to date me. We live in completely different worlds. In my case, Venus; his, the desert planet Tatooine. Craig wouldn’t even know that reference.
Once Lorenda took me to listen to an instrumental ensemble from UCT that was playing at the Alma Café. Sebastian was there with his parents. We didn’t talk or anything, but now I wonder if he’s been thinking about that night ever since.
Finlay
LANSDOWNE, FRIDAY
I really need to talk to Brendan about Jules.
If I was in his position, I would beat the crap out of any guy that even looked at her the wrong way, friend or not. But I can’t exactly tell him that she’s chasing me. It’s freaking me out.
I open and close my hand, trying to get some life back into my fingers. I punched the wall this morning. It happened after Reynolds gave me detention for not finishing his dumb Science project. When I’m angry, I can’t help myself. I don’t know why I’m even doing Science anyway – it’s not like I’m going to be an engineer. For me, it’s music or nothing.
If that doesn’t work out, then I don’t know. I don’t care. I just need to get Jules off my back. Kissing her would be like kissing a kid I babysit or something.
Kelwyn, who I sometimes roll with at break, frowns at me. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing,” I reply too quickly. Even my voice sounds angry.
I’m sitting with my phone in my lap, staring at my last WhatsApp conversation with Brendan.
“If you say so. Ah man, what is that asshole up to now?”
I look up to see Marshall pushing around one of the grade eights.
“Remember when that guy was cool?” he asks, picking at a scab on his knuckle.
“Yeah, he wanted to be in Dark Father, and he lost it when we turned him away. What happened to the guy?”
“Tik. Life. The usual.”
Neither of us get up to help the kid being terrorised. You have to pick your battles, and Marshall is one fight neither of us want to have. The guy apparently pulled out his own front teeth.
We watch as the poor kid finally snaps and shouts something, which is what Marshall wanted all along. In one swift move he knocks the kid out like he’s channeling Ivan Drago in Rocky IV.
Kelwyn turns his attention back to his scab. “We need another player for five-a-side tonight. You in?”
“Can’t. Practice.”
“It must be cool getting to play at all those clubs and festivals.”
I shrug. “It’s hard work.”
He grins. “Bet you have girls all over you.”
I smile. “Sometimes. But they only like me because I’m in Dark Father. They don’t stick around for long.”
We both look up as Marshall stalks past us. He flicks his tongue between the gap in his teeth.
“Looks like Marshall has a new neck tattoo,” I say to change the subject. “Probably did that himself too.”
“That’s class. Listen, Fin. Do you have any spliff on you? I’ve got money.”
“Yeah, sure.”
He slips me the note and I quickly pocket it. Poor dude doesn’t know I’ve been ripping him off for a year. I buy a cheap bag of mostly stalks and seeds, and pocket the rest of the cash. Sometimes I even take a quarter of the bankie for myself. But hey, that’s business. I don’t feel bad. Kelwyn’s always getting new kicks and Xbox games. My old man never bought me anything. I buy my own gear – whatever I need, I take care of myself.
I push the note deeper into my trouser pocket. I could make easy money selling weed to more people at school. But I don’t want to be that guy.
“Do you want to go smoke at the back of the field?” I ask.
Kelwyn’s eyes light up like cheap Christmas decorations.
“Ja.” He bounces to his feet like a little kid.
We walk towards the wet field, where a couple of guys are playing soccer and kicking up mud under a miserable sky. I’ve already started rolling as we walk. No one will stop us. If we’re caught by the teachers I’m sure they’ll just be glad we’re not smoking tik.
Not Reynolds though. But he’s going to get his teeth kicked in one of these days.
I light up the joint and take a long pull before passing it to Kelwyn. I exhale a thick grey ring into the air, just as he starts coughing his lungs out.
I take the joint back with a smile. “Lightweight.”
I wish I could be stoned all the time. Life would be so damn simple. I take another long drag, letting the smoke drift up to my nostrils and swallowing it down again before I blow out a thick stream. Like I’m Thor, stirring up thunderclouds.
I’m about to take another drag when Kelwyn smacks the joint out of my hand and starts burying it under the ground with his shoe. “Reynolds is coming. Please tell me you have deodorant.”
I turn slowly to where he’s looking and frown. “Don’t worry about Reynolds, man. He can’t