Likumbi

I felt something cold spray me and I woke up. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that cute white boy I saw earlier that morning.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

“I’m fine, although I feel a bit weak in the knees,” I replied.

He helped me up to the hallway sink and I washed all the blood off my nose.

“Do you think, maybe, we should see the school nurse about your nose?” he politely asked.

“No, I don’t want my parents finding out about this. I just moved here,” I replied.

“OK. But you can’t go back to class looking like that. Do you want to do something fun?” he asked.

I could see his mischievous smile.

“What do you have in mind?” I asked innocently.

He raised one eyebrow and smiled his mischievous smile and said, “let’s go shoplift.”

I thought about it, I mean back home in Africa I used to shoplift a lot and I got away with it, so how hard could it be? Besides, he was my crush and I couldn’t say no to him.

“Okay,” I happily responded, “what’s your name by the way?” I asked.

“I’m Cyrus,” he said.

“I’m Likumbi,” I replied.

“What a lovely name,” he said.

I began to blush from inside because I didn’t want it to show. Afterwards we walked outside the school premises unseen. I sighed deeply.

“Hey, Lik, could you tell me about Africa?” Cyrus asked with a smile on his face.

Oh My Goblin! Cyrus just called me Lik that’s like his cool nickname for me. I began to explain Africa in detail as we walked to the shop that was going to be the victim of our wicked scheme. Cyrus moved closer to me as we arrived at the shop.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked Cyrus.

“Oh yeah I am,” he replied.

“Let’s steal nachos,” we said in unison, in a low tone so that the security guard wouldn’t hear us.

We entered the shop and went to an empty aisle and there we saw nachos in packets, in all shapes and sizes. I looked at one packet and looked around to see if anyone was looking. I quickly hid it in one of my pockets in the leather jacket I was wearing. Cyrus did the same and he put his packet in his pocket. We walked out of the shop unseen and we both sighed deep sighs of relief.

We headed back to school. Along the way, we laughed about how no one saw us when we stole the packets of nachos. We ate them as we walked. Cyrus moved closer to me and hugged me tightly; I liked the smell of his body. To me, it smelled like sweat smothered in chocolate and deep fried in candy.

I saw Ken and Roxy waiting for me outside the hallway, but they didn’t see me.

“Bye Cyrus, talk to you tomorrow. Can I have your phone number by the way?” I asked.

“Do you always say by the way?” Cyrus asked jokingly, with a huge smile on his face.

“No I don’t.” I replied laughingly.

Cyrus took out his pen and wrote his number on the palm of my hand I did the same for him. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Today has been fun. Bye, I’ll call you.”

“OK.” I replied.

We went our separate ways.

I walked back to the school premises and I saw Ken and Roxy and told them everything I did.

“We’ll keep your secret,” Ken said.

“But if dad finds out on his own you’ll be sent to one of those camps, you know,” Roxy said.

“I hope that never happens,” I said.

“We hope the same bro,” Ken said.

Dad came and drove us home.

Coincidentally, there was a show that was talking about homosexuality and how God abhors it. It changed my point of view and I knew exactly what to do, but after the show, I texted Cyrus on WhatsApp. Thank goodness he was online.

Me: Hey how r u?

Cyrus: I’m fine, and you?

Me: Hey, um, look I need to tell you something btw.

Cyrus: Tell me I’m here.

Me: Do you like me and find me attractive?

Cyrus: Yeah I like you like XOXO and I fancy you a lot.

Me: Oh My Goodness. I like you too! You’re so fine.

Cyrus:Te amor (I love you)

Te amor, hasta mañana. Adios. (I love you, see you tomorrow, goodbye)

Adios. (Goodbye)

He said he liked me and oh my goodness, he spoke Spanish too. The blood flowed through my veins with excitement. I called Roxy and Ken to my room.

“So what did you call us for?” Ken politely asked.

“Yes, why did you?” Roxy added.

“That guy I liked, he told me that he liked me too.” I said with a blush on my face.

“I’m so happy for you.” They both said in unison.

“But be careful with him OK. In this country not everything is what it seems.” Ken said.

“And relax we won’t tell Dad anything.” Roxy said with a grin.

I was super scared now and we slept the three of us in the bed.

Tell us: What do you think of Cyrus?