The next morning Lelethu felt tired. Her aunt shouted at her for being lazy, and Bontle hardly said a word to her. The friendly feelings from the night before had gone. So she was happy to get to school to see Princess.

“We can’t do it today, chommie,” Princess whispered to her. “There’s a show. We’ll only do it tomorrow.”

Lelethu felt a wave of relief. Tomorrow was far away. Everything might be different then.

Everyone was talking about the show during class. “It’s performers from that talent show, the one that Ntombi nearly won in Jozi.”

“I saw some of them,” said Asiphe. “They looked so hot.”

The girls managed to sit next to each other at the back of the hall and munched on a bag of chips Princess had brought in. They were by far the noisiest group. The setting-up was taking ages and their voices got louder and louder as their impatience grew. At last the sound system was working and Miss Nombembe was on the stage, trying to get everyone to keep quiet. But only when Mr Khumalo came on did the audience start settling down.

Nobody kept quiet for long, though.

“Go home, fat boy!” shouted Princess to one poor singer, who after announcing that his song was called Lonely Forever, could hardly be heard above the chatting.

Lelethu felt sorry for him – he looked like he was about to cry. But Princess nudged her to join in the laughter. “He doesn’t need to sing, that one. He needs to work out, otherwise he’ll definitely be lonely forever.”

“You can just tell he’s noh ten days,” said Zikhona, tossing her braids in contempt as the boy finally left the stage.

Lelethu burned inside. But no one else said anything or looked at her. She felt relief relaxing her, and laughed loudly at Princess’s comments about Ntombi, the girl from Harmony High who had got to the fi-nals.

“Sweet voice, but what a baby that girl is. You almost expect her to be coming on with her mother.”

“And now even Mzi doesn’t look at her. Only eyes for that girl Thandi.”

But even Princess didn’t have a rude remark for her voice, which was pure and beautiful. And she had a lovely shy smile too. Lelethu wished she knew her. She had seen her with Busi. Maybe she could still get to meet her.

“Now, all the way from KwaZulu-Natal, is … Lindiwe!” shouted the announcer. A thin girl on high heels ran onto stage. The audience roared with laughter when she wobbled on a step, but she righted herself and tossed her braids. Boys started whistling and calling to her as she strutted up and down the stage.

“She’s meant to be performing with her sister. They are twins,” said Pamela. “Lindiwe and Sindiwe. But I saw on TV one got that disease when you don’t eat because you want to be thin.”

“That one looks like she’s got it as well,” said Lelethu. “I”ve never seen anyone so skinny.”

“The other one is worse,” Pamela assured her. “So crazy, these girls starving themselves when they have all the food they want.”

“It’s sad,” said Lelethu.

“But she is so gorgeous,” said Princess. “Look at her. She has swag! Look at those shoes. Look at that make-up. That girl is the prize. I wish I was her twin.”

Lelethu looked. Lindiwe’s make-up was so thick you could hardly see what she looked like. She pouted and wiggled in a way that would have sent Pholisa and Lelethu into fits of giggles at home. She could imagine them in Pholisa’s living room, jumping around and imitating Lindiwe’s silly moves. But here Princess and her friends thought she was fantastic.

“Now that is a city chick,” Princess shouted into Lelethu’s ear. “Take note.”

Lelethu nodded and smiled, hiding her true thoughts deep inside.

At the end of her song Lindiwe from KwaZulu-Natal blew kisses to a group of boys in the front, and eve-ryone made so much noise that Lelethu thought the roof might blow off.

As they all spilled out of the hall, Lelethu was glad again to be part of this group: the cool girls who every-one made way for. She saw Bontle standing back too as they passed. Giving her a smug smile, she put her arm around Princess. Zikhona did the same.

“That girl is even making her own CD – I read about it,” said Zikhona. “Her shoes. I-grand. And those skirts, I would die for one of those.”

“Maybe then Siyabonga would ask you to the dance,” said Asiphe.

Princess pushed Zikhona and Lelethu aside to face Asiphe and put her hands on her hips. “What did you say, girl?” said Princess. Her voice was sharp.

“Just joking,” said Asiphe.

But Princess was angry. She brought her face close to Asiphe’s. “I’ve seen you looking at my boy, when you think I don’t see you. Of course I’m going to the dance with him, isifebe! He’s mine, do you hear? And I’m going to that dance with DJ Diamond, or else someone is going to pay.”

“Princess, I didn’t mean –” stammered Asiphe nervously.

Princess ignored her and turned to Pamela. “I will be seeing Siyabonga this weekend. You must do my braids this afternoon.” She looked around and caught Lelethu’s eye. “And our village girl. It’s time we did braids for her too.”

Pamela was the best at hair – everyone said so. Lelethu had been too shy to ask Pamela to do her braids. So when she heard Princess’s words she was almost too excited to speak.

But after school, as they were walking out of the gates, she got the fright of her life. Who was standing at the school gate but Pholisa, her home girl. She could hardly believe her eyes. How had she got here? Was she dreaming?

Then she remembered the last phone call, about Pholisa’s sick granny. Was Pholisa here to see her gran-ny?

Pholisa had spotted her and was waving and smiling. Lelethu had never noticed how unstylish Pholisa was. But here in the city her unstyled hair and worn-out clothes just screamed out that Pholisa was fresh from the farm. Princess was already nudging her. “Who’s that moegoe? And what is she wav-ing at? I think I’ll go over and tell her I charge just for looking.”

Then Princess saw Lelethu’s face. “Do you even know that thing?”

Lelethu looked at Pholisa who was smiling that happy smile she remembered so well. Then she looked at Princess, who was giggling.

“I forgot you were such a mafikizolo. But we haven’t finished with you yet. You’re not even going to recognise yourself when we’re done with you.”

“She might be bringing me a message,” said Lelethu. “I’ll come to Pamela’s after I’ve spoken to her.”

“Well, hurry up,” said Princess. You don’t want to be seen with her, now, do you?” And with that she flounced off.

Lelethu went up to Pholisa. They hugged, and then Lelethu quickly dropped her arms.

“I never thought I’d find you,” said Pholisa. “Oh, it’s so good to see a home girl.” She took Lelethu’s hand. “For a moment I thought you hadn’t recognised me.”

“I – I just got such a shock. I can’t believe you’re in Cape Town.”

“I came to fetch my gogo,” said Pholisa. “She is still very sick. Oh, Lele, it’s been terrible, I can’t tell you …”

“Shame, Pholisa,” said Lelethu quickly, “I’m sorry. I want to hear about it, but I can’t come with you right now. I have to go to this other girl’s house. But I will find you later. Do you know where my aunt lives?”

Pholisa looked at her. “Lele, I’ve spent the last hour looking for your school.”

“I know, Pholi, it’s so lovely to see you. I’ve got such a lot to tell you,” said Lelethu.

“Chommie, hurry up,” she heard. Oh no, she thought, there were Princess and her friends waiting for her on the corner.

“Those girls are going to do my hair,” she said. “I’ll ask them – maybe they’ll do yours as well.” But just the idea of taking Pholisa with her filled her with dread. She knew the other girls could be so mean.

“I don’t want to go to those girls,” said Pholisa. “I came to see you.” She lifted up her pinkie, in their spe-cial salute. Lelethu saw her eyes fill with tears. “My granny’s sick, Lelethu,” she said. “I don’t know any-one here.”

Lelethu quickly flashed her pinkie, glancing over her shoulder to see if Princess and the others were still there. They were.

“I know, chommie, it’s lovely to see you. I just can’t spend time with you now, that’s all.”

Pholisa looked at her with eyes full of pain. Then she turned and started walking away.

“Come and find me later,” Lelethu called after her.

She stood there, Pholisa walking away down one side of the street, and Princess and her friends on the other, waiting for her, giggling. She could see from the way that Pholisa was walking with her head down that she was crying. A part of her felt embarrassed for having Pholisa as a friend. The other part felt like hugging Pholisa and not letting go. She was a faithful friend, and right now, a friend in need.

She ran to Princess. “Princess, something’s come up. I need to go and see somebody.”

“Oh no,” said Princess. “Just when we were making you into a real city girl, you go running off to the bush again.”

“And what about the braids?” said Pamela. “We’re not doing it again for you, you know. This is your only chance.”

Lelethu couldn’t bear the idea of missing out. “I’ll be quick, I promise. I will get there.”

But Princess was already walking away without a look back. The others followed her example, and Lele-thu was left on the side of the road. All she wanted to do was to run after them and enjoy the afternoon. But she knew she would feel bad forever if she didn’t do something. She had to follow Pholisa to see what was wrong. She would try to be quick so that she could get back to the others in time.

But by the time she got to the corner Pholisa had disappeared and she couldn’t see her anywhere. Well, at least I tried, she told herself as she went back to Princess’s. I did the best I could do. But her heart felt heavy as she knocked on Princess’s door. She felt bad about Pholisa.

“Look who’s come,” smiled Princess as she opened the door to Lelethu. “I knew I could count on you.”

Lelethu felt a glow at being so welcomed. But every now and then she would remember Pholisa’s hurt face and squirm inside.