A Beautiful Mess.

24.

Saturday.
"Alright...and perfect. Look at you, you look great, you're going to kill those judges today"
"Thank you" I told Sindi as a fixed my blazer while looking at myself in the mirror. My eyes looked a bit red because I couldn't get one wink of sleep last night and I could feel the exhaustion overwhelming me.

I'll just drink coffee and get a Bioplus on our way to the venue...is that even a good idea *shrug* doesn't matter as long as I stay awake.

Sindi looked great in a yellow high neck blouse and black pants that she paired with black block heels and her make up looked out of this world.

"Way to represent Aunty" I complimented.
"Argh call me Sindi darling" she said and let out a little laugh.

After breakfast we headed straight to St Williams where the debate competition was going to take place.

***
"Thanks friend I really appreciate the support...I will, I will...I know that you do...aight I'll call you later, okay bye"
Mak had woken up extra early than his usual time on a Saturday just to wish me the best with today's meet and his words were so warming, I couldn't have asked for a better friend.

I socialized with my other teammates while Sindi socialized with their parents as we waited to be let into the hall where the competition would take place. Then Nonhle entered with her family and it was as if everything was happening in slow motion. She had curled her hair that was relaxed before and had her eyebrows done and her uniform was looking sharp. She looked good, not better than me of course because Sindi had done the things with this bun and these edges but still she looked nice. As she approached I couldn't help but notice that her father's face looked familiar until I realized who it was. It was the lawyer guy who'd usually come to the cafe.

He's Nonhle's dad?...Talk about a small world.

Nonhle greeted everyone in the team and me and her hugged, of course we were just being civil because parents were there, we're two faced like that.

"You look great" she lied
"And you don't look bad yourself, I love the curls" I half lied.

"Ah Melo, what a surprise", Nonhle's father said. "I didn't know you went to the same school as Nonhle, yet alone in the same debate club as her"

"Yes its a very small world..."
"Mr Ndamase, please" he introduced.
Nonhle was clearly confused by this interaction and didn't hesitate to ask how we knew each other. Mr Ndamase explained the situation and she nodded in agreement but still had that skeptical look on her face.
"You should taste her latte, one of the absolute best" he continued.
Sindi also seemed a bit confused but I explained and introduced her to Mr Ndamase.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked Sindi and she looked around before turning back and pointing at herself.

"Me?"

"Yes, I'm sure I've seen you somewhere"

"I think you're confusing me with someone else"

"My apologies, you just look like someone I should know, I'm probably confusing you with one of my clients"

 Nonhle and I stood there just as confused as Sindi. We left while they were still engaged in conversation and met up with Miss Foster who was telling us some last minute words before the competition and I didn't hesitate to add in my own two cents of advice that I used to hype myself up with earlier.

As everyone took their seats the speaker started with the welcoming and explained today's program. She then explained the guidelines of the competition and how everything was going to work. Debates would take place in different classrooms seeing that we all got the same issue but proposition and opposition were chosen at random and we would only find out which school we were competing against when we got into the respective classrooms, like that doesn't add more pressure on our shoulders. Winners of each debate would move on to a second round and the top 2 schools that earned the most points would move on to the final round which was to take place in a weeks time.

I looked around the room and saw additional schools that competed in separate rounds to the rounds we took part in and I must say they looked tough as nails, but I wasn't discouraged. They may look like they know what they're doing but looks are deceiving. They looked confident in their blazers that were graced with dozens of scrolls ranging from sports to academics and I could tell it was in an attempt to intimidate us but my poker face was not giving in and I had it tightly strapped to my face even though in the inside I knew I was silently burning.

We directed to our different venues where our debates would take place and as I walked into the classroom I was met with the face I was hoping to see, Nate, that prick from St Anthony's.We took our seats on the opposite side of the room and I noticed Nate looked at us with a smirk and I could tell he was happy to see us too. So St Anthony's was our opposition, this is going to be interesting. 

"Alright we would like to call upon the first speaker for the proposition, Kingston College" the moderator announced and Tasha went up and introduced the motion, mentioning her sources and statements to agree with our propositions. A speaker of the opposition followed after her and introduced their point. A series of speakers from our proposition and their opposition went up to present their cases and at this point St Anthony's was doing well. They had good points to make but our defense was still strong. Nonhle went up and this is when I got a bit scared but she went full force on them and seemed to have changed her points this time that were more in our favour. 

After she took her seat Nate took to the podium and I held my breath. While Nonhle was presenting Nate had interrupted her here and there and the adjudicator was not too happy about that so deep down I was hoping they would get penalised. He too had good points but yet again he lacked personality and some of his points lacked enough evidence to back them up, but I was not complaining, I mean I felt like my points would not have enough evidence to back them up either. You know what, whatever I have will have to do.

"...So how is the taking down of these statues a false representation of history? Why should these statues stay up? Why should we celebrate men and women who did nothing but contribute to the establishment of social injustices that did nothing but add to the oppression of our grandparents and those before them. The 2015 'Rhodes must fall' movement lead to the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes who's statue celebrated nothing but institutional racism in the University of Cape Town. A statue that commemorated a white imperialist. That statue served nothing but as a reminder of the brutal past that black South Africans faced. Thank you", Nathi concluded and the audience applauded and Nate had that boastful look on his face. Nathi had good points to make but a identified a flaw. Little did he know that he also introduced the point that I was about to make, the attempt to forget instead of eradicate.

"Calling our next speaker for the proposition..."

Well, that's my cue...