MVUTO

chapter 28 - we are seeking volunteers for a dangerous mission...boom!

On the long journey home into the night, Mvuto noted places of interest shared with the police, next time, he would follow them, but for now, he gave them a miss.

At the school gate, "Brian!"

"Juan".

The pair walked off, ignoring the other two following and heading in the same direction.

"what! We don't exist anymore?" Carlton complained.

"pfft teenagers, fickle creatures!" Mvuto laughed, amusing himself. "if you're feeling left out, I could arrange another date with my cousin for you?"

"Oh hell no! ...Why is her father so damned possessive!?"

"he and my dad are competitive. They're both raising prodigies they are trying to protect from a cruel world. That being said, Zuri isn't making it easy for my uncle. Confirming his worst fears about me, indifferent to his fragile mental health. Zuri has texted me about it... strange questions. Then there's another aspect of her odd behaviour. The one remarkable thing about being trapped in a rock for a million years. It's a piece of piss to precisely focus on an objective. He was always like that. These days that type of behaviour has the term autism spectrum disorder pinned to it."

"so that's why she kept bumping into things because she was walking in a straight line... autism?" Carlton could sort of see what Mvuto was saying.

"mmm, Zuri tends to focus on the destination rather than the obstacles, existentially sound but otherwise hazardous."

"duh, she would need to be always accompanied wh...."

"thank you! I was hoping you would volunteer."

"Just hang on a minute! What about her father?"

"Zuri would try a different means of escape."

"I meant ...what if her father calls the police again!?" Carlton whispered gratingly, not to alert eavesdroppers to the 'p-word' being mentioned.

"oh... I doubt he would be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice."

"for f...sake!" frustrated by Mvuto's obtuseness, Carlton voted to passive-aggressively ignore him for the rest of the day. Emptying his bag of textbooks, Carlton dumped the bag in his locker. Only to have to sit in the only remaining vacant chair in the homeroom next to Mvuto. He arrived earlier, not needing his textbooks, as Mvuto had music after roll-call. Frustration of equal magnitude was taking part in the school orchestra. Mvuto's noise-reducing headphones couldn't quite cut the mustard. Stopping and starting every time someone misstepped was driving Mvuto to distraction. Suspecting revenge directed towards him by the music teacher for adamantly refusing to play solo in competitions. You win this round, teach!

All four boys had gathered in the library during rec break to either study or continue with school projects. Mvuto secretly observed Juan's behaviour. Juan had apologised for what had happened at his home. From then on, he behaved calmer than his typical self, asking Brian to help with homework and politely thanking him for assistance. Confounded by Juan's abrupt u-turn in attitude, Brian pulled Mvuto aside to question him, "what happened on the bus yesterday?"

"why?"

"Juan is too fucking normal now! You make him a slave?"

"no, I didn't do anything to Juan ... not to Juan."

"then who, his parents?"

"didn't he tell you? He's living with an older cousin, not his parents."

"no... he didn't... Did he say why?"

"no, didn't get the chance to ask. as soon as his cousin found us in the kitchen and opened that mouth of hers, she sent poor Juan screaming to his bedroom".

"what! Why?"

"the woman was venomous. She even dared to order me to get the fuck out of her house!"

"wh..."

"of course, I didn't appreciate her attitude and ... you can guess the rest by now, surely?"

"But why would she...?"

"Perhaps she is homophobic. I gave her a simple order to be kind to Juan and welcome his boyfriend, and that seemed to calm her the fuck down. Imagine ...every moment in that house ... torture, is it any wonder Juan was sneaking around!"

"shit!" Brian sighed.

"you're welcome! fortunately, I was the first to bump into her and not you."

"yeah," Brian agreed wholeheartedly.

Since Brian accepted Juan, Juan became braver, less introverted, more daring, liberated. Approaching Mvuto between classes, Juan asked, "what did you say to my cousin? She's acting all weird!"

"I said, be kinder to you."

"that's what Mari said you told her. So you just tell people to do something, and they do it?" Juan seemed quite disconcerted by this revelation, almost running from Mvuto, abruptly ending the conversation.

After school, Brian mentioned, "Juan has been asking questions about you. Like, are the rumours true that you can enslave people? Because he thought it was BS until now!"

"mmm, keep that line open with him. I wish to hear more rumours."

"I haven't heard any remarks about us being gays lately either. Maybe that rumour died?" Carlton added.

"Not sure if that's a good thing", Mvuto pondered.