The North

Chapter 15: Family

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, KB!" Mbali shouted once the front door had shut behind them. It was 04:30 in the morning and the loud drone of the Stars' ten-car convey faded into the distance as they drove off after returning KB and his friends to Mbali's uncle's house.

"I'm doing exactly what we all agreed to do when this shit started." KB responded as he removed his suit jacket and kicked off his shoes. His voice was calm.

"Oh really? Access to the most prestigious professional events in town? Private dinners? Exclusive parties? Really, KB!" Mbali was fuming, and she paced back-and-forth around the large foyer of the house.

"Thato's parents are in good standing with the Government." KB said as he loosened his tie. "We'll hook something up through them. Isn't that right, Thato?"

Mbali turned to face Thato when he did not respond. He was seated with Senzo in the lounge next to the foyer, both of their eyes glued to Thato's phone.

"Thato?" Mbali said.

"You guys need to come see this..." Thato responded, lifting his eyes to meet KB and Mbali.

It was a video on Thato's phone that he had been staring at. It had been posted on Instagram by NorthernBrew. In the video the unknown cameraman recorded the screams and cheers of the surrounding crowd as the curtains of a large window above them began to open. KB immediately recognized the scene from the Sumo nightclub before seeing himself and Tau in the video. The camera then turned around to face the opposite end of the club where the entrance was, just in time to catch Kamo and the Come-ups entering. The entire crowd had their backs turned to the Come-ups, and the camera zoomed in on Kamo's face as she looked first at the crowd and then up at the glass window. Her face turned to horror when she realized KB was with the Stars, and then one of the Come-ups next to her grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out the club just as quickly as they had entered. "Looks like Kamo has met her match." read the video's caption. KB, Mbali, Senzo, and Thato had all been tagged in the video, along with all the Stars and the Come-ups.

"Holy shit..." Mbali whispered.

"It's only been up for an hour and there are already thousands of comments" Thato replied, playing the video again.

"Does this... does this mean we're Come-ups now?" Senzo asked, looking up at KB who remained silent as Tau's voice played in the back of his head: First they will flood your social media – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. Whatever you use, they will find it.

"Everyone check all your social media. Now!" KB commanded.

KB, Mbali, and Senzo each grabbed their phones and opened their social media pages just as Thato had done, only to find that they had each gained thousands of new followers across all their social media pages, many of whom had already left numerous comments under their pictures. In addition to this, they each found fan pages that had been created in their honor: @KBKrew, @MbaliArmy, @SenzoSquad, and @ThatoRing, which had each gained a significant number of followers too. 

KB, Mbali, Senzo, and Thato all remained quiet as they scrolled through the comments: "Mbali is so fucking sexy! It's about time a lesbian ran the North", "Senzo and Thato could gladly run a train on me. I love those gents!", "KB has that 'it' factor for sure!", "Can Mbali share her hair secret for such beautiful curls?!", "KB sat next to me and my friends at the Neighbourgoods market some time ago! Even back then something about him seemed special!"

KB opened the profile of the last comment, and it took a while for him to recognize the girl in the profile picture because of her new hairstyle. It was Miss Ponytail! One of the girls from the Neighbourgoods market who KB had briefly sat with before moving upstairs with Mbali.

"This is insane..." Thato said to himself.

"This is fucking crazy!" Senzo shouted with excitement. He was up on his feet, pacing around the lounge as he continued to scroll through his phone.

"Queen of the gays?" Mbali laughed out lout, throwing her head back in disbelief. "All of this just from a single post from one user?" She questioned.

"Not just any user." KB responded, locking his phone and placing it on the table in front of the couch. "It's NorthernBrew. The most powerful voice in the North after the Stars."

"I thought NorthernBrew was just some dumb page that posted gossip." Senzo replied.

"It's a lot more than that." KB added.

"The hottest tea served daily from the North" Thato said, reading NorthernBrew's Instagram bio out loud.

"We have to be careful from now on" KB said. He folded his arms and looked at Mbali and Thato. "You guys are the only two among us that still go to University. You can't let anyone recognize you on campus." He finished.

"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Mbali started "You met my other friends at Neighbourgoods Market – Sean, Zelda, Toby – they obviously know the truth abou-."

"Then figure it out!" KB interjected before hearing Tau's voice play in his mind once again: They will start hashtags to support you, they will fight for you, they will defend you, they will praise you!

"We have the Fans and NorthernBrew on our side for now." KB continued. "If any of your friends says anything I'll personally destroy them."

"What..." Mbali responded.

"And that goes for the rest of you too. Do whatever you need to do to make sure those closest to you don't say a word." KB instructed.

"Thato, can your parents get us access to some high profile events? They must have some connections based on all the Government tenders they get." KB asked.

"I...I think they can." Thato, replied.

"I don't need you to think – I need you to find out!" KB snapped. "And Mbali, we're going to need to use this house often. We'll need a detailed schedule of when your uncle is going to be out of town. Can you do that?"

"Yeah..." Mbali whispered.

"Senzo, you'll need to manage our image extra carefully from now on. No one should post a thing without first consulting Senzo, okay?" KB looked around the room, meeting each one of his friends' gaze.

"Okay..." They all agreed.

"Look...This is just the beginning, guys. Things are only going to get crazier from here. If we're going to pull this off we're going to have to stick together. It's too late to turn back now because guess what? The fucking match has been lit and the blaze is growing! Kamo and the Come-ups are going to be coming for us soon, and it's very clear that Lesedi doesn't trust us. So from now on all we have is each other. Fuck your friends, and fuck your family. We're each other's family now. Okay?" KB finished.