by Emma Carroll
“Well, if it’s natural, then how come I’ve never met anyone else who does it?”
Sofia shrugged.
A male voice called, “Cassidy, dinner time. CASSIDY? WHERE ARE YOU?”
“That’s my dad.” Cassidy got up. “I’ve got to go. Will you be going to Bracken Heath School on Monday?”
Sofia nodded.
“Me too. See you there,” Cassidy said, as she clambered over the fence and vanished.
“Good morning, children,” Miss Magister said in a high wavering voice.
“Good morning, Miss Magister,” the children chanted back from behind their desks.
“We have a new person joining our class today. Her name is Sofia Elvidge.” Miss Magister put her hand on Sofia’s shoulder and gave her a watery smile. “Welcome, Sofia.” She looked out into the class. “Now, who’s going to volunteer to look after Sofia this week and show her around our school?”
Sofia saw the girl from the alleyway with the monster slippers put her hand up. Her blonde hair was scraped up into a tangled pineapple ponytail, her glasses had tape around one of the arms and her cardigan was buttoned up wrong, hanging off one shoulder to show a paint-splattered school blouse. There was an empty desk beside her.
Miss Magister looked at Cassidy, who had her hand up too. “Ah, Cassidy, thank you, that’s very kind. Sofia, go and sit beside Cassidy. Mark, you can come over here and sit beside Beatrice.”
“Do I have to, miss?” Mark complained as he scraped his chair backwards. “She smells of cabbages.”
Miss Magister gave Sofia a gentle shove towards Cassidy.
Cassidy was looking about her, smiling victoriously. Her red hair was tied back neatly with a royal-blue ribbon and her white school shirt had pretty capped sleeves. She looked perfect.
“Hi.” Sofia smiled as she sat down beside her new friend.
“Don’t get too comfy,” Cassidy whispered. “Mark will want his chair back next week. He’s my boyfriend.”
“Oh, OK.”
During the lesson Sofia didn’t talk to Cassidy, who was preoccupied with writing and passing notes that seemed to be very funny. They were supposed to be answering questions about a book called The Odyssey that everybody except Sofia had read. The characters’ names were strange, and Sofia was confused by the story. Once or twice she looked at Cassidy, hoping for help, but she was teasing Mark for having to sit next to Beatrice Beckett.
When the lunch bell went, Sofia got up in time to see Mark stick his foot out and trip Beatrice as she rose from her desk.
“Oops, clumsy bumble Bea!” Cassidy laughed.
Mark grinned as he came to stand beside Cassidy and they were joined by a girl called Amanda.
Beatrice scrambled to her feet, picking up her glasses from the floor. She looked up at Sofia, who blushed and looked down. She knew she should say something, but it was her first day at school and Cassidy – who appeared to be the most popular girl in the class – seemed to like her. When she looked up, Beatrice had gone.
“Why does your hair look like that?” Amanda asked Sofia.
“Like what?” Sofia put her hand up to the back of her head. Amanda had shiny brown hair in two long plaits.
“Short, like a boy’s. Did you get punished?”
“No. I like it like this,” Sofia explained. “My mum says I look like a pixie.”
Mark snorted. “A boy pixie.”
“C’mon, let’s go to the canteen.” Cassidy hooked her arm through Sofia’s. “I'm starving.”
“Oh, me too.” Sofia smiled with relief at the change of subject.
When they got to the canteen, Cassidy paraded to the front of the dinner queue. “Excuse me, coming through,” she trilled. “Got the new girl here.” Sofia’s face burned as everyone turned to look, but Cassidy loved the attention. She made a great show of getting Sofia a tray and explaining how to choose what you wanted to eat.
“Aren’t you kind, duckie.” A dinner lady smiled at Cassidy.
Sofia felt self-conscious with everyone staring at her. When they sat down to eat, a steady stream of children came over to talk to Cassidy, but they were looking at her.
Amanda pinched Sofia’s arm. “Cassidy says you like creepy-crawlies. Is that true?”
“Oh yes.” Sofia nodded. “I’m a naturalist.”
Mark sprayed his drink all over the table and choked as he laughed. “You walk around in the nude?”
“NO!” Sofia was horrified. “That’s naturists! I’m a naturalist. I study nature.”
“You go outdoors, naked,” Amanda gasped. “And pick up bugs!”
A ripple of whispers travelled across the dinner hall, heads turned and Sofia’s insides burned. “I do not go around naked!” she cried out.
“Guys, people are staring at us.” Cassidy raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry, Cass,” Amanda said.
Sofia looked around the hall. People were pointing at her and giggling. “Now everyone thinks I’m a weird nudist,” she said mournfully.
“I know how to fix this,” Cassidy said brightly. “You can do the Show and Tell on Thursday.”
“Show and Tell?” Sofia said.
“Yes, once a week, two people in the class have to bring in something to do with their hobbies and talk about it in form time. It’s meant to be me and Jack Harrington this week. I was going to do it on ballet but, if you wanted, I could let you go instead of me.”
“How’s that going to help?”
“It will give people a chance to get to know more about you, and,” she lowered her head and whispered, “you can explain that you’re a naturist who likes bugs.”
“But I’m not a naturist; that’s a nudist!” Sofia felt panic fizzing in her chest like a hive of swarming bees. “I’m a naturalist.”
“Exactly.” Cassidy put her arm around Sofia’s shoulder. “I know that, but they don’t.” She gestured to the dinner hall. “You don’t want people thinking you walk around in your birthday suit at weekends, do you?”
Sofia shook her head.
“Good, then it’s agreed.” Cassidy clapped. “I’ll tell Miss Magister you’ll do the Show and Tell in my place.”
“Hey, wait for me,” Sofia called out, running to catch up with Cassidy, Amanda and Mark, who were walking out of the school gate. They couldn’t have heard her, because they didn’t slow or turn around, and were nearly at the end of the road by the time she reached them.
“Oh, it’s you,” Cassidy said, as if she was surprised to see Sofia.
“Did you talk to Miss Magister about the Show and Tell?” Sofia asked, a little out of breath.
“Yes.” Cassidy nodded. “You’re doing it this week.”
“Great,” Sofia replied, glancing at Amanda and Mark, who were looking in any direction but hers. “Thanks.”
They walked along in silence, Amanda, Cassidy and Mark spreading out to fill the pavement so that Sofia had to trip along in the gutter.
“Oh, look,” Sofia called out, pointing at a bush hanging over the pavement in front of them. “What a beautiful cross-orb weaver.”
Amanda, Mark and Cassidy didn’t appear to hear her, and walked on as if she hadn’t made a sound.
Sofia stopped. They were ignoring her! Before she could say anything, Amanda screamed and started leaping about.
“Aaaaarghhhhhh! I walked into a web! Is there a spider on me?” She threw her arms up and shook her head as Cassidy and Mark leapt back. “Is it on me?” she shrieked. “Can you see it?”
Sofia spotted the unfortunate spider clinging on to Amanda’s hair as she bucked and flicked her plaits like a wild horse.
“I can see it,” Sofia said calmly.
“Aaaarrrrghhhhhhhh!” Amanda screamed louder.
“If you stand still, I’ll rescue it.” Sofia stepped forward. “It’s in your hair.”
“Where is it?” Amanda whipped her chestnut braids about in a panic. “Get it off!”
“Stand still,” Sofia ordered, reaching up and cupp
ing her palms under the spider, coaxing it into her hands. She stepped away. “I’ve got it. It’s OK. It’s not hurt.”
Amanda stumbled backwards. “Get away from me!”
“Calm down, Amanda, it’s harmless.” Sofia opened her hands a crack. “Look.”
Amanda screamed.
“Stop it! You’re bullying her.” Cassidy scowled at Sofia. “Look how upset she is. You should apologise.”
“What?” Sofia blinked. “But I took the spider off her, didn’t I? You and Mark were going to run away.”
“We were not!” Cassidy huffed. “She’s lying, Amanda. I’d never leave you.”
“It’s OK to be scared of spiders,” Sofia said. “But if you learned a little about them you’d see that they’re wonderful creatures.”
“I’m not scared of spiders.” Mark lunged forward and shoved Sofia hard. She stumbled backwards, her hands opening to break her fall as she hit the pavement, and the spider dropped to the ground. In a flash, Mark lifted up his foot and stomped on the spider, squashing it dead. “See, I killed it.”
“Oh!” Sofia’s eyes filled with tears. “What did you do that for?”
“Because spiders are gross, and you’re gross.” Mark folded his arms across his chest.
“What kind of a girl likes bugs anyway?” Cassidy said, looking at Sofia with disgust.
“A freak,” Amanda replied with a sneer.
Sofia wanted to shout something mean back, but her throat closed and her vision blurred as she fought with her tears. She didn’t want them to see her cry.
“If you come near us again,” Mark said, “I’ll stamp on you, just like that spider.”
As they walked away, Amanda chanted a limerick.
“There is a girl called Sofia,
so gross you’ll scream if you see her.
She is covered in bugs,
cockroaches, spiders and slugs,
So steer clear of freaky Sofia!”
A tinkling laugh rose from Cassidy.
Sofia wiped her eyes with her sleeve and knelt forward to look at the poor crushed spider. “Poor little spinner,” she sniffed. “You won’t be making any more webs. You’re nothing but bird food now.” She lifted the mangled spider’s body on to the hedge of the neighbouring garden, for a hungry bird to find.
“Do I have to go to Bracken Heath School?” Sofia asked her mum the next morning at breakfast.
“Is there something wrong with the school, Sofia?” Her mum looked concerned. “People say it’s a good one.”
“No, I was just wondering if there was a different school I could go to.” Sofia stared down into her cereal bowl. “You know, if I don’t get along with the other kids.”
“Is everything OK, pickle?”
Sofia nodded. “I miss Jess.”
“I know you do, but you’ll make friends at Bracken Heath. Just give it some time.”
“What if I don’t?” Sofia looked up. “Can we go home?”
“We are home.” Her mum gave her a worried smile.
Sofia pushed her breakfast away. She wasn’t hungry.
Cassidy, Amanda and Mark were waiting for Sofia at the end of the road. They acted like she was invisible, until she had walked past. Then they followed her.
“Do you think she walks like that because she has ants in her pants?” Cassidy said.
“I bet she had to get all her hair cut off because she lets nits live in it,” Amanda said.
“Her only friends are the bugs, cockroaches, spiders and slugs,” Mark chanted.
Sofia tried to ignore them, and carried on walking as if they weren’t there. On the other side of the road she saw Beatrice Beckett walking to school.
I bet she’s happy they’ve got a new girl to pick on, Sofia thought.
She felt a hand on her back, and a push sent her stumbling forwards.
“Errrrrr,” Amanda squealed. “Don’t touch her! She’s probably got diseases from maggots.”
When she walked through the school gates, Sofia’s heart was heavier than lead. She told herself that she just had to get through the day, one lesson at a time. Cassidy ignored her during class, which wasn’t too bad. At break time, two kids she’d never met threw handfuls of earth at her and ran away. She sat on her own at lunch and overheard Cassidy boasting loudly about how she’d got out of having to do the Show and Tell by tricking the new girl into doing it. Sofia missed Jess and her old home so much her insides ached.
When the school bell rang at the end of the day, Sofia hurried out of the gate, keen to get home before Cassidy, Amanda and Mark could find her, but she heard Amanda’s voice calling to Mark, so she dodged into the front garden of the nearest house, ducking down behind the hedge. As they passed by, Sofia overheard their conversation.
“Did you see where she went?” Mark was asking. “I thought she was in front of us.”
“Maybe her mum picked her up in a car,” Amanda said.
“No, her mum works,” Cassidy replied. “She must have run home, scared.” She laughed nastily.
“I thought I might join in Sofia’s Show and Tell tomorrow,” Amanda said. “I’m going to faint when she starts talking about her disgusting bugs.”
“I don’t understand how she can touch those horrible creepy-crawlies.” Cassidy shivered. “There’s something wrong with her.”
“If she brings bugs into the classroom,” Mark said, “I’m going to kill them all.” Through the hedge, Sofia saw Mark pull a canister from his pocket. “Bug spray.”
They laughed, their voices fading as they walked up the street.
Sofia stayed kneeling on the ground until she was certain they were gone. She shuffled home, her stomach whirling like a black hole as she thought about her Show and Tell tomorrow.
“I’m back,” she called, going straight up the stairs to her bedroom, still filled with unpacked boxes.
“I’m just making dinner, pickle,” her mum called.
Sofia walked into her bedroom, lifted her plastic terrarium off the window ledge and carried it downstairs, out of the back door, through the garden and into the alleyway behind the house. She pulled the lid off.
“Off you go,” she whispered to the tiny invertebrates inside. “Be free. I’m not collecting bugs any more.” She walked back to the house, leaving the terrarium behind.
“Mum, I don’t feel well,” Sofia called out as her mum rushed passed her bedroom doorway, getting ready for work.
“Really? Oh, Sofia.” She came in and put her hand on Sofia’s head. “You’re not hot. What’s wrong?”
“I feel sick,” Sofia lied.
“But you haven’t been sick?”
“No, but I might be.”
“Well, I have to go into work for a meeting. Go to school and if you don’t feel good, go to the nurse and she can call me.”
“Can’t I stay here?” Sofia sank down into the duvet. “I don’t mind if you leave me on my own all day.”
“Sofia, you’re eleven years old. I will not leave you on your own. Anyway, you might feel better once you’re on your feet. Get up and get dressed.” Her mum scurried out of the room, pulling on a shoe.
Sofia sighed and swung her legs out of bed. She wasn’t completely lying. She did feel sick, because today was Show and Tell.
“Right, children, after I’ve taken the register, we’ll move on to today’s Show and Tell,” said Miss Magister.
“Miss, miss!” Jack’s hand went up. “I can’t do my Show and Tell. I forgot my bag.”
“Well, it will just be a ‘tell’ then, won’t it?” Miss Magister looked over her glasses at him.
“But, miss, I was going to do mine on … stamp collecting.”
A giggle zipped around the classroom.
“It would be boring without the actual stamps.” Jack smiled, pleased with himself.
Miss Magister sighed. “Oh, very well, you can do yours next week. Sofia, you’ll have a bit longer to talk about your hobby. Now, I’m going to read the register and I’d
like you to say ‘here’ in a nice loud voice when I call your name.”
As the voices rang out, Sofia’s ears filled with buzzing.
“Sofia Elvidge. Sofia Elvidge?”
“Oh, sorry. Here, miss.” Her voice sounded small. She wondered if she was going to faint, and thought that would be good, because then she wouldn’t have to stand up in front of everybody. She closed her eyes and silently told her body to faint. But when she opened her eyes she was still sitting in her chair next to Cassidy.
“Right, now, Sofia, come to the front of the class and set up any props you want to use to show and tell us about your hobby.”
Sofia swallowed. “I – I – I didn’t bring anything,” she whispered, looking at the ground.
“Come now, we’ve had this excuse already, from Jack. Up you come.”
“Don’t worry, Sofia,” Mark called out. “I brought you something.”
Sofia felt something hit her cheek and clatter to the desk. She looked down. It was a dead beetle – a rust-brown chafer.
“Ew!” Cassidy squealed, pushing her chair back. “It’s a cockroach!”
There were three or four gasps and squeals, and more chairs moving away, as Sofia tenderly picked up the beetle.
“Is it alive?” Miss Magister looked nervous.
“Nah, miss, it’s dead.” Mark leered at Sofia. “I killed it with my bug spray.”
“Oh, OK then. Calm down, everybody. Go back to your seats. Yes, Beatrice, what do you want?”
Beatrice was standing at the front of the classroom with a big cloth sack, out of which she pulled a folded-up easel and a board with a picture on it.
“I’m going to do my Show and Tell, miss.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “Everyone else has forgotten their things, but I brought mine.”
“Oh, right. Well, I suppose that’s OK.” Relieved, Miss Magister retreated behind her desk. “Sofia, you can go after Beatrice.”
Everyone had stopped staring at Sofia, and now they watched Beatrice Beckett setting up her easel.
“Today I want to tell you about Maria Sibyl Merian,” Beatrice said. “She was born over three hundred years ago in Germany and she is so important that her face used to be on their money. She was a scientific illustrator.” She pointed at the picture on the easel. “She painted pictures of nature. This is one of her pictures.”