Divergent

14|Mpilo

"Are you okay?" Dintle asks. "Uhm, yeah... I'll see you three afterschool" I start packing up my things. "You haven't even eaten your lunch yet".  "I'm not hungry"

"Sure" She eyes me. I quickly walk to the garden, pulling out my book. I continue where I left off, skimming over the pages. "Why are you sitting all alone?" I look up, startled. "Oh... Hey"

He sits down next to me. "You didn't answer my question" He grabs my book, going through it. "I'm not sitting alone" I take back. "You were" He rephrases. "Am I not allowed to sit alone now?"

"Not woth me around" I  playfully roll my eyes. "Surrreee... I have to go" I grab my bag. "The bell doesn't ring for another ten minutes, you've got a lot of time to spare"

"You're right and I'm not wasting it on you" I fold my arms over my chest. "Can I atleast walk you to class?" I nod, getting up. We walk to Block C. "So, what's going on between you and the Khumalo boy?"

"Huh?" I squint my eyes at him. "Nkululeko" He mocks. "Nothing" My mood immediately dampens. "It didn't look like nothing last week, I saw you two in Miss Pule's class" Mxm.

"That is none of your business. Nothing is going on between him and I... Plus, he has a girlfriend of some sort" I mutter. "If you say so" I shrug his hand off from around my shoulder. "Bye"

"We're not done talking" He pulls me back. "Look, Mpilo, Stop bothering me... It's getting quite annoying" I walk into class.

*
I haven't seen him today—probably because I'm avoiding him. He took my first kiss and told me that it was a 'mistake'. Mxm. I spent almost two days thinking about him and his actions.

I blocked and reported his number. I also refused to visit Neli at her house because I'm afraid to see him. I did spot him this morning walking with the same girl from last time— ruined my entire break.

I exit my last class of the day, exhausted. "Are we feeling better now?" Elihle asks as she approaches me. "A whole lot better" I nod, hugging her. "Good, cause I don't like grumpy Mihlali"

"I was not grumpy, just pissed off" We walk to the parking lot. I get into Boti Mixo's car and he drives home. "What's wrong?" He asks. "Nothing, I'm just tired" I heavily sigh. We start written next week and I'd be lying if I said I was entirely ready.

"Papa said that he'll get you a tutor if it gets too much" Oh my days. "I'm good, I can cope. Just a few more months hle" I get off, rushing up to my room. I take a shower and pull our my phone, scrolling on it.

"Makhanani!" Yoh! "Ngiyeza!" I shout back, quickly putting on my slippers. I carry myself down to the living room, immediately screaming when my eyes meet hers. "Gogo!" I jump into her arms, hugging the life out of her.

"U ta vitana kokwa wa wena Zandi Gogo, hayi mina, u lava ni wa?" (you will call your grandmother Zandi Gogo, not me, do you want me to collapse) "Sorry, Kokwani" I correct myself.

"Ni twa hi vafana" (I'm hearing about boys) "Mama va hemba" (mama is lying) "I was just joking... So it's true?" She claps her hands. "Mihlolo" (wonders) "uhm... I'm going to my room now..."

"I just got here" She frowns. "Yeah but I have to bath and stuff" I lie. "Makh-" I run away before she can continue. I lock the door and pull out my phone, texting Neli.

I also head to Instagram, stalking people's accounts. I watch Neli's story from this morning, we were both in Physics, taking videos on her phone. I somehow find myself on his account, watching his story.

She's all up in his face, giggling and laughing like a mad woman. My face immediately falls and I blink my tears away... I switch off my phone and clear my throat. I don't care what he does, he wants nothing to do with me, neither do I.

I walk down to have dinner. Everyone is chatting and laughing while I eat in silence. I keep my eyes on my plate, clutching onto my fork. I excuse myself, wash my plate and run up to my room, getting into bed.

————————————————————————————————

"Hello" I greet Mpilo as he stalks towards me. "Someone's in a greet mood... I'm not annoying you right?" He teases. "No, I'm sorry about that" I look away from him. "Trust me, I've heard worse"

"Where are you going?" He adds on. "I have a free" I stare down at my timetable. "I do too" He's lying. "No you don't" I reach A7. "Well I do now" He follows behind. "You can't seriously be bunking"

"I'm not" He sits down next to me. "You can go, I'll be fine" I pull out my book. "I'm staying" He glanced at it. "Suit yourself" I mumble. "What are we reading today?" He grabs the book.

"Give that back" I grab it, continuing where I left off. "He's looking at you" He snaps me out of my trance. "What?" I rapidly blink. "Your 'friend' he's looking at you" I know. "I don't care"

"Well I do, he looks like he's about to bite my head off for even being in here" He grins. "He'd be doing me a favour" I state. "You didn't" He smiles. "I'm joking" I laugh. "He's thinking about coming here" He informs me.

"He better not" I murmer. "Oh, he's coming" I resist the urge to look up. "Tell him to go away" I harshly whisper. "Nah, you do that... I don't want him giving me a hard time at practice later" Oh my days!

"Mihlali" I freeze. "What?" I snarkly reply. "Can we talk?" Oh really? Now he wants to 'talk' to me. I just stare at him, scoffing. Now I deserve his attention?

"I—uhm... No. I'm busy"