"So, how did today go?" Sindi asked while changing into her pjs.
"It was good. It was nice spending time with him, laughing and reminiscing. But that's also when I realised that we're different people now."
"What do you mean?"
"He's changed, I've changed, were not the same people anymore. But it was admirable seeing him in his element, the drive in his eyes. It gave me chills."
"Well, I'm glad you're home safe and that you had a good time"
"Me too...oh gosh I forgot I still have to meet Senzo tomorrow"
"Two guys in two consecutive days, damn Melo"
"Ah, its not what you think, I'm helping him study, that's all"
***
I walked into the cafe and looked for a good spot far from the buzz where Senzo and I could work. While waiting I set everything up then the 'man of the moment', Senzo arrived, 5 minutes early, still in his soccer uniform.
"Is this late enough for you?"
"Sit down Senzo"
He took a seat then looked at me with a blank look on his face, clearly trying to make me feel uncomfortable.
"Senzo focus, now let me see your assessment schedule"
He handed me his assessment schedule and fortunately for me he highlighted all his upcoming assessments.
Eh, we're writing maths next week? I didn't know that...and the history presentation is this Friday?!!
"You look surprised"
"No, just shocked that we've got so many tests so soon"
"Ah, Melo you're not serious"
"Hey, enough about me, we're going to write down goals that we want to achieve so that we have a clear direction of where we going"
We spent the time writing down goals that we both wanted to achieve, even though I already had my goals already set. I thought it was best if we did it together so that it felt more like a partnership instead of me helping Senzo. We then started going through Senzo's textbook and I basically showed him how he should make notes, emphasizing the fact that he needed to have his notes in his own words and not word for word from the textbook , explaining that he would understand it better if it was in a way that he would understand. I basically shared all my study tips with him and our session ran well over two hours.
"Wanna get something?"
"Yeah, I'll just have a coffee, I feel a bit tired from practice today"
I stood up and walked to the counter where I was greeted by a warm smile from Scooby who was back at work after two weeks being off.
"Hey, what's up, it's been a long time since we last saw you"
"I'm good, how are you, I see you were off this week"
"I'm good, uhm can I have two coffees please"
"Sure thing"
I waited while Scooby made our coffees and looked at Senzo who laid his head on the table.
Shame, he really does look tired .
"Hey, Scooby can you add two muffins as well, chocolate, please"
"Sure"
"See you Monday"
"Yeah sure"
I grabbed my order and went back to Senzo and sat across from him.
"Here, I got you a muffin just to get your sugar up. You'll feel better"
"You know you didn't have to, now I have to pay you back"
"Oh no kidding", I laughed and Senzo joined me.
"Thank you"
"You're welcome"
"You're a regular here?"
"This is actually where I work"
"Really"
"Yes, some of us have to work for money Senzo, we don't all have rich parents"
"Ah...this is hot" he said while panting and I went hysterical.
"You okay?"
"Mxm"
We spoke for a bit while we drank our coffee and he went on rambling about the so called 'situationships' within the school soccer team and you would swear they have their own reality show because this stuff was juicy. I was not one for gossip but I couldn't help but gasp. Once we had downed our coffee there was an awkward silence.
"You know we're done right, you can go, I''m sure you've got better things to do with your afternoon."
"Nope, I've got no plans. I'd rather be here"
"Well I have plans, I need to write my debate speech"
"Okay then let me help you"
I raised an eyebrow and continued to write in my exam pad but he looked serious and wasn't moving.
"Fine, here's the topic"
"Yhu, hay' no this is a tough one, what you got so far"
I showed him my notes and he read through them and gave me a 'you can't be serious' look.
"What? Is it bad"
"It's not bad but your points don't really give much motivation on why this could be the false representation of history if these statues are taken down"
"But I believe these statues should be taken down I mean we cant be celebrating the same people that created a system that's against us"
"But you're giving the opposition so much ammunition, I think you're looking at this whole thing from one side, try thinking about it from outside the box"
"And how should I do that"
"I can't tell you that, that's something that you need to figure out on your own but I'll leave you with this one line a wise person once told 'We need to know our past to know where we're going', thank me later" he smirked.
I thought about what he said for a moment and realised that I was dwelling too much on the idea of these statues representing white imperialists that I completely forgot about the second part of the statement, the part about the representation of history and that's when it hit me, the point that I would make. Now I knew how I was going to manipulate it, and what I was going to focus on: Omission vs Eradication.
Wow, who knew I would need Senzo to help me realise what I was doing wrong this whole time. While I wrote down the points that I wanted to make Senzo helped out with some of the research for the facts that I would make and we worked like a well oiled machine.We worked on it for another 45 minutes before we played a game of 20 questions because Senzo felt it was only fair we got to know more about each other since we would be stuck together.
"Pet peeves?" Senzo asked.
"Uhm...ooh, I hate people who chew with their mouths open,swearing, oh and my all time favourite, people who are constantly on their phone while I'm talking to them"
"Uh, explains why you snatched my phone the other day"
...
"Okay my turn...what's you favourite movie?"
"Ahh, I have too many..."
"Just pick one"
"Okay, okay, I guess I'll go for 'The Hate You Give'..."
"I haven't watched it yet"
"Tell me you're joking"
"No, I'm serious"
"Huh, stick with me then, there's still a lot of things I'm going to introduce to you"
"Wait can I ask another question?"
"Go ahead"
"What's that one thing you wish you could do?'. That was a tough question he asked, I really had to think about it. I mean there are things I can't do but it's not like I wish I could do them, like singing, I know I can't sing and it's not like I wish I could...oh but then there's...
"I wish I could ride a bike"
"Wait, you can't ride a bike?" he laughed and I joined him.
"Well yes, it's not like a skill that you're naturally born with so..."
And he cracked up even more, to the point of rolling on the floor. I mean it was funny but now his laughing felt more like teasing then just pure humour and I think he saw it in my face that I didn't think it was funny anymore.
"Okay, I'm sorry, I see you're not laughing anymore. You know what let's make a deal, we'll watch 'The Hate You Give' if you allow me to teach you how to ride a bike"
"No, this is the deal, you get 70% for your test on Tuesday, then I'll invite you over to watch the movie, and if you can keep that up 3 times consecutively then, I'll allow you to teach me how to ride a bike"
"This sounds like I'm the only one doing the heavy lifting..."
"It's only fair...deal?"
"Deal" and we shook on it.