Thyla - Kate Gordon [12]
ball (for a little while, and then I remembered)
bogan (it is a person of low morals and character – I think)
Pepsi (a fizzy black drink that tastes a little bit like shoe polish)
biro (a writing implement with ink inside it)
LOL (this does not mean to lie about lazily. It means something is funny. It stands for ‘laugh out loud’. I am not sure why people say it instead of actually laughing out loud)
dude
The meaning of the last word I was still unsure of at the end of my first day at Cascade Falls. It was Laurel who said it to me, when she noticed me looking befuddled in our trigonometry class. She leaned over and whispered, ‘It’s okay, dude,’ she said. ‘Nobody gets this stuff.’
Later, as we left the classroom, I asked her what a ‘dude’ was. She just shrugged and said, ‘It’s, well, a dude. A dude’s a dude. You know? Some things just are what they are. Like you. You’re a Tessa. It would be pretty hard to explain what a Tessa is in one sentence, wouldn’t it? You just are what you are and –’
She didn’t get a chance to finish, before Charlotte Lord appeared at my side and said, ‘It’s okay, Laura.’
‘Laurel.’
‘Laurel. Sorry. I should remember that from the number of times I’ve seen your name on the detention list. Anyway, Laurel, you can go now. I’m Tessa’s mentor. I can take it from here.’
‘But … we were just talking, Charlotte,’ Laurel protested.
Charlotte shook her head quickly and said, ‘No thank you, Laurel. I have promised Ms Hindmarsh and my father that I will look after Tessa, and I believe a large component of this position will consist of preventing her forming acquaintances with undesirable persons …’
‘Can you say that in English, please?’ asked Laurel, which I thought was strange as it seemed that Charlotte was speaking very good English. At least I understood all the words she was saying – unlike ‘dude’ – even if they didn’t seem to be very nice words.
Why did Charlotte dislike Laurel so much? She seemed nice – a bit naughty, but nice. And she was right. We were only talking.
‘It means she reckons we’re not good enough for her new toy,’ said a voice from behind me.
I whirled around to see Laurel’s friend, Erin, standing behind us.
‘Come on, L,’ she said flatly. ‘Tessa probably just wants to hang out with her cool new friends, not us. Catch ya later, hey? If Princess Charlotte allows it.’
The two girls walked away.
I turned back to Charlotte to see her nostrils were flaring, ever so slightly, and her eyes were narrowed.
When she saw me looking, she opened her eyes up very wide and smiled.
‘Don’t mind those two,’ she said. ‘They’re just bogans. Come on and I’ll introduce you to some nice people.’
Beneath the huge oak tree in the middle of the school’s central square (which is lovely, Connolly. You were right!), I met Kelly, Amy, Jenna, Bridget, Claudia and Inga.
‘This is our outside place,’ Charlotte said. ‘Inside, we have our own table in the cafeteria.’
‘Does everyone?’ I asked.
Charlotte laughed. ‘Of course not,’ she said. She waved at the group as we approached and raised her voice slightly. ‘Girls, this is Tessa.’
None of them smiled with their eyes, and yet they spoke as though they were glad to meet me.
‘So, so, so wonderful to meet you, Tessa!’ squealed Kelly, bobbing up and down like a strange, overexcited puppy.
‘I hope you’re enjoying it here,’ said Amy, her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed over her chest. ‘You’ve certainly fallen on your feet getting Charlotte as a mentor.’
‘Very lucky,’ said Bridget.
‘Lovely to have a new girl,’ said Claudia, smiling in a way that seemed warmer than when Charlotte smiled. I decided I liked Claudia the best. She looked somewhat like a very pretty, raven-haired elf.
Inga I liked less. Her eyes were like sapphires and every bit as hard, and her hair was short and severe and nearly as pale as Charlotte’s. When Charlotte introduced us, she didn’t smile or greet me; she just stood staring, one eyebrow raised as if to say, ‘Do you really think you belong here?’
I felt like telling her that no, I didn’t. Not really.
The girls were