by Craig Smith
Haversham stopped him for a quick talk.
“Sorry about the strange greeting,” said the man in hushed tones. “You have to use every tactic to get and keep their attention.”
“It’s totally okay.”
“Great, and I have to say you’re real brave coming out to a strange country to learn. I hope I can be a positive part of your stay here.”
“It’s great to be here,” replied Gunter, feeling a little better. The greetings of Ryan and the teacher had made him a little wary about his decision to stay. “And I’m sure you will be, I love learning new things.”
“You’ll do just fine.” They entered the class where Mr. Haversham quickly introduced Gunter and showed him to a chair. A few moments later Mr. Haversham started the History class.
Some of the kids gave Gunter a few long stares as if he was an alien or something, but this soon stopped once the lesson was underway. Mr. Haversham, was prone to asking questions about the lesson at any time, and not getting the answer right normally meant homework for not just the person who got it wrong but for the whole class; it wasn’t a very good way to make friends.
Gunter read along with what the teacher was reading from the text book. They seemed to be covering the American war of independence. Gunter had covered that in primary school, but it was quite a few years ago now, so most of it was pretty new to him and they seemed to be going into it with more detail than he had when he had done it.
It took a while for him to get used to the teaching style, but by the end of the class Gunter was really into it and hoped the rest of his classes were just as enjoyable.
Once History class was finished, they made their way to art class. One of the girls matched her pace with Gunter’s. “Hello, Gunter, I hear you’re from Sweden.”
“Yes I am.” He smiled in reply.
“I’m Melody, do you snowboard?”
“I’ve been a few times,” replied Gunter.
Her eyes went big. “I so want to snowboard!”
“I’m sure you would enjoy it.”
They rounded a corner and another class was waiting outside of the art class. “I so would! I hate art class!”
“Why is that?”
“It’s a double lesson with another class, 10E. They’re a bunch of clowns!”
“Clowns?” Gunter frowned. He found this girl a little a weird. She was loud, spoke fast and seemed to get very excited about things. He liked it though. She was fun and bubbly.
“Yeah, they take none of their classes seriously, and they’re always acting the fool.”
“Oh.” Gunter wasn’t really a fan of gossip, but he prepared himself for anything.
The two classes joined up. Ryan went further up the line and joined another bigger boy. Gunter guessed that they were more than likely part of the rugby team or something. From what he had read back home, rugby and soccer were big parts of the culture here. Siswe, the boy Gunter had bumped into that morning, was in front of him. He was leaning against the wall and seemed to be half asleep.
“Hi,” said Gunter. “Sorry about this morning.”
Siswe suddenly noticed him. “It was my fault. I should watch where I’m going.”
“My name is Gunter.” They shook hands.
“Siswe.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You too. You’re that exchange student aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“Cool.”
They spoke for several minutes about general things before the teacher came out. The art class teacher seemed to be laid back and easy going. The two classes were split into pairs, with one pupil from each class joining a pupil from the other class. Gunter and Siswe were paired together. Their task for the lesson was to make a collage from various materials, about a scene of their choosing and they had a lot of fun. Gunter found Siswe reserved, but after a while he opened up and enjoyed it too. The time flew by and before they knew it class was over. They were very pleased with the results of their collage and they got a well-deserved A for their efforts. Gunter noticed that Melody looked at them strangely a few times, but he put it down to her being curious about the new kid in class.
Friday 2:15pm
Gunter joined Amy outside the school to wait for their lift home. Amy seemed to be tired, Gunter was feeling the same, the day of meeting new people and doing new things had really drained him.
“How was your first day?”
“I enjoyed it.
“That’s great.” Amy yawned.
“That Siswe is a good guy, he’s in my art class.”
“Really? I’m glad to hear it, Gunter. You’re good at making friends.”
Friday 5:25pm
Siswe sat in his room doing his homework when his mother came in. He looked up and smiled.
“You seem to be more cheerful today.”
His mother looked really tired.
“Hello, Mother.”
“What has my boy all happy now? A new girl?”
“No, I wish,” he laughed. His mother was always inquiring if he had a girlfriend. It had seemed like her pet project lately to get him involved with someone.
“What is it then?”
“I made a new friend today.”
“That’s good. What is he like?”
“He’s an exchange student from Sweden.”
“That’s far!”
“I know.”
Friday 7:30pm
That night Gunter and the Johnsons ate dinner and played a game of Monopoly. There was plenty of laughing and joking. Gunter had a great time, and just before he went to bed his parents phoned him and he told them about how well his first day at school went and that he was feeling a lot better. His parents were very proud of him and said they missed him tremendously. He felt the same, but he was really starting to enjoy it in South Africa, and he couldn’t wait to get back to school on Monday.
Saturday 23rd March 10:15am
That day Gunter slept in late. After he had a late breakfast Mary dropped Gunter, Amy and Fred off at the mall. After looking around and Gunter buying a few things to take home with him back to Sweden, they decided to watch a movie. Gunter was surprised to see that most of the movies that were on circuit in Sweden were also on circuit in South Africa. There was even a few that would only be out in Sweden in a few weeks’ time. Gunter was a bit a movie buff and kept track of these things. A movie he wanted to see was on at the moment. Amy decided to see a more romantic movie, which started just after they got there and Gunter and Fred’s movie would start half an hour later. So instead of waiting in the cinema they went and sat at one of the restaurants outside.
They ate a quick lunch. Gunter noticed someone he recognized. It was Siswe from art class. Gunter beckoned him over.
“Howzit, Gunter,” said Siswe with a wide grin.
“Hello, Siswe. This is Fred, my exchange student brother as I like to call him.”
Fred laughed and shook Siswe’s hand.
“Nice to meet you. What you up to today?”
“We’re just about to catch a movie. How about you?”
“Just browsing.”
“If it’s alright with Fred would you like to join us for the movie?”
Fred shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, no problem.”
“I’d really like to, but I don’t have enough with me.” said Siswe.
“I’ll pay.”Gunter liked Siswe, he seemed like a good guy, and it never hurt to have too many friends.
“You sure?”
“Of course.”
They finished off their quick lunch and got Siswe his ticket, bought popcorn and drinks, and went into the cinema. It was an action movie that had them riveted to their seats from start to finish There was also some funny parts of the movie that had them laughing just as hard as anyone else in the cinema. Siswe made funny comments about some of the scenes in the movie and they couldn’t stop laughing. After the movie they met up with Amy who was waiting for them outside. She was surpri
sed that they had an extra person with them.
“Hey, guys,” she said. “How was the movie?”
“It was awesome!” exclaimed Fred.
“It was great, thank you,” added Gunter. “Siswe joined us.”
“Hello, Siswe.”
“Hi,” replied Siswe, looking anywhere but at Amy.
“How was your movie?”
“Bleugh...” she said as if she had a foul taste in her mouth. “It was soppier than I imagined.”
Saturday 2:00pm
They walked towards the parking lot where Mary would be picking them up. Siswe tagged along because the taxi rank was in that direction too. He was chatting away with Gunter talking about Sweden when he spotted Jacobs and some other man coming towards them from the entrance. He couldn’t let Jacobs see him with the others there was no telling what he would do.
“Hey!” said Siswe, pointing at a shop window and getting closer to it.
“What is it?” asked Gunter. Fred followed and Amy looked on from a few paces away.
Siswe had to think on the spot. He was pointing at a racing bike in the window. “I didn’t think they would get this model here. I’ve always wanted one.” It wasn’t too far from the truth he did like racing bikes.
The racing bike was very sleek. It was called a Super Streamer 3300.
“It looks very nice,” replied Gunter.
“It is,” sighed Siswe. Jacobs and his friend had turned the corner and were walking away from them. And just when he thought he had gone unseen, Jacobs turned around and winked at Siswe. Siswe felt a shiver down his spine. He hadn’t seen Jacobs since the incident with the BMW. He walked with a limp, but it seemed liked he was almost as mobile as before, he just hoped that he wouldn’t come back and want him to work with him on any other jobs.
“You okay?” asked Gunter. Siswe had
