Free Haunting of Lily Frost by Nova Weetman Page B

Class captain.’ It’s her, the girl who was at the river with him. She’s one of those: the standard long hair, fringe, big eyes, neat girls who I’ve never been friendly with for various reasons. She smiles at me, but it’s an odd smile. She’s summing me up. A glance at what I’m wearing. What I look like. How my hair’s cut. How my bag sits on my shoulder. I wonder what she sees and how she’s evaluating me. I wonder if I’ll pass.
    The bell goes then, like it’s interrupting us before I can blurt out somethingthey don’t want said. Mrs Jarvis points to a desk off to the side of the class. It’s like she’s keeping me away from the rest of them, but at least I have a desk, somewhere to hide. And it’s clean. There’s no writing on it or chewing gum stuck to it like at my old school. I lay the umbrella underneath it with my bag that suddenly looks gross. No one else has anything under their desks except feet.
    â€˜So, Lily, would you care to tell us about your last school?’
    I sit up fast, my chair scraping across the floor as I do. Care to tell us? Could I say no? Probably not. ‘Well it was big. Bigger than this –’
    I try to smile at this point to show I’m joking. Obviously it was bigger than here. A toilet block’s almost bigger than here. But no one smiles back, so there’s no choice but to plough on.
    â€˜There were over 1,500 kids and lots of classrooms. We didn’t have any grounds, so we could wander around at lunchtime and go to a park or whatever. There were almost thirty kids in my class and we had our own computers. It was cool.’
    â€˜Right. Well we only use computers during ICT time. Not in the classroom,’ says Mrs Jarvis.
    â€˜Okay.’
    â€˜I’m just saying you might find it quite different from the way you were taught before. But I’m sure you’ll find you manage to learn just the same.’
    Her tone suggests the description of my old school wasn’t quite what she was after, but I’m not sure what to add. Does she want me to discuss learning practices or my hidden grammar talents? And anyway, where’s the teacher in this class?
    â€˜I should tell you, Lily, that because we’re a small school, I teach as well as being the principal.’
    â€˜Great.’ This is weird. She can read my mind. Danny’s looking at me with a funny sort of grin. He’s really cute. Julia’s looking at Danny and I turn away to look at Mrs Jarvis, because I feel like everyone’s assessing me and I’m failing. Fast.
    â€˜Well let’s get started. You’ll catch up, Lily.’
    I like that. I’ll catch up. Maybe I’m ahead. Maybe my grubby old city school was smarter than Gideon High. Whatever we’re about to start on, I hope it’ll be something I want to listen to. Something about books. And words. And sentence construction. Because, although I’m embarrassed to admit it, I love all that.
    But of course it’s not. It’s maths, and my pen scratches a sad little line along the page and I sigh. I don’t need maths, and maths doesn’t need me. We came to a mutual decision some time ago that we would respect each other from a distance, but never try to connect. I wonder how I’m going to text Ruby from my phone for the answers. I suspect Mrs Jarvis won’t be quite so forgiving if she catches me. It might mean I actually have to try to do it myself and that’s a frightening thought.

8
    an outsider
    There’s no roomy cafeteria at this school. No smelly canteen. Not even a vending machine. Clearly they all bring their lunches and eat outside under the pine trees. I don’t trust pine trees. They’re far too secretive for my liking. They hide things and people and although I like secrets, I like it when I have them and keep them – not other people.
    No one else seems aware of this as they sit at