‘I wonder how it feels to be Billy Anderson’s girlfriend hey Petunia, or Sharon’. Anna confessed later that afternoon when we were at our apartment doing our assignments. We were in our world now. We could talk about Billy Anderson all day until bedtime and there was nothing weird about it. We even had pictures of him on our wall. For real. You know how teenagers go gaga on super stars like Justin Bieber? Billy Anderson was our own Justin Bieber. We talked about him non-stop. He was the kind of guy who I personally fantasized about until the early hours of the morning. I always saw myself in his arms, car, in his bed. I never went a day without match-making the both of us in my head. He was my perfect boyfriend and I was his pretty one.
‘Hey Petunia, I’m talking to you. Where is your head?’
‘Huh?’
‘Did you even hear a word I said?’
‘No I’m sorry, I just want to complete this assignment, and deadline is tomorrow. What’s up?’
‘I said, I wonder how it feels to be Anderson’s girlfriend or that brainless beauty, Sharon.’
‘Okay okay okay, I can understand the Billy Anderson girlfriend part, but I don’t understand the Sharon part. Why would you want to be her?’
‘Girl come on, do you want to tell me that you have never once in your life wished to be like her, or just to spend a day in her shoes?’
‘That will mean that I become a self-centered bitch, a bully, a beauty without brains and an attention seeker all in one day? It all sound like a whole lot of work. I’ll pass.’
‘Come on, you know what I mean. Sharon is not just beautiful Petunia; she is a definite Greek goddess walking among people. She knows exactly what to say to a guy and he falls to his knees. I wouldn’t mind being Sharon Monyai just for a day. I’d have almost everything a girl could wish for.’
‘Yeah, everything but brains. Sharon was very rude to me today; I don’t think I still think she is beautiful. Beauty has to come from the inside so that it can spread to the outside.’
‘Hahahahaha ok chomee, let me leave you to your work. I’m off to the library.’
‘Ok bye.’
Boy was I glad that Anna left. I secretly wished to be Sharon. Sharon didn’t look like your ordinary girl. She looked like she walked out of a magazine, photoshopped, and everything. Her skin was very glossy. I don’t know what she used for her skin but it must have been expensive. Maybe she didn’t even bath with water from our planet earth. Maybe hers came with special tanks from another planet. Sharon was very beautiful.
But I couldn’t stop wondering why she and Billy never dated. Well, she’d tell people to stay away from him, and apparently, he told his friends that Sharon was just another girl who is interested in him. Either Sharon was delusional, or Billy was a big-headed proud spoilt brat. ‘If Billy could say no to a girl like Sharon, then who am I?’ All this thought were swimming in my head. It actually hit me that I wanted to be as close as possible to Billy Anderson. But how was it possible that I fell in love with someone who didn’t even know of my existence. Billy Anderson knew I existed but that didn’t matter to him. He had very important people to worry about than a brace-faced first year student. Maybe I should just give up on this crazy quest to win Billy over. I thought to myself. There are other guys out there who will like me and appreciate me. Not those who will look up and say, 'Can I help you?’
First, I will have to find out why Billy and Sharon aren’t together and the animosities between them, before I try to win Billy.
‘Done with your assignment chomee?’
Sharon, the airhead
He asked me out
‘Hey, guys.’ I greeted Billy and Fabian.‘Oh hey,’ Billy responded,‘Done with your lecture already?’‘Yes. It was either quick or time flies.’ I chatted with him like we have been friends for some time.‘Okay...oh this is Fabian, my homeboy.’‘Hi Fabian, nice to meet you.’‘Hi.’ Fabian greeted me sharply and he didn’t even bother to look up at me. He looked less interested. But I was not that worried. I didn’t want to be his friend anyway. So, him b
Exploring the city nightlife
‘I think your date has arrived, let me open for him.’ Anna said while shoving the last pictures into the rubbish bin.I took a deep breath while looking at this new girl in the mirror, a girl that my parents would hardly recognize, a girl that I always yearned to look like. She was a very beautiful girl. And that girl was me.‘Hello, how are you?’ That was Anna, opening the door for Billy.‘I’m good, is she ready?’ Billy asked from the outside.‘Just a minute, I will call her.’ Anna told him as she came to fetch me.
When we were in the bathroom, Ntombi did lend me her powder but Lira had something else. I looked at her throw the powder carefully on the counter and she sniffed it, Carol did the same thing and Ntombi as well. I was stunned. Powdering their noses actually meant sniffing what looked like cocaine.‘What’s that?’ I asked with a scared voice.‘Come on now, don’t tell me you have never seen this! Coke.’ Carol exclaimed.‘Cocaine. I know what it is.’‘Then why do you ask? Come on and join us.’
Billy, the charmer
Billy was leaning against the door of his Mini Cooper, waiting for me. He smiled at me from a distance. He just looked at me and smiled from ear to ear. When I finally got to him, he hugged me tightly; more like squeezed me and gave me a baby kiss. You’d swear we already had the title of boyfriend and girlfriend. He once again told me how beautiful I looked and he smelled good as usual. He opened the passenger door for me, like a princess then he sat in his. We drove in silence, but not total silence because he was playing music. The local Kwaito music. That fascinated me. A rich boy from the suburbs playing Kwaito. I thought he was goin