It was late Monday evening when Thabi at last drove into Cape Town. She was exhausted – thirteen hours of driving, and thirteen hours of whining by her younger sister. Thabi gritted her teeth as they drove into her road.

“Is this where you live?” Lusi said, peering out of the window at the road of Victorian cottages. “Sheesh, I thought your house would be bigger than this. This is a tiny little house – and look, it’s joined up to the house next door. Why doesn’t it stand by itself? Mr Xaba’s house back home is much bigger than this one.”

Thabi was tempted to turn the car around and drive all the way back to Cofimvaba, but instead she said brightly, “Well, it’s your home now, so you’d better come inside and meet my friends, Sim and Motso.”

A pot of stew was bubbling on the stove. Motso had picked some flowers and put them in a vase on the kitchen table. Thabi’s heart lifted as she came inside, and Motso and Sim greeted them warmly. Home at last. There was no place like it.

Lusi didn’t think so.

“You’re sharing with me,” Thabi said, showing her sister into her bedroom. Sim followed with Lusi’s suitcase.

“I’m not sharing,” Lusi said with a scowl. “I have my own room at home.”

“Well, we don’t have a spare room here,” Thabi said, trying to keep her cool. “We only have three bedrooms.”

Lusi dropped her bag on the bed and marched out the door. “What’s in here?” she said, opening a door. “Oh, it’s someone’s bedroom. It’s yours, right Sim?”

Sim nodded. Lusi had already opened the next door down the passage. “And this is Motso’s room? Look how big it is. And she’s got a double bed. Why can’t she and Sim share?”

“Lusi!” snapped Thabi. “Don’t be so rude.”

“No, please,” Motso said, taking Thabi’s arm. “She’s right. Sim and I can share. He can move his stuff into my room. He sleeps here most of the time anyway.”

Thabi was so grateful for her easy-going friend. “Are you OK with that Sim?”

Sim grinned. “No problem. I’ll start moving my stuff.”

“Sim you’re bringing my case – right!” Lusi demanded, pointing her finger at Sim.

He clenched his jaw. “If you say ‘please’,” he snapped. “I’m not your servant.”

Thabi grabbed her sister’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t be so rude. And say ‘thank you’.”

“Thanks.” Lusi shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“I’m sorry about Lusi,” Thabi said to Motso and Sim when her sister was soaking in the bath. Supper had already started, but Lusi was in no hurry to get out of the bath. “She didn’t used to be so rude. I don’t know what’s going on with her.”

Motso shrugged. “Teenage girls. Horrible.”

“Let’s hope she settles down soon, or I’ll send her back to my mother,” Thabi said, helping herself to more stew.

Motso passed her the rice. “It’s a big change for her – from Cofimvaba to Cape Town. She’s probably just feeling overwhelmed.”

“She’ll make new friends once she gets to school,” Sim said, clearing the dirty dishes off the table. “What school are you going to apply to?”

“I’ll try the good government schools around here first,” Thabi said. “They’re cheaper than the private schools. There must be a girl’s school nearby with space for her.”

“A single-sex school?” said Motso, raising her eyebrows.

Thabi lowered her voice. “Mama says she’s boy mad. They’re all she thinks about. Her school marks have been terrible this year. It will have to be a girls-only school.”

“You must be mad!” a voice interrupted her. She looked up. Her sister was standing in the doorway wearing nothing but her bath towel. Thabi looked quickly at Sim. “For God’s sake, Lusi, put some clothes on. You can’t walk around like that.”

“Fine,” said Lusi, storming off into her room. “But I’m not going to a girls-only school, so you may as well get used to it.”

* * *

Tell us what you think: Why is Lusi walking round the house wearing nothing but a towel?