“So how’s your girl?” Arnold teased Drake.

“You know I don’t have a girl,” Drake said.

“I am talking about Alice, dude,” Arnold said, pointing to where she was standing with a group of her friends, chatting and giggling.

Drake had had a crush on Alice from the first time he laid eyes on her in the queue at the school’s cafeteria. He noticed her pretty, curly brown hair and when she turned and looked at him with her sparkly eyes she caught his heart – like a fish in a net. There was no escaping.

But when he finally had the courage to talk to her she told him that just the month before she had hooked up with Carlton Owen. Carlton: the richest boy at Tellison High. He was always bragging to his friends that he had the cash to get all the girls that he wanted, anytime he wanted – and now he had got Alice.

She tried to console Drake by telling him that if he had only asked her for a date a month earlier she might have accepted. But her words just made him feel worse and he decided to avoid her altogether. Easier said than done.

Here she was now, only a few feet away, chatting about the party she was going to go to with her friends.

“I’m just not that into her anymore,” Drake tried to convince Arnold. “I haven’t chatted to her for months. She’s taken, dude.”

“So you haven’t heard then? She’s not dating Carlton anymore,” Arnold said.

“I told you, the feelings I had for her have faded.”

Drake stared at Alice. He had missed his chance with her, he thought miserably. He was a failure with girls. He didn’t know how to talk to them. They didn’t even look in his direction. And he was certainly not going to make a fool of himself again with Alice.

As he was standing there, lost in these gloomy thoughts, a girl strolled out of a classroom and across the quad. A girl he had never seen before. All thoughts of Alice vanished as the new girl took his breath away. She had long, brown silky hair, a creamy coffee skin.

“A new term and a new hot girl,” said Arnold, laughing as he saw the direction in which Drake was staring.

A girl that I will never talk to, Drake thought with a sigh.

*****

“The new girl is mine,” Carlton said to his friend Nolan, as they chilled under a big mango tree across the school yard from Arnold and Drake. Carlton was staring at the same girl that had caught Drake’s attention.

Carlton bent down to pick up a green mango from the ground at the base of the tree, turning it over in his hand. “The girls at this school are like these mangoes. Falling all over me. Some I pick up and enjoy, some I toss away,” he said, and dropped the mango onto the ground.

Then, as Carlton strolled back to class, he winked at the new girl with the long, brown silky hair – as Drake watched, helpless.

*****

That night Drake dreamed that Carlton was kissing the girl who had captured his heart while he, Drake, watched, frozen to the spot. When Carlton had finished kissing her he turned to Drake and warned: “No matter what you do, she’s mine.”

During short break the next day Drake walked over to the new girl’s class. He just wanted to see her again. He peeped through the window and saw her chilling with two other girls. He wondered what they were laughing about.

“Hey man, who are you stalking?” Arnold had come up behind Drake and made him jump in fright.

“Nobody … I was just watching those guys playing cards.”

“Really?” Arnold asked, as he checked through the classroom window. “They’re too far away for you to even see their cards,” Arnold laughed. Then he noticed the chatting girls. “Eh … what do we have here? Of course. Now it makes sense. No wonder.”

“OK, you got me, but I’ve got a good reason,” Drake said. “I dreamt about her last night. I dreamt that Carlton kissed her.”

“Oh, that’s rare,” Arnold said sarcastically.

“I know, man,” Drake said. He looked worried.

“She’s a newcomer man. I’m sure that Carlton doesn’t even know her,” Arnold tried to console his friend. “Why don’t you just go over there and talk to her?”

“What? Are you crazy? What will I say?”

“You’re a smart guy. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“Nah, I think I’ll pass,” Drake said.

“OK, but know this: if you don’t talk to her then someone else will do it for you,” Arnold warned.

“You’re right. Will you come with me, buddy?” begged Drake.

And so it was that at lunch break Arnold and Drake strolled across to where the girls were standing, bouncing a Coke. The one with the silky hair looked them up and down as they greeted the girls.

“Good morning, whoever you are,” the new girl said, giggling with her friends.

“And you are…?” said Arnold.

“I’ll tell you my name … some day,” the girl teased.

Drake just stood there, speechless.

“My name’s Sandy,” the new girl’s friend said, looking from Drake to Arnold.

“I’d like to talk to you some time,” Arnold said to her hopefully.

“Maybe … next year. We’ll have loads of time to chat then,” Sandy said and flashed Arnold and Drake a smile. Then the girls were gone, into a classroom.

“Well that went better than I’d expected,” Arnold said, as he watched them walk away. “But dude, you just stood there. Why didn’t you say a word? It was your chance to get over Alice and get yourself a date with the hot new babe.”

“What would I say to her?”

“No idea. Use your instincts. C’mon, you got nothing to lose – approach her now. I’d come with you but I gotta bounce bra yam,” Arnold said as they fist pumped. “Good luck and peace homie.”

Well here goes nothing, Drake thought as he entered the classroom. He felt like he was walking in slow-motion as he made his way towards the new girl.

Ku-gu! Ku-gu! Ku-gu! his heart pounded, with each step.

“Hi … I mean good morning,” Drake said, and cringed as he heard the words come out of his mouth in a high pitched squeak.

The new girl looked up at him through her veil of silky hair and smiled, a slight twist to her lips. “Morning to you too.”

“My name is Drake.” He thrust his hand out, then quickly withdrew it, feeling foolish.

“Nice to meet you, Drake,” the girl said softly, looking down.

“So … what’s your … name?” Drake could hardly believe he had managed to find the courage to ask.

“My name is Jenny.” She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his, open and direct.

“Jen … Jenny, ya it’s a name. I mean … a nice name,” Drake said, unable to look at her directly. As he stared down he registered the gaming magazine on Jenny’s desk. “So you, er, like playing video games?” he went on, more confidently.

“Yeah, a lot. I also like watching cartoons and anime,” Jenny said.

“I like video games too,” Drake said and sat down at the next desk.

And then they were chatting. Drake couldn’t believe it. The more they chatted the more they discovered they had so much in common.

“I liked my old school. I had lovely friends but they were interested in other things – like fashion and modelling. Things that didn’t interest me.”

“Because you like video games more?” Drake asked.

“Yeah. Hey, I like them more than movies,” she said.

“Me too,” Drake said, looking at Jenny’s intoxicating smile.

“I like guys that understand my world,” Jenny said to Drake and winked at him.

Is she flirting with me? Drake wondered as he scratched his hair. He couldn’t help but smile when he heard her utter those words.

Everything was going so smoothly, but then Carlton walked into the class. He looked at Drake like he had seen a ghost.

“Hey, Jenny,” Carlton said, walking up to them, ignoring Drake.

“Hi Carlton,” Jenny smiled back.

“Drake,” Carlton nodded.

“Yeah Carlton,” Drake replied with a fake smile.

“I was around the pre-matric hood and just thought of passing by,” Carlton said.

“That’s really sweet of you,” Jenny replied.

“Yeah, we’ll chat on WhatsApp,” Carlton said, and winked at her.

“I look forward to it,” Jenny smiled, as Carlton walked out of the class.

Drake gritted his teeth.

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you that I only met that guy yesterday,” Jenny said.

“Really?” Drake asked sarcastically.

“I am serious,” Jenny answered.

Drake thought about his dream and felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. It had already begun to come true.

***

Tell us what you think: Is it always guys that must approach girls, even today?