7.

BRICE

I'll email you?

This girl couldn't be serious.

I drove the jeep back to the Eagle Row dorms trying to determine whether that date was a bust or not. The sports season was over for the Matrics with exams starting in a little under 6 weeks. At least the gym was still open.

I changed clothes and went to the weights section. The guys were playing "smash or pass" - a frat fave. All you had to do was pick which girl you would smash or pass based on the options provided.

"Smash Lisa, pass Palesa, and marry Soleil."

Whoah! I forgot that some guys, the serious ones, threw marriage into the mix.

My heart just stuttered and I nearly dropped the weight I was benching on my neck.

That was Mark.

What the fuck? He wanted Soleil?!

"Ouch, you'd pass on Palesa and marry Soleil? Soleil's cute but Palesa's thick! She got an ass that could swallow up a g-string," Tshepo sang.

"Exactly why I'd pass on Palesa. I don't need guys like you being dogs all over my girl. Then I gotta sweat her what she's wearing in this political climate? Hard pass," Mark replied.

What? Did they not think Soleil had a nice body? She felt nice from what I'd experienced thus far. She was pretty as a doll. I couldn't stop staring at her today. But, she wasn't a hot broad – the kind that made the hot blood in a man rush to his dick. She shied away from my touch. It was actually cute thinking back on it, but back to the reason of my ire. Why the fuck did Mark want to marry her? What the hell was up with that?

"You okay there Brice?" Keenan asks.

"Yeah why?" I keep pushing with the presses.

"You're going pretty hard over there buddy."

"Yeah, because if I don't I'm going to fuck someone up."

I stop to catch my breath and glare at Mark. Their conversation has me riled up and I can't even explain why. I've only spent one morning with her anyway throughout this entire year.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mark questions me.

I don't have any real beef with him but he's now on my radar because she's on his.

Soleil.

I choose to ignore him and set the weight to rest. I head to the treadmill before I lose it and throw a fist. I'm so jealous right now it doesn't even make any sense to me. I'm being irrational but I don't give a shit.

Did she give Mark her number? Do they talk? Are they flirting? Is something going on between the two of them?

I run till the machine times out after 30 minutes, but I'm still worked up. I hit the shower before going back to res.

I want her. I cant stop thinking about her.  I'll do what it takes to get her and see where this goes.

I email her my schedule with the intention to see her tomorrow. I have to see her tomorrow. At least I should get my money's worth. We're set on the days and times we'll link up over the coming weeks. When I ask her for her number, she doesn't reply.

I wake up with morning wood and Soleil on my mind. La belle fille dans mon esprit. The beautiful girl on my mind.

My laptop is still open. I fell asleep waiting on her to send me her number. I wanted to call her and hear her voice before I fell asleep. She left me on read. I know she read my message and didn't reply based on the first couple of emails and her response rate then. I'm so frustrated I knock the mac off my bed.

I get up and hit the showers where my common sense returns. I walk up to the laptop which rests precariously upside down. Great. The corner of my screen is fucked but everything else thankfully still works.

I stared at Soleil's exam schedule for so long last night that I now know it by heart. We have Chem and Physics together. Her final class blocks aren't nearly as full as mine. I guess she doesn't need as many of the sessions our teachers set up for revision. They're done with their syllabus, so now its up to us to approach them with whatever it is we're struggling with.

Being honest with myself, I don't need Soleil to tutor me. All the teachers at Milton have PHD's and their doors are open to us for the coming weeks until year end.

I wanted her to tutor me.

I can't wait to see her. She's driving me crazy. She's all I can think about, but I can't let her know that. I can't let anybody know. I don't know whats going on with me - between us - and I wouldn't know what to tell anyone if asked.

The girl has gotten under my skin.

I head for the sciences building and see Hidde with Brandon up ahead. They're talking to Mark. Just seeing him makes me want to rip out his tongue at the memory of him mentioning Soleil. I avoid them walking past and keeping my focus ahead. I don't want to test my patience.

I hear my name being called from their direction. Fuck my life!

I walk over and play it cool giving them all dab, even though I would rather my fist meet Mark's face instead of his hand. I pull out my phone as they return to their conversation about vac. Okay I can do this. Matric vac is a safe topic.

"You sure you don't want to join us in Plett?" Hidde asks.

"You oaks know it's going to be a bit of a white rage that side, right?" Tsepho asks, "and I don't know how much drum and bass I can take," he throws in giving us all a laugh.

"Come on bro, I'm sure they'll also play black techno," retorts Brandon.

Mark snorts. "I said Amapiano is like black techno and I doubt y'all even know the hottest DJ's out right now. Anyway its decided, we're going to Umhlanga. We'll also hit Balito. Kabza has a set on their line up."

Tsepho is shaking his head vigorously. "Yes yes yes and Durban huns... whoooweee!!" he outlines a curvaceous female figure. We all laugh at his antics.

"I hope you get laid, bro. You're salty as fuck!" Brandon teases.

"Yeah, I'm thinking of asking Palesa to Matric Dance. You know that's the night most girls give it up." He wiggles his eyebrows in glee. Palesa has a big ass and a small waist. Half the gents agree she's fuckable – the others aren't so keen on the ratio preferring a leaner frame. I'm not phased either way. There's only one girl on my mind and Soleil is somewhere in between - just right.

"Who are you taking to MD, Brandon?" Tshepo asks, diverting the attention away from himself.

"Jessica."

"Nice! And you Hidde?"

"Jessica Andrews."

"Jessica Howes," Brandon clarifies.

I chuckle considering the five different Jessica's in our grade. I doubt their parents thought the name would be so common but I guess it was popular in the year they were born. Funny how the crew is taking two - so far.

"What's so funny Brice?" Hidde asks, glaring at me.

He's always so serious. He always thinks I'm poking fun at him.

"Just thinking about how when anyone mentions Jessica we never know which one."

After five years of high school, that shit was still funny. The teachers called them by their name and initials to distinguish them, but our peers just liked jerking Jessica around. They should form an alliance or something. There was strength in numbers, but broads are funny. They were always competing.

"Ha ha!" Hidde mocked amusement. "I'm guessing you're taking Hailey," he said sounding bored.

I shrugged in nonchalance. I gave her my word. Otherwise, I would have asked Soleil to be my date yesterday instead of my tutor - how lame.

"Hailey and I have been each other's date to every school shindig they've cooked up. It wouldn't feel right to ditch her on the last one, the biggest one. She's been planning this since we got the invitations back in March. What kind of an asshole would I be if i dropped her now?"

The gents snickered and rolled their eyes at me. What do I have to complain about anyway? I had the hottest girl in school as my date.

"Mark, have you finally asked someone? Because, bro, you're picky as fuck," continued Tshepo.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah well... I was talking to Charlondra and she told me Soleil doesn't have a date yet so..."

Fuck no!

First he wants to marry her in a game of smash or pass, and now he wants her as his MD date. I could see where this was going. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots. He was going to ask her to be his date, they would court for a couple of years, then he would propose.

I was livid at the prospect.

I was grinding my teeth so hard to keep my mouth shut, I was giving myself a headache in the process.

"What has you so pissed off all of a sudden?" asked Hidde.

"Don't worry about it."

My cousin knew me better than most, but now was not the time to ask. I was saved by the bell and walked away needing to cool off. At the rate Mark was going, I was fiending to knock the idea of Soleil out of his head.

I was being irrational again. I already had a date and Soleil didn't. If Hailey and I didn't have this pact, I would have asked Soleil. Nonetheless, I had made my bed. It was now time for me to lay in it. I gave Hailey my word.

I entered Chem class and immediately my eyes zeroed in on her, Soleil – my current obsession. She sat in the same spot year round. She looked up at me before quickly looking down at her empty desk then rummaging through her bag.

How cute, acting like she didn't see me. The corner of my mouth lifted in a hint of a smile, the anger slowly ebbing away.

I approached her with a single objective in mind. I needed her number. I needed her to open up to me and give me a chance before Mark, and God knows who else, swooped in and ruined everything.

"Did you get my message?" I asked.

"Uh... yes," she looked up from her books. "We're meeting up today at 2PM right?"

"Yes, and the other one?"

"You got my schedule right? I did email you my exam timetable. I double checked the attachment went through."

I took the seat behind her because she was playing coy. I wasn't going to ask again, especially when she was acting dumb. I took out my phone, unlocked it, and handed it to her with the keypad ready.

Her eyes widened in realization. I quirked my eyebrow at her, daring her to pretend she doesn't know what this is about. Gingerly she took the phone from my hand and looked around the classroom. Who was she checking for? Mark? My blood pressure spiked.

I watched her quickly program the digits with her bottom lip caught between her teeth. What the hell was she nervous about? Her hair was pulled back and wrapped in a bun highlighting her high cheek bones and the full pout on her face.

Absolutely beautiful.

"Soleil," I called for her attention. She turned around and I snapped a picture.

Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Did you just take a picture of me?"

"Yeah, photo ID," I replied nonchalantly. I couldn't exactly tell her I needed a picture of her face for later when thoughts of her consumed me.

"Can I see?"

I was skeptical. What if she deleted it? I held my phone up for her to see and pulled it back when she tried to grab it.

"You see with your eyes, not your hands," I warned her.

"Mxm!" she gave me lip before rolling her eyes at me.

I turned the phone back and looked at the picture I'd just taken of her. What am I going to do with you? I thought to myself.

Soon more people filed in. Everyone was now in their usual spots except me. When Charlondra walked in, she looked at me, looked at Soleil, and took the seat next to her best friend.

Hidde, Brandon, Tsepho, Mark, Hailey and both Jessica's kept glancing in my direction but eventually focused on the front once the teacher made his entrance. Mark's eyes lingered a bit to long over on this side. I don't know what he was planning but it wasn't going to happen on my watch.

Not with my Soleil, I vowed.