The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

Never ever tell a woman to calm down!

Bongi smiled as she texted three blow kiss emojis to Sarah and smiled even wider when the girl replied with four blow kiss emojis. It was their thing. At least she thought it was. The two girls continued to chat until Ramsey made his way over to her, bursting her bubble. "You know there's a whole world outside of that phone", the boy had said, amusement laced in his voice. "Yea but nothing in the world is as amazing", the girl shot back jokingly.

When Bongi decided to follow the girl on Instagram the evening of Christmas Eve, she hadn't expected her to see, but most of all, she hadn't expected to receive a dm from the girl the next morning. "Hey Stranger", was what she'd texted. So simple yet it had sent Bongi on an emotional rampage. A feeling she'd only got with... she ignored the thought.

Bongi didn't respond that day, or the day after. She knew responding meant she had to slowly tear down her wall. A wall that had kept her safe all those years. Bringing them down was going to make her vulnerable and she wasn't sure she was ready for that.

She considered getting in an unemotional sexual situationship with her but she couldn't go on fooling herself. She liked the girl more than she thought she did and there was only one way to go with that, if she were to pursue the girl that is. The other option would be to simply leave her alone. But that was too simple, too boring. So about two weeks later the girl responded.

"Well that was deep", Ramsey said referring to the girl's comment. They walked to their favorite sitting area on campus after deciding to skip their first lecture.

"I passed by Wesley's and got these", he said now handing her a plastic container with brown cookies inside. "Oh fresh! When did he start making these?", Bongi asked helping herself to one and immediately putting the whole thing in her mouth. "Ay, slow down! I had like half and I feel so dazed", Ramsey said taking the container away from the girl.

The two friends were known to be real stoners. Not just by their friends but by the whole campus too. They were always so high that people hardly remembered how they looked sober. Bongi had slown down in December because Ramsey wasn't around but they'd gone back to their routines soon after.

Looking at them you'd never guess that Ramsey used to be completely In love with the girl.

He'd had his eyes on her since the first day of primary school. He always used to look at her and he thought she was really beautiful, and.... alone.
She had an older sister who didn't really look like her but he could tell they were related because they used to be picked up together.

He'd waited so long to tell her how he felt and when he did, he found out she wasn't into boys. That had hurt the boy to the core but they remained best friends through the years. Eventually those feelings subsided.

Bongi forever remained thankful that the boy basically put her out of her misery by introducing her to the group. She couldn't imagine where her life would be without them.

"Are we meeting everyone later?", the girl asked slowly starting to feel the haze. "I don't know man. Have you spoken to any of them since...", the boy trailed off. "No.", Bongi replied knowing what the boy was referring to. "There's just so much drama and meeting up with Tyrone and them would mean we're taking his side over Mariska's", Bongi continued.

"I mean what Mariska did was pretty fucked up. You have to admit", Ramsey responded. "What they both did was fucked up. Everyone keeps blaming Mariska because the other woman is always the one at fault. Tyrone not only cheated on his girlfriend, he lied about it!" Bongi responded defensively. She'd met up with the group a couple of times after what had occurred and she'd had to listen to everyone put the entire blame on Mariska, like she was the only one at fault. They treated Tyrone like he was some sort of god and it sickened her to the core. She'd kept quiet through it all and was sick of it.

Bongi always related more to boys than to girls. She was never into make ups, going shopping or doing sleepovers. But it was moments like that she felt unconnected to the male species. She hated how men were constantly celebrated for the same thing women were shamed for.

How men cheating and women cheating were looked at different. If the roles were switched between Mariska and Tyrone, they would've forgiven the boy a long time ago.

"Ay man, don't get worked up. Calm down!", Ramsey said in an attempt to calm her but ensued the exact opposite. "Calm down? Really?" She asked with a chuckle then stood up to leave.

Never ever tell a woman to calm down!, Bongi thought as she walked away from the boy. It was just another way men demeaned women simply because they were expressing themselves. The phrase often acted as a way to disregard women's opinions and ideas, reducing them to irrationality, or as some men liked to say 'being in your feelings'.

Bongi was disappointed that of all people Ramsey had to be the one to say that to her. It just proved that some men were quick to go around saying 'woke as fuck' but then act the exact opposite.

Her heightened emotions might have had something to do with the edible the boy had given her earlier but her feelings would still be the same regardless.

It was no shock that she wasn't going to meet up with the boys later that day, or any other days to come. Instead she decided to text her friend on the other side of the drama to see if they wanted to meet up later that day.