The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

Vickie slow down you're scaring her.

A week had passed since the party and the group had settled into their non-school routines. All except for Bongi of course. Despite it being the festive season the girl had already been cooped up in her room working on the second year. Her whole life she had been number one in her class and now she was number two. She couldn't have that. Ricki Cho has no idea what he was in for. Bongi let out a grunt when a knock sounded on her door for the fourth time that morning. "Maaa! I told you I was gonna come down after this problem", she said annoyance fully evident in her tone. "Sibongile, that was an hour ago. Breakfast is ready and we're all waiting for you", with a sigh she left her books then made her way downstairs.

She entered her above average dining room where her perfect little family was seated. She mumbled a good morning then had a seat next to her baby brother Jeremy, he was the only one she could stand in her family.

"Well nice of you to join us", she heard her older sister sing from across the table. "Shut up Haley!", bitch. She was always on her case. "Haley, leave your sister alone!", her mom defended. "Whatever", Haley said with a scoff. She was tired of her family treating the younger girl like she was glass. Sure she looked different from them and she knew her family was trying to not make her feel excluded but she was sick of the special treatments.

Bongi had been a product of her mom's infidelity. She was a love child and a constant reminder that her existence almost cost them their whole family. Haley had been there when it all went down. She was young but was able to understand what was going on. She never took a liking to her sister.

Bongi knew that her family loved her. She loved them too but a part of her blamed herself for the strain the family was left in after she was born. They tried to treat her special but failed to realize that it made her feel more different. Like they felt forced to do so. So it hadn't come as a surprise that every chance she got she avoided them. Burying herself in school work just to avoid having dinners with her family.

In primary school she was bullied. Her sister hated her and she wanted the whole school to hate her too so she didn't waste time telling everyone that she was a love child, that her family didn't want her and they were forced to raise her because they couldn't throw her away.

Little Bongi had been crying after yet another kid called her unwanted and ugly. She had been hiding under a table in an empty class trying to control her sobs when a little brown boy made his way over to her. She tried to get up to escape another attack when she saw him pull something from his lunch box, "here", he had said. She cautiously looked at the pink wrapped candy stick then the boy. "How did you kn..?", "you always have it when you're sad", the young boy explained cutting her off. She took the fizzer then scooted a bit to let the boy sit next to her. She took a bite of the sugary substance then gave it to the boy to do the same. They both cringed at the bitterness then continued to take turns biting.

"I'm Ramsey", the boy said with a smile. "I'm Bongi", "I know." He said, his smile not once leaving his face.

She had finally made a friend.

After school the kids made their way to the school play ground where they waited to be picked up. Ramsey had fetched her in class so they could join the other kids. Bongi never liked the play ground because no one would play with her so she always stayed in class until her dad came to fetch them. She noticed Ramsey was leading her to a group of kids and she abruptly stopped in hesitation. He held her hand with a reassuring tightness letting her know it was ok.

"Hi, I'm Vickie, you're Bongi right?", the overly cheerful girl gleamed. "This is Nathan, Connor, Bruno and Dineo", the happy girl said pointing to the other kids. "Slow down Vickie you're scaring her", Dineo said embarrassed as she made her way to the shy girl who looked astonished to have kids be nice to her. She wasn't used to that. "Come sit with us", the darker girl said taking her hand and leading her to the rest of the group.

Bongi had been back in her room after breakfast with her family. She smiled as she remembered how she met the group back in the 4th grade. She subconsciously ignored the tightness in her heart as her mind went to three years ago. She had to remind herself to forget.

Her friends had been the reason she stayed sane all those years. She swore they were heaven sent. Her mind went back to the party a week ago, she too hadn't missed how things had been different with them, the party had been refreshing.

Thinking of that evening she remembered she hadn't responded to Stacy's text. Shit. She took her phone to respond but noticed the message was sent on Sunday, the day after the party. It wrote, 'had fun last night, we should do it again'. She was a cute girl but maybe she should just save her the heartache. Everyone knew how it was going to end anyways. She hadn't been one for relationships.

She instead decided to text Ramsey to meet up. She went to the group chat too and wrote, 'milky lane anyone?'

She texted that knowing no one would actually show up. Everyone had been so occupied with their own lives the past year that they had rarely all been in the same room together. But to her surprise, she walked into the little ice cream shop and was met with her friends sitting at their usual corner booth. They were making so much noise that people kept giving them ugly stares. She smiled at the sight. Walking towards the table she met with Sindi, the shop manager and gave her an apologetic look to which the older lady smiled in return. She missed the annoying teenagers.

Connor had been sitting in the middle of Preshani and Dineo, with his hands around their shoulders. Siya was sitting across from Dineo and Mariska was sitting next to him and Nathan. Ramsey had pulled up two chairs for himself and Bongi from a separate table. The group had their ice creams as they reminisced on old times.

"Hey, d'you think you can give me a ride home? I uber'd here.", Dineo had asked Siya. In all honesty she'd purposely left her car at home so she could ask Siya to drive her back. Ashley wasn't around and she was going to take advantage of that. "Sure.", he had said.

After what felt like hours of talking and three rounds of ice creams later the group decided to call it a day.

Dineo had noticed how distant and quiet Siya had been since they had all met up that afternoon. She made an attempt to ask him about it during their ride home and he'd said he was fine. He wasn't.

He stopped at the girl's house as he looked out the window refusing to look at her. He was afraid she would read his mind. He drove off to oblivion after dropping her off as his mind wandered back to that morning.

He had gotten a text from his mom. Something that sounds normal, except it wasn't for him.

His mom had left him and his dad when he was ten. "It's just you and me now son", was all his dad said that afternoon when he had asked where mom was.

Years later and he still didn't know why. His dad had always been so tough and didn't believe in talking feelings out. 'You have to man up!', he would always say. His mom had always been so gentle with him and his dad was the opposite of her. He knew they had marital problems but he never thought she'd just up and leave him without as much as a goodbye.

He felt the wetness on his cheeks as he stopped by the red light. Looking around he realized he was at waterfront. He took the next turn opting to go to his friend's house because his dad would not take well to his 'weakness'.

Pulling up to the familiar driveway, he got himself together then he started towards the smaller house. "Hi Mrs Mason", Siya greeted then hugged the smaller lady. "Hi Siya, he's in his room." She said letting him in.

When Siya's mom left, he would spend a lot of time at Connor's house. His dad was dealing with it by burying himself in work so he was rarely around. Connor knew that his best friend needed him so he was always there. But they never talked. They played video games, just like they were doing then.

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We've dived into how they met Bongi. Feel free to let me know your opinion on her home situation.

Also, poor Siya😪

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