Sisanda's POV
Ayanda is sat on the picnic table staring off into the empty play ground, school has long since ended and we were just chilling knowing we were to be fetched an hour after school has ended, our parents made us stay behind to study, but we very rarely do that, opting for talking or even taking naps. Ayanda looks mad, her dark eyebrows stand in a line on top of her almost black eyes, her mouth is set in a pout and she's got her arms crossed. If the situation weren't so serious I'd laugh.
"Hayi mna bendingazi uba umntu angamatha kanje" she says standing up and pacing, "besingathethi naye!"she looks at me her eyes wide and indignant "lomtwana ebengenaphi?! rhaa man!" She says pacing faster "you know what, I'm gonna pull up at his house and freaken mute him" she says and I sigh knowing she isn't going to do it
"Hayi mna andaz" (I really don't know) I say honestly not knowing what to say or how to remedy this situation, "but I don't think Ronaldo would hate you just because you don't do your maths homework"
"Ewe Sisanda kodwa unzocinga ndisisidenge" (yes Sisanda but he's going to think I'm an idiot) she collapses on the bench and and deflates, I reach out slowly to pat her back awkwardly, she isn't really affectionate and whenever I hug her she becomes as stiff as a board. I'm still rubbing her back while she rests her head forlornly on the dirty picnic table, the situation is too serious for me to warn her about the possible bacteria infiltrating her pores.
"It's whatever though, I don't care,"she says to herself as I continued rubbing her back. Oh the destitute endeavors of the heart, I've been here. Here isn't a good space, I know she's hopelessly in love and she's already put him on a pedestal, it doesn't help that he has this 'perfect' act he's got going on. But something is peculiar about Vuyo, he hangs around people with the most questionable characteristics but somehow he's the 'good' guy, yeah it's weird. It's weird but it isn't unbelievable, I will give him the benefit of a doubt. not
Sometimes I look at Vuyo and think he's putting on a show, that he's playing a character and for goodness knows who. He knows he's desired, after all many girls like him, and so he always has to put on this facade to impress them. It's almost sad the fact that he feels he has to do that, it's either that or he's just putting on the show for one person and something tells me it's not for Ayanda, which makes it awful.
Vuyo is building a big net in order to catch that person, but his net is so big that he's catching other people too and we all know he'd never shake them off, instead he'll entertain and play around with their emotions all the while not intending or willing to take them seriously. That was just the truth and the kind of person Vuyo was, now wether Ayanda would find out or not was not up to me. She much prefers if I don't tell her and for her to rather find out the truth the hard way. It builds character, she says, the damned masochist, she'll hurt herself with that attitude. It makes me feel helpless as her best friend watching her put herself through this, especially knowing she can do a lot better that Vuyo
Wether or not she acknowledges it, Ayanda has a lot of admires but she's been so caught up with Vuyo that she's failed to see that. Ayanda is very pretty and has a pretty chill personality, they like her for that and the fact that she's never involved in any drama, as if it's beneath her. Many guys like her because she doesn't go out much and stays at home. They like calling her wifey material, they want someone they can control and have mistaken Ayanda's laziness for obedience. I on the other hand am the exact opposite, some wonder how we're such close friends and yet have such different personalities, I usually say we balance out. While Ayanda likes to stay in, I like to go out almost every other weekend and I'm not single most of the time, as a result I've earned myself quite the reputation.
Our grade ten year was the year I got my first boyfriend, we broke up after two months because I refused to sleep with him, which is the reason for most of my relationships ending, I wasn't really sad about the break up as I wasn't emotionally invested, a month later, I had another boo by my side.
Ayanda had made the comment that it seemed I got boyfriends just for the sake of having one and not because I actually liked them. That had struck deep and had hurt my feelings and I stopped talking her for a whole week, I started sitting with Madison and had ignored her existence. Eventually I went back to sitting with her when I'd realized and excepted the truth in her words, she'd apologized for her rudeness and I'd excepted it with the full knowledge of what she said was right, but that did not change my attitude towards my relationships and she'd kept quiet about it. Other people on the other hand were very vocal about their opinions
For a while I actually cared what everyone thought, I then shared my feelings with Ayanda and she'd just looked at me like I was dumb, "how is that their business?" She'd asked and I kept silent unable to answer the question. I thought about it and the more I thought about it the less I cared what was being said about me, it's not like I go around having flings with every guy I see, I've had relationships and I've maintained them, I don't deserve some of the name calling I'm getting. At the moment though I've decided not to get into a relationship in my matric year, mostly because it will bring nothing of substance to my finals marks and at the current moment Matric is all I'm focusing on, among other things.
I feel I have been in and out of relationships so much that I've barely just taken the time to be with myself, it's like your hair, sometimes it needs a break from all that braiding and protective hairstyling. I just need to breath, to unwind. To self sooth.
I glance at my watch and notice it's almost time to go wait outside the school. Ayanda is still laying her head on the dirty table, I shake her fearing she's fallen asleep
"Ayanda, vuka" (Ayanda, wake up)
"What? I'm not asleep" she mumbles her voice clearly filled with sleep
"Right" we get up and I take my bag and Ayanda pulls her boulder on her back and we slowly make our way outside the school grounds. I sigh when I realize I have to go home and study for the business study test I didn't study for during the weekend. "Your teenage years are your best years" pshht yeah, thirty years ago maybe. "You know school ducking sucks" I say
"What test haven't you studied for?" Ayanda asks, knowing me too well
"Business" she hisses
"Eish" yes Ayanda, 'eish' Peace was never an option.
***
Translations:
"No way, I didn't know a person could be so stupid" she says standing up and pacing, "We weren't talking to him!"she looks at me her eyes wide and indignant "how was is any of his business?! rhaa man!" She says pacing faster "you know what, I'm gonna pull up at his house and freaken mute him" she says and I sigh knowing she isn't going to do it