“Laduuuma!” yelled Lettie, Asanda and a group of girls on the sidelines. They danced and sang, supporting the guys on the field. Prince had just scored off a perfect cross from Themba. The two gave each other a high-five. Then Prince did a forward flip, landing on his feet. “Come guys, masishaye amagetdown!” he called, and they danced together with their hands on their hips while Themba looked on. Prince was quite good when he was close to the goals, Themba thought. But if you passed to him anywhere else on the field he would just do tricks and pass it to himself. He would always lose the ball.

Themba enjoyed playing left midfield. Unathi was on the opposing team, playing defence. He had failed to take the ball from Prince before he had scored. Themba walked over to him and gave him a high-five anyway.

“Good job, bhuti. Can’t win every time.”

“Thanks,” said Unathi – and then the game was back on. Themba ran back to the centrefield for kickoff, and the action started again. The ball went back to Vusi, the goalie, and then up the right side. Bust dribbled and kicked the ball around a few of the opposition’s midfield, and then passed from about centrefield diagonally left to Themba. There was no one open enough to pass to, and he was being tightly monitored by Unathi, who was taller than him and very persistent. He tapped the ball off to his right side, spun around, confusing and losing Unathi, picked up the ball again and ran straight at the goals. He stumbled as he shot, making his kick not spectacular at all. But the goalie wasn’t expecting something slow and straight, and the ball rolled clumsily into the goal through the goalie’s legs. It wasn’t beautiful, sure, but it was a goal! Themba turned to look at the girls cheering for his team again, and he waved at their screeches of glee. He noticed Prince blowing a kiss at Lettie, who pretended not to see. As she looked away Themba caught her eye, and she smiled at him, a real, happy smile. He smiled back. Maybe he had a chance with this girl!

The teams shook hands. Themba’s team had won 3–1. He felt great. He didn’t care any more about his black eye and scabbed face – he had scored!

The afternoon was over and the sun was already colouring the sky a deep orange. Themba felt so good, and so calm. The last thing he felt like doing was going home to his mom and her vodka. So when Unathi asked him to visit him and meet his dad, Themba immediately said yes.

“Want to come drink by Thabiso’s, mfethu, the new Tshabalala?” asked Bust as he packed his sports kit into his backpack. Themba wished he hadn’t said yes to Unathi. Then he thought again about his mom sitting with her vodka and changed his mind.

“Nah, I don’t feel like ispinza right now, but thanks. Next time.” It was kind of a lie. He wanted to hang out with the gang but he didn’t want to end up like his mother, just making excuses to have another drink. In fact right now he was glad he was going to Unathi’s after all, even if it might be a bit more boring than the tavern, or wherever they were going to get drunk. Unathi stood waiting for him to tie up his school shoes. Unathi lived nearby and the two began walking slowly in the warm evening sunlight.

“Hey, wait for me!” they heard. They turned round to see Lettie running towards them. Themba’s heart gave a lurch.

“Are you guys going to your house?” she asked Unathi.

“Yeah. You going home too?”

Lettie nodded and her shiny new braids bounced. She lived just a few doors down from Unathi and the two sometimes walked home together.

“Hey Lettie,” said Themba. He was trying to think of something to say. “Are there cool places to party here?” he tried.

Lettie tossed her head. “Right now I’m more interested in getting good results than having a party. So ask me about extra maths lessons and then I might be able to help.”

“That was going to be my next question,” Themba laughed. “I really need to get some lessons. Maths is hard.”

Lettie looked at him as if she didn’t know whether to believe him or not.

“Really,” he said, “I have to do well this year. What’s your number, in case I need to find help?”

She took out her phone and swapped numbers. A thrill ran down Themba’s spine when he saw the delicate slim fingers tapping a number into his phone. His eyes travelled up her arms. She had such beautiful breasts, and arms, and legs … Oh, she was a goddess! If only he could touch her … He could try out for the next Lucky Jeans ad, where Lettie would be topless, her back facing the camera, and he would be holding her around the waist, also topless, but facing the camera. The band of his underwear would be peeping out from his jeans and Lettie’s head would be tossed backwards, her eyes looking straight into the camera, her soft round breasts would be pressed against his naked chest …

“Hello! Earth to Themba!” Lettie was holding out his phone to him, impatiently.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, after losing himself in such a sexy daydream. He would turn red if his skin was any lighter.

“I gotta go. Bye, guys! Let me know when you’re ready for lessons, Tee!” She winked at him and ran towards her little sister who was playing in the street and putting plastic in her mouth that she’d picked up from the ground. Themba watched Lettie pick her up, take the plastic from her hand and unlock her front door. She waved and then she was gone.

“Wow, you are getting imedi, mfethu!” laughed Unathi. “You know Lettie and I were boyfriend and girlfriend once? When we were in Grade 2! We kissed once and that’s when we decided we were ‘going out’. Ha ha! We held hands on the way to school too, but I only kissed her once. When I was eight years old …” Unathi laughed again.

“Lucky!” said Themba. “Only I bet you wish it was now! What a hot girl!”

Unathi considered this. “No, I think I’m OK that we are just friends. She’s a nice girl but I think she’s started liking the attention too much after her advert. Prince and the guys have started going after her now that she’s famous. I think she likes them chasing her but she doesn’t like them really. It’s a silly game she plays.”

Themba was thoughtful as they bought some milk and bread before making their way to Unathi’s house.

***

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