A Beautiful Mess.

26.

"You Guys should join us, we're actually hosting a braai with a couple of friends back at home and it would be great for you guys to join us", Mr Ndamase offered but we declined explaining that we already had other arrangements planned for after the competition and by other arrangements we meant us staying home, stuffing our faces with food while watching a movie.

The celebration that Sindi had hoped for was not going to take place seeing that we didn't make it to the finals but we still had something to celebrate, the end of the public speaking/debate season for the year. I was actually quite glad that it was over because it meant I had a lot less things to worry about and more spare time on my ends now that there also wouldn't be any practices anymore.

When we got home I got changed into comfortable clothing and Sindi and I put face masks on and watched a movie while devouring the finger foods and other snacks that she had purchased. Mid way through the movie I found myself falling asleep as my body was finally giving in to the exhaustion from last night.

I woke up and the time was already 7pm. I had been asleep for three hours and I would've slept longer had it not been for my natural alarm waking me up. I guess my body was trying to save some sleep for later on.

We then watched dozens of reality shows while Sindi based my scalp with hair cream. It was an evening well spent after a stressful day.

***

Monday.

As I packed my books and got myself ready for school I got an unexpected call from Mak. I was surprised to get a call from him so early in the morning and I got a bit worried as to why he would call especially considering I was going to see him in half an hour. Possibly he was going to tell me that he wasn't coming to school that day and that I should get him the work that he missed, but something about this call didn't feel right because whenever Mak is going to be absent he tells me the night before.

"Hey, What's up?" I answered.

"Hey, uhm...I...I need to ask a favour from you"

Uh Oh, that's not good.

"Okay, uhm what do you need?"

"I have this huge pimple I'm trying to hide so I don't know, I was hoping that maybe Sindi would have something to hide it"

Something in his voice didn't sound right and I could tell that he was lying to me. He's not trying to hide a pimple. Mak was blessed with good genes and never has pimples. That's when I knew something was up.

"Uhm okay I'll ask Sindi"

"Thank you...uhm I'll meet you behind the grandstands right, I don't want anyone else knowing"

"Okay" I said and hung up.

You know when something bothers Mak it bothers me too and in such a situation I was super frustrated. Mak barely has anyone to talk to besides me and his older sister Kea, but seeing that Kea had moved out of the house and was getting married Mak has only had me. His parents were always busy and barely have time for anything but when they do have time it's always spent elsewhere with anyone but their son and that's why it's hard sometimes for Mak to open up, because he barely has anyone to open up to.

I told Sindi what was going on and she asked for a picture of Mak so that she could decide which shade of concealer would fit him best. She then handed me the concealer and explained how to apply it before we left for school.

I rushed to the back of the grandstands where I found Mak pacing up and down in frustration. When I got there he looked up and I noticed he was wearing sunglasses and that's when it was confirmed to me that this was not a pimple and my anxiety was shooting through the roof. Mak could notice that I was shocked and was about to say something so he pulled me towards him and sat me on the wall and he sat next to him.

"Mak, I think now is the time you tell me what's going on"

"Yeah, I know", he sighed and he took off the glasses and there it was, a BLACK EYE. My blood started boiling and my heart was racing as I tried to figure out who could've done this to Mak and if the person that did this is the same person that was responsible for him limping last week.

I sighed as I tried to calm myself down. Now wasn't the time to freak out and go off on a tangent. Now was the time I sat down and listened to Mak and actually found out what was going on.

"Don't freak out okay?" He said and I nodded though I wasn't making any promises that I wasn't going to freak out. "A few weeks ago, I saw something that...something I wasn't supposed to see"

"Okay, uhm what did you see?"

"Andre...Andre is dealing on school grounds, in the boys bathroom after school"

"So he saw that you saw and beat you up"

"Yeah...it's happened a couple of times now"

"Why didn't you report him or tell somebody"

"Because I can't okay...he's beating me up as his insurance that I don't snitch, imagine what he'll do to me if I-- *sighs*...I really wanted to tell you Melo, there were so many instances where I wanted to tell you but I didn't want to make my problems yours. I was just trying to--"

"--Protect me...yeah I know, I just really wish you told me earlier but I'm glad you told me now...come on let's sort this eye out okay" I said and he let out a little laugh. I then helped him apply the concealer around his eye while we discussed how Saturday's debate went.

Now that I knew what was happening, deep down I knew I had to help him fix it. We needed to come up with a way to sort this out without Mak getting hurt again and we needed to come up with a plan FAST because who knows when Andre will strike again. I knew that he didn't want to make his problems mine but if you mess with my friends then you're in for it and unfortunately for Andre he messed with the wrong person.

Touch one, touch all...