Between Us

Chapter 11: Passion

The drama club in Edgeview High was no joke. These kids were anything but slackers and they had an extremely good work ethic. Everyone arrived on time and they took each and every practice seriously. It was amazing how much work they got done considering the amount of fun they had. 

Ever since Miss Jensen announced that Zola and Siya would be understudies for the lead roles, the pair had more work to do. They had to practice for their roles as well as all the songs from the chorus, of which they were members. They spent the majority of practice time shadowing Thato and Randzu, the original leads who were also in their matric year. Thato and Randzu were great people so the four got to know each other better and would spend time together outside of practice as well, and Zola was glad to have made more friends outside of her small circle. 

After their rehearsal, Siya went to the spot where they all hung out before going home but Zola wasn't around. 

"Where's Zola?" He put his bag down and asked Randzu and Thato who lay on the grass comfortably. Thato played with Randzu's hair and softly massaged her scalp with his eyes closed.

"Not sure, she said she'd be back and went in the direction of the hockey field," Randzu said with her arms stretched toward the sky and slowly waving them around like a Raveena tune was playing in her head, and with the sunlight filtering in through the trees, it was a pretty sight. 

Siya, feeling like a third wheel, decided to follow Zola. He told the couple that he would be back and started walking. 

It was not long before he found her. Her short frame was skipping merrily towards the hockey field, her head bobbing in every direction making her hair bounce ever so slightly. She was walking towards Njabulo, she reached him and jumped into his arms and he spun her around. Siya stopped in his tracks and watched them. They shared a kiss, a passionate one. They smiled and laughed as they looked deep into each others eyes. They held hands and walked further into the field, away from him.

Siya's breathing became uneasy and he felt his chest constrict. 

He slowly backed away from the scene, then he walked away as fast as he could. He went back to Randzu and Thato and swiftly grabbed his backpack.

"Uhm guys, my mom is here early so I gotta go," Siya said to the two. 

Randzu sat up, "Oh, okay. Did you find Zola?" She asked.

"Yeah, I did." He sighed. 

"You okay man?" Thato asked him.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." Siya lied and left.

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Sihle lay on her bed, her cell phone was starting to feel hot against her face due to the hour she spent talking to Zola. It was a bit odd, they saw each other a few hours ago and they shared a few classes but it still felt like the hours they spent together were not enough. 

"Yo, I need to know, what is up with Fezeka?" Zola asked her friend about the douchebag who had been following her around since grade 10. He just radiated jackassery. 

"I'm guessing you saw what he did today?" Sihle responded, feeling a bit ashamed. The douchebag decided it would be a lovely gift to sing her a 'love song' or so he put it. What was the lovely ballad he sing to her you ask? Thotiana. Fezeka sang thotiana to Sihle at the top of his voice during class. Sihle immediately wanted to get on a plane and disappear forever. 

"Uhm hello! It was pretty hard to miss! I wonder what Mrs Davis did to him." Zola laughed as she recalled the scene in her head, "I'm pretty sure she could tell the lyrics weren't tasteful."

"What's the alternative? Are you trying to say our dear fifty-five years old Mrs Davis busts it down to thotiana in her living room on the weekends?" Sihle asked as she clutched her stomach from the pain of laughing.

"My mind just conjured up that image and I am mentally scarred! Njabulo would be dying at that." Zola said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Wait, Njabulo? Since when are you that close?" Sihle sat up on her bed and asked her friend.

"With who, Njabulo? We're not that close."

"Oh, so you just happened to be thinking about him at the most random of times? That is making a lot of sense." Sihle responded sarcastically. 

"Exactly, you get it," Zola answered. 

"Good, that means you're not dating, which is fantastic because his nickname is not Mr Player 3000 for kicks," Sihle said with a slightly disapproving look on her face.

"No one apart from you calls him Mr Player 300 Sihle." Zola rolled her eyes at her friend's stupid nickname.

"3000." She corrected.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever madam president. It's not like I can come to you for any dating advice anyway, you are more single than the spoon in the drawer that no one wants to use." Zola retorted. 

"Right. Single me," Sihle said soflty. She managed to keep her relationship a secret even from her closest friend, she had no idea why though. Lloyd would be more than happy for them to date openly and surely Zola would be able to keep a lid on it if she asked right? Plus, It isn't like Zola and her parents would ever cross paths anyway, she was worrying over nothing. Sihle gathered some courage and decided to tell her friend. 

"So-"

"Are you free on Saturdays?" Zola interrupted before Sihle could pour her heart out.

"Uhm... Saturdays in general or one in particular?" She asked. 

"In general, I wanna have a little get together with our friends," Zola said as she racked her brain trying to map out the event in question, "We'll do it when you're free since you are the busiest among us, Just let me know when then I'll arrange it."

"Uhm... sure, I'll see how this week goes," She replied.

"Okay, cool. What did you wanna say?" Zola asked.

"About what?" A confused Sihle responded. 

"We started talking at the same time and I cut you off, what did you want to say?" Zola repeated her question, genuinely curious about what she wanted to say.

"Oh, that. My mind is completely blank, I forgot." Sihle lied. 

Tomorrow, I'll tell her tomorrow.

"Okay, I have to go wake my dad up in the living room then go to bed." Zola said as she got up and stretched her lazy body, "I must bid you goodnight, my lady." 

"Although it brings me great sorrow I must do the same." Sihle did a little bow to no one and dropped the call. 

Zola's eyes lingered on her phone for a few seconds as 'M'lady♥️' flashed across the screen and she smiled, dragging her feet to the living room.