Free Skeletal by Katherine Hayton Page A

briefcase and moved into the far corridor. ‘Your mum works hard for this family.’
    ‘He’s got an office there,’ Vila said to my querying look. ‘Never stops working these days.’ She stuck her lower lip out.
    My calculator died halfway through the quadratic equations we were working on. There’d been a crack in the side of the tiny LCD screen for a while now, and after pressing in the latest numerals it went dark with a rainbow effect at the edge of the screen.
    ‘Use mine,’ Vila said and shoved it towards me. ‘I still don’t get how you just know what the answer should be.’
    I took her through the method again, but my heart wasn’t really in it. I’d already taken Vila through the steps a dozen times – she was well versed in the theory – but she couldn’t make the leap to deduction. Part of it was her complete inability to divide or subtract in her head. Most of it was a general apathy towards the subject as soon as she realised the work it required.
    There was the slam of a car boot from downstairs, and the rev of an engine. Vila leapt to her feet and went to the window. Her father’s vehicle was reversing out of the driveway.
    Even worse, her mother’s car was turning in.
    ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Vila said suddenly. She picked up the corners of the plastic picnic blanket we’d been working on, and lifted the whole thing onto her bed.
    ‘I can’t stand another moment of schoolwork. It’s bad enough I have to do it all day. Let’s go to the mall.’
    ‘I don’t have any money,’ I reminded her, but she just shrugged her shoulders.
    ‘I don’t want to buy anything. I just want to get out of here.’
    ‘But you haven’t finished your homework,’ I protested. ‘You’ll catch it tomorrow if we don’t finish up.’
    ‘That’s tomorrow,’ Vila said, and dragged me by the elbow to the stairs. ‘Plenty of time to worry about it then.’
     
    ***
     
    ‘Homework, ladies,’ Mr Nippon said as he came to a halt beside my desk, almost clicking his heels together. Vila passed her exercise book across to him, and I offered up my sheets of refill.
    He stared down at them fixedly for a good thirty seconds before speaking.
    ‘Where’s your exercise book, Miss?’ He was good with names.
    ‘I haven’t got one yet. I only just started here.’
    The loose pages continued to be glared at. ‘You’ve been here for three weeks, young lady. That’s more than enough time to equip yourself. I’ve given you the list.’ He tapped his knuckles on the desk for emphasis. ‘You make sure you get them or I won’t accept any more work in from you. You need the right calculator for the end of year exams as well, or you won’t be allowed in.’
    I reddened as some of the kids at the front of the class turned to see what the problem was. I couldn’t afford any of it, and there was no way that my mother was going to forgo a bottle of vodka to pay for a new calculator.
    After school I went to the admin building.
    ‘Excuse me, Ms Pearson?’
    She smiled as she turned, and then frowned and sighed as she saw it was me. For some reason the purloining of me on the first day was considered my fault. I bet the golden-haired Mr Bond didn’t get the long sigh.
    ‘I was wondering if there was any assistance available to help with purchasing schoolbooks and equipment?’
    ‘What do you mean, equipment?’
    ‘Calculators, exercise books, that sort of thing.’
    She stared at me for a long minute, and then snapped the book in her hand shut.
    ‘There’s nothing like that. Why?’
    Because that wasn’t immediately obvious to her.
    ‘I don’t think my mother can afford it.’
    She continued to stare at me, a knowing look now working its way onto her face. ‘According to your records your mother is on the DPB.’
    I nodded. ‘That’s right. And things are tight right now. If I could just get some assistance, maybe even a loan?’
    ‘We’re already paying your mother to raise you. If you want school