Free The Protected by Claire Zorn Page A

continuing the noble tradition of torturing students with trigonometry. I, on the other hand, am in Anne’s office. She is wearing some sort of muu-muu, says it helps her pretend she is on holidays. She has opened all the windows and stands in front of one, fanning her face.
    â€˜You’d think with all the money the bloody pope has, he could at least buy me an air conditioner.’
    Mr Black would probably tell her to pray for one. She sips her mug of tea, plonks herself down opposite me and takes out her fake cigarette. Katie is there, of course. If I try to picture her at any other time I can’t do it, but here with Anne she is as clear to me as a photograph.
    You gonna talk to her, Spanner? Katie asks. She isn’t smiling. You gotta talk to someone.
    â€˜Can you tell me a bit about what school was like before Katie died?’
    â€˜I thought you said you talked to my dad.’
    â€˜Yes,’ she answers slowly.
    â€˜Didn’t he talk to you about that?’ I look at her and she looks back. I want to remind her that she promised not to bullshit me.
    â€˜Hannah, I want to hear it from you. They said it was a difficult time for you, that you had trouble fitting in.’
    I imagine Katie laughing. That’s the understatement of the century .
    â€˜Can you tell me what was happening for you?’
    ***
    For the first term of high school, Charlotte and I ate lunch under a big tree with some girls from our old primary school. We weren’t particularly close to the other girls, it was that weird period when everything was so new that you instinctively clung to what and who you knew. I felt that way about the other girls, thought it was different between Charlotte and me. Things stayed that way for pretty much the whole term, when everything was still exciting and different and I actually believed I might enjoy high school.
    It was in second term that things began to shift. Charlotte and I both had Science at the same time. Our classrooms were right next to each other and we would meet after and walk down to the big tree for lunch. One day my Science class finished earlier than Charlotte’s so I waited for her outside. She took ages, all the other students came out but still there was no Charlotte. I looked through the window and saw that she was talking to Tara Metcalf. I waited and then finally they both came out. Tara gave me the same look as she did on the first day, kind of pitying and disgusted. She flicked her hair and said, ‘See ya soon’ to Charlotte. Charlotte grinned and gave a nod, then she turned to me. I must have looked pretty disturbed.
    â€˜What?’ she asked. ‘Tara’s really cool, she’s nice when you get to know her.’
    â€˜I bet.’ I started walking towards the oval.
    Charlotte hesitated, ‘Wait …’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Tara … um …’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Tara said I should go have lunch with them.’
    I tried to laugh a bit. ‘You’re not going to, are you?’
    Charlotte shrugged and looked away.
    â€˜What am I supposed to do?’
    â€˜I dunno … maybe you could come too, I’ll ask Tara.’
    â€˜Gee thanks. Let me know if you get her permission.’ I turned and started walking.
    â€˜Hannah, wait.’ Charlotte jogged after me, gave me a friendly push on the arm when she caught up.
    â€˜I’ll come with you,’ she said.
    I pretended nothing had changed for so long.
    Eventually the ‘merger’ happened. Charlotte and I moved from our spot under the tree to where the Clones sat at lunch, behind the Science block. It’s worth mentioning that Charlotte didn’t call Tara and her friends ‘the Clones’. It was the word used by everyone who wasn’t one of them. The Clones loved Charlotte. They tolerated me. Charlotte was like the bit of real estate they wanted, I was the crappy old building that they would have to purchase as