IN DEEP, on the court #1

003. last first assemblies

                                ODETTE | MOETTI

I BARELY REGISTERED Dube pull up on the school's drive-thru; it was Lesedi's poke that alerted me.

It meant I'd somehow missed the ID check that drivers had to undergo from the guards at the entry point to the boarding school's campus. With Dube being Lesedi's godfather, and a well known face around the Ngoy's, I wasn't surprised at how smoothly it went.

"Let's try and not get into a scrap with anyone this year Odey."

Huh?

I couldn't help but arch a brow at her. "The year's just started. . ?"

She waited until Dube had left the drivers seat to reply. "There's always time."

I couldn't keep my lips in a straight line as she stepped out of the door Dube had opened. As she thanked him, I slipped the strap of my camera back around my neck.

I caught the end of the advice she was giving him as he held out a hand to help me exit. "—and I've heard if you give two seventeen year-olds a ride around London, your hair will return over night, hair follicles will open up and you won't have to tattoo a hairline on your forehead later on in life."

"I'm not surprised to see you try something like this little Lephôi." He only shook his head in amusement and nudged the sunglasses on her head so they fell over her eyes. "Get going you two, I'm sure you don't want me reporting back to Mykel and Botshelo that you arrived late because of your dawdling."

It was the only warning that could have Lesedi moving and he knew it. I glanced over the grounds of the sixth-form, familiarising myself with the prestige that had been my home since we'd first moved in a year before.

I'd never looked into the rumours, but the school apparently used to be a castle built by William Duke of Normandy after the Norman Conquest. Regardless of its origins, it had been renovated and refurbished over the years into the architectural masterpiece it was now. It, like many old English structures, was built from pale, yellow stone. It was surrounded by a brick wall that was erected in the last two decades. For an extra layer of protection, it was toped with ink wall railings, that together, wrapped around the whole estate.

You could only enter through the main gate that was guarded 24/7 and you had to be ID'ed on both entry and exit. I'd probably been lost in thought when Dube was going through the checks but it was a process that would be done with every vehicle that pulled up as pupils came in from far and wide over the next two days.

Within the thick layer of English security, stood the school. There was a water fountain that also served as the centre of a roundabout that we passed to we pulled up the driveway. Now, I watched the hypnotising spray of water in the weak sunlight as I vaguely noticed other expensive vehicles pull in.