My Place Read Online Free Page A

parents walking to school that morning, I watched Jill curiously. She seemed neither excited nor daunted by the prospect of being away from home. I put her calmness down to ignorance, and felt sure that, once our walk led us within sight of school, Jill would break down.
    â€˜Hasn’t the school got a lovely garden, Jilly?’ Mum commented as we rounded the last corner and approached the entrance.
    â€˜Yeah, we’ve got roses like that.’
    I narrowed my eyes and looked at her, not a tear in sight. Oh well, I thought, wait till it’s time for Mum to leave, then it’ll be on.
    Mum deposited me at the door of my new class, then, taking Jill’s hand, she said, ‘Come on, I’ll show you the toilets.’
    â€˜Are you coming, Sally?’ Jill asked.
    â€˜Naah, saw ’em last year. Ask Mum to show ya the boys’ toilets, I’ve never been in there.’
    â€˜Don’t be stupid, Sally, Jilly doesn’t want to see the boys’ toilets.’
    â€˜Yes I do!’
    I watched as, a few minutes later, Jill emerged from her tour of the toilets.
    â€˜What do I do now?’ she asked as she trotted up the verandah to me.
    â€˜Aah, ya have to wait for the bell. That’s your class down there. Go and sit with Mum on the step, she’ll be with you till the bell goes, but she won’t be here all day.’
    â€˜Okay.’ I scanned her face. Poor kid, I thought, it hasn’t sunk in yet.
    Jill walked back and plopped down on the verandah step. I watched as Mum smiled at her in exactly the same way she’d smiled at me the previous year. Jill grinned back. Mum had actually convinced her she was going to like school. She was so gullible, sometimes.
    Within a few minutes, the bell was ringing loudly. Mum waved and began moving off. I was shocked when Jill calmly took her place in the queue that was forming at the front of her class.
    Just before Mum disappeared completely from sight, I saw her cast an anxious glance towards the Grade One line. Now, Jill, now! I thought. It was the perfect moment. For some reason, Jill sensed my interest, and turned and waved happily to me. I groaned in despair. She was obviously dumber than I’d suspected. ‘Mum’s going now!’ I called out, but she was too busy chatting to the boy in front of her to reply.
    I watched with a mixture of envy and surprise as she continued talking to the other children. They were all strangers to her, and yet she seemed to fit in, somehow. I knew then that, when it came to school, Jill and I would never agree.
    My daydreaming was suddenly interrupted by a deep, grumbly voice calling, ‘You girl, you with the long plaits, come here and pay attention.’ I felt so embarrassed. I’d been so busy watching Jill that I’d failed to notice my classmates had also formed a line.
    My new teacher began slowly walking down the line, carefully inspecting each of her forty charges. ‘Don’t slouch. Stomach in, chest out, chin up!’ She tapped my chin lightly with her wooden ruler. I attempted to follow her instructions, but found myself leaning so far backwards, I nearly fell over.
    We moved quietly into class and the presence of each one of us was duly recorded in the roll book. When that was finished, our teacher drew herself up to her full flat-chested height of five foot eleven inches and said, ‘I … am Miss Roberts.’ Apart from her pause after the word ‘I’, she spoke quickly and very, very clearly.
    â€˜Now children, I … am going to hand out some reading books. You will all remain as quiet as mice while
I
’m doing this. Then we will check to make sure you have all brought the things you were supposed to bring.’
    I smiled to myself, it wasn’t going to be so terrible after all, my new book was on its way.
    I waited expectantly as Miss Roberts walked first down one row and then another. By the time she finally reached my