Peet and the rest were roaring with laughter then, and sped away without waiting for their free meal.
***
Darryn walked fast and defiantly towards the bus stop. He could hardly contain his anger. He heard Allison’s voice calling after him a few meters down the road from Best Burger, “Darryn, stop! Wait for me! We need to talk about this!”
He finally turned around to face her and said, “This is none of your business, Allison. Just let me go home. This night was bad enough as it is.” Darryn felt emotion swell in his throat and chest, and fought as hard as he could not to cry in front of Allison.
“What happened? Were those the same guys who you said were dicks to you before? You have to tell Monty what happened. You don’t need to lose your job over nothing.” It was rare for Darryn to see Allison being so sincere. She was usually playing one or other character or talking fancifully about her dreams, and seeing her being so real made Darryn’s emotions even more intense.
“I’m just sick of being a punching bag for everyone. How many more times would they have come back to torture me? Am I just supposed to take it? Smile about it? I have more self-respect than that, okay? And if Monty wants to treat me like I’m worthless, like I don’t put in a hundred percent for that stupid place… I just don’t need that in my life!”
“You can’t leave me here alone, Darryn. Just come back and tell Monty what they did to you last time and how they’ve been targeting you. He will understand. He’s full of it but he isn’t an idiot. He knows how those Ridgemont boys can be. And he knows about your situation at home. He won’t just fire you like that.”
“Just go back, Allison. You don’t need to lose your job too. You need to be saving up just as much as I do, so go back. I’ll find something else. Something where I don’t have to see those guys.”
“Darryn…” Allison started, but he was already rushing away towards the bus stop, trying to get away from that place as fast as he could.
Chapter 10
JP walked into the swimming stadium with a sense of foreboding. He saw the pool, where he had spent so many hours practising, and he already missed it. The stadium was empty and he walked directly to Coach Tyson’s office, ready to face the music. He knocked on the door, and Coach Tyson called for him to enter.
“How can I help you, Terreblanche?” Coach Tyson asked him, sitting at his desk on the far side of the room. His desk was stacked with applications for sponsorships, paperwork and training materials. JP walked in and sat down across from Coach, trying to display an air of confidence by pulling his shoulders back, but his nervous eyes gave him away.
“I need to talk to you about something important, Coach. My studies have been suffering recently and I’ve decided that it will be best if I quit the swim team. I can’t afford distractions any more. I hope you understand.”
Coach Tyson seemed agitated by what JP was saying. “Distractions? What are you talking about, JP? You are one of our top swimmers. I was ready to make you one of our senior captains next year. How is this a distraction?”
JP was surprised by this; he did not know that Coach was considering him for captain. He decided that he should ignore the comment, and remain firm in his resolve: “It’s just not a priority for me with the direction my life is going in, Coach. I need to do well to get into business school once I graduate next year. And I’ve already failed Stats last year. I just need to get my head in my studies for now.”
Coach Tyson got up from his chair and walked around his desk. He leaned against the front of his desk, staring directly at JP. “I heard about what happened last week. The other boys in the team were laughing about it, and I finally got it out of them when you didn’t show up for practice. You’re a very talented swimmer, JP. You have the potential to go far.”
“But not far enough,” JP interjected. “You know I’m not good enough to make the national team, Coach. I’ve been practising more than ever these past few months. Trying to be as good as I can be. Trying to be better than… But you know that I’m not going further than the intervarsity team. Even though I love being here, I love swimming, and I know I’m good, there is no career here for me. I need to focus on something where I can be a success one day. You and I both know who the real star of the team is.”
“JP, it’s not always about being the best. I see you in the pool. I see how different you are when you are swimming. You might think that you’re just like the other guys on the team, but there’s something special about you. Guys like Peet and the others are only doing this because it gets them popularity on campus. They don’t practise as hard as you do. You know what it is? It’s passion. This is where you feel at home. It’s what you love doing. Don’t give all of that up just because you’re afraid of where it will lead.”
JP felt his face become tense and emotion swelled in his eyes. Coach’s words were unsettling him. “I just want to be good at something. I want to be respected for something in my life, something that I did. I don’t want to be a screw-up all the time.”
“JP, don’t you see how the other guys on the team look up to you? Don’t you see that a part of your talent is that you can bring people together and be a leader? They see your talent, but they also see how much you love what you do, and they follow you for that. They listen to you. That’s a rare quality, and that’s part of why you’re so invaluable to the team. It’s not only about your skill, and you are very skilled and dedicated. It’s also about how you can bring out the best in others. We need you here.”
JP sat in silence, fighting off tears. He imagined his grandfather’s face, the disappointed look that he was so used to. Coach Tyson spoke again, more gently than before: “Can we make a deal, then? Get a tutor to help you with your studies. Get your grades up. And stay on the team until after the finals in a few weeks. Give semifinals a chance. Help me to steer this team towards one of the best intervarsity competitions we’ve ever had. After that, we can talk again, and if you still want to quit I’ll understand. What do you say?”
JP nodded in agreement. He was relieved, but also uneasy about the decision. He would have to hide the fact that he was still on the swim team from his grandfather. But he knew that he did not want to quit.
He got up from the chair and walked towards the door. Coach Tyson called out to him as he turned the handle: “JP, you are valued here. I hope you know that.”
JP walked out of Coach’s office and went to the locker room. He decided that he would do a few laps then to work off some of the energy from his tense conversation with Coach. As he walked into the locker room he heard movement from inside, and Darryn Fredericks stepped out of the shower area. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, his tall, toned body glowing from the heat of the shower. Darryn’s wet hair was slicked backwards, and his lips were slightly parted as he breathed deeply, clearly still worked up from his recent swim. Darryn’s eyes caught JP’s as he noticed him, but he did not say anything. After a moment’s hesitation, Darryn walked over to his locker and took out his change of clothes.
JP remembered Coach Tyson’s words, about how he was someone that the other guys looked up to. He knew that he was jealous of Darryn’s talent, but he didn’t want to have the continued tension between the two of them. He wanted to make peace with Darryn, and walked towards him, saying, “How are you doing, Darryn? I just wanted to apologize again about how we all acted… how I treated you at the party a few weeks ago. I know we don’t really talk much, but I don’t want us to be enemies. Maybe we can even be friends.” JP tried to offer his friendliest smile, but Darryn remained expressionless as he found a fresh shirt from his gym bag.
“Well, with friends like these…” Darryn said, bitingly. He dropped his towel, and JP found himself looking at Darryn’s naked body as he found fresh clothes to change into. He averted his eyes.
JP spoke again: “I’m trying, okay. I know you don’t like me. You’ve made that abundantly clear from the start.”
Darryn turned towards him and moved closer to him, st
ill fully naked, “Are you being serious right now? You’re trying to play nice with me when your friends are trying to ruin my life?”
“What are you talking about, Darryn? I know they are a bit rough sometimes, but…”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what they did. You all probably laughed about it afterwards. Peet and his henchmen are probably so proud of themselves.” Darryn’s eyes were burning with anger. His broad chest was still slightly wet from the shower, and his exposed, slim body was shaking with anger in front of JP. JP tried to pretend like it was not distracting for him, although he found his eyes wandering involuntarily.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Darryn. Did they do something to you?”
Darryn’s expression changed to one of confusion. “You really don’t know? They got me fired from my job, that’s what. Last week they came to my window at Best Burger and lied to my boss, trying to get me in trouble. I don’t know what’s wrong with people like you; you think it’s funny to hurt someone else. Do you really think my life is just the punchline of your joke? Well, you can tell your friends that they did me a favor. I won’t have to deal with jerks like them at that job anymore.”
JP was shocked. His mind immediately went back to the night he was out with Peet, when Peet had asked him if he wanted them to mess with Darryn. He didn’t know they would go this far. Guilt coursed through him. He had an impulse to tell Darryn everything, standing there in front of him as he was being so vulnerable, feeling somehow closer to him than he had ever been. JP had been responsible for sending goons after him; he owed him at least honesty. But he knew that Darryn would push him away immediately if he told him that he was the one who had told Peet to go after Darryn. He knew that it would drive a wedge between them that could never be transcended. All JP managed to say was, “I really didn’t know. I’m so sorry, Darryn. There must be a way to get your job back, though?”
Darryn smirked at this, and turned around to walk back towards his locker. JP averted his eyes again, feeling like looking at Darryn’s naked body at a moment like this made it even more invasive. It gave him an uncomfortable sense of having power over Darryn, a power that he didn’t want any more.
Darryn spoke again, the venom in his words clearly audible: “Oh, you want to come to my rescue and get my job back? Poor little coloured kid can’t do anything for himself, right? Don’t patronize me. I know you hate me, and I know your friends hate me, so let’s just be comfortable with hating each other, okay? I don’t care if you knew nothing about what they were doing to me. You’re still one of them, and you’re just like them, so I don’t need to have anything to do with you.”
JP was stunned. Darryn’s words cut like a knife into him. He didn’t understand why he suddenly felt so many conflicting emotions towards Darryn. Before, he had simply seen him as an arrogant first-year student, who clearly knew that he was a good swimmer and looked down on the rest of the team because of it. But now, he was seeing Darryn as so much more than that. He had no idea how much he felt victimized by the others, and seeing Darryn being so vulnerable, beaten down, had shifted something inside of JP. He watched Darryn get dressed, take his gym bag and leave without saying another word to JP or even looking in his direction. JP was the one who had told Peet to go after him, and now he was filled with regret. He was determined to make it right, no matter what it took.
Chapter 11
Darryn got off the bus at the stop close to his home. The afternoon sun was warm and comforting on his face, even though he had had an unpleasant day up to that point. He had gone back to Best Burger to pick up his last paycheck from Monty. Monty seemed indifferent towards him, hardly even greeting Darryn, and handed him the paycheck. “Don’t expect full pay for your last night, young man.” Darryn took the envelope without saying a word, and immediately got back onto the bus and headed home.
He had decided to try and have a more positive outlook on things. He could probably make more money with another job, and at least he didn’t have to deal with Monty anymore. He had printed out a stack of résumés earlier in the day, and kept them in the backpack that hung over his shoulder. He would start the search for a new job as soon as possible. Maybe he could try being a waiter at a restaurant closer to town over the weekends, he thought. Tips would definitely be better than the meagre wages he earned at Best Burger.
Darryn walked briskly towards his home. He looked at the neighborhood around him with critical eyes then. There were fences with graffiti on them, grown men with thick jackets and baggy jeans sitting on street corners, and the park that was two blocks from his house was broken down to the point where it was no longer safe for children to play in. Darryn knew why he was working so hard and why he couldn’t let the actions of the other guys on the swim team deter him from his goals. He was trying to help his family. He wanted to do his best so that they could all have a better life. He knew that his father couldn’t do it alone.
Darryn finally arrived at the door to their small two-bedroom house. The door had a cross hanging from it, a symbol that his father had hung out in honor of his mother, who had died when Darryn was only twelve and Billy was barely five-years-old. Since that day, his father had never been the same. The love that Darryn’s parents shared was so strong that losing it made his father a shadow of his former self. Regardless, he pushed on for his children, doing the best he could for them. Darryn felt a wave of renewed determination push through him as he smiled at the cross on the door. He opened the door and went into the lounge, where his father was sitting and staring at a pile of bills on the coffee table. Angelo bundled up the bills when he saw Darryn and tried to stash them behind him on the couch, giving Darryn a weak smile. “Why are you home so early, my boy? I thought you usually have work on Tuesdays when you don’t have classes.”
Darryn didn’t want to worry his father just yet, and decided that he would only tell him about losing the job when he had already found a new one. “I decided to take the afternoon off,” he lied. “I planned a bit of a surprise for Billy. Mario and I are gonna take him to the water park when he gets home from school.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun.” His father reached for the wallet that was sitting on the coffee table. “Here, let me give you some money so you can pay for it.”
“Don’t be silly, dad. I just got my paycheck. Besides, I know you need to pay for Billy’s tuition, and I’ve been saving up a bit of money to help you with that.” Darryn took out his own wallet and handed a few R100 notes to his father. “This is from working a few extra shifts over the past couple of weeks. I just wanted to do my part because I know you’re trying to get Billy into the private school.” Darryn knew that his father would guess that only a few extra shifts would never be able to earn him that much money, but his father said nothing about it.
“Thank you, my boy. You know I hate taking money from you, but it will really help Billy to be in the new school. I’ve been trying to save where I can, but the registration fee is due in a few weeks if I want to get him enrolled before the end of the semester, and I don’t really see it happening just yet. We might just have to think of something else if we can’t get him into the school. But that’s my worry; you should be focusing on your studies and having fun with your friends.”
“Don’t worry, dad,” Darryn said, sitting down next to his father and giving him a reassuring smile. “I want the best for Billy too, and I won’t let you worry about this alone. I’ll help wherever I can. And this money is money that I don’t need right now, so I want you to use it for Billy. Okay?”
“Only if you’re sure.” His father’s eyes became hazy and a dreamy expression formed on his face. “Your mother always used to love taking the two of you to the water park. Do you remember when you accidently ran into her and she fell into the pool, fully clothed?” They both laughed at this memory, and Darryn experienced it with a tinge of sadness. “You know, she would be so proud of you right now, Darryn. She always said that you were a gifted swimmer.
And she wanted you to go for it. And now you’re doing it. On the Ridgemont University team.”
Darryn rested his cheek in his palm, and said, “She used to say to me: the only person who can make your dreams come true is you. I still say that to myself when I get down sometimes.” Darryn saw his father’s eyes well up with tears, and he moved in to hug him. “Don’t worry, dad. We are going to be okay. I know it. We’ve faced obstacles but we are strong and proud, and we’ll rise above all of it. Okay?”
His father wiped away his tears and said, “Absolutely.”
At that moment the front door opened and Billy walked in, looking surprised to see Darryn there. “You’re home!” he exclaimed. He threw down his book bag and ran over to hug his brother. “What are you doing here? You’re never home in the afternoon.”
“Hey buddy! I just thought I’d come get you before dad left for work and your nurse arrives. Guess what: we’re going to the water park with Mario. What do you say?”
Billy’s youthful features lit up with glee. He pushed his fists into the air and screamed, “Yes!” and he ran to his room to change. Darryn and his father were laughing at the excitement that Billy was clearly feeling.
“Thank you for doing this for him, Darryn. I spend so much time working and worrying that I don’t get to see him that happy these days.”
“Hey,” Darryn started, “if you can’t have a little bit of fun in life, what’s the point, right?”
***
Mario drove them to the water park, which was only about half an hour’s drive away in the direction of Muizenberg beach. Billy was humming happily on the car ride over, and Darryn knew that it was worth the expense to bring him to one of his favorite places; even though he knew that he needed to save as much money as he could, the look of excitement and joy on Billy’s face was enough to convince Darryn that he had done the right thing.
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