Chapter 4

Sharon, the airhead

‘Hi, Patricia, right?’ Yes, that was Sharon being ignorant and stupid again.

‘No, it’s Petunia again’. I said so with a sarcastic smile on my face.

‘Whatever. Look, I just want to apologize for yesterday’.

Good God, did I hear that right? Sharon Monyai, apologizing to me. What did she want? Was that apology even genuine? I looked at her face and it seemed like she was for real.

‘It’s okay Sharon. I already forgot about that.’

‘I just don’t want you to make a complete idiot of yourself.’

‘A complete idiot of myself? What are you going on about?’

‘You will learn as time goes on that guys like Billy don’t take kindly to just anyone’

‘Wait wait wait, what do you mean ‘take kindly to just anyone’? I’m not just anyone. And was I in any way rude to the guy? Because for all I know, you don’t even know what Billy and I were talking about’.

‘Okay okay don’t shoot the messenger. At least I played my part. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you’.

‘Whatever Sharon.’

Who did she think she was anyway calling me ‘just anyone’? She thinks she knows me. I thought to myself. Did she know what was going on in Billy’s head?

I carried on doing my work and minding my business and my friend Anna came to join me. God was I glad that she arrived. Anna knew exactly how to lift my spirit up and make me laugh. She has this beautiful voice, a jolly kind of sing-song-voice. Don’t get me wrong, she could also kill me with her brutal honesty. When it came to our friendship, she held nothing back, she wanted me to understand exactly what she was saying. I love her more than some of the members of my family.

‘Friend, what did queen Sharon want from you?’ She asked without any hesitation.

‘Ahhh, you know how she thinks she knows everything, whilst the whole campus knows that she has water for brains hahahahaha.’ I said jokingly, ‘She thinks she knows what is in every guy’s head. Maybe she is a mind reader of some sort. She is beautiful yes, but she is too dumb. That’s why she calls me with whatever name comes to her mind, as long as there is an ia at the end.’

‘Hahahahahahaha you are very right.... wait, did you say a guy? Is the guy by any chance our Mr. Anderson?’ Anna asked taking off her thick-rimmed glasses. ‘Chomee, how long are we going to do this to ourselves? We are head over heels in love with the guy but the only things we can do are daydream and fantasize about him. Why don’t we try starting up random conversations with him? We will never know where that will lead us until we try. We can’t keep torturing ourselves because of someone who is right here in our college, our campus.’ Anna concluded, looking as serious as ever.

God, she was very serious, more serious than I have ever seen her before. I was more shocked than happy about her suggestion, but a part of me was a little bit proud.

‘Chomee, are you even listening to yourself? Did you see the kind of people Billy hangs out with? Not only are they food for the eyes, but they are also from wealthy families. They grew up in a big city and we are from some villages in the homelands. Do you think Billy will take a look at us and we fit in? I doubt that.’

‘There is a problem. We keep undermining and underestimating ourselves. From what I have seen from a distance, Billy is a nice guy; I don’t think he will look down at us.’

‘Well friend, since you have got it all figured out, why don’t you try him?’ I said with an annoyed voice.

‘Chomee, I just want us to get over our fear, especially you, you like the guy more than I do. It is as if you have some sort of phobia for him. Get over your fear and go talk to him. If it means I must drag you over to him, I will.’ Anna was sterner now.

‘Hahahahaha chomee, you wouldn’t dare. What if he likes you and not me?’

‘He won’t. If you have some confidence in you, he is going to like you believe me. Guys like a girl who believes in herself. You know, a go-getting-lady.

‘Ok ok ok, I will try after class then.’

‘No, not after class, not after school, not tomorrow nor the day after tomorrow. You are going to speak to the guy now. Go on.’ Anna gave me a gentle shove and I walked towards Billy, who was luckily sitting by himself.

I was nervous and a little shaky. I can’t believe Anna talked me into doing this. To think she stayed behind to watch me drag my feet to the college popular guy. Well, I was already on my way and there was no turning back. There he was, looking like a music video vixen. God! That boy was extra fine. He looked at me. He looked straight at me and no matter how I tried to avoid eye contact, he just kept on staring. I wondered what he was staring at, because I was no superstar. I was just your average girl trying to get used to the city life. My clothes were not too shabby, but I didn’t expect him to stare like that.

‘Hey.’ He spoke to me again. This time, he did it before I could open my mouth.

‘Hee... hi. Hi Billy.’ I managed to get a word out of my mouth with a stutter.

‘Ok. Let me guess, you are here to thank me again?’ He said jokingly, ‘you don’t need to thank me every time you see my big eyes, that was really not big of a deal for me.’

Billy’s voice was music to my ears. If only he could speak all day, I would be his audience.

‘No, no I am not here to thank you. I... I..... I just wanted to uhm.... to ....to tell you that you are cool. And I like the... the... the way you look and uhm.... bye.’

‘Hey, relax big eyes. I’m not going to bite. Hahahahaha. Calm down. Come sit here next to me.’ Billy asked me with the most authentic smile ever.

Billy Anderson offered me a sit. He asked me to sit right next to him. I felt like I was on cloud nine riding all the way to heaven. I was more than happy. And of course, I sat down, right next to Billy Anderson. And this time, he was smiling. He was not rude.

‘I never really saw eyes like yours...’ Billy told me. I thought he was starting to mock me.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked shyly.

‘Beautiful. You have beautiful big eyes.’ Billy responded vividly.

Oh my God, Oh my God! Billy was making my heart dance. I was blown away that very instant. If I had wings, I could have flown away into the clouds, because I was too flattered. I have never been so happy about anyone telling me how beautiful my eyes are. My dad used to tell me that every single day, but I have never been this happy about it.

‘So, what is your name?’ Billy asked with his calm and sexy voice.

‘Oh...uhm. Petunia.’ I said trying to hide my nerves.

‘Oh Petunia, a flower. I like that.’

‘Just don’t forget it.’ I said that with a voice oozing confidence.

‘I won’t forget it. I don’t forget beautiful names, especially if the owner has got big beautiful eyes.’

‘God doesn’t this boy stop.’ I thought to myself. ‘Uhm... I’m flattered I must say. Thanks, Billy.’ I said so trying to hold back my excitement.

‘No problem.’ Billy responded, ‘I have to bounce now.’

‘Uhm… so… so… soon?’ I asked him before I could stop myself.

‘Yeah, I know, I’m sorry but I have a class to attend. But we can hang out later, right?’

‘Uhm... sure.’ I assured him, trying to sound cool. I didn’t want to give away the fact that I was excited about the possibility of ‘hanging out later’ because that would just put me out as desperate.

My heart was pounding with so much joy. I never thought in a million years, a guy like Billy Anderson will look twice at me and tell me how beautiful my eyes are or even want to spend some time with me. It was like a dream come true. Honestly, I never really got that much of attention from guys, now the most popular guy in college, the one who drives a Mini Cooper noticed me. That was an accomplishment. I couldn’t wait to tell Anna. After all, she was the one who encouraged me to go over to him.

‘So? What happened? What did he say?’ Anna asked without stopping to take a breath.

‘Relax chomee, I will tell you everything.’ I had to stop her. ‘Billy Anderson is one chilled guy. He is sweeter than he looks. Chomee he even told me how beautiful my eyes are. I have never been this happy about a guy’s comments before. He made me feel beautiful....’

‘You are beautiful friend; you just need to see it’. Anna interrupted. ‘I am just glad that you got it over and done with. At least now we can move on with our lives.’

‘What do you mean -over and done with’?’ I asked with confusion in my voice.

‘You just wanted to talk to the guy, but you have been afraid to do so all these weeks.’

‘Yes, but that is not the only thing I wanted to do.’

‘Don’t tell me you want to pursue the guy now.’

‘Yes, I do. That was the main point wasn’t it?’

‘No, it wasn’t. I thought all you ever wanted to do was for Anderson to know that you do exist right?’

‘Anna, what are you on about? Of course, I want the guy like it is not even funny. I thought you also want him the same way I do.’

‘No, I don’t. I was only doing it for you because I saw how crazy you are about him. Babe look, groupies have crushes on celebrities and that’s just that. It doesn’t mean that when they finally meet them, they have a real relationship.’

‘Okay, I’m officially confused. How do you crush on someone for me? How is that even possible? Anyway, I’m not a groupie and Billy is not a celebrity.’

‘Petunia, look at you, look at me. Look at us. Do we look like Billy Andersons type? Do we look like Sharon or her disciples’? No. We don’t even look like the prostitutes on Nugget Street. We are out of that guy’s league. The next thing we would build a bridge between us the popular girls, another reason for us to be picked on.’

‘What exactly do you mean? Are you saying we are ugly? Worthless?’

‘No, all I’m saying is that you saw how the other girls treat a nobody that tries their luck with Billy. The last thing I want for us is to be picked on and called names like they did to Mandisa.’

‘Anna, if you don’t want to pursue Billy, that’s ok. But you won’t stop me from doing so. Billy is a good guy; he won’t let anyone bother us.’

You just talked to the guy for about three minutes and you already know what kind of a person he is. How will he protect us from those plastic girls?’

‘Look, you can think whatever you want okay? I’m willing to try my luck with him and I’m going to do just that. I’m going to class.’

‘Wow! Look at you run away from the truth?’

‘Whatever Anna’. I told her as I walked away. I wondered why Anna could think of us like this. That we are nobodies. I knew someone like Sharon would think so low of me, but Anna! That, I was never prepared for. I was very angry with her. I didn’t even talk to her on our way to class.

‘Hey, girls. What’s with the silence? Did you guys have a fight about glasses or a book?’ That was Sharon. And a roar of laughter erupted from her friends. ‘Auntie Gloria, I believe I asked you a question’

‘And what makes you think I’m obliged to answer you? Look Sharon, I’m really not in the mood for your crap write now. Just leave us alone, we owe you nothing.’ I told her with so much courage.

‘Hey, hey. Where do you get off talking to me like that? Who the hell do you think you are?’

‘Just stop behaving like a high school bully please, we are in college here. Get off your high horse.’ I walked away and left Sharon with her puzzled face.

‘Who the hell does she think she is? I am so going to dust her face up.’ Sharon was still barking from behind me and this time, I paid no attention to her attention-seeking stunts. Her friends, of course, stopped her, the more they stopped her, the more she barked like a Chihuahua. I think she enjoyed the attention more than she wanted to attack me. Anna was amazed by how I handled Sharon. She even forgot she was mad at me.

‘Wow, Petunia, you put the College-Queen-Biatch in her place. That’s a first.’ Anna couldn’t contain her excitement as we went to class.

‘If she thinks the rest of us are like Mandisa, then she thought wrong. I won’t let her think that we are her play toys.’ Man was I glad I said that. Maybe it was Billy's confidence rubbing off me. Either way, humiliating Sharon felt like a great achievement.

‘Chomee, do you really think Billy is too good for me?’ I asked Anna when we were in class.

‘Yes, but I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I just don’t want you to forget your key purpose here because of him.’

‘I promise you I won’t. I just want to feel happy and accepted. If he likes me, what do I have to lose?’