“NTOKOZA, YOU BETTER EXPLAIN YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!”
Ntokoza turned away from her locker towards the infuriated voice of Inga. She saw her storming through the sea of students towards her, determined to find answers about the events of the weekend. She hadn’t seen her friend all morning, as she had been writing her physics test. Ntokoza thought it had gone alright, but she had struggled to answer all the questions. Her mind kept wandering to the events of last Friday. Thandiwe had not left her mind since the party, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t bring herself to think of anything else.
“Hey Inga,” Ntokoza said, sheepishly, as her infuriated friend came closer.
“Ntokoza, girl, what has been up with you?” Inga asked, leaning against the ugly green lockers. “First, you make me abandon Lwazi, who you know I’m trying my best to get with, then you say nothing the whole ride home AND you ignore my texts the whole weekend!”
Ntokoza looked down at her feet, clutching her books closer to her chest. “I know, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know how to tell you,” she replied.
Inga sighed and gestured for the two of them to walk out to break together.
“Well, I’m ready to listen when you are ready to talk,” she said, as she threw her bag down against a tree and sat down. Ntokoza followed suit. She felt her heart start to beat faster.
“OK,” she said, shakily, “Thandiwe was there that night.”
Inga looked like she had been smacked in the face. “What?! Why? He doesn’t even go to the same school as us.”
“He and Jeremy go to the same church.” Ntokoza had her eyes fixed on a trail of ants in front of her.
“I remember Thandiwe telling me that once. I guess they’re friendly enough that Jeremy thought to invite him.”
The two girls sat quietly together for a moment. Inga broke the silence first. “Did something happen between the two of you that night?”
“What?” Ntokoza said, quickly, “No…no, nothing happened. I just got a shock seeing him. That’s why I wanted us to leave.”
“Gee, Toko, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have kept going on about Lwazi if I had known.”
“It’s OK,” Ntokoza replied, “I wasn’t doing a great job of communicating the situation.”
“Yeah, well, I understand. It’s not easy seeing the first guy you ever fell in love with again after so long.”
“Yeah.”
Inga moved closer to Ntokoza. “I still can’t believe he never asked you out all those years ago. The two of you were clearly meant to be together. I don’t understand why he just ghosted you like that and went to date that other girl…what was her name again?”
“Zoe.”
“Right, yeah, Zoe.” Inga lay down in the shade of the tree, propping her head up with her school bag.
“Well, I’m sorry you saw him. At least you can forget about him again now.”
Ntokoza shifted uncomfortably next to Inga. “Well…he texted me the night after the party.”
Inga turned her head to look at her friend suspiciously. “Oh yeah? What did he want?”
“He…he was really nice actually,” she said quickly, trying to avoid Inga’s disapproving glare, “he asked if I wanted to meet up this coming weekend to talk about what happened in Grade 10.”
Inga shot up from her comfortable position. “Ay, Toko, no! He hurt your feelings really bad last time.”
“Nothing is going to happen between us,” Ntokoza reassured Inga, “it’s just talking. I got over him ages ago. Besides, if he offers me an apology it would be nice for some closure.”
“Hmm,” Inga bristled, “well…OK. But don’t do anything stupid, Toko.”
Ntokoza rolled her eyes. “I think I should be the one telling you that about Lwazi.” Toko shrieked with laughter as Inga tried to hit her with one of her schoolbooks. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! So, tell me more about your matric dance seducement plan for Lwazi.”
Tell us: Do you think Inga is a good friend? Why or why not?