We were at Stones, playing pool, drinking, goofing around, maybe hoping to score a little sugar, when Kendra arrived, all moffied up and gloaming like an Aito\/329. \u201cAhoy, Special K, where you been, girl, so juiced to kill?\u201d Tendeka asked while he racked up the balls, all click-clack in their white plastic triangle. Old school this pool bar was. But Kendra didn\u2019t answer. Girl just grinned, reached into her back pocket for her phone, hung skate-rat style off a silver chain connected to her belt, and infra\u2019d five Rand to the table to get tata machance on the next game. <\/p>\n
But I was watching the girl and as she slipped her phone back into her pocket, I saw that telltale glow \u2018neath her sleeve. Long sleeves in summer didn\u2019t cut it. So, it didn\u2019t surprise me none in the least when K waxed the table. Ten-Ten was surprised though. Ten-Ten slipped his groove. But boy kept it in, didn\u2019t say anything, just infra\u2019d another five to the table and racked \u2018em again. Anyone else but Ten woulda racked \u2018em hard, woulda slammed those balls on the table, eish. But Ten, Ten went the other way. Just by how careful he was. Precise \u2018n clipped like an assembly line. So you could see. <\/p>\n
Boyfriend wasn\u2019t used to losing, especially not to Special-K. I mean, the girl held her own \u2018gainst most of us, but Ten could wax us all six-love baby. Boyfriend carried his own cue, in a special case. Kif shit it was. Lycratanium, separate pieces that clicked into each other, assembled slick \u2018n cold and casual-like, like he was a soldier in a war movie snapping a sniper rifle together. But Kendra grinning now, said, \u201cNo, my bra. I\u2019m out\u201d, set her cue down on the empty table next to us.
\n\u201cOh ja, like Ten\u2019s gonna let this hook slide. \u201d Rob snorted into his drink.
\n\u201cBest of three.\u201d Tendeka said and smiled loose and easy. Like it didn\u2019t matter and chalked his cue.<\/p>\n
Girl hesitated and shrugged then. Picked up the cue. Tendeka flicked the triangle off the table, flip-rolling it between his fingers lightly. \u201cYour break.\u201d
\nKendra chalked-up, spun the white ball out to catch it at the line. Edged it then sideways so\u2019s it would take the pyramid out off-centre. Girl leaned over the table. Slid the tip of the cue over her knuckles once, taking aim, pulled back and cut loose, smooth as sugar. Crack! Balls twisting out across the table. Sunk four solids straight-up. Black in the middle and not a single stripe down. <\/p>\n
Rob whistled. \u201cShit. You been practising, K?\u201d
\nKendra didn\u2019t even look up. Took out another two solids and lined up a third in the corner pocket. Girl\u2019s lips twitched, but she didn\u2019t smile, no, didn\u2019t look at Ten, who was still sayin\u2019 nothin\u2019 like. He chalked his cue again, like he hadn\u2019t done it already, and stepped up. The freeze was so tight I couldn\u2019t take it. Anyway. I knew what was coming. So, off by the bar I was, but nears enough so I was still in on the action like. Ten lined \u2018em up and took out two stripes at the same time, rocketing \u2018em into different pockets. Bounced the white off the pillow and took another, edged out the solid K had all lined up. Another stripe down and boy lined up a fifth blocking the corner pocket. \u201cYou\u2019re up.\u201d <\/p>\n
Girl just stood there lookin\u2019 as if she was sizing up.
\n\u201cK. You\u2019re up.\u201d
\nGirl snapped her head towards Tendeka. Tuned back in. Took her cue up, leaned over, standing on tiptoes and nicked the white ball light as candy, so it floated, spinning, into the middle of table like. Shrugged at Ten, smiling, and that ball just kept on spinning. Stepped back, set her cue down on the table next and started walking over to the bar, to me, while that white ball, damn, was still spinning. <\/p>\n
\u201cHey! What the fuck?\u201d
\n\u201cAh c\u2019mon, Ten. You know I gotcha down.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat! Game ain\u2019t even started. And what\u2019s with this, man? Fuckin\u2019 party tricks don\u2019t mean shit.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s over, Ten.\u201d
\n\u201cYou on drugs, girl? You tweaked?\u201d
\n\u201cFuck off, Ten.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ten shoved his cue at Rob, who snatched it quick, and rounded on the girlfriend. \u201cYou\u2019re mashed, Kendra!\u201d He grabbed her shoulder, spun her round, \u201cC\u2019mon, show me!\u201d
\n\u201cKit Kat, baby. Give it a break.\u201d
\n\u201cOh yeah? Lemme see. C\u2019mon.\u201d
\n\u201cFuck off, Tendeka! Serious!\u201d
\nPeople were looking now. Cams were too, though in a place like Stones, they probably weren\u2019t working none too well. Owner paid a premium for faulty equipment like. Jazz was defending Kendra now. Not that she needed it. We all knew the girl wasn\u2019t a waster like. Even Ten. <\/p>\n
Now me. I was a waster. I was skeef. Jacked that kind shit straight into my tongue, popping lurid lurex candy capsules into the piercing to disseminate like. Lethe or supersmack or kitty. Some prefer it old-style, pills \u2018n needles, but me, the works work best straight in through that slippery warm pink muscle. Porous your mouth is. So\u2019s it\u2019s straight into the blood and saliva absorbs the rest into your glands. I could tell you all things about that wet hole mouth that makes it perfect for drugs like. But, tell you true, it\u2019s all cheap shit. Black-market. Ill legit. Not like sweet Kendra\u2019s high. Oh no, girl had gone the straight \u2018n arrow. All the way, baby. All the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cC\u2019mon Ten, back off, man.\u201d Rob was getting real nervous like. Bartender too, twitchin\u2019 to call his defuser. But Kendra-sweet had enough now, spun on Ten, finally, stuck out her tongue at him like a laaitie. And Jazz sighed. \u201cThere. Happy now?\u201d But Ten wasn\u2019t. For yeah, sure as sugar, Special-K\u2019s tongue was a virgin. Never been pierced by a stud let alone an applijack. Never had that sweet rush as the micro-needles release slick-quick into the fleshy pink. Never had her tongue go numb with the dark oiliness of it so\u2019s you can\u2019t speak for minutes. Doesn\u2019t matter though. Talkin\u2019d be least of your worries. Supposin\u2019 you had any. But then Ten knew that all along. Cos you can\u2019t play the way the girlfriend did on the rof. Tongue\u2019s not the only thing that goes numb. And boyfriend knows it. And everything\u2019s click-clicking into place. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh you fucking crazy little shit. What have you done?\u201d Ten was grabbing at her now, tough-like, her swatting at him, pulling away as he tried to get a hold of her sleeve. Jazz was yelling again. \u201cEase off, Tendeka!\u201d Shouldn\u2019t have wasted her air time. Special-K could look after herself all well now. After those first frantic swats, something levelled. Only to be expected when she\u2019s so fresh. Still adjustin\u2019 like. But you could see it kick in. Sleek it was. So\u2019s instant she\u2019s flailing about and the next she lunges, catches him under his chin with the heel of her palm. Boy\u2019s head snaps back and at the same time she shoves him hard so\u2019s he falls backwards, knocks over a table on his way. Glass smashing and the bartender\u2019s pissed now. Everyone still, except Rob who laughed once, abrupt. <\/p>\n
Girl gave Ten a look. Cocky as a street kid. But wary it was too. Not of him, although he was already getting up. Not that she could sustain like. Battery was running low now. Was already when she first set down her cue. And boy was pissed indeed. But that look, boys and girls, that look was wary not of him at all. But of herself like. <\/p>\n
Ten was on his feet now, screaming. The plot was lost, boys and girls. The plot was gone. Cut himself on the broken glass. Like paint splats on to the wooden floor. Lunged at Kendra, backing away, hands up, but still with that look. And boy was big. Intent on serious damage, yelling and not hearing his cell bleep first warning then second. Like I said, the plot was gone. Way past its expiry date.<\/p>\n
Then predictable; defuser kicked in. Higher voltage than necessary like, but bartender was pissed. Ten jerked epileptic. Some wasters I know set off their own phone\u2019s defuser, on low settings like for those dark an hectic beats. Even rhythm can be induced, boys and girls. But it\u2019s not maklik. Have to hack SAPcom to sms the trigger signal to your phone. Worse now since the cops privatised, upgraded the firewalls. That or tweak the hardware and then the shocks could come random. Crisp you KFC. <\/p>\n
Me, I defused my defuser. \u2018Lectric and lethe don\u2019t mix. Girlfriend in Sea Point pulled the plug one time. Simunye. Cost ten kilos of sugar so\u2019s it don\u2019t come cheap an if the tec don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing, ha, crisp you KFC. Or worse, Disconnect. Off the networks. Solitary confinement like. Not worth the risk, boys and girls, unless you know the tec is razor. <\/p>\n
So, Ten, jerking to imaginary beats. Bartender hit endcall finally and boy collapsed to floor, panting. Jasmine knelt next to him. Ten\u2019s phone still crackling. VIMbots scuttling to clean up blood an glass and spilled liquor. Other patrons were turning away now. Game over. Please infra another coin. Kendra stood watching a second, then also turned away, walked up to the bar where I was sitting.
\n\u201cCause any more kak like that, girl, an I\u2019ll crisp you too.\u201d The bartender said as she sat down on the bar stool next to me.
\n\u201cOh please. Like how many dial-ins you got left for the night?\u201d Kendra snapped, but girl was looking almost as strung out as Ten was now.
\n\u201cYeah, well don\u2019t make me waste \u2018em all on you.\u201d
\n\u201cJust get me a Sprite, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind her, Jazz and Rob were holdin\u2019 Tendeka up. He made as if to move for the bar, but Jazz pulled him back, wouldn\u2019t let him. Not least cos of the look the bartender shot them. Boy was too fried to stir anyway, but said, loud enough for all to hear, \u201cSell out.\u201d
\n\u201cGet the fuck out, kid.\u201d Dismissive the bartender was. Knew there was no fight left.
\n\u201cFucking corporate whore!\u201d
\n\u201cC\u2019mon, Ten. Let\u2019s go.\u201d Jazz was escortin\u2019 him out.
\nKendra ignored him. Girl had her Sprite now and downed it in one. Asked for another.
\nAlready you could see it kickin in.
\n\u201cCan I see?\u201d I asked, mock sly-shy.
\nKendra shot me a look which I couldn\u2019t figure and then finally slid up her sleeve reluctant like, revealing the glow tattooed on her wrist.
\nThe bartender clicked his tongue as he set down the drink. \u201cSponsor baby, huh?\u201d
\nSprite logo was emblazoned there, not on her skin, but under it, shining through, with the slogan, \u201cjust be it\u201d. <\/p>\n
No rinkadink light show was this. Nanotech she\u2019d signed up for changed the bio-structure of her cells, made \u2018em phosphorescent in all the right places. Nothing you couldn\u2019t get done at the local light-tat salon, but corporate sponsorship came with all the extras. Even on lethe, I wasn\u2019t \u2018blivious to the ad campaigns on the underway. But Kendra was the first I knew to get Branded like. <\/p>\n
Girl was flying now. Ordered a third Sprite. Brain reacting like she was on some fine-ass bliss, drowning her in endorphins an seratonin, Sprite binding with aminos and the tiny bio-machines hummin\u2019 at work in her veins. Voluntary addiction with benefits. Make her faster, stronger, more co-ordinated. Ninja-slick reflexes. Course, if she\u2019d sold her soul to Coke instead, she\u2019d be sharper, wittier. Coke nano lubes the transmitters. Neurons firing faster, smarter, more productive. All depends on the brand, on your lifestyle of choice and it\u2019s all free if you qualify. Waster like me would never get with the program, but sweet Kendra, straight up candidate of choice. Apply now, boys and girls, while stocks last. You\u2019ll never afford this high on your own change. <\/p>\n
Special K turned to me, on her fourth now, blissed out on the carbonated nutri-sweet and the tech seething in her hot little sponsor baby bod, nodded, \u201cAnd one for my friend,\u201d to the bartender like. And who was I to say no? <\/p>\n
We were at Stones, playing pool, drinking, goofing around, maybe hoping to score a little sugar, when Kendra arrived, all moffied up and gloaming like an Aito\/329. \u201cAhoy, Special K, where you been, girl, so juiced to kill?\u201d Tendeka asked while he racked up the balls, all click-clack in their white plastic triangle. Old school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[344,343],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n