On Monday it felt good to see Princess and the girls, to laugh about Friday night in a way that made other girls feel left out.

“We had fun, girls!” Princess roared, and they all shrieked excitedly.

Lelethu noticed Bontle watching them, could feel the questions in her eyes. But then she turned back to the group.

“Ooohh, Lelethu,” said Akhona, looking at Princess’s phone. “What were you doing?”

“Hey, chommie, don’t go showing those pics around,” Lelethu said.

“Don’t worry, Lelethu darling, we’ve only shown them to Siyabonga,” said Pamela, then laughed at Lele-thu’s shocked face. “Chill, sweetie, just joking.”

She was glad that the cell phones were put into bags for a while so that she could forget about the pho-tos. And at break the girls were looking at Facebook, showing each other pics of some hot guy, and no one was looking at the weekend photos any more. She relaxed inside.

For a moment, just for a moment, she wished she was back home again, where it wasn’t such hard work knowing how to behave. She wanted to talk to Pholisa and laugh over things they both found funny – not to have to try so hard to fit in.

But very quickly that thought was gone, and she was relishing the feeling of hanging out with the coolest girls in school.

“Poor Lelethu,” said Princess, “she needs a real phone.” She looked around. The other girls were all laughing at something on Zikhona’s phone and were not listening. Princess lowered her voice. “I will or-ganise one for you.” She leaned back on the wall, picking at her nail varnish. “Have you seen Miss Nombembe’s new phone?”

“No, I didn’t know she had one,” said Lelethu. “But how can I ever get a phone like Miss Nombembe’s?”

Princess laughed a very loud laugh and the others looked around at her and then went back to Zikhona’s phone. “Chommie,” Princess was speaking softly again, “we’re not getting you a phone like Miss’s. We’re going to get you Miss Nombembe’s phone!”

Lelethu could not believe what she was hearing. “You mean, steal it?”

“Of course, what did you think I meant? Ask her to hand it over? Thanks so much, Miss, so kind of you, and while you’re about it, give me your laptop too?” Princess looked hard at Lelethu. “Don’t tell me you’re a goody-goody mama’s baby?”

The scorn in Princess’s voice was too much. “No, no of course not. I just don’t know how I’d do it, that’s all.”

“Leave it to me, chommie,” Princess replied. “Let Princess look after you.” She took out her own phone. “And you know what? After a few days I’ll take Miss Nombembe’s phone, and then I will give you mine. I know you love it.” She smiled kindly at Lelethu. But Lelethu was hardly listening. Her heart was pounding so loudly she felt sick.

That afternoon Lelethu didn’t ask Princess if she could visit her, but went back home to her aunt’s house.

*****

In the evening her aunt was in a good mood, and had made jelly and custard. Bontle and Lelethu chatted a little at the table about school, and laughed about how a younger student had broken a window with a soccer ball that day. Then, when her aunt started demanding that she do the washing up, Bontle got up to help her, and dried the plates without being asked.

As she lay in bed that night, hearing Bontle’s slow, steady breathing as she slept next to her, Lelethu thought about Princess’s words. Surely she did not mean that about stealing the teacher’s phone. That was a serious crime, something you could get expelled for, even put into prison! And what about nice Miss Nombembe, one of the teachers who really tried to teach well, and who was always so kind to Lele-thu?

When Lelethu was young she had eaten some biscuits without asking her mother, and her mother had been furious. And once she had taken a bit of extra sugar when the bowl was full and her mother wasn’t looking. Otherwise she hadn’t stolen a thing in her life.

But what had Princess said later? “Miss Nombembe has insurance – all the teachers do. It’s not a big deal. She gets a nice fat salary. Why not take from her?”

Maybe she was right. Miss Nombembe would get another phone from insurance and then everybody would be happy. Still, somehow just the thought of it stopped her from falling asleep. As she was drifting off her heart would jump and she would see her mother’s shocked face, as if she knew what Lelethu was thinking. She thought of Pholisa, who had always admired Lelethu, whatever she did. What would Pholisa think of her now?

Thinking of Pholisa also chased away all chance of sleep. What was happening with her now? During the day she had been glad she couldn’t get hold of her as it was too complicated to remember her old life. But now she wished she could call her and hear her warm voice in her ear: “You’re so crazy, Lele. I love you!”

She felt terribly alone.