Thumi got the first sms on her way to school.

Hey cutie. Lyk da new braids – K

She laughed. It must be her friend Khosi.  She was always texting Thumi, especially on the taxi on the way to school.  Hey chomie hw u? Shrp? L8r – that kind of thing. It was silly because they could have sat and chatted to each other. But this way they could say anything, even joke about the boys sitting next to them. It was their secret SMS thing, and they loved it. They were always on their cellphones. They had bought exactly the same ones, with exactly the same pink covers.  They even had the same screensaver. Usually Khosi sat at the front of the taxi, as she was always late in the mornings. She would come running and jump in and sit on the last free seat. And then Thumi and her would start smsing.

But this morning there was no Khosi. When Thumi got to school she found her friend in the classroom searching for something in the lockers and desks. “Waz up?” Thumi asked, laughing at how crazy her friend looked.

“Don’t laugh. My life has ended,” said Khosi, rolling her eyes.

“What happened? Is it something at home?”

Now Khosi looked at Thumi like she was crazy one. “Worse…much worse. I lost my cellphone. Yabona? And I need to text my boyfriend.”

“You have a boyfriend?”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“But I thought we told each other everything.”

Thumi was shocked.  How could her best friend hold out on her like that?  How could she not tell her such important news. For a minute she forgot about the sms from the mysterious K.

“We do tell each other everything,” Khosi hesitated “ It’s just this time. I didn’t know how it’s going to work out. Any anyway, wena, you have a big mouth. I don’t want the whole school to know.”

Thumi was upset, but she was not going to let it ruin everything. She had a secret admirer of her own.