“You look terrible.”
Ntokoza looked up at Inga from her desk. She and Inga were the last two left in class. Monday morning had not been easy and Ntokoza had never welcomed the end of the school day more gratefully. She had spent the whole weekend moping in her room, trying to forget about Thandiwe. Her parents hadn’t thought anything of it as she usually spent her weekends cooped up in her room studying.
“Inga, I don’t know what to do,” Ntokoza said, burying her head in her arms on the desk. Inga sat down at the desk next to her.
“What happened?” she asked. “Look, if you didn’t get 95% for physics, it isn’t the end of the world—”
“It’s about Thandiwe,” interrupted Ntokoza.
Inga’s eyes grew wide. “Tell me everything.”
Ntokoza told her all about their meeting. The apology, the kiss, Thandiwe asking her out, and Ntokoza turning him down and storming off.
“I can’t stop thinking about him,” Ntokoza finished, “I’m scared I made the wrong decision.”
Inga thought for a moment. “Toko,” she said, finally, “imagine for a moment we weren’t in matric and your parents did not have a problem with you dating. Would you still have rejected Thandiwe?”
Ntokoza contemplated the question. She thought about the way her heart had started beating whenever she had seen him the past few days. She thought about how she had done nothing but think about him in every spare moment she had. She thought about their kiss, how it had felt right.
“No,” she said, finally, “I don’t think I would have. I don’t think I ever stopped loving him. I think I just learnt to forget him.”
Inga grabbed Ntokoza’s hands. “Listen,” she said, “you have to trust that feeling, Toko. You two lost each other once, you can’t let it happen again.”
“But what about my studies?” Ntokoza protested. “My parents would never let me have a boyfriend, especially not now.”
“You’ll figure that out later,” Inga rebutted. “Maybe the two of you can formally date next year once you’re in university. For now, you could just promise to remain faithful to each other, andiyazi! You two will figure it out. But for now, you need to call Thandiwe.”
Ntokoza thought quickly. She turned her head to Inga. “You really think so?”
“I know so!”
Ntokoza took one more minute to think about it before pulling out her phone. She called Thandiwe’s cell phone. On the third ring, he picked up.
“Toko?”
“Thandiwe,” she said, nervously, “are you busy after school now? Can we meet? Same place as last time.”
There was a moment of silence on the end of the phone. Ntokoza thought she was going to throw up.
“Yeah,” he finally said, “I’ll see you there in 20 minutes.”
Ntokoza ran as fast as she could to the park. As she got closer, she saw that Thandiwe was already there standing by the same bench. As she neared him, she flung off her bag and threw her arms around him, holding him in a tight embrace.
“I’m so, so sorry,” she said, trying to hold back tears, “I was wrong for what I said last time. I do want to be with you. I’m also scared, and I don’t know how we are going to do this, but we are going to figure it out. I can’t stand the thought of losing you again.”
Thandiwe took her face in his hands and wiped her tears away. “Ntokoza,” he said, smiling down at her, “will you be my girlfriend?”
“Yes,” Ntokoza said, beaming up at him, “a thousand times yes.”
Tell us: Have you ever been in love while you were in high school? Do you think Ntokoza and Thandiwe’s relationship will last? What did you think of the story?
