Having a big family isn't always a joy. Siya felt this more than all his family members combined. They seemed to love being in each other's faces and knowing each other's business. All. The. Time.
Speaking of being in each other's business, his baby cousin was currently in the bathroom yelling to his mother -Siyas's aunt- that he needs toilet paper because he made a huge dump. If it were at any other hour of the morning Siya would not have minded as much except it was breakfast and he was trying to enjoy his chocolate cereal. It became increasingly hard to do that when Lwethu went into great detail describing what his crap looked and smelled like.
"Thanks a lot Lwethu." Siya pushes the bowl away from him, looking at it as though it were a toilet bowl. His sister on the other hand was not having any of that.
"You're wasting food," Nele said to her brother grabbing the bowl of cereal and finishing it off for him.
"How can you eat after that?" He asked his sister who was practically just inhaling the food. All without getting a single drop on her school uniform.
"Oh please," she started mid-chew, "that's not the most disgusting thing to ever happen in this house."
Siya thought about it for a second and tapped his chin dramatically. "You're right, doesn't even make it to the top fifteen." He concluded.
"Siya..." Nele feigned agony, "why must you always use odd numbers, that is so uncomfortable." She shook her whole body expressing that just saying the word 'uncomfortable' was not enough, to sum up how she felt about odd numbers.
"It's not my fault you have a weird thing against odd numbers weirdo," Siya said, standing up to wash their dishes so they could get a move on before they became late for school.
"'Weirdo.' How original. I think it's your best insult to date." She replied while making sure all the things she needed for the day were accounted for.
"Thank you it took me all night to come up with that." He replied.
"Why are you two still here?" Mumbled a lady who was half asleep; had a comb in her hair; a toothbrush in her mouth; and was still in her pyjama t-shirt and shorts.
"We should be asking you that question, you're supposed to be at work in half an hour mom," Siya replied to his mother Londiwe who mumbled out a half-dead response and shooed them away with her free hand.
Siya and Nele yelled their goodbyes to the family and began their walk to school.
¤¤¤
The siblings sat at their usual spot while waiting for the drama club meeting to commence in 20 minutes. "I'm excited about drama club, I can't wait to find out what we're doing this year. " Nele said to her brother as she munched down on his bacon and cheese sandwich.
"Yep, first one of the year, I'm excited too." He shook off the crumbs that were making Nele's pullover their home.
As though she were summoned by his thoughts, Miss Jensen arrived. Her black platforms made a statement as she strutted towards the hall where the meeting would be held.
"Good afternoon Siya, Nele. Early as usual." Miss Jensen addressed them, digging around in the pockets of her red checkered blazer to find her keys to the hall.
Nele stood and dusted the crumbs from her toast from her hands. "He prefers to be early. I prefer to eat the food he gives me, so win-win."
With a chuckle, Siya followed his sister and mentor into the hall to wait for the rest of the club members.
Upon arrival, the others excitedly talked among themselves and were making guesses as to what productions we had this year and who would play which role. Siya stood in a secluded corner of the hall watching all the hubbub commence when someone caught his eye. Among the assemblage was Katlego.
Katlego. Katlego. Katlego.
She was amazing. Terrifying, but amazing. And Siya knew that well.
Siya watched her slowly strut towards him with a smug smirk plastered on her face, making the dark spots on her cheeks become accentuated, her kinky hair bobbing with every step. Even in school shorts, sandals and a Hogwarts t-shirt, she looked amazing.
"Siya." She started in a low voice, almost a whisper. The smirk never left her face.
"Katlego." He spoke the name out loud for the first time since the year began. "Fancy seeing you here."
"At the drama club we have both been in since grade 8. Great to see you didn't lose your sense of humour over the holidays." Katlego responded and stuffed her tiny hands into her pockets.
"Good to see you haven't lost your ability to state the obvious." He replied, trying hard to avoid her kohled eyes.
"Uh-huh. What did you get up to during the holidays?" She asked.
Say what you want to say Katlego.
"Nothing much just took a well-deserved break. You?" He sat on the table so they could be at eye level.
"Same." She replied, grabbing a few strands of her hair and fiddling with them.
Lies.
"Good to see you're doing okay Siya. I'll see you later."
I'm doing good despite you.
"Bye Katlego." He sputtered and watched her walk away. Siya knew that she knew he was watching, he could tell.
"Alrighty my lovelies grab a chair, grab a table, have a seat so we can begin." Miss Jensen patiently waited for everyone to be settled. Once everyone was quiet she started again.
"Welcome back everybody. It's great to see you all in one piece again and I am excited to get started on this year's projects. I hope they will be as much a success as last year's if not more so." She put down her bag and sat comfortably on a table without losing a beat. "Okay so let's discuss what happened during last year's productions and what we can learn from them to make operations run more smoothly this year. Last year we had issues of-"
Miss Jensen was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of the hall doors opening. The sound of those doors was not only annoying, but they were also headache-inducing.
Some poor soul who probably had no idea how loud the doors were made her way in and everyone's eyes turned to her. She was visibly uncomfortable but she looked at Ms Jensen and spoke anyway.
"Uhm... is this the drama club meeting?" She asked nervously. Some of the students rolled their eyes and turned away. Pricks.
Miss Jensen beamed and addressed her. "That it is. Welcome to my side gig, please take a seat." She said and waved her hands over the whole group. The girl took a seat next to Siya who started squirming slightly. Nele chuckled when she noticed and he elbowed her. The girl sat quietly and listened to Miss Jensen attentively. She seemed taken aback by Miss Jensen when all she was doing was addressing certain issues they had last year. He -like a genius- decided that it was the perfect time to have a conversation so he tapped her shoulder twice to get her attention. She turned to look at him and her kinky hair bounced slightly.
"She gives off good vibes, doesn't she? Yeah, she's a pretty cool 'teacher'." Siya said, already kind of regretting choosing this moment to chat since it seemed like the girl was just trying to focus on what was being said.
"'Teacher'? What's wrong with the word teacher." The girl asked, her attention darting between Siya and Miss Jensen. Siya was more than happy to answer her if it meant they would keep talking.
"She prefers the term guide," Siya answered truthfully. "Said she doesn't necessarily teach us creativity since we all have that naturally, she instead guides us on how to channel it properly and have fun with it."
"Oh." The girl said, turning all her attention back to Miss Jensen.
Nele kicked Siya slightly and waved her hands around a bit. It was a gentle reminder to Siya that he tends to talk with his hands. So he sat on them, embarrassed that the girl might have noticed the odd habit.
Miss Jensen continued to brief them about what they were going to do this year. She liked to keep the production names a secret so that the students would be surprised upon receiving their audition scripts. Plus, by then it would be too late to argue about it.
"I'll need all of your names and contacts to add to the group chat so I can send you all the audition scripts and dates." Miss Jensen said, handing the girl in front of her -Naledi- a single sheet of yellow paper and her colourful rubber band pen. The paper got to the back and the girl wrote her name down. Zola Nontanda. So her name is Zola. Siya took the pen and paper from her warm hands and wrote his name and number down.
"Nele please bring the paper over once everyone is done?" Miss Jensen asked, her head poking up from her unfinished copy of 'Heroes Of Olympus'.
"Sure thing Remy," Nele said, addressing Ms Jensen by the shortened version of her first name. Remelda.
Miss Jensen put her book down and stood up from the table. She took a quick look at the paper and put it in the book. "Alrighty my lovelies, now that I have your contacts I will make a WhatsApp group where I will send the audition scripts and music. I will host your auditions over two days, you will perform a scene and song of your choosing. The auditions will be in two weeks since we've only recently come back and you all have cycle tests to prep for. But... that only means we will have to work extra hard so we can be on schedule." She took a breath and let it sink in.
"Matriculants please note that you are only needed for the main play and for the other two, you may choose which one you would like to participate in." Miss Jensen concluded. Siya was excited, even though it was a lot of work drama club was his escape from any and all other stressors out there. He felt at peace on stage.
"Okay dearies, that is all from me. Do you have any questions?" She asked, singing the first part. No one had any questions so the meeting came to an end.
Everyone stood to leave. As well as Zola. When Siya rushed after her and grabbed her wrist. She turned swiftly and looked at it with a glare. "Hands off buddy."
"Oh crap, sorry." Siya sputtered and removed his hand. Feeling like an idiot.
"May I help you?" She asked.
"You're new right?" He asked her, taking note of her crisp new uniform and her red and blue blazer that looked alive with colour.
"Yep, the name is Zola." She said and offered her hand.
"Yeah I know, mine's Siya, Mahlangu." He replied and took her hand.
"Now this is an appropriate time to grab ahold of someone." She smiled, but that smile didn't last long. "Wait... You know?" She dropped the handshake.
Crap! Crap! Crap! I'm an idiot!
"Do you realize how creepy that sounds?" She asked, seeming slightly amused.
"No no no, I know because I saw your name on the list." He replied quickly for dear life.
"Uh-huh..." Zola said to creepy Siya.
"I swear I'm not creepy. It's just that you're -"
"Siya, rides here we gotta go," Nele said while he was trying to save his skin.
He turned to answer his sister. "Uhm, right, sure." When he turned back to Zola he was disappointed to see her walk through the back door of the hall, towards the foyer.
He sighed and followed his sister to the car.