Tshidi grew up in a township like any other. She was the only child in her family. Her parents died when she was ten years old, leaving her with many unanswered questions. She could not understand why they had both died in the same year. No-one told her what really killed them. All that she knew was that they both fell sick. It was her father who died first, and then her mother followed six months later.

Her grandmother was the only relative left who cared for her. It was Makgolo who raised Tshidi into the tall and beautiful girl that she was today. Makgolo was very proud of her; she could not stop telling her friends how intelligent her granddaughter was, and how one day she would make the family, if not the whole township, proud. They all believed her because Tshidi won awards for best performance at school. She was the star of the school, loved by all teachers.

But Tshidi’s life changed when she was sixteen years old.

It all started one day when her best friend, Lerato, advised her to enter Miss Sedibeng High School Beauty Pageant. She was shocked. Tshidi could not believe what her friend was suggesting. A beauty pageant? Lerato knew she would need fancy clothes to wear on that day and the only clothes she had were cheap jeans and blouses which her granny bought for her with her grant.

“Don’t worry about clothes, choma. I’ll lend you my sister’s clothes. You’re the same size,” Lerato had reassured here while they were eating during break.

“So you want me to wear your sister’s clothes? Why don’t you enter and wear them yourself? Hee batho, this girl,” Tshidi continued, biting her sandwich.

“Come on, choma. Don’t joke. You know that I won’t win if I enter. I’m fat.” Lerato looked sad. “And how can I compete with that … that … witch! You know she will beat me hands down.” She paused, her dark forehead wrinkled, “And we all know what will happen after the pageant. She will mock me until I hang myself.”

Lerato was talking about Lesedi. Tshidi knew Lesedi was annoying but it frustrated her that Lerato was taking everything that girl said or did so seriously. Lesedi’s name was a thorn in Lerato’s heart.

“Please choma. I don’t want to see that girl win Miss Sedibeng Beauty Pageant again. Have you forgotten what she said to you yesterday? Imagine how she would feel if you won. That would be the best revenge. Joo… O kare ke a mmona, walking with her nose in the air all the time. Mxm!” Lerato said, looking at a group of girls who were sitting under a tree nearby, chatting and laughing.

Tshidi thought back to what had happened in class the day before. She had stood on Lesedi’s shoe by mistake as she walked past. Lesedi had screamed at her: “What are you doing, cockroach! Don’t you watch where you’re going?”

“Sorry, Lesedi. I didn’t see you,” Tshidi had said, looking at Lesedi’s feet.

“Nyori nyori! Do you think I need your stupid sorry? Mxm,” said Lesedi then leaned down and wiped her Buccaneers with a tissue. “I can’t believe this, you know. A poor, stupid girl stepping on my new shoes with her worn out shoe. Does she not know that I am the queen of Sedibeng High? Mxm,” she continued.

“But it wasn’t intentional Lesedi. Why–”

“Shut up! I don’t even know why I waste my breath talking to a nobody like you.”

The class murmured, wondering if the two girls were about to fight.

“You’re not even good enough to step on my shadow. I don’t associate myself with poor girls who depend on their pathetic grandmother’s pension for a living. Copy that?”

“No Lesedi! That’s enough! It’s not Tshidi’s fault that her parents died,” Lerato had stood up for her friend.

“Shut up wena, Fatty Boom Boom!” Lesedi yelled. “I’m not speaking to you, idiot!”

The class had burst out laughing as Lesedi strutted towards her desk with nose in the air.

Now, as they sat eating their lunch, that memory planted seeds of anger in Tshidi’s heart.

“Eish! I don’t know my friend. You are right about one thing though: Lesedi thinks she has already won. She is so full of herself you know.” Tshidi took a last bite of her sandwich.

Lesedi and her friends were approaching them.

“Hello girls,” Lesedi’s friends greeted them. Lesedi rolled her eyes.

“Hi,” Tshidi answered.

“I just want you to understand: if you dare to enter the beauty pageant there will be trouble.”

It was as if she knew what Lerato was intending.

“You think you’re the only beautiful girl at this school? One day you’ll swallow your pride. Tshidi will beat you and become the new Miss Sedibeng. I’m telling you,” Lerato blurted out.

Tshidi felt her knees shaking. She could not believe what her friend had just said.

“What!?” Lesedi exclaimed. “This … this poor cockroach is joining the beauty pageant?” Her friends laughed.

“Yes! You heard me,” Lerato fumed.

The three girls burst out laughing, as if somebody had told them the funniest joke in the world.

“Oh my God,” Lesedi said, then paused to catch a breath. “That’s funny. Really funny. Oh Fatty Boom Boom! I didn’t know you could even be funny.”

“OK … laugh while you can. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Lesedi stepped forward so she was standing right in front of Tshidi. Suddenly all the laughter was gone. “Wena selo towe … if you think you will take my crown, think twice. I won’t let anyone take that from me. You hear me?”

There was such hatred in Lesedi’s eyes it made Tshidi scared.

“Anyway, how could you enter the beauty pageant when you can’t even afford to do your hair? Just look at your dirty braids. It’s like you’re walking around with a mat of grass on your head. Mxm! Ngwana wa moditšana. Just focus on your books and stop dreaming. You’re no match for me, cockroach,” Lesedi said. “Come girls … let’s leave before this fool smears poverty all over me. What will the people say when they see us with them anyway?”

Lesedi turned and strutted off with her friends.

Maybe Lerato was right, thought Tshidi as Lesedi’s words hit home. It was time to stop that girl’s bullying and arrogance. Why should she get away with it? Perhaps she, Tshidi, should join the beauty pageant?

But what if she lost to Lesedi? That would be worse than the teasing. That thought sent tremors down in her belly.

***

Tell us: Have you ever known a girl to be as snobby and bitchy as Lesedi in real life? Why do people bully like this?