We're Still Human

Chapter 1: To Family, and to New Beginnings!

"Come on Nothando, you're losing track!"

My mother runs past me as I stop to breath, shaking her head. "Ma, I'm tired. Can we please go home now?" I yell, hoping she hears me somehow.

She halts in her tracks, turning to look back at me. "Do you want this sports scholarship or not?"

I walk up to her. "Mom, I'm already one of the fastest—"

"One of, not the fastest," she interjects.  "We have to keep training. It's either athletics or basketball, pick your poison."

My mother and I got used to running every morning, just before schools open. After she found out I made both the athletics and basketball team, something ignited in her. She wanted me to focus on getting a scholarship for Redwood University, rather than doing what I actually wanted; which was joining the music club. Playing the piano is my passion, and I'm sure if I work hard enough, I could get into Lakewood Academy for The Arts and fulfill my dream of playing in an orchestra one day.

But I won't tell her that. Not now. Not yet.

"Ma, can I focus on studying first? I don't want to fall behind this year," I suggest as we start walking back home. "And you know I'm a prefect at school now, I've got a lot on my plate."

"You can always balance," she explains. "You always have."

"I mean I could get a scholarship off my school catalogue alone; prefect at Riveria, vice captain of the basketball team, and I'm in the choir. That's impressive, right?"

"I guess you could say that," she mumbles as I sigh. "Come on, Thandie, I'm trying to push you to your greatest potential."

"I understand that, mom, but I also need to be able to decide what I want from myself, remember?"

She cocks her head to the side as we get on the porch. "Is that girl influencing you already?"

"Which girl—mom!" I roll my eyes as she glares at me. "I don't know why you don't like her. She loves you like a mother."

"I've met your friend twice, Yasmina. She seems very...gay."

I gulp. "And if she is? Back home there are tons of people in the LGBT community and you never say anything about them."

"That's because they aren't hanging around my daughter. This girl was your room-mate, and remember the last time you got close to a gay person? They caught you two kissing in the closet."

"That was a mistake, mom."

No it wasn't.

"I don't care, Thandie. What matters most is that you stop hanging out with that Kendall girl. She's not a good influence."

Shaking my head, I look at her. "She came over for one night and all of a sudden you don't like her? Come on."

"Your father feels the exact same way."

"That's a lie."

"Yasmina Nothando Thompson, are you going to continue arguing with me or are you going to obey me?" She raises her eyebrows.

Crossing my arms, I shake my head again. "I'm not arguing with you, I'm just being realistic with you. There's no way you can't like someone that you've only met once, that offered to help you clean up after dinner, that showed your daughter comfort the entire year, that’s the head girl meaning we'll see more of each other and—"

And that's my girlfriend.

I pause, taking a moment to re-evaluate my next statement. "That's my closest friend. You can't tell me who to hang out with."

She opens the door. "You're daughter is going crazy again!" She yells as she gets in the house.

I follow her, stopping at the door like she does. We look at the suitcases and boxes on the floor in confusion before it finally clicks for me.

He's back.

"Sanele!" I shout. "I know you're here!"

Sanele comes down the stairs, bearing a university gown and cap. "That's Prince to you. Professor Prince Thompson-"

I jump on him as he catches me, spinning me around. "Awu Nkosi yam! Usukhulile. (My goodness! You've grown so much.)"

"I missed you! What are you doing here?"

Sanele drops me. "I'm here to see my sister graduate this year. That's all the matters at the moment, right?"

Nodding regardless, I hug him once more.

"Come on, let's go upstairs. I have your gifts with me in the guest bedroom," he says, lifting me over his shoulders and turning to walk up the stairs. "Bye Ma, I'll come take the suitcases off the floor in a bit."

"No problem, Sanele!" She exclaims as we're half-way up. "And please convince your sister to stop playing with this gay girl at her school! I don't want that nonsense in my house!"

He drops me at the top stair, grabbing my shoulders lightly as he shakes them. "You still haven't told them?" He whispers.

Sanele and I talked about Kendall the first time I laid eyes on her, and he's known about everything that comes to the two of us ever since. He also suggested that I come out of the closet, but if I do, I might have a similar fate to Yahya, the girl I once...

But that's not important right now.

"No, and I don't plan on telling them anytime soon."

"Does she know about this? Have you told her yet?"

I imagine the countless reactions Kendall could have to my mother not liking her as she thought she would, and then started thinking about how that could strain our relationship again. We've already been through enough shit, this year is a new year; a fresh start, if I might add.

"No, and I'm not going to." I sigh. "But, I think I'll need your help."

"With what?"

"With making sure Kendall doesn't find out about it, and what happened in Sydney. I want to make sure my girlfriend is as stress free as possible. Mom's not going to ruin it for me again."

And this time, I mean it.