Matriculation year

In the village Thandi packed all her clothes, cooked the chicken and steamed bread she was taking back to the city with her. The schools were opening the following day and she was looking forward to seeing her friends again. This year she will be doing grade 12 as known as matriculation or Matric. This was the most challenging and important grade in the school as it was the last grade before university. Grade 12 write a national paper at the end of the year and universities use the results of that exams to accept or decline you admission to different courses. Thandi knew if she wanted to be accepted into quantum physics she had to work very hard this year.

In grade 12a the pupils had finally settled down after greeting their friends and shared their festive stories. Mr Q entered the classroom, pupils stood up clapped their hands and cheered for him. He had produced outstanding results with the previous years matriculants that the country had given him awards to honour him. He had also received a lot of job offers from private schools but declined stating that he wanted to give an opportunity for learners from poor backgrounds a chance to brighter future. This is why the pupils were cheering for him, he actually chose them over money.

“Just remember to be good sheep and don’t stray because the Wolf will devour you”Mrs Q said with a grin.

“We are not sheep Sir, we Wolf pups”the pupils responded in unison.

Mr Q laughed” you better stay on the path then Wolf pups.”

He was strict but he cared a lot about them, for that this pupils will forever be grateful.

Two months passed and all teachers were pushing the pupils very hard aiming to finish the syllabus early to give themselves time for revision before the national exams. Thandi, Mandy and the rest of their friends were also working extremely hard this year and would get home very tired.

At the university S’bu and his friends were attending a party to welcome the first year students. They were dancing, having a barbecue and drinking alcohol. By early hours of the morning S’bu, his friends and most attendees were drunk except for few students. Joyce who was a third year student, an the editor of the university magazine was walking around interviewing old and new students on their experience in the university so far. Being and editor meant socialising with a lot of students and knowing personal information about them. She had always been curious to know about S’bu’s love life. Everyone knew that he hooked up with a lot of girls and was famous for never falling for any of them. Today she noticed that S’bu was at the party and drunk so she tried her luck.

“S’bu, you are one of the handsome guys in the university and admired by a lot. Is it true that you have never fallen in loved?” she asked with her phone up taking a video of him.

“Joyce, Joyce, Joyce...... it’s one in the morning and you asking me that?” S’bu answered her with slurred speech.

“On behalf of all the women please, we curious”Joyce said pleading. Most girls have wondered about this, if she got the answer her profile would grow dramatically.

“Well, it was true but not anymore”S’bu said with a grin walking away.

“Wait! you mean you have fallen in love with someone now?”she asked excited.

“Joyce leave me alone, I’m tired, I need to go sleep. Do you understand” he said getting annoyed.

“Who’s is she? What makes her so special? Is she that good in bed? What does she look like?” Joyce asked a question after another. She could no afford to miss out on this. She will nag and beg S’bu for answers if she has to.

“Ok, here she is” S’bu said showing Joyce a photo of him and Thandi at the river. She’s not mine, yet. “I’ve never slept with her, she’s a virgin. Can I go sleep in peace now?” he asked her impatiently unaware that he was being recorded.

S’bu went straight to his flat and slept the rest of the morning and day. He was woken up by a call from Menzi in the afternoon.

“Menzi” he answered his phone with his eyes still closed.

“So it took alcohol for you to finally admit that you are in love with her?”Menzi asked with excitement.

“What are you on about?” S’bu was lost, he had no idea what his brother was talking about.

“You do remember the interview you did at 1 in the morning right? The one where you admitted on video to being in love with Thandi” Menzi added.

“What?”S’bu sat up no longer sleepy. He remembered Joyce nagging him this morning and he finally answered her. That was not an interview, was it? He got out of bed to his desktop and logged in to his university page.

“Oh, No!” he exclaimed. The photo of him and Thandi at the river was on the front page of the university news with a big title written “S’bu’s virgin”. There were about a thousand comments and more viewers. It looked like majority of his university students had already seen the post.

“How do you know about this?” he asked his brother who was still on the phone with him. Menzi was in another university so he did not have access to S’bu’s university students site.

“Your video is all over social media, you should go see the comments on your profile” Menzi responded.

S’bu logged on into his social media account and saw almost a half a million comments. Some congratulated him, some were making fun of the girls that hooked up with him saying they should have kept their legs shut maybe S’bu chase fallen for them, some commented on the romantic rural setting where the photo was taken. Someone commented on the photo and identified Thandi as the girl on the photo, after that more viewers gave details on who she was, her personality, where she stayed, which school she attended and even her school grades and achievement were posted. One anonymous viewer commented with “ Well ladies, now you know his type: 4S: Simple, Smart, Sexy and Serene. I’m afraid the combination of those is quite rare”.

S’bu realised there was nothing he could do about the situation now and hoped that Thandi does not find out about it and the story would die soon.