The North

Chapter 25: Wonderstruck

"When are you going to turn your phone on?" Senzo asked KB. They had finished eating dinner and were sitting on the floor of KB's bedroom, their backs leaning against the bed, and a half empty bottle of whiskey between them.

"I'm not sure." KB responded flatly. He took another sip of the whiskey, straight from the opening of the bottle between them.

"I still can't believe it...you're a fucking Star, KB..." Senzo said, his voice low. He stared at the wall on the opposite end of the room with wonderstruck eyes.

"It's crazy, right?" KB responded, turning his head up to face the cracked ceiling of his room. His mind was wild with too many thoughts, and each of them went off like a firework: what were people saying on Instagram? How were the Stars reacting to the video he had posted? Where was Lesedi? How would Kamo respond to him using the video for his own gain?

KB had wanted nothing more than to be a Star in the North. He had somehow convinced himself that becoming a Star would provide him with the security and validation he so desperately craved in life, but now that it had actually happened he suddenly found himself feeling more insecure than ever.

"I need to make things right with Thato and Mbali..." KB said to Senzo "We're going to have to stick together now more than ever."

"I agree." Senzo responded.

"When the time is right I'll make you guys Stars too, but for now I need to establish my power." KB said. He reached for his phone lying face down on the floor and turned the device on, it's bright screen flashing alight.

***

Only three hours had passed since KB had uploaded the video, but it already had over two hundred thousand views and nearly ninety thousand comments: "OMG that's Mihlali's Dad!", "Don't tell me THIS is why Mihlali disappeared!?", "So this whole time our 'it' girl was nothing more than a little hoe? Gross...", "I guess all that glitters isn't gold...", "what a whore...", "Does Lesedi have no shame?", "Lesedi needs to go kill herself. Honestly."

Every negative comment about Lesedi made KB smile, and he continued to read the violent onslaught of words directed at her, laughing out loud at times. Senzo joined in and laughed too after taking his own phone out of his pocket to assess the damage KB had caused.

A number of people had already started re-posting KB's video on their own pages, and it didn't take long until KB's entire Instagram feed become consumed with multiple posts of that one video.

"You've fucking broken the internet bra!" Senzo smiled. "The whole fucking city is on fire because of you!"

KB was about to respond when he suddenly came across a post on Instagram that caught his attention. It was a picture of him and his friends from the night they had partied with the Stars, the same party that served as their introduction to society. The post had been posted by NorthernBrew. "A star is born." Read its caption. The picture had over fifty thousand comments and counting:

"King!", "A new era has begun", "Our 'it' boy!", "It's only a matter of time until he surpasses Tau", "Tau will quickly become old news! Fuck him and Lesedi anyways. Scammers!"

Tau! KB suddenly remembered, wondering how was he dealing with the leaked video of Lesedi. Tau was only powerful with Lesedi by his side. The two of them were a powerhouse together. Indestructible. But without Lesedi Tau would quickly lose his influence in the North. Only KB could help him keep his spot.

"Holy fuck!" Senzo suddenly screamed, his voice panicked. The scary sound broke KB's train of thought.

"What is it?" KB quickly asked.

"Lesedi just went live on Instagram!" Senzo blurted out.

"What?" KB said in disbelief, a sudden rage overcoming him.

He scrolled to the top of his Instagram feed and saw for himself.

"Is she fucking crazy!?" KB hissed "Senzo, log into that fake Instagram account I created! Quickly!" He demanded.

Senzo followed KB's instruction and logged into the fake account KB had previously created to contact NorthernBrew. After entering the account Senzo searched for Lesedi's profile and clicked the button to join her live video chat. He nearly dropped the phone when Kamo's face popped up in the video. She was sitting in the driver's seat of a parked car:

"Hi guys, it's Kamo...I'm sure most of you have seen Lesedi's video by now... and you're probably wondering what I'm doing on her Instagram account. Well...she has already left the city, and we will probably never hear from her again. But she came to see me before leaving, and gave me her phone as proof that we were together. There's something she wants me to tell you guys...There's something you guys need to know about KB and his friends..."

"Fuck..." Senzo whispered to himself.

KB felt the room begin to spin, and he held his breath as Kamo continued.

"KB and his friends aren't who we think they are... They're not bankers. In fact Mbali and Thato are still students...and KB and Senzo are university dropouts. They've been fooling all of us this whole time..."

The live video chat already had over ten thousand viewers, and a storm of comments kept rolling in at the bottoms of the screen:

"Where is your proof?", "Kamo, why would you believe Lesedi at this point? Why did you even talk to that hoe??", "Whatever Kamo... your time is over, sis", "Desperate much?"

Kamo continued to speak despite the negative comments, "I don't have any proof right now, but Lesedi is putting together everything she has collected on KB and his friends and will be sharing it all with me very soon. I just need you guys to know that they are NOT to be trusted..."

KB returned his gaze to the comments at the bottom of the screen, which continued to come through in rapid succession:

"This is actually sad...", "Wow Kamo stop embarrassing yourself girl...", "This reeks of desperation!", "Why is Kamo acting like a fan lmao!"

"I knew you guys wouldn't believe me..." Kamo continued "That's why I had to find someone to endorse all of this before I could tell you guys. I'm not alone in this car...I'm here with someone else right now." Kamo said before turning the camera towards the passenger seat of the vehicle she was in.

"Hello...I've missed you all..." Mihlali said when the camera came to a standstill. And then she blew a kiss towards the camera.

Mihlali looked nothing like the girl KB had met in Limpopo. She had on a full face of makeup, and a long black lace-front wig parted at the center of her head. Her clothes looked expensive and the diamonds on her ears occasionally sparkled in the light. She looked like a true Star.

KB and Senzo remained silent. Neither of them uttering a sound. And the comments, which continued to roll in at a terrifying speed at the bottom of the screen, all seemed to say the same thing: "It's Mihlali! The Queen is back!"