CheeseGirl.

E I G H T

                                         || Itumeleng's Pov ||

"Baby girl, " my aunt smiled at me as I walked towards the house. It was still the same old two bedroom, one bathroom house and I had managed to stop thinking about how I'd be sharing a bedroom with my cousin whom I hadn't seen in ages. Talk about awkwardness.

"Dumela Mamane, " I greeted back, adding the smile I had grown to fake over the years. Nothing was as disastrous as this situation.
"Bona o godile yang bathong. O skoon copy ya ga DK" she said as I stood there awkwardly, still holding onto my suitcase. We stood there, for a while, as we stared at each other, her in awe and me in a fake kind of "I'm happy to see you too" state.

"O dira grade mang yanong?" She asked and I chuckled at how behind she was. I had completed school a year ago, when I was eighteen. "Ke feditse ka skolo mamane, ke dira gap year," I answered still holding the same fake smile.

This is what I hated about talking to family members I didn't know, I had to pretend to be something I wasn't. "Ao that's good baby girl. Anyway Malom' Patrick o tla go thusa go tsinya di suitcase. Ke tla go bona nou yana, just going to the shops" She said and I nodded my head with a smile, watching her leave.

"She's surely happy to see you," Patrick already opening the boot of the car. "Why wouldn't she be?" I asked, genuinely curious. "Your mother and aunt have really been on good terms. You just didn't see it cause you were young," Patrick said making me frown even more. Why wouldn't they be on good terms?

"Why am I here then? Have they fixed their issues?" I asked and Patrick just shrugged his shoulders, implying he was just as clueless as I was. I hoped I wasn't going to get into any bullshit, my parent's divorce was already enough.

"Lets get you inside then," Patrick said after we had placed all the suitcases on the front stoep. Walking into the house made me feel like I was little. Everything was exactly the same, no changes at all. "You still remember where your cousins room is?" Patrick asked and I nodded, heading straight towards. The same Nicki Minaj posters were up and the room had this weird smell I referred to as the "barbie doll smell", just the same way I had left it.

"I'll go get the rest of the suitcases" Patrick said and I nodded still observing the room. She had begun using makeup which she had swore, as a little girl, to never use and no longer had those thousand sketch books she usually placed on the nightstand. "Make up is for the unhappy," I remembered her saying, "I'm happy and I definitely am a black beauty, just look at me".
I continued looking around and revisiting old memories until voices from outside snapped me back to reality.

At first I thought it was aunt since she told us she was going to the shops and was coming back but the voice sounded younger, way younger. "What the hell are you talking about? Which cousin?" She sounded irritated. I slowly continued walking towards the door, not ready to see the transformation of my cousin. I definitely knew she wasn't the same girl who loved drawing but maybe that part of her was still somewhere in her since she still had those Nicki Minaj posters. 

"Palesa," I said once I finally came into view. She was slightly shorter than me and was as gorgeous as ever. Life had definitely been treating her good.
"Itu," she said, with the same frown on her forehead. There was this moment of silence just like the one I had with my aunt but this one, for some reason, felt more intimate.

"Why are you here?" She asked, now looking at me in some kind of disgust or anger. Before I had left this place, Palesa and I had the biggest fight and I didn't know if it was about that or simply because she was angry I had never came back.

"My parents, they got divorced," I simply answered, not wanting to get in too much detail. There's a bit of more silence as we continue staring at each other until she starts laughing, heavily and loudly. I didn't really understand what was so funny. There definitely wasn't anthing funny about this situation.

"Um whats funny?" I asked, looking at Patrick who was just as confused as I was. "Ke wena o vele?" She said in between laughs, "The praised Itumelemg Mokoto wa ko Silver Lakes. Mo Mzansi? Wow I can't believe yoh. I'm seriously shocked."

"I didn't choose to be here," I said, slightly offended at how she just laughed at my situation like that. As if it was some kind of joke. Maybe its cause she didn't have a father so her heartless ass couldn't relate.

"So why are you here? Do you not have money? Are your parents bankrupt perhaps?" She asked and I felt myself getting angrier by the second. I take back the whole "maybe that part of her was still somewhere in her since she still had those Nicki Minaj posters". She definitely was a bitch.

"I said they're divorced, not bankrupt" I said not allowing the ghetto side of me out. People thought just cause I lived in Silver Lakes I was some girl who knew nothing but to spend money but they were wrong. So, so wrong. I could definitely beat a bitch up.

"Oh my bad. Didn't know it was actually possible to feel sorry for someone like you," she said and before I said anything she pushed right passed me and went into the house. Great way to welcome someone right?

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