Between Us

Chapter 7: Mother

Most people like to spend their mornings snoozing their alarms and ducking their heads under the covers like it will make the sun go away. By that time, Sihle was already coming back from her morning jog.

As sweaty and as tired as she was, she had no time to take a break. She stepped through the door to her bedroom and threw off all her clothes to take a well-deserved shower. Once she was done, she put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and sat at her study table. With her books in front of her, she absorbed as much of her Life Sciences notes as she could. To take away from the eerie silence of the big house she played soft music through the speaker that sat at her bedside table, the purple speaker was a gift, one of the very few gifts she had ever received in her whole lifetime. A bit of noise was better than no noise.

An hour later she made her school lunch and packed it neatly into its bag. As she was about to leave she was stopped in her tracks by the sound of a female voice she barely recognized.

"Uyaphi?"

It was the ever so graceful voice of Thulile Mhlongo. Quite a surprise that she would show her face here, what wasn't a surprise was that she was obviously shitfaced drunk and was wearing what looked to be last week's clothes. It made Sihle want to take another shower, with all of her clothes on. Thulile only ever drinks when she knows she won't be seeing or representing any clients. She wouldn't dare take risks like showing up to court drunk, like someone who went viral for throwing up on his client. All of that information put together meant one thing, Sihle saw her mother in a drunken -if not hungover- state constantly.

Yayy

Her father was somewhat the same, except she never saw him, period. He preferred sleeping in hotels for weeks on end instead of showing up to parent-teacher meetings. At some point, he had even sent in his assistant Khaya to take his place seeing as he was 'held up at work'. Yep, hard at work in a hotel room with a bimbo somewhere, as her mother would put it. It was never really a mystery as to why they were still together. The image of a Lawyer/Lawyer power couple did their firm a lot of good. And the fact that they were high school sweethearts was just the cherry on top of the fucking sundae. So they preferred to be miserable yet rich.

"I'm headed to school," Sihle said, already turning to leave. She had neither the time nor the patience for her mother's theatrics.

"Ain't it a Saturday?" She sat down the glass of what seemed to be water down -could have been vodka who knows- and rubbed her temples.

Long night hey?

"It's Tuesday," Sihle answered.

"Oh shit okay. Don't know why I thought it was Sunday."

Saturday. Are we still talking?

"Sihle, actually I need you to pick something up for me at-"

"Mom I am late and you are wasting my time." Sihle turned her back on her mother and shut the door loudly behind herself.

She instantly regretted it.

On the way to school, all she could think of was how she was going to face her mother after school. Thulile, much like her husband Themba, was quick to forget about parent-teacher meetings but she never forgets being disrespected. Sihle was about to have a long day, she could feel it.

¤¤¤

Sihle was at her business class with Mrs Lubisi, the teacher with the longest pants in school. No one knew if it was like that because she was short or if she simply liked the way her pants looked all scrunched up at the bottom.  Sihle has been at Edgeview for four years and she was no closer to finding out.

It is difficult to concentrate in class when your mind is preoccupied. Having someone stare at you the whole time does not make it any better.

"What is it Fezeka?" Sihle asked the boy who was not looking at the board like the rest of the class but was instead looking at her. Fezeka resembled a pimple on Sihles face that took forever to pop and when it did pop, it would just come back two days later on the very same spot. They have been dancing this dance since grade ten. He would ask her out, she would say no, he would insist, and she would resist. Until he got tired of asking and left her alone, only to come back again. Fezeka was the guy who hung around the 'not all men' type, so that was an immediate turn-off. To top it all off he was extremely sexist.

Yayy.

"Have I told you how ssseexy you look today?" He said, leaning closer to her, his drag on the word sexy exposing his slight lisp. She scooted away.

"Six times already Fezeka, I don't need more," Sihle replied and continued making notes that made no sense to her.

"How about I buy you some lunch?" Said the relentless cunt.

"No thank you," Sihle replied promptly, almost choking on the amount of body spray that wafted in her direction.

Mrs  Lubisi finished her lesson, meaning the learners could do what they wanted now. Most opted to do the homework they failed to do yesterday. People liked Mrs Lubisis's class because once she was done with what she wanted to teach for the day she was done. Everyone found it better to concentrate and learn because of the free time they received at the end of class. It was a good tactic on Mrs Lubisis's end.

In her free time, Sihle decided to play some Claude Debussy and take a nap. It was beneficial for her in two, nay three vital ways.

1. She would stop thinking about her mother.
2. Fezeka would lay off.
3. She needed the nap.

She needed the nap so much that she didn't hear the bell when it rang. She was gently woken by her teacher when she noticed that she was asleep.

"You don't want to spend your break cooped up in here with me dearie." Mrs. Lubisi said to Sihle.

"I didn't realize the bell had rung." She responded.

"Are you alright Esihle? You're not one to sleep in class." Mrs Lubisi asked the yawning girl.

It makes sense that my teacher cares more about me than my parents.

"Long day. Thank you, ma'am." Sihle gathered her things and gently put them in her backpack, and with a wave goodbye and a long yawn, she left the class.

She made her way to the bench where she had lunch with Zola, who was already there waiting for her.

"Good morrow m'lady," Sihle said to her friend with a curtsey.

T'is better having set mine eyes unto your own." Zola responded with a bow, and a small peck on Sihles hand.

"You guys are such nerds." Njabulo countered as she walked over to them with Siya, his eyes darting between the two girls.

"Just say you're jealous Njabulo." Zola offered and finished off the sandwich she started eating a few seconds ago.

"I find it scary that you don't chew food." Said Siya, regarding Zola with fear in his eyes. They had been spending their lunches together for the past weeks.  Siya and Zola mostly saw each other during rehearsals since they shared no classes.

Amidst a Big Mouth related argument about who Jay should end up with, Sihle packed her lunchbox and announced her parting.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow okay." She said to the group.

"M'lady."

"M'lady." Her lady Zola responded.

Sihle then took off and went by the school hall as she normally does, she made a 90-degree turn right past the infamously squeaky hall doors and headed inside the gym bathrooms.

Lloyd was already waiting for her, a joint emitting smoke between his long fingers. His thin body sprawled carelessly on one of the indoor benches.

"Hey." He said and pursed his lips ready to emit another puff of smoke from his mouth. Sihle sat next to him on the bench. She slowly took the joint from his hand, brought it to her lips and pulled, the end of the joint turning orange. She closed her eyes and paused, letting the Indica settle in and her shoulders slump. She let out the smoke and chuckled lightly.

"Hey." She said to Lloyd as she brought her lips closer to his and felt his warmth against her own.