A Beautiful Mess.

1.

" In conclusion, let us not forget to take into consideration...Sindi?...Sindi are you listening", I said nudging Sindi just in time to stop her from falling face first into her bowl of cereal.
"Mhmmm...", she said as her eyes  tried to regain their vision.
"You didn't even listen to a word I said", I said in frustration as I put my cue cards away into my folder which I then placed in my book bag.

"Melo, I honestly don't understand why you need my opinion, you've been doing public speaking for how long now?"

"This is different Sindi, this is the decider on whether or not we go to the semifinals and Nonhle has been breathing down my neck about this solo round for the past 2 weeks"

"You'll be just fine, plus the competition is only in 3 days", Sindi said while grabbing her keys. She was still in the clothes she wore last night and her hair was a mess.
"You're not driving me, I'll go with the bus", I said grabbing my lunch and school bag and heading out.
"Hey, just because I have a babalas doesn't mean I can't take you to school", she followed behind me.

"Says the person who slept with a full face of make up on...I don't even get why you go out on a Sunday"
"Hey, you know there's that Sunday discount down at The Den"
"Whatever Sindi, you do you. As long as I'm not late for school" I said getting into the car before we headed off.

The car ride to school was the usual comfortable silence between me and Sindi, the only sound coming from the radio tuned into our favorite breakfast show and the occasional rattling that came from the car engine which Sindi refused to get checked out, saying she'd rather buy a new wig with that money than spend it on a perfectly good car. According to Sindi's definition a perfectly good car is a car that gets you from point A to point B. She has a point but I still think she needs to get the car serviced, you never know what could happen one day.

"I might be a bit late today, we're shooting double episodes down at the studio", Sindi said with her eyes still fixed on the road.
"That's cool, I probably won't notice that you're gone"
"Mxm"

Sindi worked on the set of a local drama series as a make up artist and it's honestly been the best. She would always know what would happen next on the show before everyone else plus she would let me in on the inside tea about the stars on the show. And if she was not at work, she was at exclusive events rubbing shoulders with the local celebrities. I guess that's the kind of life you live if you're the make up artist to the stars.

20 minutes later we finally arrived at school and I was already late. All eyes were on us as per usual since our car didn't quite fit in with the rest that were parked out. All the other cars were either luxury cars or sports cars and students either drove their own cars or had personal drivers to drop them off, unlike me who either came to school with the bus or had Sindi to drop me off in a worn out Tazz which was probably even older than her.

I jumped out of the car as I said goodbye to Sindi and sprinted across the courtyard to homeroom. The courtyard was empty and the bell wasn't ringing, that meant I was really late.

" Jeremiah...ah look who finally decided to join us, late again I see Miss Kunene", Miss Foster said as I made my way to my seat completely out of breath.
"It...won't... happen again", I said between breaths, taking my seat next to Mak.
"Mhmmm I hope not, I almost marked you absent, I think I must have a lesson about time management seeing that some of you are struggling to tell the time", Miss Foster continued and I rolled my eyes. Not this lecture again.

"Hey", Mak said with a smile revealing his braces. "Hi", I replied trying to catch my breath.
"Did you go over the MacBeth notes I sent you"
"Aaah I completely forgot about that, is that today?", I said while pressing my palm against my forehead.
" Yep"
"Pass me your notes, I'll go over them just before our English period."
"So break at the library today?", Mak asked handing me the notes.
" Nah, outside is good, I need to practice my speech"
"Okay cool".

The bell then rang and we headed out separate ways going to our different classes.

***

My eyes slowly started to drift away as I anxiously waited for the bell to ring and for my misery to be over. Mr Neilson went on and on about never ending conspiracy theories about North Korea...that time we're in the science class. *smh*

Finally my prayers were answered and the bell rang.

"Okay, just a friendly reminder that tomorrow you guys have your Chemistry test so please, make sure you prepare, it counts 25% of your report mark, okay class dismissed."

"Hey, you wanna revise via FaceTime later?" Mak asked as we walked out.

"Yeah sure"

"Is 6 fine?, you'll be off by 6 right?"

"I should be, yeah"

"Aight cool, I'll see you later, good luck with practice", Mak said taking a bite of his apple before leaving.

***

Practice had ended and it felt more like an audition. Nonhle kept on criticizing me after every second sentence. I honestly don't understand how I got stuck as her co-captain, she has no leadership skills what-so-ever. I guess having a mother as the chairperson of the school governing body counts as having 'leadership' skills.

"If we don't make it to the semifinals it'll be your fault, so don't mess this up", Nonhle said and I rolled my eyes.

I looked at the time and realised I had 20 minutes to get to work or I would be late. Gosh I really need to work on my time management.

I rushed out of the classroom, sprinting as fast as I could before...boom...head on collision.

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Glossary

babalas: hangover

Mxm: kissing your teeth

smh: shaking my head