“Hi Divas, how are we today?” Kitso greeted. She was the loudest of their group – ‘Phat Divas’ – and she had even come up with the name. It was inspired by her favourite movie, Phat Girlz, starring her favorite actresses Mo’Nique and Kendra Johnson. The Phat Divas were Kitso, Karabo and Lesedi, three girls who had been friends since kindergarten.

It was the first day of the third term. This was known to be the most exciting term at Lilywood High. It was the matric farewell dance term and everyone was excited about who would be wearing what and who would take whom as their date. Everyone except Lesedi. Two boys had asked her out and she’d promised them an answer when they all got back to school.

Today was the day.

“Hi Diva K,” Karabo said shyly. She was the nerd of the group, a real maths whiz. She and Lesedi, and now Tebogo, a new boy at the school, were constantly fighting for the number one spot. Karabo could never understand why Kitso insisted on being called, ‘Diva K,’ but she couldn’t argue because Kitso had even managed to get some of her teachers to call her this. She was that persuasive.

“So Sedi, have you decided?” Kitso said, asking the question Lesedi had been dreading.

She had to choose between Tshepo and Themba. Maybe if Tebogo was the one asking her out it would have been easier for her to say ‘No’ without thinking twice. He is such a nerd Lesedi thought.

But now, choosing between the other two boys was proving to be harder than choosing the color of her matric farewell dance dress – and that had been almost impossible!

Lesedi’s mom had died in a car crash and it was at times like these that Lesedi realised how much she missed her. Now Lesedi lived with her father and Aunt Mary, her mother’s older sister. She had come to help take care of them after her sister passed away.

Her mother, Aunt Mary and her grandmother used to sit around their breakfast table and give good advice about love and life. They would have told Lesedi what they thought about the two boys who were competing for her attention. But her father couldn’t fill that role now. She couldn’t talk to him about boys; she would be too embarrassed. She wouldn’t know where to start and her father wouldn’t know what to say.

And Aunt Mary …well she was like a second mother, but there were some days when it wasn’t the same. Talking to Aunt Mary on her own, about boys … it just didn’t feel right.

“Sedi?” Kitso’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Have you? Decided, I mean?”

“Not really,” Lesedi answered, hoping her answer wouldn’t give Kitso a chance to start with one of her relationship lectures. But before Kitso could shoot more questions, the school bell rang. Saved by the bell, Lesedi thought.

“Chat later, guys! Prefect duties,” she shouted, as she ran towards the school hall.

Lesedi was an A student, a school prefect. She had the looks, and her father had money, but she remained humble, which was why she was so popular with all the students at Lilywood High. Her prefect duties included ushering the students in and out of the school hall for assembly, as well as trying to keep them quiet during the proceedings.

Before she knew it, the matrics were walking past her, into the hall – and there was Tshepo. He looked more handsome than the pictures he had posted on Facebook during the holidays. He had the latest Kendrick Lamar haircut and he smelled really good.

“Hey honey, wassup?” he said to Lesedi as he passed. He also tried to go in for a kiss but Lesedi managed to duck it just in time, causing the other students to laugh at Tshepo.

“Making pigs laugh, neh?” Tshepo retaliated and at once the students kept quiet; no-one wanted to be called a pig.

“You are blocking the way, Tshepo,” Lesedi said softly, and Tshepo moved. Before Lesedi could get over that incident, Themba arrived, but unlike Tshepo he politely just said “Hi,” and continued into the hall.

What a gentleman, Lesedi thought.

Soon the assembly was over and as the students were leaving the hall, Lesedi overheard some girls talking about Tshepo.

“Yoh, chomza, that haircut looks so good on him,” one girl said.

“And he smelled so good. I wonder if he has a date for the farewell dance?” another responded.

Lesedi just blushed. It felt good to be wanted by the most popular guy at school. She stood there, waiting for all the students to exit, lost in her imagination.

“Wakey, wakey.” Lesedi jumped as she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Themba! You gave me fright,” she said. Themba apologised and asked if she wanted to walk with him to class.

“I can’t, I’m a prefect, remember? I have to fetch the class register from the office,” Lesedi answered.

But that was not her only reason for avoiding walking with Themba. Such things are good enough to start a rumor, Lesedi reasoned with herself, on the way to the school office.

Soon half of the day was gone and the school bell rang for break time. The Phat Divas made their way to their spot, opposite the school tuck shop. Kitso had chosen this place on their first day of high school, a perfect spot to see everyone, she’d said, because all the students go to the shop at some point. She was right. The tuck shop was the place to be if you wanted clues about who was seeing whom, who was flirting with whom, who was wearing what hairstyle. The girls sat down to have their lunch over some gossip about celebrities, fashion and the upcoming farewell dance.

“Oh, oh!” Karabo said suddenly. She usually exclaimed like this when she knew something that the other girls didn’t know. They all followed her gaze and saw Tshepo walking towards them. He had one hand behind him and he was walking as if he was on the runway.

“Let me take a good look at you before he gets close,” Kitso said. She was the one who was always concerned with looks. Lesedi couldn’t be bothered. But she let Kitso brush some breadcrumbs off her face before Tshepo got there.

Lesedi stood up so that she could talk to him away from her friends. “You never know what Tshepo is planning,” she thought, but Tshepo asked her to sit down. As if under a spell, Lesedi sat.

“My friends are waiting, honey, so I can’t chat. I just came to hook you up with these,” he said. He brought his hand out from behind his back and presented Lesedi with a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

“Thank you.” Lesedi was trying hard not to blush.

“Only the best for you sunshine,” Tshepo said and smiled his perfect smile. “Now let me get back to the boys, yeah?” He winked at Lesedi, making it very hard for her not to smile as he turned to walk away.

“He-lo! You surely are not planning to eat those on your own now, are you?” Karabo said. Chocolate was the one thing that could make her shyness vanish. It was her favourite treat.

“Girl, you are so lucky,” Kitso said. “Kabo never gets me anything other than a Cadbury slab. The cheapskate.” Kabo was Kitso’s boyfriend and she was always moaning about him.

“Have some, Divas,” Lesedi said, opening the box for her friends.

“Mmm, mmm!” Kitso said. “If he keeps feeding us all this, you’ll have to be his partner for the dance, Sedi!”

But Lesedi was still really confused. She missed the wise words of her mother, aunt and grandmother; the profound words of women who spoke from real-life experiences.

***

Tell us what you think: Does giving Lesedi an expensive box of chocolates give Tshepo a better chance of being chosen?