A Beautiful Mess.

34.

Monday.

"Ouch! Sindi you're hurting me" I said as Sindi was pulling at my hair.

"Askies (I'm sorry) but your hair is in a state today. I cant detangle these knots" she said and my worry grew worse. I can't have a repeat of what happened last time. Never Again.

I looked at myself in the mirror as Sindi continued to pull at my hair and I felt my stomach sink. This was strange though, like it was a sign that something was wrong but I didn't know what. I grabbed my phone as I realized that I hadn't spoken to Mak since Friday and when I called him and he didn't pick up that's when I knew something really was wrong.

Sindi managed to get my hair to look at least decent and I grabbed my bags and was ready to go already. I wasn't in any mood to have breakfast. I just wanted to be at school and make sure that Mak was okay and that this feeling I was having was probably for something else.

Sindi dropped me off at school and I made my way to our usual spot and waited for Mak to arrive. I rapidly tapped my foot on the ground as I looked around hoping I would spot him. I waited another 10 minutes and then he finally showed up but instead of coming from the gate he came from the school building.

"Woah Mak, why didn't you tell me you were coming early, you had me worried" I said and took a glimpse at him. He looked pale almost like he had seen a ghost and that's when I knew my instincts were right, there was definitely something wrong.

"Why do you look pale" I said and touched his cheeks and he felt cold.

"You don't have to worry about me anymore" he said sternly.

"What do you mean I don't have to worry about you anymore, Mak what happened, what did you do? Why didn't I hear from you this weekend?"

"Could you stop stressing please, I'm telling you I'm okay, alright?" he said and I gave him an unconvincing nod. He pulled me into a hug but I couldn't bring myself to hug him back. All I could think about was what he did and what he meant by me not having to worry anymore. Him saying those words only made me want to worry even more.

***

Mak wasn't in physics today because he was finishing a project for his art class so that meant he could bunk and catch up the work we were doing another time. Lucky.

Mr Nielson was busy demonstrating an experiment in front of the class but I couldn't be bothered to pay any attention. I blankly stared at sir while he was busy demonstrating and had my head in my hand as listened to music through the earphone I had hidden in my sleeve. This was the only way I could keep awake.

As Sir was wrapping up there was an announcement made on the intercom that snapped me out of my daze.

"Andre Morris, please report to Mr. Brian's office immediately."

Yoh!

I immediately sat up in my chair and looked around in disbelief as a series of questions ran through my mind. Did Mak have something to do this? Was this his way of sorting it out? ...Mara what did he do and was it the reason why he was acting strange this morning?

All these questions needed answers, answers that were possessed by one person and one person only, Mak.

***

"It looks nice but what is it supposed to be?" I asked Mak while slanted my head to make out what he drew.

"I don't know either. I was trying to draw my representation of a song I heard and this what I got" Mak shrugged

"Wow, artists" I rolled my eyes and laughed. "So are you going to tell me what happened this morning?"

"Don't worry about it"

"Does it have anything to do with what happened to Andre today?"

"Yoh Melo, you enjoy being stressed don't you? Stop worrying, what's done is done. You don't have to worry about me anymore" he said and continued with his drawing.

Maybe I didn't need to worry about what he did, as long as the Andre thing was out the way and Mak was okay then there was no reason for me to worry. I took a deep breath and felt like another huge weight was being lifted off my shoulders but then that feeling of something was still wrong returned and brought an aching feeling to my stomach. I was probably still anxious about something but if it wasn't Mak then what was it.

***

Tuesday.

For a Tuesday, the cafe was quite busy today and my feet were aching the whole time. For once in her life Siya was quite helpful today and made the job a whole lot easier than if she was on her phone the whole time which made me wonder whether her and Luniko were still vibing. We still hadn't spoken directly to one another since the day I was here with Senzo. We managed to stay out of each other's way and only spoke when it was necessary here at work.

"Table 6 needs another fork" she said and I took one from out the drawer and gave it to her. She then came back again, handed me a bill and said, "That guy is here again" and I immediately looked up to see which guy she was talking about but I couldn't see him.

"Which guy are you talking about?"

"The lawyer guy, table 4" she said then left and there he was, Mr. Ndamase and today he had brought Nonhle with him.

Woah, weird.

I walked over to their table and greeted and then asked them for their order. Mr Ndamase ordered his usual while Nonhle ordered an iced tea. I took one look at her and I could tell that she was kind of uncomfortable because she kept looking around and looking over her shoulder. It was quite obvious that wasn't used to being on this side of the highway. But it also looked like there was more to her uncomfortability, and her eyes looked almost puffy and swollen like she had been crying.

"Relax Nonhle, everyone's cool" I told her because she made it quite obvious that she's not from around here and I left to get their order.

"Who's that?" Siya asked, not even hiding the fact she was staring the whole time I was there.

"Nonhle." I said as I placed in their order and Siya's eyes went wide.

"That's Nonhle?"

"Yes Siya" I said.

"Wow, she doesn't seem like the horrible person you made her out to be"

"You don't know her like I do" I said and then went back to their table.

"Here you go" I said, put their order on the table and then as I was about to walk away, Mr. Ndamase asked me to join them.

Something weird is happening here.

I was very skeptical at first but inquisitive to know where this was going.

"So Nonhle and I wanted to talk to you about something important and thought it was best to talk to you in person"

"Okay" I said in an unconvincing tone.

"A few weeks ago a friend of mine offered Nonhle the opportunity to be a part of a youth empowerment program aimed at empowering teenager girls on their paths of career development and seeing that Nonhle went last year she thought that it was best that she gave her spot to you seeing that you are more deserving of the opportunity."

I sat there shocked and remained silent. I didn't know what to say, all I could do was sit there and look confused. I was a bit skeptical and a part of me didn't want to feel like a 'charity case' and I also didn't feel like taking something that belonged to Nonhle first like I was a second choice. I know this would be a great opportunity but I know that it still wouldn't sit well with me even if I wanted to.

"You don't have to decide right now, here's the forms and a brochure so that you have an idea of what happens" Mr. Ndamase said.

"Please consider it" Nonhle said and I was shocked to hear her say that, almost like she was begging me to go.

"I'll think about it" I said and let out a huge sigh. I didn't know how I felt about this thing but I was going to give it some consideration. I mean it is a good opportunity, especially considering I still have no idea what career I want to pursue. Maybe Nonhle not wanting it was the gateway for me to figure out the career perfect for me.

Who knows? *shrug*