Le REVOLUTION
During that afternoon study session, I was thinking about the whole manyora issue and wondered whether it was only Neo or the rest of JMS who thought of them so ill. I saw Sethunya reading a History text book and when she was done, I borrowed it as I had nothing much to read except for the blank notebooks we had been given by our class teacher the previous day.
‘Psst, can I please borrow that text book. I’ve got nothing much to read you know, except for these’. She smiled and gave me the text book which was titled ‘History’s 100 Most Influential People’ by world renowned Botswana historian and a former University of Botswana lecturer, the late Professor Thomas Tlou. Before I could read it, I decided to ask for her opinion on the whole manyora issue.
‘Well, they are kind of cool but in JMS they are not really that popular. There was this guy back in 2005 that tried to bring it to the school but failed because he had no support. Why do you ask?’
‘No, I’m just asking for no particular reason really’
‘Oh, okay then. By the way, Winona told me you were supposed to meet during lunch time but her dad came to school and she had to attend to him’
‘Oh, I totally understand. We’ll do it some other time’
As I paged through the book, I came across a picture of the famous Argentine Marxist revolutionist, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. I knew the man from t-shirts as I had one with his famous picture. Out of boredom I decided to read more about him, learning how he had helped Fidel Castro take power in Cuba from Batista and how he had died at the hands of the military in Bolivia spreading what he believed was right: communism. Just then an idea hit me; I was going to do exactly what Che had done: spread ideas I believed to be right, only this time in the form of the thought-to-be illicit culture of manyora. There was a gap in JMS High and I was going to fill it!
In high school, you have to be known and remembered for something. After what I heard being said about them I knew this had to stop. I knew it would be a difficult task as Neo wasn’t the only person who hated this culture; a lot of people in JMS probably did too. My mission in JMS wasn’t to be some pioneer but this could make me famous and popular and that’s what one had to do in junior high: become popular and famous somehow. It’s almost a norm to leave high school famous.
I waited patiently for study to be over so that I could tell Bagomotsi about my new idea. The moment the bell went, I gave the book back to the Sethunya, ‘Thanks for the book, it made me realize something really important’
‘Oh, you are welcome’ she said with a smile once more and started packing her stuff in her school bag while I rushed to Bagomotsi who was packing up his stuff in his bag as well a few meters away.
I told him about the conversation Neo and I had had earlier as we walked to our lockers and he was just as surprised. The previous day we had been asked to fill out in the forms the extra-curricular activities we wanted. Bagomotsi, Neo and I had chosen swimming along with some of my old friends but Neo had also decided to join the school newspaper, JMS Times. It was a weekly newspaper which told the stories, controversies as well as the gossip stories that hung above the school community. Due to her guidance and counseling skills, which added on to her writing skills, she was appointed as a guidance and counseling columnist and doubled as the sub-editor, all thanks to her history with the primary school newspaper. During the holidays, my dad and I had regularly gone to the gym so I had a fairly-looking torso and abs, which was the reason I chose swimming.
‘Maybe she’s dated one of them before’
‘I doubt it Bagomotsi, she would’ve told me. But anyway, I actually came here to share with you an idea I have’
‘What is it?’
‘Thing is, I want us to introduce the manyora culture in JMS; create a legacy for ourselves you know. We stir up a revolution in the school, just like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara did in Cuba. We could become living legends. One day, Grade eights are going to come here and say, “We thought this culture existed in public schools only” and someone is going to say “Brandon Chidzala and Bagomotsi Moalosi brought the culture here”. Just imagine that buddy’
He just looked at me and slowly started laughing.
‘What is it? What’s so funny?’
‘Do you really think we would be legends in JMS because we introduced a culture that almost every kid in school thinks is weird? Think about what other students tried to do to become legends: George Basset locked Grade eights in store rooms on their first week in the year 1997, France Herod did graffiti on school property in 1999, Collin Moles introduced the smoking of weed in 2000 and the list is endless. You know what happened to those guys?’
‘What happened to them?’
‘They got expelled’
‘They got expelled because they tried to become legends by doing the wrong things. We can’t get expelled simply because we introduced an innocent culture Bagomotsi, think about that’.
‘Never say never Brandon, it’s so possible. You know how people feel about it; they all think it’s a basis for crime and all things bad’
‘Come on Bagomotsi, stop being such an idiot, you know I’m right. It is not a crime to bring positive change in a school’
‘Who said it was positive? Like I’ve just said, they believe it’s a basis for crime Brandon, C-R-I-M-E. Who would want to welcome that in school?’
He was obviously trying to test my patience and I was really starting to lose it.
‘Bagomotsi, stop being difficult man; you know I’m right. We are not bringing crime here; we are bringing a new lifestyle. I’m not saying we should start stealing and sparking feuds that could disintegrate the order of the JMS society; no, I never said that. All we bring is a new dance and a new fashion lifestyle; that’s it, end of story’
‘I’m not sure man but what can I say? You never know until you’ve tried, hey?’
‘That’s my point; exactly my freaking point’.
He nodded silently in thought before turning to me.
‘When are we starting?’
‘Yes! I knew you’d eventually come around. First of all we have to meet Botho; he’s got the connections and has friends in Setlalekgosi Junior School, which has produced the best kwaito dance groups ever. He is apparently linked to some guys from the famed Torroski. We’ll have to set up an AP with him’
‘Well then, if you say so then I’m in. I can’t believe it’s barely a week in JMS already you want to change the school’
‘Crazy, isn’t it? But hey, we got this and thanks for the support bra’ and I hugged him before we walked on to the lockers.
I imagined my ideas materializing and thought about the legacy we could create; become living legends because of an unpopular and unrecognized practice. This was going to be awesome! Of course, like everyone else with a new idea, we would meet challenges but that did not pull me back on my ideas.
Once at the lockers, we started to change into our swim wear and a group of girls came our way, wearing their swim wear and obviously showing off their sexy assets. They appeared to be in the senior Grades as they were a bit older and better developed, physically. Bagomotsi and I froze as they passed by and they noticed it.
‘Hey freshmen, how are you doing? Enjoying JMS already?’ asked one of them in a seductive way and like true losers, we nodded. They just laughed and moved on.
‘Do we have goddesses in this school or am I dreaming?’ asked Bagomotsi as we watched them move on, our eyes fixed on their rather interesting bottoms.
‘There’s a lot of fish at sea buddy, isn’t there? I could get used to living like this’ I added. The girls were a clear sign that JMS had a lot to offer. New schools became something you look forward to every day because of the new people there is to meet but if there are good-looking girls, God is even more on your side. But yet again, we had not even met ten percent of the entire Eve generation in JMS!
As we walked to the swimming pool area, I saw Winona and some of her friends, including Sethunya p
assing by so I decided to call her over and greet her. She signaled her friends to move on and came to me. As they did, Sethunya winked and smiled at me.
‘Hi Bagomotsi’ she greeted him with a hug.
‘Hey Winona, looking good’
‘Thank you. Brandon, how are you?’ she said with her splendid smile and I could swear the girl’s smile kept getting better by the day.
‘I’m just good and enjoying my stay in John Mackenzie High’
‘Brandon, you’ll find me at the swimming pool’ said Bagomotsi and I nodded, my eyes still fixed on the beautiful heavenly piece in front of me.
We started walking towards her friends at a snail’s pace. Her height was an irrefutable advantage, making her an even more suitable mate for me, as I was almost ten centimeters taller than her.
‘So you and Bagomotsi are best buddies hey?’
‘Well, yes we are even though he can be a hot head at times’
‘I know best friends can be a problem at times but what can we do? By the way, Sethunya told me about your conversation earlier’
‘Did she now?’
‘Yep, she did and I must say it’s a good thing you guys bonded so quickly. It’s good to have friends of the opposite sex you know’
‘Yeah, I guess so; more especially if they are friends with the girl you feel so crazy about’
She chuckled before we stopped and asked me a question I couldn’t answer with ease.
‘Brandon, if you like someone and learn that they’ve got a past that you might not be able to handle, what do you do?’
I remained silent for a while, wondering where the conversation was going.
‘What is that supposed to mean if you don’t mind telling me?’
‘Sethunya must have told you about my ex-boyfriend Mark and how he still wants me back despite what he did to me when we were still dating. I don’t think he’s going to like seeing us together and I wonder if you’ll be comfortable with that’
‘For you I’ll be ready for just anything I guess’ I responded, trying to sound like some hero.
‘That’s so sweet of you Brandon but it’s going to take more than that to handle him’.
Masego was some psychic people. Still remember what she said about me not being able to handle Winona? But then again, I was not going to let Mark spoil my chances with Winona so like I always do, I stood my ground. To be honest, at that very moment, she felt like one in a million to me and girls like her don’t come cheap.
‘Mark is nothing to worry about right now. All I am worried about is whether you like me or not, nothing else. Would you say you like me enough to give me your heart?’
‘I can’t answer that Brandon’
‘Why can’t you? It’s all a matter of a yes or a no’.
She remained quiet for a while, her face down before looking at me again. I was not sure why she had changed all of a sudden, her beautiful eyes turning glossy all of a sudden.
‘Listen Brandon, we’ll talk some other time, I have to go. I think the best place would be the Union Square because it’s quite during mid-week, just perfect for a nice, long conversation between two people who have a lot to talk about. I’m sorry’ and she was gone. I could see she was interested in me but why act so dodgy? I looked around and a few meters away stood Mark and his boys who looked at me for a while before disappearing behind a block of class. So that was why she acted like she did?
At the swimming pool area the coach had not arrived so the freshmen were still chitchatting by the pool while the seniors were already in, including the group of girls we had seen earlier. When one of them saw me, they waved at me and I also did, quite embarrassed by my earlier display of affection.
‘Nice torso freshman’ said one of them, the very same girl who had talked to us earlier and I knew I had to run before more comments came my way. ‘Thanks’ and I moved further in to the crowd.
I looked for Bagomotsi in the crowd and as I did, I saw this girl standing alone a few meters away and she appeared to be new in JMS, as in she had never been to the school. Ok fine, I know I had a thing for Winona already but the girl was a worthy catch as well. She and Winona were almost the same; beautiful brown eyes, long hair and lips to die for, except for that she was not colored, even though she was also light in complexion. I looked at her for a while, lost in a world of questions: who was this girl? Was she the girl I could debut dating with rather than Winona? Was she more perfect than Winona? Was she....
‘Hey Brandon, you also chose swimming?’ asked Kago, pulling me out of my world of confusion. I shook my head and looked at him.
‘Hey Kago, what’s up bra?’ and I looked back at the anonymous girl but she was gone.
‘I’m cool I guess. I am just blending in with the new environment; how about you?’
I was not even looking at the poor guy and he noticed it.
‘Brandon, are you okay?’ and once again I shook my head and laughed.
‘Sure, I’m doing just fine buddy and yes, I joined swimming. Where’ve you been?’
‘Around and I guess JMS High has something or rather a lot of interesting things’ and he touched his chest to show that he was talking about girls and I faked a laugh. The guy was wasting my time and I had to lose him.
‘Anyway, I’ll see you around Kago, got to run’ and I walked away as quickly as possible. Soon enough, I found Bagomotsi and Masego and they were, well, getting cozy. I cleared my throat to indicate my presence and they looked up at me.
‘Hey Brandon, are you done with Winona already?’
‘Yep I am and we need to talk’
‘AIIT or not’
‘No you are not. Masego, excuse him for a while please’
‘Sure, no problem, I’ll be here waiting’.
I pulled Bagomotsi aside to tell him about my discovery. By ‘AIIT’ he actually meant ‘Am I in trouble’ because he and I usually communicated in abbreviations to hide out what we were talking about. Other abbreviation included of course DIY-Do it yourself, FYI-For your information, YASD-You are so dead and the list went on. This was kind of cool regarding the fact that we were the only ones who understood the cryptogram.
‘So what is so important to stop me from getting comfortable with my girl?
‘Ok, I know you are going to think I’m crazy but I think there’s another girl I like right here in the swimming pool area. She’s light, beautiful; intriguingly beautiful as a matter of fact bra’
‘Brandon, you are nuts’
‘No man, it’s just that this girl is so beautiful I’m starting to have second thoughts about Winona, more especially with Mark and stuff’
‘Dude, I’m not going to let you break Winona’s heart. Winona is a nice girl and one thing we know for sure is that she likes you. Don’t mess up this chance by going after another girl because you could regret it’
‘But you don’t understand Bagomotsi’
‘I understand you quite well Brandon and here’s what: the decision is yours to make. If you go after two girls, that my friend is up to you; my advice is that you should be careful along the way and I am not getting involved’ and he walked back to Masego. The guy wasn’t helping me in any way so I decided by myself that I would see where all the confusion took me. Was this beginner’s luck or bad luck?
The coach arrived after a few minutes and he was a tall man with a nicely trimmed beard and a bald head with a fairly dark skin. He greeted us all and introduced himself as Mr. Moseki and he would be coaching us for the next three years in JMS. He explained the procedures and safety measures and pleaded with the seniors to take it easy with us junior freshmen.
‘We sure will coach, more especially since some of them have such nice torsos’ said one of the girls from the group we had seen earlier. I cleared my throat a little, knowing in actual fact that she was talking about me; well, maybe. From there we were divided in to practice teams and team leaders were chosen from the seniors. Bagomotsi and I were in the same team while Ne
o was in a different group.
Our team leader was a good-looking girl white girl who introduced herself as Hayden Hirschfield. Deeply rooted in sports as far back as kindergarten, the green-eyed beauty was kind but also the don’t-mess-with-me type. She was the girl who would later turn out to have a secret crush on Botho, all covered up with hate. Later on, they would have something between them and she would turn out to be Botho’s worst nightmare. But basically, she was a nice girl.
‘Like the coach had stated earlier, we expect full co-operation amongst you guys. As you might have noticed already, JMS High is a junior high school not a kindergarten or primary school so I expect you to behave like grown-ups. Childhood years are gone and you have now entered a world that expects only the responsible. Be responsible and you will enjoy your stay in JMS High. One other thing, as swimmers, I expect you to perform at your level best because Botswana needs good swimmers to represent her in world stage competitions like the Commonwealth games, the Olympics and other competitions that require swimmers. We already have good athletes like Amantle Ramontsho…’
‘It’s actually Montsho miss, not Ramontsho’ corrected one of the freshmen and she laughed, a little embarrassed.
‘Thanks a lot…freshman. And like I was saying, we have a good football team that has represented us at their level best. Why can’t the same be with swimming? And one last thing, you do not call me Miss or by my name; instead, you call me and every other group leader Captain. Breaking that rule makes you, if found guilty, liable for punishment. Anyway, enough of the blubbering; I just hope you all have fun’.
We applauded her and from there swimming practice commenced. All I could think about was the girl I had just seen earlier and I wondered who she really was. Soon the swimming cleared my mind and I forgot all about her, temporarily. Practice took an hour and we were done for that day. As everyone prepared to go home, I searched for the girl in the crowd and saw Bagomotsi and Masego talking a few meters away. I ignored them and continued with my search which unfortunately brought no useful results apart from seeing more half-naked, hot and not-so-hot bodies passing by.
I decided to walk alone to my locker when I finally gave up and just when I was a few meters away from the locker, I saw Winona but she wasn’t with her friends this time; she was with Mark Merritt. They didn’t see me so I watched them for a while as they argued but I couldn’t get what they were talking about. After a while Mark pointed his finger at her and she started to cry. I wished I could just go in and help but I knew I’d only be inviting trouble in to my life. He then walked away and she turned to her locker and cried even more. I really wanted to go over to her but something just told me not to. Nicole arrived at the scene after a while and after consoling her, they walked away. So it was true? Mark did abuse Winona. Once I got her – that was if I ever did get her – I was going to stop this once and for all, even as much as the guy terrified me.
Bagomotsi joined me a while later and we walked to the school gate. I decided to tell him about what had just happened.
‘Winona’s ex, Mark Merritt, just tried to beat her up’
‘Wait, Winona dated Mark Merritt?’
‘Yes and I was told that the relationship was filled with a lot of emotional abuse’.
Bagomotsi stopped and looked at me, shaking his head from side to side slowly.
‘What is it Bagomotsi?’
‘Mark Merritt isn’t the kind of guy to mess with bra. He was doing that because he doesn’t want her to date anyone. The guy probably still likes her and should he hear that you are the guy who is chasing Winona’s heart, YASD’
‘I know that. But the fact that he’s doing this to her makes me to have this desire to have her and protect her’
‘But you are going to have a price to pay for that to happen. We both know what The Marrittians are capable of. I’m sure you don’t want to create enemies before you even get used to the school’
‘No, of course I don’t want enemies. What I don’t get though is how Winona is supposed to love an abusive boyfriend or stay in an abusive relationship’
‘The world we live in bra is quite complicated and we just have to live with it. I wouldn’t blame you if you went after another girl because Mark is big trouble!’
That evening I was playing a football PC game with my dad on his laptop while my mother was washing the dishes when I decided to bring up the issue. This was quite a sensitive issue and I wasn’t so sure if my dad would allow me to discuss it with him but it was worth a try so I did.
‘Dad, I’ve got this problem and I’m not sure if you can help me or not’.
He stopped playing and looked at me, ready to listen.
‘Thing is, at school I’ve met this beautiful girl by the name of Winona. She’s beautiful dad and I really do like her. But the problem is that she’s got a boyfriend; well an ex who’s quite abusive and he wants her back. The girl doesn’t like the guy and she has shown me signs that she likes me. Should I take my chances by dating this girl and face dire consequences or should I move on? I mean, there are a lot of girls at school I could date but then, this girl is just…I like this girl dad’
‘Wait, what’s ‘‘dire consequences’’ supposed to mean?’
‘This guy, the ex, is well known for his gang known as The Marrittians and they can really teach a lesson. Once he hears about me and Winona, he’s going to come after me and that’s for sure’
‘Well then, my advice would be that you should avoid trouble and move on’
‘But dad, I love this girl and I’m willing to do everything possible to help her. Ignoring the fact that she’s being abused does not build me or her’
‘Love is a strong word and I am sure it can’t have developed so fast. It’s almost impossible, so to say’
‘What do you mean dad?’
‘You can’t love Winona already but yes, you really do like her; that I can’t argue with’
So there was a difference between liking someone and loving them. Crazy how these days, kids hit it off for a week and already think they are in love though.
‘Son, do what you got to do but just be careful. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to lose a tooth for a girl, would you?’
‘Well, I guess not but for her I must admit: I would’. Then there is this one girl again I saw today at swimming practice. I didn’t really get to introduce myself but I did see her. She’s equally beautiful and stuff but with her the problem is I don’t know her. She appears to be new in Francistown and I don’t know if she’ll be interested in a relationship with me or not.’
‘Son, you want two girls at the same time?’
‘Like I said dad, Winona has issues and the new girl is like a sub I could use. Anyway, that’s one problem and the other problem is what if I hit on her and Winona finds out. Then from there the new girl rejects me and obviously Winona would too because she’d know I’m not an honest person’.
My dad nodded in agreement and responded after a while, telling me a bit of his history to make sense my present dilemma/situation.