The North

Chapter 9: Rich-capable

It only took one hour for KB to explain everything to Senzo, to unpack all the sticky details of the events that had unfolded over the past two days at Harem, followed by the Neighbourgoods rooftop market. KB felt less anxious as he heard himself relay each and every detail to Senzo; he felt more in control of everything happening around him.

"Shit!" Senzo said once KB had finished talking. He was surprised and his hands were raised behind his head in disbelief. For the first time since arriving at KB's house Senzo was smiling. There was a discernible excitement bubbling beneath his voice which he made no attempt to hide.

"You fucking scammer!" Senzo shouted, flashing his teeth in a wide smile. He was up on his feet and jumping around the living room. His excitement had popped open like a bottle of champagne, spraying KB with its foam.

"Calm down, Senzo." KB said from the couch "we still have a lot of shit to plan if we're going to pull this off."

"Okay, okay, okay." Senzo replied quickly. He was still smiling when he returned to the couch, and he grabbed his glass of whiskey from the table, swallowing its remaining contents in one gulp before saying: "Let's figure out how we're gonna become bankers!"

"We need the others here first" KB said as he typed a message in their WhatsApp group chat. "Mbali has probably spoken to Thato already. She said she would. I'll tell them to come to my house" he finished, pressing the 'send' button at the same time.

Senzo reached for his own phone on the table after it started to vibrate when the message arrived.

***

Thato and Mbali arrived together in the evening, and the security guard didn't bother to call KB's intercom because he recognized Thato's expensive BMW - it wasn't an easy car to forget. Ma, returning from church with Lulama, also arrived at the same time and was unimpressed by the large gathering in her house. "So this is what you do when I'm not in the house." she said to KB and his friends after walking through the front door. They returned her strange greeting before she asked them to help her bring some groceries up from her car downstairs. And then Ma and Lulama disappeared down the corridor into the small room they shared.

"Thanks for coming, guys" KB said to his friends. "We've got a lot to talk about". They were all gathered in his bedroom, seated closely together on his bed.

KB retrieved the remaining joints of weed from the shoe-box hidden under the bed, opening the bedroom window wide before passing them around.

"Did Mbali tell you everything?" KB asked Thato.

"She did" Thato responded "Shit's crazy, but fuck it...I'm down". Thato was seated with his back against the wall. There was no headrest on the bed.

"Everyone is in, right? One hundred percent?" Mbali asked. She looked around the room.

"If you're not down with this then now is your time to get out" Senzo added.

No one said a word.

"We made a pact in the parking lot of the Harem nightclub. Do you guys remember what we said?" KB asked. He lit the joints that had been passed around.

"Here's to making a name for ourselves in this fucking city!" they all repeated together before smoking.

***

The plan would be simple and meticulous. Thato would finance the charade, his parents being the richest of the lot. Theirs was new-money, not generational wealth, and it came from the string of Government tenders and contracts they seemingly had unlimited access to, allowing them to shower their children with whatever they wanted: multiple devices, flashy cars, and heaps of expensive clothes (most still unworn). Out of all three of their children Thato was the worst. He spent money recklessly, and every time he did so his parents unquestioningly replenished his empty cup, double-over in some cases.

Mbali would provide access to her uncle's Sandton house. They could use the place to host dinners or parties whenever it was available, which was quite often given that Mbali's uncle was a Pilot and spent most of his time abroad. This was why he often asked Mbali to watch over the property, just as she had done after the Neighbourgoods rooftop market. Mbali's only condition was that all gatherings be kept small and sophisticated; she could not afford to have the house trashed.

"What are we going to do about our social media pages?" Mbali asked, knowing how important Instagram was in the North. "None of us have any posts to suggest we're rich bankers."

"You're right" Senzo responded "We don't have any rich banker content, but we sure as hell have more than enough fake lifestyle content." He finished.

Each of their Instagram profiles were already populated with enough content to make them look like the sort of young adults who loved an understated and low-key good time, and the fact that they were all good looking made the act more believable. "Our brand will be understated and low-key, but rich-capable." Senzo finished.

Senzo would look after the group's image. His job would be to create an understated image for them all, while also introducing elements that showed that they had the potential to drop money if and when required. Everything would need to be water-tight because their image would either make or break them. People in the North were obsessed with "receipts"; Senzo's job would therefore prove to be the most difficult.

The group was done by 23:30, confident with everything they had discussed, and they all felt sure of all the little details and moving pieces they had identified.

"Now we wait for the Stars to bite" KB said as he walked Mbali and Thato out of the apartment. Senzo was with them too, but he would be staying with KB until things between him and his mother improved.

"Has Tau contacted you about the party yet? The one you heard Nana mention while filming her vlog at the Neighbourgoods market?" Thato asked KB when they reached the front door.

"Not yet" KB responded "But I'm confident that Tau will reach out to me during the week."