‘They’re so cute,’ Tiffany says as we resume our walk to the food court.
‘You think so?’
‘Sure.’
My head aches. I hope I didn’t hurt Erin and Bethany’s feelings. If only I’d known Tiffany thought they were cute, I could have shown them how glad I was to see them.
I walk through the school gate feeling like I’m heading into the doctor’s office to find out if I’ve got terminal cancer. Maybe I should have tried harder to convince Mum to let me stay home. But then I would have had to wait all weekend to hear their verdict and lost even more sleep.
I take a deep breath and set out for our spot, but I’ve only taken a few steps when somebody reaches out and grabs my arm.
‘Stephen!’ I instinctively look around to see if anybody saw him touch me. ‘What are you doing?’ This is where we used to meet, when we were first in high school.
‘I got something for you,’ he says.
‘Huh?’
‘I named it after you. Hold out your hand.’
I do what he says, feeling crazy. Maybe I finally got to sleep after all and I’m dreaming this. Stephen gently places a small, rounded sea shell on my palm. ‘You named a shell after me?’
‘Wait a minute,’ he smiles. Then he addresses the pink shell. ‘You can come out, Kaitlin. It’s all right.’
He’s watching the shell intently, so I do, too. Suddenly, two thread-like things poke out and wave around. Followed by two stalks with tiny beads on the ends. White beads with black in the middle.
‘Are those eyes?’ I ask.
‘Uh-huh. She’s a hermit crab. My bravest one.’
Two pointy grey legs fold out from under the shell. Followed by two more. And then two more. She starts to walk sideways across my hand.
‘Be careful she doesn’t fall off,’ Stephen says.
I close my hand around her.
‘She’s not too good with edges,’ Stephen explains.
I can still feel her moving. There are more kids coming through the gate now, but I don’t see anybody I know.
‘Do you like her?’ Stephen asks hopefully.
‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘She’s cute.’
‘I thought you’d think that.’
I hold my hand out to give him back his crab but he says, ‘No, she’s yours.’
That demented wolf is back inside my chest, snarling and leaping. Stephen has been nice to me all this time! Back at the Botanical gardens, when I decided what was important to me, I thought he’d have to go. But it’s so hard to keep remembering what’s important to me. I shake my head. ‘I shouldn’t take her.’
‘Yes you should.’
I guess I’ll only make him feel worse if I don’t. ‘What do I do with her?’
‘Put her in your pocket. She likes it in there.’
‘All day?’
‘Sure. When you get home you can put her in a shoebox.’
‘What’s she eat?’
‘Just give her a bit of apple with peanut butter on it. And make sure she has water.’
I take a look at her through my fingers. One of her eyes waves at me. I put her in the pocket that has a zipper so she won’t fall out. Funny, I only met her two minutes ago and I didn’t really have the right to accept her. But now I want to keep her.
The debating unit’s over, thank goodness. Yesterday we read a story in our English Links book and now we’re answering the questions that go with it. Mrs McBain said we could discuss them with our neighbours as long as we keep the talk down to a reasonable level.
My mind is totally not able to focus on what motivated the main character. All I can think about is the future of my high school life. They didn’t mention their decision when we were at our spot before school. That could be because Olivia was running late and didn’t get here till home group. Maybe they’ll tell me at recess. If they don’t tell me at recess, I think I’ll explode and pieces of me will fly all over the veggie class’s veggie garden.
‘What’s that?’ Tiffany asks me. She’s crowded up close to me, so her and me and Olivia will all fit at one table.
‘What’s what?’
‘There’s something moving in your dress.’
Should I tell her? I don’t know what else to say it is, and besides I’d like to show her off, so I unzip my pocket and take Kaitlin out. She hides all her bits and becomes a shell again. I put her into Tiffany’s hand. Her antennae and then her eyes come out. Tiffany looks disgusted. Too late I realise that my crab is a perfect symbol of dorkiness. Of course I should have known Tiffany wouldn’t like her. Of all times, my dorkometer had to decide to die today!
‘Look what Kaitlin’s got,’ Tiffany says.
‘What is it? Let me see that,’ Olivia demands. She’s sitting on the other side of Tiffany. If only I could turn time back one minute, I’d keep the crab in my pocket. Just one minute …
‘Yuck!’ Olivia squeals. ‘It’s a snail!’ She drops Kaitlin onto our table. The shell lands with a clack.
‘Girls!’ Mrs McBain looks up from her desk. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Nothing,’ Tiffany says. ‘We’ll be quiet now, Miss.’
Mrs McBain goes back to concentrating on what she’s writing. From the look on her face, I’d say it’s important.
Kaitlin has emerged from her shell and is walking across the table. Away from me.
‘Why’d you bring a snail to school?’ Olivia asks. The wolf is back inside me, howling louder than ever. I want to tell Olivia that Stephen gave Kaitlin to me and I took her because he has the most gorgeous smile, and he loves marine animals and last year when he was the shyest boy in the whole grade, he stood up for me. But I can’t tell her that. I can’t tell her anything I really think!
‘How can she be a snail?’ I hear myself say to Olivia, loudly. ‘Do snails have six legs?’
‘Jeez, Kaitlin,’ Olivia says, ‘you don’t have to yell.’
‘Give her back to me!’
I can’t believe it. I yelled at Olivia. This can’t be me.
‘I’m not touching that thing.’ Olivia draws back as if she might catch a disease.
Kaitlin is nearing the far end of the table. Be careful she doesn’t fall off, Stephen said. She’s not too good with edges.
‘Quick!’ I say to Tiffany. ‘Grab her.’
‘No way! It’s probably full of germs.’
The inside of my head is glowing red. How can I be arguing with them in front of the whole class? They’ll never let me be a cool girl now! But my mouth has a mind of its own. ‘She’s not germy,’ I splutter.
‘Yes, it is. It’s a spider-snail!’ Tiffany giggles as though she made a great joke. I can’t stand it. She giggles at everything. Nothing’s important to her.
‘Well, I like my hermit crab!’ I shout. How can I be doing this? Why doesn’t Mrs McBain stop me? She’s gazing at me and my friends as though we’re really interesting.
I want my crab back! I lunge across Tiffany and onto the table. I reach across Olivia and grab Kaitlin just as she’s starting to fall.
I sit back, Kaitlin safe in my hand. Tiffany and Olivia are looking at me like I’m insane. I knew they would, sooner or later. In my heart, I’ve always known what their decision would be. I am just not cool-girl material. I wish I could drop into a hole and disappear. But my mouth has different ideas. ‘You thought your stupid pool party was more important than my baby sister!’
Olivia looks mystified. ‘We didn’t know you had a baby sister.’
‘Well, I do. And I like her a lot! And I like Stephen!’ I blurt. ‘And Matthew! And I thought Vi’s poem was the greatest three lines I ever heard!’ My head is throbbing as though it’s about to die. But my mouth still works. ‘And I like the prep girls. I mean grade one!’
‘Good on ya, Katie,’ I hear from the back row.
‘Do you like me?’ Billy asks.
‘Yes!’ I yell at him. ‘I mean, sort of!’
Mrs McBain is smiling. I’ve just chucked a fit a
t the most important people in my life and she’s pleased.
‘You don’t need to tell me your decision,’ I spit the words out at Olivia. ‘I already know what it is.’
‘What decision?’
‘The month is up since I’ve been on trial.’
‘Gee,’ Tiffany says, ‘that went quick. I guess we lost track.’
The class is silent. I suddenly feel very, very tired. They weren’t even thinking about the decision. And yet, somehow, I’m not sorry for what I said. It felt good to say it. It felt true. But what am I going to do now?
‘Mrs McBain,’ I say without raising my hand, ‘can I go and sit with somebody else?’
Mrs McBain nods. ‘I think that would be an excellent idea, Kaitlin.’
The class starts chattering loudly, and Mrs McBain doesn’t stop them. I go to the front row and sit down next to Vi. Maybe she doesn’t want me. In that case I’ll definitely have to find a way to sink through the floor. But Vi gives me a big smile. ‘You’re a smart girl,’ she says. ‘Not like them.’
‘How do you know?’ I splutter.
‘I listened very hard to your debate speech.’
‘Did you ever. You picked it to pieces.’
She grins. ‘But you had the idea to be popcorn.’
‘Oh, yeah.’ That was when we were on the same team in drama class. Miss Larsen said we did the best act, even though popcorn isn’t strictly an inanimate object.
‘Last one there’s a rotten spring roll!’ I take off and run across the park. So does Vi, her black hair flying out behind her, her skinny arms pumping like anything. She loves to win, this girl. And she reaches our tree two seconds before I do. I shove her aside and grab the lowest branch before she can. ‘That’s not fair!’ she shrieks. But I’ve already hoisted myself up, and I’m climbing through the shimmery leaves of the huge peppercorn.
There’s a branch about three quarters of the way up that’s just right for the two of us to sit on. ‘Beat you!’ I gloat as she settles down beside me.
‘I should push you out of the tree,’ she says with an evil look. But I know she never would. I check my jeans pocket to make sure my crab is still there. She is, but she’s pretending to be just a shell. I’ve changed her name to Annabel.
‘Did you talk to your grandma last night?’ I ask.
‘Yes,’ Vi says seriously. Her grandma’s been dead for three years, but she still talks to her every Friday night.
‘What did she have to say?’
‘She said that one day I will be a good doctor. But first I must learn how to make a seafood hot pot.’ Vi takes two fun-size packets of M&M’s out of her shorts pocket and hands me one. I pop a yellow M&M on my tongue and look up through the feathery green to the incredible blue of the autumn sky. The air, cool at last, tingles against my skin.
I’ve never had a friend like Vi before. It’s as if when I’m with her the rest of the world falls away and I don’t even remember to wonder what anybody else thinks. We spend every lunch time together now. La has joined the chess club, and she’s already second on the ladder after Stephen. Vi and I tried it for a couple of days but we decided it was about as much fun as maths homework on a Friday night, so we started playing basketball with Matthew and Billy. Sometimes James joins in.
Just like with Shelly last year, Olivia and Tiffany haven’t said a word to me since our fight. I’m sure they say plenty behind my back.
Chloe’s started hanging out with them and last week she was giving me these looks like ‘Ha, ha, I’m a cool girl now!’ so I said to her, ‘Wow, aren’t you special? You get to follow them around and be their little lap dog!’ She keeps her eyes on the ground when she walks past me now.
‘Did you remember to ask your grandma about Tiffany and Olivia?’ I say to Vi.
‘Yes, she said when Tiffany grows up, she will have five children and become very fat. Olivia will become the owner of her mother’s post office, and no one will ever marry her because she is too good for anybody.’
‘You made that up!’
‘I didn’t!’ No one can sound more indignant than Vi.
‘Okay, did she say anything about what I’ll be?’
‘Oh, yes.’ Vi’s black eyes are full of mystery.
‘Well? What?’
‘A writer, of course.’
That’s the only thing I’m better at than Vi: I know more words. English ones, anyway. I wouldn’t like to bet how much longer that will last. But me and Vi and La make a mean debating team. Mrs McBain coaches us after school some days, and we’re going up against the best debaters in 7B after the holidays.
‘Am I gonna be a famous writer?’ I ask as I crunch my last M&M.
‘Grandmother didn’t mention that.’
‘Oh, well, I guess Mum can help me with my money management.’ I can just imagine me knocking on the door of her bungalow when I’m thirty, a stack of papers balanced in my arms. Or maybe she’ll have a posh office in the city by then, and be married to Rick.
‘Hey, Vi, do you think old people can fall in love?’
‘Maybe. How old?’
‘Really old. You know Will, the guy that lives next door to me?’
‘Yes, I remember.’
‘He’s bought a ticket to go and see my grandmother in England. He came over yesterday and showed it to us. He was all excited. He says it’s never too late to go after what you want.’
‘That’s sweet,’ Vi says. She’s finished her M&M’s now, too. ‘Last one down’s a rotten meat pie!’
As I scramble down the tree and run after my friend, I almost forget to wonder what could go wrong.
Also by the Authors
Escape from Year Eight
‘Jeez, Mum,’ I yell, ‘you could have warned me before you decided to ruin my life!
When Kaitlin’s mum tells her they’re going to live in America for three months, Kaitlin is furious. She finally has a group of friends at school – real friends she can trust – and now she’s going to move a million kilometres away.
But when they get to Iowa, even Kaitlin has to admit it’s not a total disaster. Amy and Jazz in her eighth grade class seem extra friendly. But what’s with that weird kid Leon who won’t talk to anyone? And what’s his problem with Kaitlin?
Two Weeks in Grade Six
‘I’m not sitting at a table with them,’ Ashleigh protests, ‘they’re the top five losers at the school!’
It is third term, grade six and Kaitlin’s teacher has switched table groups around. Now Kaitlin’s on a table with stuck-up Ashleigh, Matthew the Mouth and Stephen, a curly-haired nerd who only cares about marine life.
Thank goodness she still has Shelley, her best and only friend, by her side. But when Ashleigh decides it would be fun to break up their friendship, Kaitlin could be in for the hardest two weeks of her life.
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First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2005
Text copyright © Anna and Mary K Pershall, 2005
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ISBN: 978-1-74253-743-6
Term in Year Seven Page 13