Thabo walked Alice all the way to her street corner, just close enough for her to walk by herself but not too close for Enoch to spot him.

“So. . . can you please give me your number and I could maybe call you later,” Thabo said while still holding her hand.

Alice smiled and gave him her number and quickly ran off home because she could see Enoch coming out of their flat.

“Where have you been?” Enoch shouted

“I was at the library doing my homework,” she quickly replied and ran in the house to go change and take off her uniform.

Later that evening she got an SMS from a number that she did not recognize saying:

“Hey, thx 4 coming out with me today, Hv a gud nyt. Thabo”

Alice could not believe her eyes; she read it twice before she could reply:

Thx 4 everything, nyt”

Alice lay on her bed just thinking of Thabo and how his hand had felt, how cool he actually was unlike his brother and his other friends. Thabo could also not believe how nice Alice was. He always saw her as Enoch’s sister and although he thought she was pretty, he just never had the courage to actually ask her out.

The following morning Alice’s mother helped Alice with the rest of her English paper just before she left for work. Alice was so excited because now her paper, which was due Friday, was finally finished and she could now do other things with her friends.

On her way to school; she kept thinking of what she would say when she finally saw Thabo again. Whether they will hold hands again? Or if she would pretend not to know him when she was with her friends.

When she finally got to school, Thabo and Enoch walked pass her and didn’t even greet her. Alice could not understand what was happening. How could he just ignore her like yesterday didn’t happen at all? She stood around and looked back at Thabo and she could see that he was trying so hard to avoid any eye contact with her. The bell rang and Alice and her friends walked straight into class. She could not be bothered with someone who shows interest in her only when he wants to.

As they sat, Unathi looked at Alice and she could see that something was bothering her.

“Is everything alright with you this morning?” Unathi asked.

“Yes everything is fine,” Alice quickly replied.

“Are you sure, because I saw the way you looked at Thabo earlier and I mean it’s ok if you like him, his a very nice guy,” Unathi said.

“When are you going to stop with this nonsense of me and Thabo? There is no me and Thabo, I told you yesterday,” Alice said with much irritation in her tone and she took out her book and ignored Unathi for the rest of the period.

During break time, Thabo continued to ignore her every time he saw her. Alice was so hurt and she just wished this day would end and she could just go home.

When the school bell rang to go home, Thabo saw her walking home and came running after her. Alice looked back and saw him coming and she started walking fast to avoid him.

***

Tell us what you think: Has Thabo finally realized that it will never work between them?