The school hall was packed with desks. Gina paused at the door. Matric students were milling about. Some were gathered in groups, huddled over text books. Some were laying pens and rulers out on their desks in neat rows. Teachers stood up front, watching or chatting together.

“Gina.” Gina turned. It was Busi. The two friends embraced.

“I am sooo nervous,” said Busi, tugging anxiously on her fingers and making them click.

“Stop that!” replied Gina, pulling a face. “Come on now. I know you’re going to ace these exams, like you always do.”

Busi covered her face with her hands. “It’s just that I have so much depending on it.”

“You have already been accepted at varsity,” said Gina, reaching out and putting an arm around her friend’s shoulder. “Plus you got that amazing bursary. Just relax. You’ll be fine. You know you will.”

“Thanks Gina,” said Busi with a sigh. “But what about you? What’s going on?”

Gina told Busi about her meeting with Sarah Redman. Busi smiled broadly.

“Whatever she has to say, I don’t mind,” said Gina. “I just want to know everything. Everything about my mom, my dad. Everything. And then I’m going to go…”

“Go?” asked Busi.

And it was only then that Gina realised the truth about what she had begun to think. She admitted to herself, there in the hall, for the first time, what it was that she had always wanted.

And when she had met Sarah Redman, it was the only thing she had thought. Straight away – there in the church hall – she had thought it to herself.

“Yes,” said Gina softly, looking down at her polished school shoes. She paused for a moment, and then she raised her head, and, looking Busi straight in the eye, she finished: “I’m going to go to America. And I’m going to find him.”

“Who?”

“My dad.”

Busi and Gina stood in silence for a minute and then Busi smiled again.

“Of course you are,” she said, nodding her head. “And I am going to help you.”

Just then the school bell rang loudly.

“Take your seats please,” said a teacher from the stage. “Everyone, please take your seats.”

Gina and Busi hugged each other once more and moved off to their allocated desks. Gina sat down and breathed deeply. She shut her eyes. Somewhere up there she believed she could feel her mother looking down on her.

Gina had forgiven her mother a long time ago. At around thirteen years of age she had hated her. Anger had flooded every thought of her.

It had been Busi who had helped her then as well. Busi, and Mrs Taylor at school. Gina had talked to them both, pouring her heart out amidst floods of tears. Together with them Gina had a found a path of forgiveness towards her mother. But there were still so many things that she did not understand; things that she desperately needed to understand.

The years had passed since, but it had been one of the biggest blessings of Gina’s life to have had Mrs Taylor at the school. Her door was always open for Gina. She was going to miss her next year.

Gina opened her eyes. The exam question paper had been put on the desk in front of her. Slowly she peeled a bar code sticker off the sheet and stuck it on the cover.

That’s it then, she thought to herself. And so it begins.

On the instruction from the exam adjudicator Gina picked up her pen, opened the exam booklet, and began.

Hours passed. Occasionally Gina glanced up. All the students around her sat hunched over their desks. The invigilators walked between the desks, moving silently. Gina was vaguely aware of the scent of the one woman’s perfume wafting over her as she passed by. There was another whose shoes creaked softly.

Gina looked up at the clock. She felt confident. None of the questions had filled her with dismay. With joy she realised that she was going to do well. She was so glad that she had studied hard. Relief flooded her as they were all told that time was up, and she put down her pen.

When they met outside Busi was excited. She knew she had triumphed. She was hoping for an A and now she felt certain she had achieved it.

“But there is something else, Gina. I remembered it this morning. When you said you wanted to go to America.”

Busi pulled a piece of paper out of her bag. She began to write on it.

“I met this lady when I went to an interview. She told me about it. It was when I was thinking of doing a gap year, before I got the scholarship.”

Busi finished writing and handed the paper across. Gina glanced down. She read:

Fancy spending a year in America? Do you love travel and the idea of working with children? Opportunities with CARING CAREERS could see you au pairing in America with a family…

Gina looked up at Busi.

“There is a website. Check it out. They organise everything. You just have to get a driving licence … and an air ticket … and a visa … and you’re going to need money … quite a bit of money … but they help you with some of that stuff.”

Gina looked down again. She shook her head. “I’m not sure…” she said hesitantly.

“Hey Gina,” said Busi forcefully. “You said you want to go. So make it happen. Don’t give up. Go for your dream.”

“Gina!”

It was Tyler, waiting at the gate for her, smiling broadly. Gina and Busi exchanged hugs and separated and Gina walked towards Tyler. He put his arm around her and drew her close. Gina felt herself relaxing against him. She breathed deeply. How she loved the smell of him. She looked up into his face.

Tyler was looking good, with his tight curls forming short dreads. She felt weak at the knees just because of the way his soft brown eyes were looking at her. She knew it was against the rules to get this close with a boy while in her school uniform, but she could not resist, reached up and kissed him quickly on the lips.

“So, what’s up beautiful?” asked Tyler with a smile.

Gina pulled herself away from him gently. She hadn’t even thought about how she was going to tell him.

“It’s about my mom,” she said, and the rest of the words just tumbled out. “And my dad. And America, Tyler. I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to leave. I’m going to go to America.”

***

Tell us what you think: How will Tyler feel about Gina leaving? Will she achieve her dream?