Alice finished writing her Maths test and the teacher was going around collecting it. Her friends started to comment on how good she will do, because she always did well anyway.

“Guy come on, I mean I didn’t really study that much. I was busy with the English Essay,” Alice said.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that one. Yours will probably be more interesting because you’re not South African,” Unathi said.

Unathi was Alice’s best friend and she was from South Africa. They had been friends since Primary School and Unathi had been one of the closest friends to Alice. They told each other everything and even though they were both from different countries and spoke different languages, they shared the same experiences as teens and young adults.

“I know the feeling. Being from Nigeria, I’m sure she is going to expect some interesting story from me,” Grace replied.

Grace was also friends with Alice and Unathi, but they only meet her when they got into High School. Grace was not as smart as Alice, but she really worked hard and made sure she had enough marks to pass.

The bell rang and they walked out of the class room for their lunch break. Coming from the tuck shop, they sat down at their usual place. Thabo and some other boys were playing soccer on the field near them, he noticed the girls sitting having lunch and walked over.

“Hi girls, how are you guys doing today?” he said while directly staring at Alice.

Alice shyly looked away and couldn’t believe how cautious she suddenly was about Thabo being in her surroundings.

“What do you want Thabo?” Grace shouted at him.

“Ah you girls have some serious attitude problems?” he said.

“Come on Thabo, the break is over and the game is about to start,” Enoch shouted from behind. Thabo took one more look at Alice and ran back to play with the rest of the gang. The whole time Thabo was standing there, Unathi couldn’t help but notice how shy Alice had suddenly become.

“WOW Alice! You really like him,” she said with a big smile on her face.

“No I don’t,” Alice replied with an attitude and a smug smile on her face.

“Don’t lie, OMG you like him?” Grace said while laughing.

“Guys you’re being rude. No, I don’t like him at all, I mean his my little brother’s friend,” Alice said in her defence.

The School bell rang and they all returned to class for their afternoon classes. All through the lesson Alice could not stop thinking of Thabo and how he was staring at her. Finally the bell rang and it was time to go home. Thabo ran as fast as he could to the gate to wait for Alice. When Alice came out of the class with her friends, she noticed Thabo standing at the gate. Before her friends could see him, she quickly said goodbye to them and ran out of the school. Thabo came running after her screaming her name.

“Alice, Alice wait up,” Thabo said while trying to catch his breath.

“What do you want?” Alice stood and waited for him.

“I just wanted to ask you what you’re going to be doing now since school is finished,” Thabo said.

“I’m going home to finish up my homework,” she replied.

“Don’t you ever take a break? I mean it’s not like you don’t already know your work,” Thabo said while resting his hand on her shoulder.

“No, some of us have to pass and besides it beats seating around all afternoon and watching TV,” she quickly said while pushing his hand off her shoulder.

“Well, how about I take you out for some ice cream at Cavendish?” Thabo replied.

Alice could not believe her ears; Thabo was asking her out on a date.

This is unreal, why is he doing his, I can’t go out with him. What will my friends think? I mean he’s my little brother’s friend. Alice thought to herself; she could not understand why Thabo was suddenly into her.

***

Tell us what you think: Will Alice be able to stop worrying and take a chance with Thabo?