Teenager's Tale

by Tyler Majaga

MARK’S LESSON

  I decided to go to Winona’s class afterwards, leaving Botho and Neo to themselves. I understood the whole clique situation better now and would be able to know where to draw my boundaries. I was about to get to Winona’s class when I saw Mark and three of his guys coming from her class and boy, the guy looked really angry. I wondered why the guy went about worrying about what Winona did because she had made it clear they were not together anymore. One thing was for sure: he had a girlfriend and possibly girlfriends. All that it was with Winona was an obsession and that was a fact.

  ‘Yoh, Brandon Chimpanzee, mind if we talk?’ and a little intimidated by his intentional mispronunciation of my surname, I stopped and faced him, his guys going all around me, ‘Sure Mark, what is it?’ but instead of saying anything important, he set up an appointment with me, ‘I don’t think what I want to talk to you about requires such an inappropriate space so how about we meet after classes; say, the tennis court?’

  I could see a plan, an evil plan for that, built up in his deep green eyes so I tried to say no, indirectly.

  ‘Why not talk right now, Mark? I’ve got swimming practice after school, you know’

  ‘Oh come on Brandon; don’t tell me you are scared of missing one practice session. I mean, I’ll be missing rugby practice’

  ‘Thing is, we are different Marrittian; I am a little disciplined, in case you didn’t know. Unlike you, I know what I stand for and street talk is not my thing’. This caught him totally off-guard and he looked around before coming a little closer to me, his mint breath on my face, ‘So I am not, hey? Listen here Chimpanzee, 1600hrs at the tennis court; show up or show us just how much of a little coward you are’ and they walked away. All along, I was scared and the moment they walked away, a sigh of relief escaped and I continued on to Winona’s class. The students who had witnessed all this cheered on for me as Mark walked away and Winona came out of her class and hugged me, clueless of what had just gone down.

  ‘Want to join me and the guys at the library?’

  ‘Oh, sure, no problem love; I actually heard Nicole and Sethunya talk of the same thing’

  ‘Yeah, the guys and your girls’ and then she noticed the students and turned to me as I put my arm over her shoulder, ‘Why are they all staring and cheering at you babe?’

  ‘I honestly don’t know. Maybe it is because I have gold for a girlfriend?’ and she sweetly chuckled before we went on to the library, where we would join Trey, Sethunya, Nicole, Botho and Bagomotsi for a study session. It was not going to be much of that but we just wanted to get away from the supervising prefects’ leash. I was not going to tell her of my encounter with the Marrittians, at least not at that moment.

  Once we were at the library, where Bagomotsi had brought his new girl, we all fell in to a little chat group, silently chatting about the school’s happenings. Botho, however, asked a Math question and sooner than I would have thought, we shifted from chatting to Math. I forgot about Mark and the appointment and joined the fun. This went on for a while and once the discussion required a little help from a textbook, I stood up to get one from the shelves. As I went about the books, I saw Sam French herself, impressively glowing.

  ‘Hey Brandon, good to see you; how are you?’ she greeted me, smiling so beautifully and her dyed, light brown hair adding flavor to her pretty face.

  ‘I’m good Sam, long time no talk. When was the last time we talked?’

  ‘I don’t know; at the café when you guys formed your group?’

  ‘Oh yeah, not so long ago, isn’t it?’

  We both chuckled and nodded. She picked a History book from the shelf and waved it before saying her goodbyes.

  ‘Well, I came for this; have to revise for the upcoming test, you know’

  ‘Yeah, I guess you are right. The guys and I are actually revising some Math but I will revise History later. We could always revise together, you know’

  ‘I am not sure if Winona would like that Brandon’

  ‘Don’t worry, she won’t mind as long as she doesn’t know’ and she laughed before walking away but turned around on the way, ‘And by the way, we being revision mates would not mean I will spare you on that Saturday’

  ‘Oh, well, okay but don’t be too sure’

  ‘Just saying and yes, we can study together. I’ll see you at the next History lesson’

  ‘Sure thing Samantha, it was nice talking to you’ and I went on looking for the book and once I had found it, I went back to the group.

  ‘What took you so long babe?’

  ‘Um, the book was a little hard to find but here it is’ and smiling, I sat down and we continued with the revision.

  I looked at Sam as she left the library and smiled at her, even though she did nothing but just leave. She was a pretty girl and a potential girlfriend; an option I could have considered but she had slipped and I would have to live with that. In the case of Winona and me not working out, I would definitely consider her. For now, I had my beautiful Winona to make happy and take care of.

  An hour later, Bagomotsi and I were at the lockers, changing in to our swimwear. I stopped halfway through and changed back in to my school trouser. Mark had invited me and I was going to honor the invite. I did not want him thinking of me as a coward. I was scared though and Bagomotsi noticed the uneasiness.

  ‘You haven’t been yourself since we left the library bra; anything you want to tell me?’

  ‘It’s Mark bra; said I should meet him at the tennis court, like now’

  ‘And you are going to honor the invite?’

  ‘Yeah, I have to go or he is going to be thinking of me as a sissy, the last thing I want right now’

  ‘Then I guess I got your back bra, all the way’

  ‘Actually, I’d rather you stay out of this’

  ‘But I am your boy Brandon; we’ve always stood by each other since kindergarten and it’s not stopping now’.

  From the look on his eyes, I could tell he was serious and wanted in so I let him come. Besides, with an extra two hands, hopefully I would be able to repel any attack. It was a matter of no discussion that Mark was going to bring some of his guys along. We rushed off to the court, where we found Mark and three guys waiting. From a distance, I saw them signal Mark we had arrived and he stood up to meet us.

  ‘So you brought a guard along, hey? Or should I say your lap-puppy?’ asked Mark and his guys laughed, to which we stood silently until they went silent.

  ‘Why did you call me here Mark, for a bunch of joke cracking kids?’ and his half smile disappeared into a frown. His guys started to roll back their sleeves which, unhappy about the ‘’lap-puppy’’ comment, Bagomotsi also did. I knew things would get ugly and I prepared for the worst. For a moment, I actually thought of running away but I stood my ground, scared to the fullest.

  ‘Let’s cut to the chase Chimpanzee and get down to what we came here for. I have asked you twice before to get away from my girlfriend and…’

  ‘Girlfriend, you say, hey? Which girlfriend Mark? Winona made it very clear that she does not like you; that you and her are over so get that into your head’.

  The guy handsome and hunky, as the girls had come to see him but he acted like a jerk. He was just so obsessed about the idea of being Winona’s boyfriend – infatuation at its worst – and it kind of sucked. Remember Duke Orsino, anyone?

  ‘And did she mention it to you that I spent thousands on her? Bought her gifts and took her to some of the most expensive…?’

  ‘Sorry to cut you short Mark but we did not come here to discuss your wealth or what you spend on girls, did we?’

  ‘You really are something, aren’t you Chimpanzee?’

  ‘It’s Chidzala, Mark and I hope that is the last time I hear you call him that’ said Bagomotsi, who was now facing Mark too, drawing a shocked expression in to the guy’s face. His guys tried to move in closer too but he stopped them.

  ‘If I don’t stop, what are you going to do abou
t it?’ but Bagomotsi did not say anything and just looked at the guy’s green eyes as he moved in to his face. Bagomotsi had nothing to do with this and even though he had involved himself, I had to stop any fight from starting.

  ‘Listen Mark, I am sure he didn’t mean…’ and I was flung to the ground by his blow to my nose, which bled as I landed. I could feel my head get a little heavy as Mark came over me and picked me up by my collar.

  ‘Ben, deal with that one, I’ve got Chimpanzee.’ The guy directed as Ben quickly grabbed Bagomotsi while another guy gave him a punch to his stomach. On the other hand, Mark gave me a blow to my face and another one before he spoke to my half-conscious self, ‘I told you never to mess with the Marrittians buddy boy. Now look at what you’ve got yourself in to’ and yet again, gave me another blow. Ben and the other two guys also beat up Bagomotsi before letting him go. He ran off to the academic area while they helped Mark deal with me. Blow after blow and soon, I was losing consciousness. It took an upper-cut from Mark to finally bring me down. Everything went black. The Marrittians were victorious.

  I lay in that court for close to five minutes before help came. I was carried off to the admin area by some senior swimmers and as they carried my bloodied body through the school, I regained consciousness and opened my eyes a little bit and saw the worried faces of my friends. ‘They are going to pay for this’ was the last thing I heard before I blacked out again. Mark had officially declared himself an enemy of St. Wiz; he had drawn the battle lines and declared war. All we had to do was decide whether we were going to fight back or not. This meant war.

  It was only an hour later that I regained consciousness.

  ‘How is he?’

  ‘He suffered a minor damage to his left eye and right ear but either than that, he is fine’

  ‘But it is nothing serious, right?’

  ‘No, it is not and you can take him home tomorrow; we just need to do a few check-ups and observe him overnight before we release him’.

  This was an exchange between my parents and a doctor at the Riverside Hospital, a private hospital about a kilometer from school. My friends were also there, except Winona, who had not arrived yet.

  ‘Could we see him now?’ asked my dad and the nurse nodded, ‘I’ll give you twenty minutes max’ and they all marched in to my room, waking me up from my sleep. Their faces were a bit blurry for a few seconds before I adapted to the light, realizing that my left eye was bandaged.

  ‘Hey son, how do you feel?’ asked my emotional mother, taking my hand in to hers. Her eyes told it all that she had been crying.

  ‘I’m a little better mum; just a little pain there and there but I’ll be fine’

  ‘Son, I want you to tell us who did this to you so that we can deal with this whole issue as a family. I don’t want this reaching the police unless I can’t deal with it’ said my father and I looked at Botho, who disapproved by shaking his head. Botho had a plan of revenge and considering the fact that my dad would want to deal with these guys personally and possibly get in to trouble, I had to lie.

  ‘We were playing rugby, Bagomotsi and me and I did not understand the game that much. A pass came over to me and suddenly everyone was on top of me. I’m lucky I had no broken ribs’

  ‘But you don’t play rugby Brandon’

  ‘Yeah dad; thing is there was no swimming practice today so I thought, why not?’ and to convince them, I laughed, which put a smile on my mother’s face. She looked a bit relieved that no one had inflicted the injuries on me intentionally.

  Just then, Winona and Sethunya came rushing in and, not aware of my parents, Winona came over and hugged me as I lay there.

  ‘Are you okay babe?’ and I whispered to her ear, ‘…my parents are right behind you…’ and that was when she quickly turned around and apologized, ‘I am so sorry Mr. and Mrs. Chidzala, I didn’t see you standing there’

  ‘It’s okay Ms.…?’

  ‘Winona sir; Winona Simons’

  ‘Oh yes, you must be the young lady my son can’t stop talking about?’ and blushing, she affirmed, ‘Yes sir, that is me’. My mother turned to me, ‘Listen, let us go and get you something to eat; your friends will be here with you’

  ‘Yes mum, thanks’ and she gave me a smooch on the forehead before they left. Winona sat on the bed next tom me while the guys moved in closer.

  ‘Babe, I hope you told your parents Mark did this to you, right?’

  ‘The problem is that we don’t want to spoil his future with some police record Winona’ said Botho and I nodded in agreement.

  ‘But they nearly spoilt his; who knows what’s building under all this swelling?’ and tears started streaming down her lovely face. Seeing her like this made me realize how much she loved me and how much I really would have to deal with Mark. He was not going to get away with this, at least not after I had seen Winona cry for the first time; all for me. She came down on me and kissed me half swollen lips as my friends stood there, Botho and Tyler looking like they could kill someone. Bagomotsi, who had a cut on his lip, came to me and hugged me too and I thanked him for ‘…your bravery and for being a good friend. You tried your best’

  ‘Anything for my boy; I am glad I went down with you’

  Everyone else came down and hugged me. Their hugs made a tear or two come down my face too. It was a somber moment for all of us. In times like those, you get to know who your real friends are and they were right there with me. Another day had ended and not so happily though. I had learnt the power of love that day. I had learnt that sometimes you get through trials and tribulations to get what you want and Mark’s punches were more like a motivation for me; a motivation to fight even harder for my lovely Winona. After all, they say ‘’what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’’ so you get the deal. Mark and the Wizzes were officially enemies. How we would fight this war would be decided with time.