Prince and the gang walked along, out of their school uniforms now, looking like the cool guys they were. Prince called to Themba. “Hey, new boy, want to give us a lift to the mall?” Themba didn’t need asking twice. He needed to get away from his mother, his thoughts and his memories.

“It’s not far, is it?” he asked. “I’m a bit low on petrol.”

“We’ll look after that,” said Prince as they piled in, Prince in the front next to Themba. Themba saw his mother’s face at the window as he pulled out of the yard without even telling her.

It felt cool driving down the streets with the guys, the wind blowing in and the music pumping from the sound system. Prince waved a R50 note as they pulled into the garage. Then they roared off again, Prince directing Themba to the mall.

Themba parked in the parking lot, screeching to a stop to try to impress them, and then they walked in, following Prince. He turned to Themba, winked. “Watch and learn, new boy,” he said. They went into a Wimpy. “Five coffees,” Prince said to the waitress. “And make it quick.” But five minutes later the manager came over – he was a big, burly man, and he looked angry.

“You,” he said to Prince, “you are not welcome here. You ate a breakfast here and then ran away before you paid for it. We know your face.”

“That is no way to treat a customer,” said Prince. “You must be mistaking me.”

“No tricks from you,” the manager said. “Pay for your coffees upfront, or leave now.”

Prince stood up. “I refuse to stay in a place that treats its customers so badly,” he said. “We will never come back here again.”

“Glad to hear it!” the manager shouted after them as they left the shop. Themba was embarrassed and felt humiliated, but the others seemed to think it was a huge joke. They followed Prince into the supermarket.

“OK, now,” said Prince, and walked away from them.

“Don’t talk to me like that,” Vusi said to Themba loudly.

“What?” Themba was confused.

“I said, don’t talk to me like that. Do you want a fight?” Vusi pushed Themba hard and he stumbled backwards.

“Hey,” Themba was getting irritated. “What you doing that for?”

“I don’t like you talking like that,” said Vusi. He pushed Themba again.

“Listen,” said Themba, “you do that again and you’ll be sorry.”

“Go, go, go!” shouted Bust next to them. By this time people were looking at them. A lady with a baby on her back hurried away, and Themba saw the security guard approaching.

“Vusi,” he started, but Vusi just pushed him again. Themba lost his temper. He swung a hard punch on Vusi’s jaw.

“OOOOH!” yelled Vusi, and tried to grab Themba.

But the security guard was too quick for him. He grabbed both boys by the arms. “Out, right now. I’m calling the police if you haven’t disappeared in five minutes.”

Prince reappeared. “You guys are like babies,” he said. He grabbed Themba. “I’ve got this one,” he said to the guard. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they stay out of trouble.” And he and the guard marched Vusi and Themba out of the shop.

When the security guard had gone Prince shook his head playfully. “Guys, guys,” he said, “I thought we were men now.”

“You shouldn’t joke about that,” Zolani said. “We shouldn’t even be fighting in public.”

The others ignored him. “You didn’t have to hit so hard,” said Vusi to Themba. “It really hurt.”

Themba looked at him, at Prince. He had no idea what was going on. Prince saw the confusion in his eyes, and quickly opened his jacket. The inside pockets were bulging. “Just did a little bit of shopping while you two were fighting,” he said. “And in all that noise I think I must have forgotten to pay.”

Finally Themba realised what was going on. They were the distractions for the security guard, giving Prince space and time to steal from the shelves. He was shocked – he had never done anything like that before. Prince pulled out five Bar-Ones. “For my guys,” he said. “This is what I really missed in the bush.” Themba felt a thrill at being included, catching the chocolate thrown to him, his guilt slipping away.

“We need a phone,” Prince said. “Then our shopping’s done.” Themba knew now that he didn’t mean he was buying a phone at a shop. “That girl,” said Prince, “let’s see if she puts her bag down. She’s just the type to have a good phone.”

The girl was groomed, wearing a purple top, tight jeans and high heels. Her white fake leather bag was slung loosely over her shoulder. They followed her into a clothing store where she started looking at clothing on a rack. Bust suddenly took off, walking so fast he was nearly running, and he walked straight into the girl.

“Hey, wena, look where you’re going,” she said, her bag just about falling off her shoulder. She turned suspiciously, coming face to face with Prince. She gripped her bag and backed off quickly. Prince pretended to look at one or two items, and then casually made his way out of the shop. “Well, that didn’t work,” said Bust.

“Maybe we should go home,” said Zolani. “We shouldn’t be doing this kind of thing any more, you know?” But, as usual, the others ignored him.

Themba followed them as they would identify a target, usually a young woman, and try to distract her to get to her bag. But three times he saw them thwarted, and each time the girl grabbed her bag tightly. Until the fourth time, where the girl’s bag fell onto the floor as she stumbled in her high heels. Vusi grabbed her to stop her from falling. “Excuse my clumsy friend,” he apologised as Prince handed her bag to her with a huge smile on his face. She thanked them and turned away. Prince nodded his head towards the door and they turned and walked quickly out of the shop.

“Keep on going,” said Prince, and they followed him to Themba’s car. Only once inside did he show them: he had managed to put his hand in her bag and take her BlackBerry. “Beautiful,” Bust breathed as he took it to admire.

“Shit, autie, get rid of the sim,” said Vusi. “No playing with it.”

Prince snatched it away and took out the sim card. “We need to sell it to Snake as soon as possible.” He turned to Themba. “Enjoy your outing, new boy?”

Themba nodded. The girl whose phone they took had reminded him of a friend at his old school. It was hard for him not to feel guilty. Perhaps Prince could read his mind, because he said, “That phone can buy you a lot more petrol than R50, you know.”

When Prince got out of the car he came round and leaned in at Themba’s side. “Thanks, new boy. You’ve got potential. We’ll be in touch.” And he winked at Themba. It felt good. After feeling so lonely, it was great to feel part of something bigger, a brotherhood, with guys who liked him, who played by their own rules.

He parked the car carefully outside his yard. The evening brought a cool wind; he even imagined he could smell the salt of the sea. His house was in darkness. He knew his mother was drunk inside. But right now he didn’t care as much as he had before.

***

Tell us what you think: Themba wants to be part of Prince’s gang but do you think he really will be able to fit in?