Miss Nombembe had also been called to the office. She went closer to the principal and spoke softly. Lelethu strained to hear her words. “Leave it now,” she was saying. “I am just so glad that the phone is back. And with my sim card, and everything. Please, I don’t want to make trouble for anyone now.”
“It’s not about making trouble,” the principal said. His voice was louder, even though he was also trying to speak so Lelethu could not hear. “It’s about the truth. And I’m sure this girl knows something she isn’t telling us.”
“But at least she brought it back,” said Miss Nombembe. “If we punish her, nobody will help us in future.”
The principal turned back to Lelethu. “Fine, young lady,” he said. “But if you remember anything else about how you found this cell phone, will you please come straight to me?”
“Thanks, Lelethu,” said Miss Nombembe. “I will always be grateful to you.” And she gave Lelethu a happy smile.
Lelethu walked out feeling relieved. She knew she had done the right thing. Now no one would be in trouble. Princess would understand when she told her about Dumile’s father.
* * *
She was wrong. At break she found Princess and her friends in the usual spot, and told them what she had done. Princess did not understand at all.
“I know everything about Dumile, you silly little bitch. I cannot believe you took it back, after all I did for you.” She stood up, and the other girls stood up too, all looking down on her. Lelethu scrambled up as well.
“But, Princess, Dumile’s father would have beaten him. He would have been expelled.”
“Who cares about that trash?” Princess said angrily. “He can look after himself. Here I am, looking after you, and you throw it back in my face. So ungrateful.”
“Princess, I’m sorry, but –”
“Don’t but anything, you coward. If we weren’t at school I would hit you for all the trouble you’ve caused me. Now just get out of my way.” Princess pushed past her and walked off, the other girls following her like a herd of sheep.
“But –” Lelethu called after her. Princess turned around and swore at her, loudly, for everyone to hear. Then she walked away.
Lelethu couldn’t believe it. Maybe Princess was someone with a terrible temper like her mother. Maybe later she would laugh and apologise to Lelethu.
They were not in her lessons with her until the next break. When she went out to find them they looked at her coldly.
“What are you doing here?” said Zikhona. “We don’t want you.”
“Princess –” Lelethu pleaded.
“What’s that squeaking noise?” said Princess. “Something around here is giving me a headache. Let’s go.” And she walked off, followed as usual by Pamela, Zikhona and Asiphe.
Lelethu was amazed that Princess was treating her like this. She felt the tears behind her eyes and tried to blink them away. But it was no use. They started gushing out. She swallowed hard so that she didn’t start sobbing and wailing.
Busi came up to her. “Are you all right?” she asked. Lelethu nodded, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, trying to control herself. “Come,” said Busi. “Here’s some toilet paper.”
Lelethu wiped her face. “Can I borrow your phone to send an SMS?” she asked.
“Sure,” said Busi, and handed it over.
Wat must I do 2 mak it up 2 u?
wrote Lelethu and pressed Send. She waited for a second but no SMS returned. She handed the phone back to Busi.
“Is this to do with Princess?” asked Busi. Lelethu nodded slowly. “You’ve seen how they treat me because I’m pregnant. Princess enjoys hurting people. You need to leave her alone.”
Princess remembered all the rude words to Busi. Now she realised what they were about. She looked down at Busi’s stomach.
“No, I’m not showing yet,” said Busi. “I can’t imagine what they’ll start saying then.” She sighed. Lelethu remembered how kind Busi had been in her first week at the school, and how she had pushed her away, thinking she was just feeling sorry for her.
As she walked back to class, Busi called her. “This must be for you,” she said, frowning. Lelethu took the phone quickly.
Get the effing fone bak
read the message.
She handed the phone back to Busi. “Thanks,” she said. Busi looked like she wanted to say something, but then she walked off.
Did she want Princess back so badly that she was prepared to steal the phone herself this time? She knew the answer to that. But there was no answer to the hurt and betrayal she felt in her heart.
* * *
How was it that in English that day they were finishing a story about friendship? It was a story about a girl, Jane, who pretended to be very rich in order to befriend another girl who was a businessman’s daughter. The daughter found out Jane was poor, and rejected her. But then the businessman went bankrupt, and the story ended with the daughter going to ask Jane for forgiveness for her behaviour.
“Would you forgive Jane?” asked Miss Nombembe. The class chorused loud ‘Yes’s, and even louder ‘No’s.
“Let me ask a more important question,” said Miss Nombembe, once she had got them quiet.“What are the important qualities of friendship?”she asked, looking around at the class. “Do you like people only for the way they look, or for how rich they are, or for the brand of their phone? Or do you like them because of what’s in their hearts?”
The class knew the answer. “No, Miss, the heart is important. Not what people look like.”
We all say that, thought Lelethu. We all say that and it’s only now that I understand what that really means. She looked in a daze as Miss Nombembe wrote qualities on the board like loyalty, trust, support, fun. Each word cut into her. Were she and Princess ever really friends? Had Princess ever really liked her for who she was?
The answer was obvious. Princess and her friends had never truly been interested in her. She had been like a pet, something to play with. And did they really even like each other, thought Lelethu, remembering Princess accusing Asiphe of flirting with Siyabonga? They were all trying so hard to get Princess’s approval that they never really listened to or supported one another.
She thought of Pholisa, and the hurt that she must be carrying in her heart. She, Lelethu, had also been a two-faced friend.
* * *
How can I have become someone so ugly, she thought, that I have rejected one of my oldest friends? She hoped that she would see Pholisa at the school gate, standing there like before, waiting for her. But she wasn’t surprised when Pholisa wasn’t there after school. She knew she had only herself to blame.
As she walked home, Bontle came running after her. “Dumile was not expelled today,” she said to Lelethu.
“That’s good,” said Lelethu.
“I wonder what happened?” Bontle replied.
Lelethu carried on walking and didn’t look at her. “Maybe someone brought the phone back after all.”
Bontle whispered something that she didn’t hear, and then grabbed and squeezed her hand. They walked hand in hand for a few steps before they pulled away from each other gently.
Lelethu’s sense of betrayal and sadness was fading. In a funny way a part of her felt relief – relief that now that she didn’t have to play Princess’s game and keep wondering how to please her, what not to do.
Bontle interrupted her thoughts. “Did your friend find you the other day? She wanted to surprise you.”
All too clearly Lelethu remembered Pholisa’s face, shocked and hurt. “Yes, but now I don’t know where she lives.”
“Didn’t she tell you?” Bontle was surprised. “She came around to the house yesterday. And she wrote down her address, with a note, because I told her you didn’t have a phone any more. But I thought she’d find you.”
That was s
omething else Lelethu needed to do now. To make it right with Pholisa. And then she could start again.
When they got home Bontle rummaged in the pile of school papers on the table. “Here it is.” She handed it to Lelethu, who took it into the bedroom.
On one side was the address. On the other side was a scrawl of words. Lelethu smiled at Pholisa’s dreadful handwriting that made all the teachers complain. She was one of the few people who could read it:
I can’t believe you treat me this way,
That you don’t want me to come and stay.
I like who you are.
Those girls just want to do your hair.
I know your heart.
Do those girls really care?
What has happened to you in Cape Town?
What has happened to who you are?
I thought I knew you,
But you feel very far.
Lelethu put her head in her arms and sobbed.
Chapter 15
The next day she started off to school alone. On the way she met Busi, and they walked together, chatting. At the school gate she saw Princess. She waved, but felt her heart beat faster. She was not prepared for Princess’s response.
Princess grinned and nudged the girl next to her, who pointed her out to the two girls next to her. Soon the whole group of girls was looking at her, laughing.
Lelethu felt her face burning. What was this about? They must have agreed to laugh at her as punishment. But she would cope.
She went to her first class: Maths. Usually she sat at the back and nobody noticed her. Now as she walked in the other students looked at her, some laughing, others pointing her out to the person next to them. It was like a bad dream where she had gone to school with no clothes on. Why were they laughing at her?
It wasn’t only the girls. There was a group of boys looking at her too, smiling and sniggering. Surely Princess couldn’t have persuaded everyone else to mock her too? She sat down and the ripples of laughter only stopped when the Maths teacher yelled at the class. “What’s wrong with you lot today? Do you all want to fail? You know you’ve got a test coming up!”
Only then did the students seem to stop noticing her, and start working. She wiped her face in case there was something on it, but nothing seemed to come off. She wanted to go to the toilet to check in the mirror if there was something there, but she couldn’t bear to walk out with everyone looking at her again. Only when everyone had left for the next lesson did she get up to leave.
At break it was worse. Almost half the students in the school were pointing at her, laughing. There was no one she felt able to ask what was going on. On her way to the toilets she saw a girl in her grade showing a group of matric girls a cell phone, and that group also started looking at Lelethu, and laughing.
A boy came up to her, one of the mean ones who was one of the biggest boys in the school although he was only in Grade 8. “Hey, sexy, want to take your clothes off for me?”
What was happening, she wondered? And then all of a sudden she knew. That picture of her without her shirt. Princess had spread the photo to everyone she could. Now all people saw when they looked at her was the girl who took her shirt off.
She ran to the toilets, hardly seeing where she was going. Once she got there she closed the cubicle door and retched into the toilet bowl, but nothing came out.
She heard voices outside the door. “This toilet is the only one that works, chommie,” one girl was saying.
Lelethu recognised the voice – it was Busi. Had Busi seen the photograph? She heard the answer soon enough.
“Did you see that picture of the new girl on Mxit?” said Busi.
“Yes,” the friend replied. “I was so shocked. I knew she was trying to be cool, but I didn’t realise that she was like that. Weren’t you friendly with her?”
“I was,” said Busi. “That’s why I’m also so surprised. I can’t believe she would want to do such a thing. Just shows how you don’t know people very well.”
Lelethu felt like someone had stabbed her. Didn’t Busi, of all people, know how hurtful it was when people judged you – people who didn’t know the whole story? She waited to hear more – some words that showed Busi still liked her. But all she heard was the sound of the toilet door banging shut as they left.
* * *
The bell rang and everyone slowly started moving to class. Lelethu could not go to another class. She had to find help, speak to someone who would support her. She remembered Miss Nombembe’s kind words, and the discussion they had had in class. Maybe she would understand. She went to her classroom and knocked on the door.
“I’m busy now,” Miss Nombembe said, opening the door. “My class is writing a test. I can’t leave them.” Then she saw Lelethu’s face. “Lelethu, I will see you later.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Don’t worry. I know you had a part in taking my phone, but I’m so glad you brought it back. Don’t get yourself upset. I will never tell anyone.”
Lelethu felt her stomach tighten. So Miss Nombembe thought she was a thief. There was no way she could tell her now about the photo as well. What would she think of her then: a thief and a slut? No, she had to get away, out of the school.
She walked fast to the gate, not caring if anyone saw her. She wasn’t coming back anyway. Two boys wolf-whistled at her. “Hey, Lelethu, sexy babe,” they called out. How did they know her name? Had Princess put that in as well?
She imagined Bontle seeing the photo, and wanted to be sick all over again. What would Bontle think of her cousin now? Hopefully, hopefully Bontle would never see the photo. She was not friends with Princess on Mxit. But Lelethu knew that these things had ways of spreading like a fire.
Once she was outside she felt as lost as before. Where could she go now? Who would listen to her, understand her, love her, even though she was being humiliated by the whole school?
Pholisa. Where was she, and how could she find her?
She would go home and fetch Pholisa’s address. Then maybe she would phone her mother, and go home with Pholisa, back to the Eastern Cape. That’s all she wanted to do right now – to get away from this terrible place that had made her into someone she could hardly recognise any more.
At the house she felt so ill, she lay on the bed and buried her face in the pillow. She could hear the minute hand of the clock in the kitchen ticking. She tried to get herself up, to go and find Pholisa. But her body felt heavy.
Then she heard voices, and the sound of the key turning in the lock. It was Bontle – Bontle and her mother. Just from the tone of their voices, before she even heard the words photograph and bra, she knew what they were talking about.
“Molweni, Mama, Bontle,” she called, getting up quickly. She had to give them her side of the story. She burst into the kitchen as they came through the door. They both turned to look at her. Her aunt looked furious; Bontle looked sad.
“How could you do such a thing to me?” said her aunt, her voice getting shrill. “You disgusting little girl.” She sat down heavily in her armchair.
“Auntie –” Lelethu started pleading. But her aunt was not interested.
“Don’t start coming with your stories. The news has gone out everywhere. My niece, naked, on everyone’s phone and computer. With her name as well.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” tried Lelethu.
“It was definitely you in that photo,” said Bontle. “I saw it.”
“Exactly,” said her aunt. “Of course you knew someone was taking your picture. And that wasn’t even enough. No, you had to spread it everywhere to shame your family.”
“I didn’t do it,” said Lelethu.
“Get out of this room,” said Auntie. “I don’t want to see you right now.”
Lelethu ran to the bedroom. She waited for Bontle to come in.
“It wasn’t me who s
pread it,” said Lelethu. “You must believe me.”
“I just can’t believe you even posed for that photo,” said Bontle. “My friends are so shocked. I keep telling them you’re not that bad.”
“I’m not – you know I’m not!” protested Lelethu in tears.
“My friends are laughing at me too now,” said Bontle. “And other people at school. I can’t believe you did this.”
“I didn’t mean –” started Lelethu.
“I’m tired,” said Bontle. “I don’t want to talk any more. I wish I had my own room back.” And with that she got her school books and went out into the living room.
Chapter 16
Lelethu fetched the address and the poem. She could hardly read the address, what with Pholisa’s writing and her tear stains on the paper. But she had to try to work it out. She walked down the crowded streets, past the hawkers selling meat, the shack offering to fix punctures. It was still not home to her yet, and she did not know her way around. She asked a woman selling vegetables where to find the address.
The woman had kind eyes, and after telling her, she asked, “Sisi, are you in trouble?”
Lelethu’s heart nearly broke at these first kind words she had heard for days. “It is all right, Mama, I just need to find this friend.”
The woman took an apple from the top of her pile and wiped it shiny clean on her apron. “Eat this. You look like you need it.”
“Enkosi, Mama,” said Lelethu, realising she had not eaten since her breakfast porridge.
The apple was sweet, but she had to force it down. She threw the apple core away and a stray dog jumped on it, munching greedily. This was a poor area, with lots of shacks. How would she find the right one?
Another passer-by with a small child helped her, but impatiently. How different from the woman selling vegetables, who had been so friendly. For a while Lelethu thought she would never find the address, but finally she saw a street that had a street name, and it was the one she was looking for.
Pholisa’s granny’s shack was one of the smallest, squashed against a wall at the end of the street. There was rubbish blowing in the yard, and a door that looked like it was about to fall off its hinges.
Two-Faced Friends Page 6