Antonia was pretending to listen but her thoughts were far, far away, as she sneaked glances at Andile, up the row from her. OMW, his face was gorgeous: perfect complexion, strong jaw, sexy smile. Sigh! He was Mr Perfect Looks. I am so defs falling in love, she thought, then blushed as he caught her looking at him, and gave her a shy smile in return.

To most of the class LO was a cross between boring and relaxing. They daydreamed, or dozed or made up witty Facebook statuses. Westray High kids were all aiming high, and their parents could afford it. The learners didn’t care about LO because they knew it didn’t count for getting into college or varsity.

As Mrs Tshuma went on and on about the different religions, Andile was like a magnet to Antonia: she couldn’t resist another glance. But what she saw cut her romantic mood dead.

Refiloe, right behind Andile, was gently poking him in the back and as he half-turned, she smiled and handed him a note. What the hell …? Antonia jealously watched Andile. He read the note, smiled and gave Refiloe a secret thumbs-up behind his back. The look on Refiloe’s face could not be mistaken. That vacant fashion freak was flirting with Andile!

Then suddenly Mrs Tshuma was at Andile’s desk snatching the note. “You know my rule. I catch you passing notes; I read them out.” Andile grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut, embarrassed.

“No, Ma’am, please …”

“Here we go: ‘I’ll be voting for you. Luv, Riffs. XX’,” said Mrs Tshuma in a girly voice.

Everyone laughed and cheered, except Antonia. She was mad. Jealous.

“Two kisses, Refiloe? Goodness,” Mrs Tshuma teased, and the class ‘oooohed’ mockingly.

Antonia thought back to her conversation with her friend, Sindi, at break. “If you wanna see your new love-bunny in action you better come to Scripture Union this arvy. We’re voting for a new committee, and he’s standing. He has to give a speech.”

“Ooh! What a divine reason for going to SU,” Antonia had joked, but the news worried her. He’s serious about his Christianity. What will he think when he finds out about me?

A bitchy-voiced Refiloe had overheard. “You at SU, Antonia? You last came about a year ago. In my opinion you shouldn’t be allowed to vote.”

And now this note incident? She was sure: that flippin ‘Riffs’ was trying to steal Andile!

The teacher’s raised voice brought her attention back to the lesson. “Come, guys, concentrate. So all the main religions believe in one almighty God – monotheism.”

“But don’t Hindus worship false idols, Ma’am?” asked Kanya. “They have temples with all sorts of gods and goddesses – some even half-animals!”

“Yes, but above them all is the Supreme Being, Vishnu. It’s the same with how my family communicates with our ancestors, and through them with God. But of course today many of us mix traditional practices and Christianity. Right, time for you to think – and for me to stop talking. What is the ‘Golden Rule’ expressed in one way or another by all these religions?”

Solomon’s hand was up at once. “Do unto others as you would like to have done to yourself.”

“Isn’t that an excellent piece of wisdom? If only we could all live by it. OK, any questions?”

“But, Ma’am, how can we respect Islam, when they have this holy war thing – jihad? You know, sending terrorists to kill non-Muslims. Like all those people killed in Kenya last year? Next thing it will be us those fanatics are killing! Truthfully, I am nervous of Muslims. Sorry, obviously not you Meena,” said Magdalen.

Now everyone was interested. They felt bad for Meena but they were glad Magdalen had said it – she was truly filled with the Holy Spirit when leading prayer at SU, so it felt like she was the most legit person to bring it up.

Loud comments crisscrossed the room and Mrs Tshuma yelled: “One at a time please! That is easy to say, Magdalen, but you are being biased. Meena, would you like to reply?”

As Meena stood, pulling nervously at the hem of her hijab, Ngcebo butted in: “You got a damn cheek, Magdalen. Christian missionaries came here and next thing we had the Bible and the whites had our land. Ja, and blacks were left poor – up until today!”

The explosion of responses forced Mrs Tshuma to bang on her desk. “Quiet! Meena – you do want to speak?”

“Ma’am, our Imam says true Islam is peaceful. We are just ordinary people – we don’t support those terrorists. They are crazy fanatics.”

“Exactly, Meena. All religions have fanatics, and have done bad things at one time or another. Right, let’s survey religions in this class and remind ourselves to look for what they share, and respect all of them. Christians? Yes, most of us. African Traditional Religion? Four. Muslims? Three. Hindus? None. And Judaism? Two. Any others? Buddhists, or Scientologists or Bahais, for example?”

Mrs Tshuma turned towards a softly spoken comment from Antonia. But before she could ask her to repeat it, Antonia’s neighbour Theresa had leapt to her feet, wide-eyed:

“Blasphemer!” she gasped.

***

Tell us: What might Antonia have said to upset Theresa so much? Are people too judgemental of religions that are not their own?