The three friends spent Saturday morning studying at Rose’s house.
“I really hate Maths,” Rose said crossly, and threw her book down on her desk. “You’re lucky, Nyasha. You just seem to have a knack for Maths.”
“Well, I hate Geography,” Nyasha said.
“Well I hate both Maths and Geography!” Olivia exclaimed and pulled a face. “So where does that leave me?”
Olivia had to work much harder at her lessons than both Nyasha and Rose.
“It doesn’t mean anything at all,” Nyasha said. “You have plenty of other talents.”
“All I want, is to be a model,” Olivia said. Her two friends knew all about Olivia’s desire to be a successful model.
“By the way, I joined the choir,” Nyasha said.
“The choir?” Olivia and Rose echoed. “I didn’t even know you could sing,” Rose added.
“Well Miss Hlathi thinks I can,” Nyasha said. “I like singing but I never knew I was much good at it.”
“I think it’s great,” Olivia said.
“Why don’t we go for a walk, girls?” Rose suggested an hour later. “I’ve had enough of studying for today.”
“Me too,” Nyasha agreed.
“Why don’t we go and get a cool drink and some ice-cream at Dolly’s Café? I’m due a sugar fix,” Olivia said.
“I’ll just phone my mom and tell her where I’m going,” Nyasha said.
It was a lovely, sunny afternoon. The three friends were in high spirits as they set off for the Café. It was a favourite hideout for the high school pupils.
It was packed with teenagers when they arrived. Nyasha said hello to some of the girls she knew from school, as she tried to get to the counter to place their orders.
Rose and Olivia had found a table in the corner, by the window. The place was noisy as the teenagers laughed and chatted amongst themselves. A great deal of them did extra classes on a Saturday morning so Dolly’s Café was a great place to chill out afterwards.
Nyasha had just placed her order when suddenly the café went very quiet. Everybody stopped talking at once and all eyes were directed towards the entrance.
Four senior boys were walking through the door. They were all arrogant and had high opinions of themselves. Some of the less confident students were terrified of them.
They were known as ‘the troublemakers’ of the school. They were forever in trouble over one misdemeanour or another – but that didn’t stop some of the bolder girls wanting to go out with them. Every other week they had a different girl on their arm.
Nyasha didn’t know very much about three of them, except that their names were Matthew, Desmond and Bongani. But she had known Marcus Williams since primary school and they used to play together as children. They didn’t move in the same circles anymore, but she often passed him in the corridors at school and they were in some of the same classes as well. They never spoke to each other now though.
He was what her father called a ‘bad egg’. Marcus came from a wealthy background and whenever he got into trouble, which was often, his father bailed him out. The man had a huge construction business and employed many people.
It was well known that Marcus’s father paid the police to look the other way when his son got into trouble. And now, Marcus had just turned eighteen years old and his father had bought him a red sports car to mark the occasion.
He seemed to like nothing better than driving very fast in it to school, and with a pretty girl seated right next to him in the passenger seat.
Marcus usually got poor grades at school. He wasn’t interested in studying and was even known to pay other students to cheat on exam papers for him.
“There’s only one place that boy’s going,” her father often said, after he had seen him once again driving recklessly through town. “And that’s to prison. I’m surprised he hasn’t knocked over anybody in that silly car of his. Fancy giving a boy of that age a sports car.”
Nyasha put Marcus out of her mind as she sat down with her friends. They laughed and chatted about various things, and other pupils stopped by their table to talk to them.
***
Tell us: Are you attracted to people like Marcus? Are status symbols like cars important to you?