Broken promise (continue2&3)

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Hotsaint
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July 12th, 2017, 4:40 am

Chapter 2
Ntombi looked at the five rand coin in her hand.
“What does she think I can buy with five rand?” she
thought. One small bag of chips at the spaza, and a
small packet of sweets, which she’d have to share
with Zinzi. It wouldn’t buy her what she really needed
– just ten minutes of time with her mother, when
they could sit down and watch TV together, or talk,
like they used to.
Just then Zinzi came in. She had been playing soccer
in the street and her knee was grazed and bleeding.
“Where’s Mama?” she asked Ntombi.
“Guess,” said Ntombi. “It’s not that hard.”
“Zakes?”
“Where else?”
“I thought you had singing practice this evening?’ said
Zinzi as she slumped on the couch and dabbed at her
cut with a tissue.
“Not any more. Mama said I’ve got to stay home and
look after you.”
“I can look after myself.”
“You’re twelve,” said Ntombi, fetching the Dettol from
the bathroom and dabbing it on Zinzi’s cut.
“Ouch!” Zinzi complained. “Stop it. You’re hurting
me.”
“Don’t act like a baby. You don’t want it to get
worse, do you? Do you want to go to hospital with an
infected cut?”
“Why are you in such a bad mood?”
“Wouldn’t you be if you were missing a chance to go
to the national finals of South Africa’s Teen Voice
Competition?”
“I thought the judges were only coming next week?”
“They are. But every practice is really important. Mr
Masondo says that we have to work hard and make
Harmony High proud. Otherwise he won’t let us
compete.”
Ntombi had been chosen, along with ten others at
Harmony High, to perform for a panel of talent
scouts that was travelling around the country
auditioning high school students for the Teen Voice
singing competition. If she was chosen out of the ten
students from her school then she would go on to the
national finals in Jozi. The prize was R10 000 and a
recording contract. Ntombi had promised herself that
she would work as hard as she could, attend every
practice, and go to the nationals. Sometimes she even
let herself dream of winning the competition. It would
change her life – she would work really hard and
produce an album. She’d buy a proper house for her
family, and make sure her sister finished school. With
the money she could go to university and study to
become…
* * *
Just then there was the sound of girls laughing outside
in the street.
“It’s the giraffes,” Zinzi said from the couch where
she was watching Days on TV. She called Ntombi’s
three girlfriends the giraffes because they were taller
than other girls. In turn, they called Ntombi “shortie”,
although she was average height. Ntombi opened the
door and hugged her friends Busi, Asanda and Lettie.
At least she could rely on them for support. Asanda
and Lettie had also been chosen to compete in the
singing competition and Ntombi could see that they
were on their way to the practice. Busi was going
along to watch in the hope of attracting the
attention of Unathi, who was also competing. At the
last practice she sat in the front row seats in the
hall, blowing kisses to Unathi and holding up a big
piece of paper with “I love Unathi” painted in lipstick.
Unathi had just smiled and waved. Ntombi had told
Busi that Unathi had a girlfriend back in Jozi, where
he was from, but Busi wouldn’t listen. She didn’t want
to hear.
“Come on, lazy girl,” Asanda laughed. “We’ll be late.”
The practice was in the school hall, a taxi-ride
away.
“I can’t go,” Ntombi told them.
“You must be joking!” Lettie said. “What’s wrong with
you? I thought this was your dream?”
“Mama went out and I have to look after Zinzi.”
“You know what this means. Mr Masondo is not going
to be pleased.”
“I know.” Ntombi was close to tears and her friends
could see it. Mr Masondo was their singing coach and
he was strict. Two missed rehearsals and you were out
of the competition.
Asanda gave her a big hug. “Listen, we’ll bring you
the lyrics back and help you practise. Cheer up. I’ll
tell Mr Masondo that you got food poisoning.” Asanda
was the queen of excuses, and with her charm the
teachers always believed her.
“Thanks chommies. You’re the best.” Ntombi tried to
smile bravely, but she felt terrible.
“By the way, there’s a party on Saturday at Thabiso’s
Tavern. We’re going,” Busi said. “Why don’t you
come? It should be fun. Unathi’s going to be there
with his cousin from Jozi.”
“How many times do I have to tell you Unathi has a
girlfriend?” Ntombi despaired of Busi. She really lost
her head over boys and forgot who she was – the
intelligent and charismatic girl who had a great
future if she could just stay focused.
“He’s never mentioned her,” said Busi. “And anyway
evidently his cousin is even better looking, and I’ve
always wanted to go to Jozi. They say the men are
hot up there.”
“You’re going to burn yourself one day,” joked Ntombi.
“Just be careful.”
“Yes, Mama,” the girls laughed.
* * *
Ntombi watched as her friends ran down the road to
catch the taxi. They were laughing and chatting.
She went back inside and shut the door. The girls
were right to call her ‘Mama’ – that’s what she
was at the moment, and she was only fifteen. It was
like her mother and her had swopped roles. The
other girls used to complain about their strict mothers
and tell Ntombi she was lucky. But Ntombi had
noticed they didn’t say that anymore, not since Zakes
had arrived on the scene. And Ntombi did not want to
be a mother. Not for a long time. Not until she had
finished studying and definitely not with someone she
didn’t love and respect!
“I’m hungry,” complained Zinzi, who was watching
The Bold and the Beautiful.
Ntombi wanted to just walk away from the house. But
she knew she couldn’t.
She put the last bit of mielie meal into the pot.
Sometimes she loved porridge for supper. But she was
getting tired of it now. Before Zakes, her mother
had always made sure that there was enough food in
the house for them. It was a struggle on her salary,
but she would always cook them a good meal in the
evening and they would sit together and chat about
the day. She had been sad a lot, but then they also
had good times together. They went shopping in
town on Saturday at the end of the month when her
mother would give them each pocket money to spend.
Now she didn’t have time for them any more. Ntombi
had been telling her how the fridge needed to be
fixed (it kept going on and off) and that the drain
at the back of the house was blocked again. That’s
when she really missed her dad. He would have fixed
it by now. And where was Zakes when something
went wrong in their house – out selling cars?
She served the pap onto plates. “Careful, it’s hot,”
she warned Not this again,” complained Zinzi.
“Don’t tell me, tell Mama,” said Ntombi.“If she’s ever
here to tell.” As they ate, on Bold, a soapie star
reclined on a lounging chair beside a pool somewhere
in America – somewhere hot and lush with lots of
money. A butler handed her an ice cold cocktail…
she didn’t have a care in the world. Her nanny was
looking after her kids, and Ntombi knew that her
fridge would be brimming with food. Just then there
was a sizzling sound and a bang from the back of
the TV. The smell of burned plastic filled the room.
“No!” screamed Zinzi. “Not the TV! My life has ended.”
And she buried her face under a cushion.
“Don’t be such a drama queen!” yelled Ntombi. She
went into the bedroom to get away from her sister,
before she exploded like the TV. She lay on the bed
she shared with Zinzi and started paging through a
magazine. But she wasn’t reading the words. She
kept thinking of Asanda and Lettie standing on the
stage of the school hall, learning the words of that
new song, and them all laughing and having fun as
they got one step closer to the finals, while she was
stuck in this dump with a younger sister who was
driving her crazy and not helping one bit around the
house.
She looked down at the glamorous pop stars in the
mag. Who did she think she was, trying to compete
with girls like this? Maybe she was dreaming after all.
Maybe Zakes was right. Maybe she didn’t have what it
took to be a Teen Voice star. “Why bother entering
the competition,” he had said. “These days you have
to have the whole package: the looks, the s3x
appeal and the voice. You’ll only be setting yourself up
to be taken down.”
Her dad would never have said those hurtful words.
He had told her that he was so proud of her when
she had got into the choir at Harmony High. And
when he had his employer’s car for a few days he
had taken her to practices himself. Once when she
wanted to go and get her ears pierced he had said,
“Why spoil something so beautiful already?”
Now she didn’t even know where he was, or who he
was with. Maybe he had a whole other family
somewhere, another daughter, whom he loved now,
more than her?
* * *
As she lay there she thought of the three promises
she had made to herself on New Year’s eve three
months ago. First: to enter the singing competition
and go all the way to the final. Second: not to go
out with a guy unless he was kind and respected her
– not like the guy Busi had dated in the holiday,
who had seemed the real deal – too good to be
true – because he was too good to be true. He
was good looking and clever, but he had left her
with a broken heart and a broken arm after he had
pushed her and she had tripped and fallen hard. If
Ntombi and Asanda hadn’t run when they heard her
cries from behind the sports shed at school, things
might have been a lot worse. But when they
appeared Ebenezer had left her and run – a
coward at heart.
The third promise was to find her dad and bring him
home. There was no way that she was going to let
Zakes move in with them and pretend to be their
father.
Chapter 3
Ntombi woke up from a nightmare in the middle of
the night. In the dream she was wearing a long pink
dress with lots of frills and her friend Asanda was
putting a tiara with plastic flowers in her hair. They
were in the changing rooms at the church hall where
the auditions were going to be for the Teen Voice
competition. First Ntombi thought she had won the
competition and she was really excited. She was
ready to walk out on the stage in front of hundreds of
people and be given flowers and a recording contract.
Pink wasn’t really her colour, but who cared, when
she was about to become a pop star? But when she
walked out into the hall there were no screaming
teenage fans and no sign of a microphone. In fact
the hall was full of men and women dressed in suits
and formal dresses. And there at the back, next to
the door was her mother. She was also dressed in a
huge pink dress, with more frills and lace than
Ntombi’s. For a second Ntombi thought that this
might be her own wedding, and that at any minute
the handsomest, coolest guy was going to appear,
walk towards her and announce that he was her
fiancé. But then Zakes walked in, and Ntombi
realised that this was no fairytale wedding and she
definitely wasn’t the princess. She was a bridesmaid at
her mother’s wedding to Zakes. The dream had just
turned into a terrible nightmare.
Her mother was smiling and kissing Zakes. He was
smiling that fake smile. Before she knew it her
mother was calling her to the bridal procession. Her
sister appeared in an identical pink dress. The whole
thing made Ntombi feel sick.
“What’s wrong, Ntombi?” Suddenly her mother had the
face of a witch. “Can’t you be happy for us?”
“Just wait.” Zakes gripped her arm and led her away
so her mother couldn’t hear what he was about to
say. His breath was warm and stank of beer as he
lowered his voice.“There’s no escaping from me now,”
he said. “You will do exactly as I say or there will be
trouble. I am the boss in your house.” He let her go
and she rubbed her arm; his fat fingers had left
marks on her skin. She watched as her mother took
Zakes’ arm and walked up the aisle and up the stairs
to the stage where a priest was w baiting to marry
them.
Ntombi had to do something to stop them – nobody
else was. She tried to run but her feet were glued to
the ground. She opened her mouth to scream but no
words came out. Zakes took the ring and was about
to slip it on her mother’s finger..
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Hotsaint
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Location: NIGERIA
 

July 12th, 2017, 4:58 am

bestniaja says: thank you for reading this episode the story will continue tomorow
Stream my latest song
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