Being The Understudy

Chapter 1

BEING THE UNDERSTUDY

CHAPTER 1

I sighed as I checked my phone again within the last 45 seconds. A habit I had developed in the last agonizing twelve hours.

“HE’S A FILTHY, LYING CHEAT YOUR HONOUR! AND I STOOD BY THIS ASSHOLE FOR SO MANY YEARS!”

I lifted my gaze to the suffocatingly over-weight African-American lady who had just hollered, banging on the podium she stood at. One could innocently describe her as ghetto with her black and purple waterfall up-do and clothes I was certain were a good two sizes too small for her. Judge Mathis chuckled in contempt as he watched the burly woman.

“I could only imagine why Miss Forne, you being such a classy and astounding member of society; who could ever possibly cheat on you! Especially such an innocently charming jail-bird as Mr. Kelso here! Now-” he responded with mock enthusiasm.

“-Your honour, you don’t understand! I’ve been with him for 9 years! Had 4 babies by him!”

Now the judge looked at her from the brim of his spectacles with an irritated glare, “Miss Forne, it don’t matter how long you been with this here gentlemen, this is the court of LAW! That means your baby daddy’s fidelity plays no part in him suing you for the furniture you stole out of HIS apartment and you beating him up in the middle of the street! And if you interrupt my court room one more time with your hood-ish outbursts, I will dismiss your child care counter-sue and grant Mr. Kelso his judgement!” he yelled at her slamming his hammer down.

The colourful lady just swirled her neck like a snake with pursed lips and stared at the judge with angry silence.

I shook my head and sighed again, Judge Mathis didn’t get it, they never do.

“What’s wrong” my sister sighed from the other side of the room without lifting her eyes off her tab as she sprawled leisurely on the couch. She had notice my own sighs and I presume was getting annoyed with them.

My eyes drifted back to the zoomed in Miss Forne on our fairly large flat screen TV as I contemplated whether I wanted to respond. She beat me to it though, without lifting her eyes off that stupid tab again, swiping away at it like a cat.

“Never mind, don’t tell me... its Khalid isn’t it?” she sighed in annoyance.

I kept silent.

A mental picture of Khalid flashed through my mind. I could never get enough of how gorgeous he actually was!! Khalid is Arabic, straight from Abu Dhabi. His parents had moved countries a lot when he was younger looking for gaps and opportunities. They had settled here in South Africa as at the time the cultural difference was minimal compared to all the western countries. Khalid however had grown to be a unique and alluring brand of perfect existence... He has this almost animalistic appeal to him that makes you feel like you’re caught in an unfamiliar place with a beautifully dark and dangerous panther in your path; a panther that hadn’t made a move but was staring intensely, staring intensely at only you...

It’s one of those times you know you should run, you know how dangerous every second that clocks by without moving is getting for you, but you can’t stop staring, you can’t stop the magical captivation the dark creature has on you...

Maree finally turned her face away from the tab and looked at me, mirroring Judge Mathis’ expression, “I don’t get why you subject yourself to that asshole. I mean seriously Rori, how do u still have hope after 6 years of waiting?!” she smirked in mild amusement using my childhood nickname.

I glared at her and decided to practice my first amendment rights to remain silent. She took it as a sign for her to carry on.

“I mean like seriously Roial, do you know who you are in this here life you’re living? You’re that girl in movies and novels, not the amazing magic and charm-vomiting heroine- no, but the other girl... you know... the pathetic one who was dotting and obsessing over the bad boy lead boy for a long time before the new girl shows up. Leading Lady stumbles in on your parade, all hot and glamorous, and snatches him right from under your nose. They fall in love and she changes him into a love sick puppy... while you, the pathetic OTHER girl is left out in the cold all alone. The only difference in your story, dear naive sister is that... you’ve had about 4 or 5 new girls move in, but that don’t change the storyline regardless! And while we’re at it, do you know how many lines those girls usually get in the movie?? Not more than 5 Roial, not more than 5...” she evil-y chuckled as she shook her head dramatically in disbelief.