AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. It’s her family. She can tell them what she likes.”
In a few months, it won’t matter. Make that a year, seeing that I told my mother we can have a summer wedding. Sabella will be here, safely in my bed, not that she may consider that a safe place to be.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Sabella
After the incident at May’s party, I become more isolated. The girls in my class are as rich and entitled as kids in our school can be, but none of them has a bodyguard. The lie I told, that my dad hired Roch to protect me, puts me in a different bracket. My classmates are more guarded around me. Some are jealous.
I still meet them for brunch at the mall or at sport events on weekends, but there’s a gap between us. No one is going to invite someone to a party if she has to drag a bodyguard along. They don’t want what happens at these parties to get back to their parents. They’re doing what many other kids of their age are doing, experimenting with booze and cigarettes and sometimes the occasional drug. A lot of heavy petting is also involved, which is why a bodyguard who throws the hottest boy at the party in the pool for chatting a girl up is unwelcome. That, and our community is conservative. These things aren’t supposed to happen. As far as the adults are concerned, they don’t. I’m not sure it’s ignorance. I think it’s more a matter of turning a blind eye. What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over, right?
Also, after the party, May and Colin become an item, which means I see Colin less. May is the only girl at school who is genuinely kind to me. She and Colin always invite me along to the movies or for weekends at her parents’ beach condo in Hermanus, but I don’t want to be a third wheel.
If it weren’t for Pirate, my loneliness would’ve been complete. To fill the empty hours when I don’t have homework to do, I swim out to sea and film the life under water. Every day, I push myself harder and farther. Roch swopped the suit for Bermuda shorts and sleeveless T-shirts. To my dismay, he did get a jet ski, and he’s always hovering around, invading even this part of my life, the only place where I can find peace.
Mattie’s wedding is in full preparation, and if I’m withdrawn, nobody notices. I try to be a better sister, involving myself in the arrangements. In October, when I finish my final exam, she has her dream wedding on a wine estate in Paarl. Jared has been promoted to junior executive in his father’s law firm in Stellenbosch. I’m crying big, fat, ugly tears when my sister’s room is emptied into a moving truck and she hugs me tightly and says goodbye.
The house feels horribly empty without her. It hits Mom even harder than me. She’s always been closer to Mattie, seeing how much they’re alike. At least Dad spends more time at home. He takes Mom out to dinner and to the opera in Cape Town. Now that the stress of organizing Mattie’s wedding is over, they’re snapping at each other less. When I walk into the kitchen for a snack after returning from the beach, I catch them in an embrace. They jump apart, looking guilty. Mom hurriedly continues to make a shopping list while Dad clears his throat and says he has to tidy the garage.
When the letter confirming my university admission arrives in November, Dad takes Mom and me to a game farm for the weekend to celebrate. On a warm Saturday, Colin, May, and I have a small party for a few friends at Colin’s place. For a change, Colin’s dad is home from his job that requires constant traveling. Mr. Taylor flips steaks on the barbecue, and Mrs. Taylor keeps the ice tubs filled with soft drinks and water.
While we’re having appetizers on the pool deck, Mr. Taylor makes a toast to congratulate us on passing with distinction. Colin and I will start at the University of Cape Town in February. May is entering a college in George to study aesthetics. May and Colin have decided to break off their relationship before Colin leaves for Cape Town, and both of them seem surprisingly casual about it.
While May and I are making a salad in the kitchen, I use the opportunity to bring up the subject.
“Are you okay?” I ask, rinsing lettuce in salted water.
“Sure.” She shoots me a smile from where she’s dicing tomatoes on the chopping board. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Colin told me.”
She scrapes the cubes into a bowl. “That we broke up?”
I drain the water and transfer the lettuce to the salad spinner. “I didn’t expect that. You’re such a good fit.” Turning the handle, I say, “You’re perfect for each other.”
