BROKEN PROMISES CHAPTER 8

Chapter 8
By six o’clock the next evening
Ntombi was in such a state she
didn’t know what she was going to
say to Mzi. What if the conversation
ran out? “Just be yourself,” said her
mother. That was just great, thought
Ntombi, coming from her mother,
who hadn’t been herself since she
met Zakes.
In fact, when Mzi arrived, Ntombi
thought it was Zakes. He was driving an
identical silver BMW, the only
difference being that his didn’t have
a Pirates bumper sticker. Her mother
thought it was Zakes too. She went
out to greet him, and was met by
Mzi.
“Oh, I thought you were my
boyfriend,” said her mother. “I
mean…”


“Oh God. How embarrassing,”
thought Ntombi as she introduced
them. “Mzi, this is my mother.”
Her mother looked confused. She
asked Mzi, “Do you know Zakes? He
drives a car exactly the same as
yours.”
“Mama!” Ntombi wanted to disappear
into the ground.
“Zakes. No, I don’t know any Zakes,”
said Mzi quickly. “I borrowed this car
from my cousin.” Ntombi got into the
car as fast as she could. She
needed to get away before her
mother embarrassed her any more.
So what if Mzi drove the same car as
Zakes?
“Let’s go, Mzi! Bye Mama,” she
called out to her mother, who was
shouting questions about when she
was coming home. Too late for that,
Mama, she thought. She leaned
back. Here she was, being driven by
the hottest boy in matric out on a
date. It felt unreal.
* * *
Mzi turned to Ntombi. “Hey, your
mother seems great.” Ntombi felt a
wave of relief flood over her. “And
you look really cool. Nice!” he added.
Talk, Ntombi told herself. Don’t just
sit there in awkward silence. Think
of something to say.
“Something cool happened at
school,” she started.
“Cool things can happen at school?”
Mzi laughed.
“Well, I was asked to write a song for
the school mag.” But Ntombi could
see that Mzi wasn’t listening. He was
distracted and had started SMSing
while he was driving. Ntombi knew
this was dangerous. Mr Dlamini had
an accident while SMSing and four
people in the other car were killed.
But she dared not say anything as
Mzi swerved and hooted at cars
while texting.
Then he pulled over. They were at
the back of what Ntombi knew to be
one of the rougher shebeens in the
neighbourhood. This was definitely
not Thabiso’s, where the party was
being held. An old sign hung on one
nail: Mama’s Tavern.
“I thought…” she turned to him. But
before she could finish Mzi flashed
one of his melting smiles.
“Don’t worry. I’m just picking up
some beers for the road.” He leapt
out of the car.
* * *
He had been gone for a few minutes
and some guys were approaching
the car. Ntombi felt nervous. She got
out and looked around for Mzi. She
wanted to find him, but she was
anxious to leave the car unlocked at
the same time. There was a gap in
the corrugated iron at the back of the
shebeen and she peered through it.
She could see Mzi talking to
someone, but she couldn’t see who,
as crates of beers were stacked to
the ceiling. But then the man
laughed. Hadn’t she heard that laugh
many times before, and often at her
own expense? Ntombi quickly ran
back to the car and jumped inside.
She didn’t admit it to herself, but she
was frightened of what Mzi would do
if he caught her spying on him. And
she was far away from any friends.
She pretended that she had been
SMSing when he got back in the car.
“Hey baby girl, why don’t you open
me a beer for the road.” Mzi reached
back and handed her a quart and a
bottle opener. “Do you know how
proud I am to be going to the party
with such a hot babe like you?”
The compliments felt so good.
Ntombi opened him a beer and
handed it to him.
“Drinking and driving…” he laughed,
and then took a swig. Just as they
turned onto the road that led to
Thabiso’s, a silver BMW overtook
them, hooting. Ntombi saw the
Pirates bumper sticker flashing in
the sunset.
“And the police would pull me over
for drinking and driving?” Mzi
laughed. “Look at that idiot.” Mzi put
his foot down. They were flying
along and he only had one hand on
the steering wheel. Ntombi wanted
to say something, to ask him to slow
down, but at the same time she
didn’t want to spoil his fun. She was
relieved when they pulled up outside
Thabiso’s. “Bezibila in the party,”
said Mzi. He was right, the place
was cooking. There were taxis and
cars and crowds of people. As
Ntombi got out she scanned the
crowd for Asanda and Lettie, but
there were too many people.
Mzi put his arm around her as they
wove through the crowd. He greeted
friends as they made their way
towards the door. Ntombi felt proud
to be with him. Obviously he knew a
lot of people and the girls looked
envious as she passed. She could
almost hear them thinking, “I wonder
what she’s got to be Mzi’s new girl?”
As they were queuing to go in she
heard Lettie and Asanda, further
back in the queue.
“Hey chommie,” they chanted
together, “you look so hot!” Ntombi
turned and smiled and they waved at
her. She was torn. She couldn’t
leave Mzi’s side, especially now that
he had his arm around her and they
were about to go in. But at the same
time she really wanted to be with her
friends. She waved, but before she
could tell them to meet her inside,
Mzi was pulling her with him through
the crowd into the club. It was too
late.