The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

She's not my latest victim. She's my girlfriend.

The following morning the friends left for their homes leaving the handsome boy alone for a few hours. As promised they were all going to convince their families to let them spend the festive season with their friends.

It hadn't been hard for Mariska, Siya, Tyrone, Connor and Dineo as they all came from very modern and understanding families. Their parents knew what the boy had been going through the past few years, they just couldn't say no. Bongi's parents agreed because they knew they would've just gotten a silent treatment from her if they hadn't. Preshani's parents had also agreed after a very long argument and promising them it was just going to be girls. It wasn't that she wanted to lie to her parents but they were very old school. They never would've agreed if she had told them there were going to be boys there too. They weren't very happy with her having male friends as it was, they'd have a heart attack if they knew they'd all be sleeping in the same house.

Ramsey had been traveling in India with his grandma. They always went there during the festive season. With both his parents gone his grandma wanted him to experience his full Indian culture. She didn't like how his parents had raised him so modern.

The friends started arriving at Nathan's house with Preshani, Mariska and Dineo being the first ones. They wanted to choose the best rooms that were also next to each other. The mansion had a total of thirteen bedrooms, making it unnecessary for any of them to share rooms.

After a few hours of going up and down, they were all finally settled. They met up at the mansion's backyard where Nathan had started roasting. They were going to have a braai.

Dineo had been annoyed when she noticed Ashley had somehow gotten an invite. She decided to let it slide, this wasn't about her. It was about her friend and whether she liked it or not, Ashley was also Nathan's friend.

Tyrone had invited Ntombi but her dad had said no because she had visitors. She had promised to visit him regularly and sometimes maybe sleepover. That had been good enough for him.

There were also three girls who had joined. Two of which the group had never seen before, they must've been with Connor, and the other girl the group knew very well. Taylor had been Nathan's on and off again girlfriend of a million years. The pair was so toxic it wasn't funny. Judging by how touchy they were getting the group just knew they were back together.

The sun had been completely out as the girls made their way to the pool. Summers in South Africa had been so ridiculous that even the ones who weren't swimming were laying around with just shorts on.

Mariska had noticed how Tyrone didn't look at her like he used to. In fact, he didn't look at her at all. He had been busy chatting away on his phone like the person on the other side was the most interesting thing in the world. Was he seeing someone?

More than a few drinks later the group had started to get really comfortable. Bongi had made a friend in one of the girls Connor had invited, she had always been such a smooth talker with girls that she had a history of making straight girls not so straight anymore.

The rest of the friends were just sitting by the couches outside as they conversed about random things when Tyrone made his way inside the house, Mariska decided to follow him.

He answered his phone as he entered the kitchen.

"What are you wearing?"
"Really?"
"Don't make me wanna come over there right now"
"I don't care that your dad is there, why would you wear that when you know it's my favorite? Are you trying to drive me crazy?"
"I miss you too baby, I can't wait to see you. Will you come through tomorrow?"
"Cool, I'll see you then. Say hello to your cousins for me. I know they're listening", Tyrone said to the girl on the phone. He smiled when he heard chuckles on the other line. He put his phone in his pocket after hanging up then grabbed three bags of chips in the drawer. He turned around to put them on the huge marble kitchen table when he was met with Mariska sitting on one of the stools.

"So... who's you latest victim now?", she had asked. Tyrone casually took out two big bowls and put them on the table. "Why do you care?", "I don't." She defended. "So you followed me in the kitchen to tell me you don't care who my latest victim is?", he said humor laced in his voice. "Oh get over yourself Ty", she said rolling her eyes. Tyrone finished mixing the chips in the two bowls then picked them up making his way outside, Mariska followed suit. "That was Ntombi", he said. "Oh", she hadn't meant for that to sound so high pitched,

"she's not my latest victim. She's my girlfriend."

Back outside Siya and Ashley had been looking cozy in the jacuzzi. They looked like they were whispering nasty things in each other's ears and Dineo just couldn't take it anymore, so she stood up to go inside the house. She needed to get away.

The group had met Siya through Connor in middle school. He had recently been transferred to their school and he was always so quiet and sad. Dineo had made it her mission to put a smile on his face. When she found out his mom had left him she was there for him. Asking her mom to make lunch for two people so she could give one to Siya. His dad would just give him money and the only things they used to sell at the school was candy and chips. Sometime between all that she fell for the boy. She was never able to tell him because what if he didn't feel the same way? Would things still be the same between them? She closed her eyes and let the salty substance drip down her cheeks.

"We used to get in so much trouble in here", a voice sounded startling the girl. She quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Remember when we put blue colourant in the pool?", the boy continued then smiled as he made his way to the girl. He joined her in putting his legs in the indoor pool as he sat next to her. "Yea Vickie was so mad. She couldn't completely remove the dye from her hair for days", they both laughed. The laugh was short lived as sadness slowly creeped in. "I miss her.", ... "me too.", he said letting her put her head on his shoulder as he side hugged her.

"Hey Dee", Nathan called, "yea?"

"You're absolutely amazing. If he can't see that then you deserve better", he said. "Thanks Nate.", she smiled as she snuggled up to the boy.