Page 88 - The Mending Season

mouth and chewing. She looked like a half-interested observer, happy not to be part ofthe drama.“Beth said an offensive word, and it wasn’t just Veronica who heard her,”Trish said.“I’d like to hear it from Veronica,” the teacher said softly, still looking in Veronicas direction.“Miss, it wasnt just her who heard it, its true,” Tamz added.“Who else heard her?”I held my breath and looked down at my desk. I dreaded hearing my name.“Tshidi heard it,”Dirusha spoke.“Who?”“Tshidiso,”Dirusha repeated.“Oh! Tshidiso. What did you hear, love?”Mrs Tanner said things like “love” and “sweetheart” to girlsall the time. It endeared her to us. It made us want to tell her things we wouldn’t normally tell teachers, like problems in our families or complaints about other teachers. It was easy to pic­ ture Beth crying on her shoulder.I cleared my throat. Across the classroom, my eyes met Beths. I could see that this was a surprise to her. She probably hadn’t imagined that anyone else had heard her. I suddenly felt sorry for her. She looked so terrified; I knew she felt completely alone. I thought that she felt guilty and maybe even wanted to apologise. Her eyes were pleading with me, pulling me to her side of the divided classroom. Away from the netball court, without Mevrou van der Westhuizen, it was her and Laura against the rest ofthe class - judging from the look on Beth’s face, that must have felt like the whole world.I knew she wanted me to say that I had not heard anything, that I had only sort ofheard her mumbling something. Maybe this is not what she was thinking, but that is what I read from her quivering lips and her sad, watering eyes.88