Monday.
Sindi came home late again as usual and was asleep on the couch...again.
Well, that's not a surprise.
I managed to wake up 30 minutes early today knowing that this was exactly what was going to happen. I made toast for breakfast with a cup of Rooibos tea, fixed my lunch for the day and packed my bags for school. A book fell on the floor which startled Sindi out of her slumber and she looked at me while still trying to catch her breath.
"Wait, what time is it?" She asked looking for her phone.
"06:45"
"What, you'll be late for school"
"Don't worry about it, I'm taking the bus today," I said and grabbed my bags.
"Uhm, okay I'll pick you up later this afternoon"
"Nah it's cool I'll go with the bus, gives you time to nurse that babalas. You must've had a good time with Rori at the farmers market"
She gave me a weird look for a moment before saying, "You seem a bit off today"
"No I'm perfectly fine" I lied knowing very well that I wasn't. Yesterday's conversation with Siya really stuck with me and made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Were things really that bad between Luniko and I to the point where he couldn't even pop in and say 'hi'. I was probably overthinking it but it still didn't make sense to me.
"I'll see you later," I told Siya and left.
***
On the bus ride to school, I sat next to an old lady who was casually knitting a sweater for what she explained as a gift to her newborn grandson which eventually become a knitting lesson.
"Okay then using your right hand pull it through" she instructed and I did as she said. I repeated the same pattern until we reached her stop and she had to leave.
"You must do well at school neh? You must pass and get those distinctions. And make sure you practice " she said
"Will do Gogo" I replied and I waved goodbye at her and she gave me a cappuccino sweet before leaving.
Wow, I've already learnt a new skill.
I think this is what I loved so much about going on the bus. You would meet different people from different backgrounds and you would learn so much about them. What I loved most about my community was the fact that even though we didn't come from privileged backgrounds, we supported each other and the support I got from not just people in my street but people on the bus and taxi was just out of this world. I guess they were proud of the fact that even someone like me who came from the same place as them could be in the same uniform as the children who's families they worked for. Their support was overwhelming and was what motivated me to keep working harder.
***
When I had arrived at school Mak was already at our usual spot, clearly occupied with something.
"Hey," I said sitting next to him and he looked up at me from his notepad and smiled before greeting back. I grabbed the sweet the old lady gave me on the bus and opened it and as soon as I opened the wrapper Mak's eyes went wide.
"Ah, can I have one?"
" This was the only one I had"
"Why didn't you get me one"
"Because I worked for mine"
"Mxm"
He continued with the drawing he was busy with and I sat next to him trying to make out as to what it was. Once he finally finished he gave the drawing to me and packed his stuff.
I looked at the drawing and it was a beautiful sketch of a sunflower with my name next to it.
"Ncaa Mak is this for me?"
"Yeah, I know how much you like sunflowers"
"Aaah thank you, this looks beautiful. But next time get me a real sunflower" I chuckled.
"Mxm, you're never satisfied"
"So...are you going to tell me what was up with you on Friday?" I asked knowing very well I was probably pushing it but I was a concerned friend I needed to ask what was wrong.
He sighed before answering, "I'm not ready right now"
"Okay...whenever you ready"
The bell then rang and we walked to homeroom together.
On our way to homeroom, I remembered I had forgotten to check my chemistry test mark on Friday so we took a quick detour passed Mr. Neilson's class to the notice board where he had posted the list.
"Well would you look at that, 84%, you have the third-highest mark," Mak said before looking at his mark.
"How'd you do?" I asked Mak but he just kept quiet. I took a glimpse at the list for myself since he wasn't willing to tell me his mark and my eyes wanted to pop right out of my head.
"89%...you even beat Miss Know-it-all, Kaitlyn...she's not going to be too happy about that"
"Ah, she didn't study enough clearly, probably obsessing over her boyfriend, Jake"
"You know about that too"
"Yep, almost everyone knows about their supposedly 'secret' relationship"
"Her father won't be too happy about that when he finds out"
"Ah, she'll be strong" we both laughed and rushed off to homeroom.
***
During physics today Mr. Neilson actually had a constructive lesson and actually taught us physics instead of going on about everything that was wrong with the world.
"Okay then you'll use these two equations and calculate them simultaneously then you should...aaahhh Mr. Zulu, glad you could come see me. Class, continue with the rest of the questions and I'll be with you guys shortly." He said and both him and Senzo walked out of the class and spoke outside.
"Does Senzo take physics?" I asked Mak who looked just as surprised as I was.
"Maybe. Probably in the other class though"
I continued with the questions from the exercise trying my best to mind my business but that was an impossible task to do and instead, I tried to make out what they were saying while looking at them through the window.
"Okay, I hope you guys completed those questions now let's mark." He said when he returned into the classroom and as I watched Senzo walk away looking a bit down.
I wonder what happened.
***
After school, Senzo and I met up again but this time just for a short session to exchange the notes we made to make a few tweaks whenever we had the time to. Since this week we would be busy with our own individual priorities we decided that it was best we took each other's notes with the different points we wanted to mention and have the other one make extra notes here and there. The partnership we had going was actually working really well and Senzo looked quite engaged in the assignment.
I wonder what the issue was...leave it, Melo, it's not like it's any of your business anyway.
"We all good here?" He asked and I gave him a nod.
"So...when do you want my feedback?" He asked.
"Whenever you can just as long as it's before Sunday"
"Okay perfect, I guess I'll see you around?"
"Sure." And then he left for practice and I went to Miss foster's class for our public speaking meeting.
***
"Okay is everyone settled?" Miss Foster asked before proceeding with the meeting.
"Okay so first I would like to say good work Melo with last week's presentation"...oh now she wants to give me credit..."I know it wasn't easy having to carry the weight of the whole team but you did it effortlessly...alright now that we're in the semifinals we'll have to fight tooth and nail especially since this week's round is the debate round and debate is not really our strong point for some reason..."
Did she just say debate?... Aw ngeke!
"If I may ask ma'am, what is our topic, and do you know whether we'll be presenting as opposition or proposition?" Nonhle asked and I already started to feel the room spinning. Debate wasn't technically my favourite part of public speaking because of the fact that we had to work as a team and always have arguments, backed by facts, to prove the argument of the opponent as inadequate. This meant being able to think on your toes and it's not like I'm bad at doing that its just...well I don't have a solid explanation of why I don't like debate as much.
"Well our topic is whether the abolishment of statues is a false rewriting of history and you guys are on the side of the proposition"
Nooooo...tell me you're joking...proposition for that???
I was fuming with anger. I didn't understand how we can agree to such a statement when clearly we don't...well I don't, I don't know about Miss Forster or anyone else on the team but I completely disagree with that statement. I guess that's how it works in debate...you have to make everyone agree to the statement even if you don't.
This is not going to end well.