Smanga

I woke up to the sound of my annoying bedside alarm. I hit snooze, but then I thought it would be useless to stay in bed, so I woke up anyway. I made my bed and went to shower. When I looked at myself in the mirror I saw a different person. I was so thin, with baggy eyes. I finished showering and went downstairs.

Dad had already made breakfast. He had been making it for the past two days since I got back home. The man had the heart of a lion. He was on his iPad, certainly catching up on the business news. That was one of the reasons that I had grown up not confiding in him: he was always reading the news. We had thousands of newspapers in the house. Sometimes he would cut out articles and file them. I mean, who does that?

I sat opposite him. I nodded my head as a sign of greeting. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful; I was simply trying to not disrupt him.

“You can distract me, son,” he said, as if reading my mind.

“Okay. Good morning, father,” I greeted.

“Morning, son,” he answered back.

“Do you know my name, Dad?” I asked.

He laughed his lungs out, until he choked. It was then my turn to laugh at him.

“I gave you that name, and there is no way I’d forget it. You’re Smanga,” he said and kissed my forehead.

“You didn’t have to do that, Mr,” I said to him.

“Am I allowed to roll my eyes at that?” he asked. We both laughed.

“I’m leaving now. Take care of yourself at school. One more thing: tell me if that boy touches you,” he said sharply, clenching his fist. I thought to myself: Dad is so cool!

“Thank you, Sir. I will. You too, enjoy your hectic day.” I bade him goodbye. He laughed.

“I inserted some cash in your wallet, in case you don’t want to eat cafeteria food. Bye,” he said, as he closed the door. The car engine came to life and the car pulled away.

I went into my room to get ready for school.

I left the house and started walking to school. The sun seemed to have doubts about coming out. I wrapped a scarf around my neck and covered my hands with woolly gloves. I always walked alone, even though I knew other kids. I just enjoyed my own company.

A car startled me and I scooted out of the road, without looking back. I heard its engine being killed and it stopped. I looked behind me to see who the owner of the car was. It was none other than Zweli! He was certainly picking up his girlfriend. I saw him jogging towards her house and coming back with her. She was a Thai goddess, but she was annoying. I walked faster and turned around the corner, so as to avoid them driving past me.

I put on my headsets and listened to music. The song ended after a few minutes, and the sound of a car hooter destroyed my eardrums. I put my hands over my ears and rushed out of the driveway. It was Zweli’s car! The window was pulled down and out flew banana peels, attacking me with full force. I dodged some. I was dirtied, but luckily I was wearing my casual jersey. I could hear laughter in the car as Zweli and his girlfriend drove away.

I arrived at school and found my friend Sihle leaning against her locker. She had a goofy smile on her face.

“Hey weirdo,” I greeted.

“Hi you,” she answered back.

“Ready for the day?” I asked, as I took out the textbooks I needed for the next three periods.

“Yes. Aren’t you going to ask why I am smiling nonstop?” she asked.

“My attention is limited,” I teased. She pouted and hit me lightly on the shoulder. “Anyway, why are you excited?” I asked.

“Mxolisi finally asked me out!” she literally screamed, jumping up and down like a kindergarten kid after the break time bell has rung.

“Good for you,” I answered simply.

“You’re lousy at pretence,” she said, nudging me.

“I am very happy for you,” I said.

She glared at me.

“Really,” I assured her.

She intensified her glare, if that was at all possible.

“I’m serious!” I said out loud.

“Now, that was convincing!” she laughed.

The bell rung and we headed to our Maths class.

“Let’s hurry up and pick the seats farthest away from Zweli’s,” I said quickly, almost spluttering as I dragged Sihle by the arm.

“Relax! Jeez!” she exclaimed.

I made a funny face and she looked away. I increased my pace until I reached the classroom and chose a seat in the front row. The jerk was probably going to occupy a seat at the back of the classroom.

Class started and our teacher explained some cool stuff to us. I enjoyed Maths! It all made sense to me. I was a bit of a nerd. Okay, okay, maybe I was a complete nerd!

“Okay class, you have an investigation to do, in pairs,” the teacher announced and everyone except me groaned. I eyed Sihle. She smiled and mouthed, “You and me, together.” I smiled too and nodded.

“I will choose who will work with whom,” the teacher said, and everyone groaned some more. I prayed that I would at least have a partner who was good at Maths, so that I wouldn’t have to do all the work alone.

The teacher went on and on, until he reached the jerk’s name.

“And last but not least,” announced the teacher, “Zweli Nxumalo with…Smanga Luthuli!”

“No! No! Never in a million years!” I shouted, as I packed up my stuff. I grabbed my bag and tried running out of the classroom, but somebody was blocking my way.

“Just where do you think you’re going, Mr Luthuli?” the teacher asked.

“Home. I am going home,” I replied.

I took a pen and paper from whomever it was who was standing next to me. On the paper I wrote: “Tomorrow is my last day. Start the celebrations.” I walked towards Zweli. I don’t know where I found such bravery. I put the paper into Zweli’s pocket and then I quickly ran out of the classroom and out of the school gates.

***

>strong>Tell us: What do you think is the meaning of the message in Smanga’s note? What do you think he will do next?