On Monday morning Patty couldn’t wait to get to school. She just wanted to see Tefo. Yesterday she had stayed at home all day with her Mom and Thulani. After her emotional breakdown on Saturday night, Mom looked old and haggard the next day.

Patty had been jolted into sympathy by hearing the truth about her aunt, and told her mother to stay in bed for a rest. She offered to take care of Thulani for the day. She had bathed and fed him. His cough seemed a little better, but he was still fretful. He wanted to be picked up all the time. Patty hadn’t realised how exhausting it was to look after a baby. They demanded your full attention. And because Thulani was sick, it was even worse. But he was now on drugs to fight the HI virus in his blood.

The first person Patty saw as she walked in through the school gates was Zanele. She felt a moment’s misgiving as she walked right past her, but also felt that Zanele must apologise for the awful things she had said about Tefo. She was so wrong about him!

The morning passed uneventfully, but when Patty left the classroom for first break she noticed a group of girls giggling in the school yard. When she walked towards them she noticed that they were all engrossed and casting rather disgusted looks at their cellphones. There must be some crude joke going around, she thought.

“What are you all laughing about?” she asked, walking up to them.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” a girl called Alice said. She had a smug look on her face.

“Well, I’d like to see it anyway,” Patty said. She didn’t want to appear to back down in front of this group.

“It’s just a video clip of a party we were at on Saturday night,” Alice said.

“Cool,” Patty said.

“Well, if you really want to see it,” Alice shrugged her shoulders, “I’ll forward it to you.”

At first the picture was grainy. Then a perfect picture of Tefo came into focus. He was lying naked on a bed! The next moment an older girl came into focus.

“Come to me, wena,” Tefo said in that sexy voice of his. “I’m so hot for you.”

“And I’m hot for you, babe,” the girl said, as she ripped the wrap she was wearing from around her middle. She wore nothing underneath it.

Patricia took some deep breaths to try and compose herself. She noticed that the other girls were watching her. She turned her head and saw Zanele beside her.

“Come with me, Patty,” Zanele took her hand gently and led her away.

“I can’t believe how stupid I was,” Patty said through her tears, as they sat at the edge of the school grounds. Zanele put her arm around her friend.

“I’m sorry, Patty. Really I am,” Zanele said.

“I’m sorry too for not believing you,” Patty said. “I should have known that you’d do nothing to hurt me. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

“Tefo has quite the reputation at getting virgins into his bed. He likes to brag that he knows best how to deflower them.”

“I’m going to be sick,” Patty said, and rushed to the toilet to throw up.

Patty was allowed to go home from school and the principal sent Zanele with her, knowing that her Mom would be at work now.

“I really was going to have sex with him,” Patty said soberly, as soon as they arrived home. “I thought I was ready. That he really loved me. And I didn’t even think about condoms. I was prepared to do anything for him.”

Zanele hugged her hard. “Tefo is charming and persuasive.”

“He’s also a liar and a cheat. I’m glad I found out in time,” she said, thinking about Thulani, and about her aunt Winnie. “Will you help me do something?” Patty asked Zanele.

“Anything for a friend,” Zanele smiled.

Together the girls prepared a special meal for when Patricia’s mom came home. The look on her mom’s face and her warm hug began to wipe away the hurt and betrayal Patty felt. This was real love and support. When her mom got up to look after Thulani, Patricia stopped her.

“No, Ma, you rest. I am going to look after my new little brother,” she said taking Thulani and kissing him on his cheeks.

***

Tell us what you think: What do you think of what the girls did when they took the video clip of Tefo with another girl?