Senzile

Senzile

Easily the greatest of all time. Definitely in my top 5. I first heard of her in the 8th grade. One of my niggas had a little something on her, a crush, something mythical, he saw something amazing in her. I was like "okay", I mean the nigga was confiding in me but I'd still hadn't seen her. Besides, I didn't care, I didn't care about anything. Then grade 8 camp happened and I was with my nigga and he saw her, he lost his mind, he couldn't take it anymore, this girl was driving him crazy, he asked me to accompany him. "Sure" I responded, I wanted to help. I would play his number 5 in case one of her overzealous friends tried to void the mission, plus there was a lot of traffic, it was rush hour, busy and all the grade 8's were on one location. I remember she had on a greenish-blueish shirt that had a lot of signatures and messages, I figured that shirt was the result of her last day in Primary. Her hair was braided. He went up to her and said "Hi, can we talk?" she responded, "talk", he froze like a statue. His confidence was false. I saw her and okay, grade 8 had a lot of options. It was diverse. It had 10 grade 8 classes and these beauties were from everywhere, she was just a drop in the ocean. My nigga couldn't recover, he looked at me and signaled let's go. I respected him, at least he did something, the universe will reward him for those actions, it wasn't the time nor with Senzile, nah, not her, she's top quality, high value - composure, composure know yourself; You can't be expedient with her. Then on the 10th grade, I was in the "A" class with Senzile. She started on A and ended on A. I started on "I" and made it to "A" - make incremental progress. I got to understand her energy and aura. But my thoughts were not on girls, my thoughts were on being the U14 soccer coach, I was diligent and professional and I was rewarded. My peers never really interested me. Then 11th grade happened, we were elected as RCLs, it was great, siyabagena, let's do right things guys, we had a camp, but before camp in the morning, we had to do our RCL stuff, we came in our civilian clothing, other people took this thing serious and bought new clothes for this ocassion, Italian clothes, designer bags, it was us, "God governments best". I came in with flip-flops, no big deal, I didn't want to strain myself, I was tired of Toughies, I wanted a break from being constrained. Then I saw Senzile that day and I remembered my niggas voice saying "Eish, Senzile boy", she was radiating and illuminating, bright, blinding, outstanding, the body was the best. She stole the show like load-shedding, it wasn't even a contest, she was the light that put Eskom to shame. I was appalled at the schools uniform, it hid a lot of things, to be honest we all looked the same, we wore the same things, brown shoes, brown socks, brown trousers, mustard shirt, brown tie, brown jersey, brown blazer just brown everything, no skirts, we all looked like turds. Undoubtedly Senzile was a 10, my nigga was right, suddenly I understood the hype, he was right. I asked myself which girls I had been taking for granted because they were well hidden by the uniform or because of my ignorance. I started seeing her differently. I looked at my Blackberry and went straight to my BBM, and she was already a contact, one of five people, I kept it small, there's more quality that way. I congratulated myself, somehow I'd been working unconsciously to get her for a long time. She drove me crazy like Lewis Hamilton with a banging body like Mercedes-Benz. I thought about her so much that I could manifest her in my map, of course within the confines of the school. She was perfect. She was beautiful. She was great. The straight "A" girl, she would always sit in the first row of Physics class. You had to earn your sit, you got on the first row by merit, by working your butt off, by being the best. Just to give you some perspective, I always sat in the third row, not quite the end, but very close. I didn't like Science, the teacher didn't have enthusiasm. It wasn't just in her academics where she ruled. She played in the famous netball team that dominated the district. She played defense. She was like the World Cup winning Goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer (Germany's greatest goalkeeper of all time), a wall, impenetrable, solid, vacuumed, reinforced. On top of that she was a master at interception, she would pass the ball with accuracy and with great speed, giving the ball to midfield, who would give it to attack and just like that the move was finished. Deadly like a coiled viper! The netball team often dominated the opposition by constant offensive tactics, they had a relentless rigor, but I liked their counter-attacks better because she started them. I fell in love with her. I willed myself to tell her. I was always so nervous. I convinced myself that today I am gonna do it but today became like all the other days. Days became weeks, weeks became months and finally a year. Everyday was the same. On a positive note, I got to know a lot of things about her, my chats with her on BBM were active, I knew her times, her routes and where she chilled. And then one day I thought "enough is enough" I am going to tell her, this time I was dead serious I just needed the tiniest first step to take. I went to Festival Mall that day afterschool, I went to CNA, I wanted to see what books they had. Then I saw the answer in my face. Yellow paper, it was R20, I had R50, so it was perfect. I bought it. A plan crystallized, write a poem for her and buy her a Chocolate. I wrote a poem and tried to incorporate all the things she liked. I bought a chocolate and I had plans of at least giving her a presentation at first break. I failed at first break but convinced myself that I'd do it second break. I failed again. I don't know what made it so hard. My last chance was after school, at least give her the poem and the chocolate, you already bought it, you want it to melt, or worse, you wanna eat it? No, you can't eat it, that would be pathetic and sad. Those were my thoughts. I had to quit being a coward. What's wrong with me? I was anxious and then the final bell rang for afterschool. I looked at her, she was with her friends and I let her be. They walked away. I couldn't do it, my nerves got the better of me, it was difficult. I gave myself a hard and brutal talk, it needed to be done and then I risked it all. I rushed after her, she was a long way off, she was approaching Kempton Park and I was still in Rhodesfield. I ran to bridge the distance and asked for a couple of minutes with her. Her friends gave us space, I will forever appreciate that action. They made things easier for me. I gave her the poem and the chocolate and we walked. I told her how I felt about her. The energy was the best. I was nervous but everything flowed like a stream of water. She was blushing but interactive. It was a great day but more importantly, I respected myself. Senzile helped steer the trajectory of my life in a positive direction, fear died that day, I became a man, no excuses "no matter what, today she will know how I feel".

I was talking with a friend of mine about the girls who used to attend school with us, the friend was in the same class with me. He gave me his observations and desetations. To be fair, his list was good. The girls he was talking about were quality. But I looked at his number 1 and I was concerned. I asked "her number 1? Sure she's hot but number 1? Remember we are talking about the greatest." I continued. He shifted the question to me and I responded with no hesitations, "Senzile", his eyes sparkled like a diamond, I was right. He didn't argue with me, Senzile ticked all the boxes in our value system and more. He said, "You are right. Senzile is the greatest.". And just like that, abruptly, our conversation was over.