Danny always attended the school play. In fact, he always
attended every school event worth mentioning. He made it his business to be
present whenever a large group of students gathered together.
“You have to be there, and you have to be seen,” he’d
explained to Lilah, soon after she’d joined his crew. “Otherwise you’re out of
touch; or they think you’re out of touch. Either is fatal in our line of
business.”
Since official events were vastly outnumbered by unofficial
house parties, after parties and braais, Danny had an unusually busy social
life, mostly arranged by Asanda January.
Asanda was extremely tall and exceedingly beautiful. She
already had a lucrative modeling career, and was confidently expected to make
it big. Unsurprisingly, she was also popular, well informed and invited to
every party going. It wasn’t really considered a party if Asanda wasn’t there;
and since Asanda always took Danny as her unofficial, unannounced and if
necessary uninvited plus-one, Danny’s presence had also become necessary to the
party culture.
As every celebrity knows, keeping up this kind of social
presence doesn’t just happen. Some evenings, Danny and Asanda would have no
fewer than five scheduled stops on their route. This was only possible by careful
planning, precise timing and ruthless efficiency. Happily, these were Asanda’s
speciality. Each day, Danny would get an email at around 4pm, giving him the
outline of that evening’s activities, complete with dress code, gift
requirements and timeframes.
However, today’s email simply read: we need to talk.
Whatever Danny may have been expecting, this wasn’t it. It
was unheard of for Asanda to take a raincheck on social events. Even exam
season had been known to come and go without seeing an abatement in her
relentless programme.
So his response was simple: when and where?
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