“Ouens,” Themba announced to the gang with a bow, “the deed is done.”

“Aw’right!” congratulated Bust, coming up for a high-five.

“I never thought you could do it,” said Zolani, amazed. He looked nervously at Prince.

“Nice job, Tee,” said Vusi, who smiled and clapped.

Themba had found the guys in Prince’s shack at the back of his mother’s house. The guys were smoking a bottleneck before school began. Themba felt good as they made admiring comments.

But then he looked at Prince, whose face looked hard and angry.

“Oh yeah, Tee?” he said, in his slow, soft voice, as he exhaled a cloud of smoke. “How was it?”

“It, it was fine.” Although he felt on top of the world, he didn’t want the others to see how much he liked Lettie. Especially Prince.

“How am I gonna believe you, hey? Huh, Tee? Where’s the proof?” Prince handed the bottleneck to Bust.

Themba started to get a bad feeling. “Proof? What, do you want me to rescue the condoms from the bin and do a DNA test?”

“You used a plastic? What are you, a sissie?” Prince jeered.

“Yo, are you serious, Prince?” responded Themba. “I don’t want STDs, I don’t want HIV! And I don’t want a baby.”

“Lettie’s got HIV, is that what you said Tee? It will be what you said unless I get proof. Bring me her panties. Otherwise everyone’s gonna know that your girly’s … well, driving a Z3.”

How could Prince twist things like that, thought Themba furiously. The others looked on in silence. Bust shook his head but said anything.

Bust held out the bottleneck to Themba, who shook his head. He didn’t want to switch his brain off before school. Besides, he was feeling so angry that he didn’t care if the gang thought he was being an ibharu for not smoking.

Prince adjusted his tie and hair in the reflection of a piece of broken mirror while the others watched him. Themba wanted to shake him. He thought of Lettie, and the time they had together, and how special it was. He thought of Prince and the guys, and how he wanted to be part of them. Somehow right now the two things were at war in his heart.

“I’ve done it now. I’ve slept with Lettie,” he said. “That should be enough for you.”

Prince hissed and spun around to face Themba. “Since when are you in charge, Themba? You wanted to join us, you can’t back out now. You belong to us now, and you follow our rules. I tell you what’s enough, do you hear?”

All the guys stiffened up, clenched their jaws, looked away. A few days ago Themba would have been so happy to hear those words: “You belong to us.” But now they sounded sinister, threatening. Did he really want to be part of this? But what was the alternative now? Hang out with Unathi and his nurse dad, feeling frightened of Prince, who would make his life hell if he left them?

And he had to admit it, seeing everyone’s nervous eyes whenever he walked around with the guys made him feel tough too. He was pretty sure that he could get some of Lettie’s panties. But then he hated the idea that he and Lettie were being used for Prince’s games. He wished he had Joseph to advise him. But he knew that Joseph would not like him hanging out with guys like Prince, not at all.

He had to get out, away, work out what to do. “I’ll catch you later,” he said abruptly, and walked out of the shack, banging the door behind him.

The only thing positive right now was Lettie. And she didn’t even arrive at school that day. Themba texted her a few times:

Hey gojus, where u at? Missin u @ skul!

His messages took on a more worried tone throughout the day – Lettie didn’t reply to any of them. Themba’s heart was heavy. Had he done the wrong thing? He knew she said to take it slow when they were standing at the car but it seemed like a lot had changed by the time they were in his bedroom. It was so good that they had done it twice. But Themba couldn’t get that second time out of his mind, that time when the condom slipped off when he was taking it off at the end. Could she get pregnant from that, he wondered.

He joined his team for soccer practice after school. As they were getting changed on the field, Themba overheard someone talking about Lettie. “Lettie was at the clinic this morning. I saw her there with my own eyes.” Bust looked silently over to Themba. “She looked really worried. And, and, uh, she was carrying a plastic bag with some clothes in.” A small group had gathered around the girl. “I was there with my little sister, who cut her hand open when we were getting ready for school.”

“Why was Lettie there?” someone asked.

“I dunno,” the girl said. “But she looked really tired. And you know, if you’ve been raped, they ask you to take the clothes you were wearing at the time, to try to get the DNA of the rapist. Maybe that’s what was in the bag.”

“Yo yo yo yo! Lettie got burned, girl! Ha ha! She always flirts with everyone and thinks nothing will happen. It was coming to her, that tease!” yelled someone else.

Themba couldn’t believe what he was hearing. But what could he say? How could he defend her without revealing he had had sex with her? What had happened to her? Had she suddenly had second thoughts about him?

Unathi looked at him across the small crowd. He quickly looked away as Themba tried to catch his eye. Had it been worth dropping Unathi for Prince and the guys? He had avoided thinking about it until now, with everything on his mind. Why had he been so mean to Unathi? What Unathi had said was true, that Prince was bad news: anyone could see it from a mile away. It was only now that Themba was realising the truth. Unathi was just trying to help – Themba was new at the school, after all. Had he lost Unathi as a friend forever, almost as soon as they had met?

Themba wanted to talk to him, make it right. But he was so ashamed of his behaviour. It was how a little child would act, hurtful and selfish. How could Unathi trust him after that, or forgive him? He stood next to Unathi who was lacing up his boots and cleared his throat.

“Hm. Uh, hey man.”

“Yeah? What do you want?” Unathi replied, without looking at him – no smile, no warmth, staring at his boots.

“Oh, nothing … Well, actually … Unathi, I’m really sorry. It was wrong of me to be so rude. You were just trying to help me by warning me about Prince.”

“OK. Thanks, I guess.” Unathi finished packing his school clothes into his bag and zipped it up. “Is that all?” he said, and looked at Themba with a blank face. “I accept your apology.”

“Um, I suppose so,” mumbled Themba, humbled and ashamed. Unathi walked off to put his bag down beside the goal. But what about Lettie? Could he get over his pride to ask Unathi for help?

“Hang on,” Themba said, making up his mind. “Unathi, I know you probably hate me. And I’m sorry. I totally understand. But please, you have to help me. Lettie is not at school and I’m worried about her. Have you seen her? You heard what those guys were saying …”

“So suddenly you want my help, Tee? I don’t know why I should give it to you. But I guess things haven’t been easy for you.” Unathi kicked the ball to him, and Themba kicked it back.

“I haven’t seen Lettie today,” Unathi said as they carried on warming up with the ball. “But she did tell me that she liked you.”

“Thanks, Unathi,” Themba said. Unathi was a real friend, he realised. He was good to Themba because he cared about him, not because he wanted power over him, like Prince and his guys.

For a short time he forgot about Lettie as he tired himself out on the soccer field.

Walking home after soccer he bought some airtime and tried to call Lettie. No answer. He decided not to leave a voicemail. What had happened? Why hadn’t she replied to his messages?

Then a terrible thought struck him that made him stop walking. What if she heard that it was part of his initiation to get in the gang to sleep with her? No, he groaned, that would ruin everything. She would lose all trust in him. He wanted to punch the wall in his frustration as he dialled her number again.