The next morning Sam woke up to Siphiwe calling to him as he entered their dorm.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something has happened and you’re not gonna like it,” he said, now at Sam’s side.

Sam’s heart beat faster. It was about his sister, he knew it in his bones. “What? What happened? Please tell me.”

“Sam, it’s your sister. She fell ill after Mam’Gqwashu locked her up without food,” Siphiwe said softly.

Sam felt a strange yet familiar pain in his heart. It was the same pain he had felt when his sister was being taken away. But one thing was for sure. This time Mam’Gqwashu had gone too far. The money from work wasn’t enough yet to rent a room. But he had to come up with a plan fast. He had to rescue Sinethemba before something even more terrible happened.

When Sam got to school he met Xolani at the usual spot behind the classrooms. “Eish, that job you got me is alright, but that man pays peanuts and I need more money.” Sam hated having to ask Xolani for another favour, but there was no choice.

“Look Sam, I know someone who can help.”

“Who?” Sam looked worried.

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of it. Just tell me how much you need.”

“I need enough to rent a place and for food and… ” Sam began, then told Xolani the whole story about his sister and about Mam’Gqwashu.

“That’s tough, bra. But I know just the person…” began Xolani, then told Sam about ‘Bra Frank’. He loaned people in the community money. He didn’t even charge much interest as long as they paid him back on time. Xolani could take him to Bra Frank.

What if he couldn’t afford to pay him back, thought Sam. He had heard stories of what loan sharks did if you couldn’t pay them back. But time was running out.

Zinhle was standing outside the class by herself. She looked worried as Xolani dashed inside ahead of Sam. She had seen them talking.

“Why do you hang out with the likes of him?” Zinhle asked and nodded towards Xolani.

“What happened to people greeting these days?” Sam said, quickly changing the topic.

Zinhle smiled. “Sorry. Hi Sam.”

“Hello Zinhle. What’s a beautiful girl like you doing after school?” Sam looked at his feet, hoping that she wouldn’t turn him down.

‘Beautiful’, Zinhle thought. No-one ever calls me that. It had taken guts to ask her, she knew that. She didn’t want to push him away. She thought about him all the time.

“A lot actually. Why do you ask?” Zinhle replied, in that same sweet, yet firm, voice that he had fallen for on his first day of school.

“Well, I would like to take you out sometime, when you have a break in your very busy schedule,” Sam teased. His fingers were firmly crossed behind his back.

“I’ll think about it,” Zinhle said, then looked up as Thando approached them.

Sam was ecstatic. He couldn’t believe that he had finally done it. He had worked up the courage to ask her out on a date and she hadn’t pushed him away or turned him down.

‘I’ll think about it…’ He played those words over and over in his mind.

“Hey wena, be careful of girls like her. They are just too good for someone like you,” Xolani teased him when he sat down next to him in class.

“What do you mean?” Sam said quickly.

“I’m just saying, she is one of the good girls here and I don’t think people will take it well if they see you two together.”

Sam knew exactly what Xolani was talking about. He had been getting the evil eye from Zinhle’s friends. It was as if they already knew his story and that he was some sort of outcast. But he didn’t really care much what people thought. As his mother used to say to him before she passed away: “People will always judge you my son, but it’s how you respond to it that gives you power.”

His mother was a strong woman. She never had much to give them materially, but her love for them and her words of wisdom were more than enough.

* * * * *

The following day at break Xolani told Sam he had spoken to Bra Frank’s guys and they said they would meet Sam. After school Xolani would take him there.

Sam knew that he shouldn’t be going to someone like Bra Frank, but his sister needed medicine. She wasn’t getting better, Siphiwe had told him. He needed to get her away from Mam’Gqwashu and to a safe place where she could get proper treatment.

When Zinhle saw Sam talking to Xolani in the school yard she could tell that something was wrong. His face looked pale and he was pacing up and down after Xolani had left him. She waited until he was alone then walked over to meet him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked.

“What’s going on is that I would like to take you out on Saturday evening,” he said, smiling. He didn’t want Zinhle worrying about him. “Yes or no? Simple.”

He held his breath for what seemed forever, then she replied.

“Yes.”

“That’s good.” Sam could hardly contain his excitement. Zinhle looked at him then smiled and quickly ran off before any of her friends saw her talking to him.

***

Tell us what you think: Should Sam loan money from Bra Frank? What choice does he have?