The camp day arrived; everybody was excited for the
day. It was announced that there’d be only three
schools in Tembisa that’ll be attending the camp, which
were Tsosoloso Secondary, Eqinisweni and also my
school, Ponelopele. All thanks to our previous matriculants for
passing their grade 12 with good results. They did well in their
class and we were given this opportunity for a career
exhibition in their honour. Being in one of these schools was
the biggest flex. Every year people knew either Tsosoloso,
Ponelopele or Eqinisweni would be among the top five. Their
positions in the table played around each other, but each
school was in the top three of the best schools in Midrand and
Tembisa. Year 1997, my school was on third position. The
previous matriculants obtained an average score of 82% with
50 distinctions in total. The school in second position was
Eqinisweni, with an average grade of 88% and 52 distinctions.
Lastly, the school in first position was Tsosoloso, with 95%
grade average and an overall of 90 distinctions. This was the
highest-grade average in the history of Schools in
Johannesburg D9. The rest of the list down played around
60% and 70% grade average.
This is how it went; they selected top five learners from
each class and luckily, I was among the top five in the list of
my class, 12C. My school had nine matric classes and the total number of learners selected were forty-five. Everyone
that was on the list was excited for the camp. It was an opportunity of a lifetime for us poor children who came from poor families. Our parents could not afford to take us to these exciting career exhibitions, so this was a great opportunity. From my class, they selected the following people; Lucia, Julia, Edward, Siphokazi and myself. I couldn’t believe how I made it to this list. I knew my average grades were not above 60% and yet, there I was, in the list of top five. When they
called the list with my name for the first time, I thought they
made a mistake, and that they would soon realize it and rectify the mistake, but fortunately not, my luck was with me. I am
sure the rest of my classmates were as astounded as I was. I
mean, who thought a popular girl in the school would be in the top five best student in her class – oh wait, now I know why I
was part of this list. I was popular and they were using my popularity for their benefit. But again, which status did I really
have? What’s my status got to do with my grades? It’s not
even like I was known international, I was only known in my school for obvious reasons – my beauty and my kinky
personality.
The saddest part about this camp was that my best friend
Sizwe and my boyfriend Luyanda were not selected. It
would’ve been a great thing to have my best friend and my
boyfriend in one place, far away from my parents. All I could
think of were the kinky stuff I would do to him [NOT SEX
THOUGH]. Just making him happy in another way a woman
can.
I arrived at school at 7:35am and found other learners
outside the school yard waiting.
WHILST WE WERE
WAITING for the buses to arrive, some students were
capturing pictures while others listened to music on their cell
phones. People like me were sitting alone on the far corner
wondering how everything was gonna pan out without my best friend. It was obvious that I was going to be lonely and bored.
For a popular girl, no one tried to associate themselves with
me, because they thought I was full of myself and that I was
rude, I never cared less about what they thought of me
anyway. I had everything I needed to survive and I needed
them not for their company. Okay, I’m lying, how I wished I
could’ve treated them better and open. This was the time
when I needed company more than anything. I was going to a
place I don’t know with people I was not close to. Strange. I
needed someone I could share my experiences with and none
of them fitted my goal.
We waited for full half hour before the buses arrived. Three
of them stopped at the school gate. My white Nike T-shirt
almost lost its colour after the sunburn. It was a mid-autumn
and the sun had just gazed its eye in the face of the earth.
When the buses finally arrived, I looked at my watch and it
was 09:40. We got into the buses in respective of our class
and names. They treated us like children. Shit. I hopped inside
the bus and just by the door, Olvera, the school guard in his
uniform had stationed himself. Behind him, his assistant
arranged himself, the gruel was served out, he looked
desperate with hunger and reckless with misery. His
unpleasant look filled the whole bus and boys whispered each
other and winked at him mockingly. Olvera was a fat unhealthy
man. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel
of boys for a few seconds. The school guard who had been
directing children inside the bus was paralysed with wonder,
and the boys with fear.
I stopped my foot on the door and sent my eyes out to look
for a seat. The gaze of boys who had found their seats squeezed my confidence below recognition. I was rushing to
find my seat and end the year of a misery search. I searched
with my eyes while my body remained by the entrance of the
bus. My eyes saw my name right in the middle. I rushed over
to my seat without making eye contact with anyone. I passed
the row of six other seats and on the seventh one; I saw mine
and next to my seat, was Lucia (my classmate) seated before
the window. Lucia was one of the brightest student in the
school and she was a nerd of some sort. She always was into
her books and some of my classmates nicknamed her Lucia-the-nerd, and it eventually reached the whole school.
Everyone started calling her Lucia-the-nerd and some
shortened it to LTN. I greeted Lucia and took my seat. This
was going to be a long journey with Lucia on my side. I can’t
stand bookworms. Don’t get me wrong, I loved people who
were into books, but as you know, too much of anything is not attractive. Such people easily bore me. My mother bores me
too. She’s forever in her bible and it’s not attractive at all. Lucia was forever in her books, just like my mother was in her bible. I was surprised not to see her practicing maths in the bus
because it was in her nature to. She was wearing headphones
and she probably was listening to math audio lessons. Anything is possible with these bookworms. You might think they are listening to music whereas they are listening to the
record lessons of Biology. She then took out a journal from her rucksack and that’s when I realized I had left mine home. How stupid I was. Mpumalanga was a long to travel without my
journal. I needed to capture every moment. When we were all inside, the bus drivers hit the footAlong the way, we stopped to grab food and drinks at the
garage, or in modern English – Fuel station. Those with rich
parents bought expensive things you could think of – your
pizzas and burgers. And then those with middle class parents
bought snacks and juice. I don’t know about those that were
below that, they probably bought amasi and amageu. When
everyone was done ordering and taking pictures, we
continued with our expedition. This time around I exchanged
seats with Lucia-the-nerd. I took the window seat while she
took my seat. My eyes could not leave the view from the
window. I loved seeing trees moving past my eyes as the bus
progressed. The feeling was great knowing that it was just me
and nature bonding together. When I moved my eyes to my
left, I was met with LTN eating pizza and I quickly moved my
eyes away to save myself from – I can’t say embarrassment
but ukurhala. A little while later, still starring at the view
through the window, LTN offered me pizza, like I was a
homeless cunt. I may not have had rich parents, but I wasn’t
a charity case either. I eat what I can afford. Please don’t ask
me what I bought because it’s a bit embarrassing. You bought
white bread and four sliced cheese. Yeah, it was your idea, Amo.
I wanted to buy something nice and you insisted I should buy
something cheap and save some cash for further destination.
Which I think you were right.
What I liked about LTN is that, although her parents were
loaded with money, she still was focused on her studies. I
think she wanted to make her life better and not depend on
her parents’ wealth. That’s what I admired about her. Some
spoilt brats lose focus while enjoying the riches of their
parents. They tend to think their parent’s money will last forever after they are gone. That’s one big mistake they make.
But help me understand, why do some people have all the luck
while others are miserable? They don’t have to work for things
while others have to sweat tears and blood.
