Nona and Me Read Online Free Page A

transforms into a bright yellow frenzy. Dad looks up at her as he plays, his fingers tracing invisible patterns on the neck of his guitar. Their eyes meet and he smiles. It is a look of pure love.
    I feel Guḻwirri bend down towards me. She murmurs in my ear, “Sleep,
Waku
.” Sleep, my child. I nestle into her and she strokes my hair, soft and rhythmic. She starts to hum. Her voice weaves in with the guitar. I close my eyes again.

3.
    2007
    Nona hasn’t been at school for a week. But she’s here today. She slides in the door as our Science teacher, Ms Bamkin, is setting up for the lesson. “Okay, class, today I thought we’d start with an experiment.”
    Whispered “yeses” around the room.
    â€œWe’re going to cook an egg in ethanol. Ethanol is basically what?”
    John Lane grins. “Piss.”
    â€œAnd its more socially acceptable name?”
    â€œAlcohol.”
    â€œThank you, Anya.”
    Charlie Mack mimes drinking from a bottle.
Glug, glug, glug.
    Ms Bamkin uses his joke to make a point. “Yes, I thought we’d do this one just in case any of you are thinking about drinking.”
    I freeze. Look down at my blank page. Does she know about Selena’s plan to fridge? Is she talking to me?
    â€œOf course, given that you’re all fifteen or sixteen, it would be illegal, but on top of that it’s not good for you. Your brains are still growing.”
    Charlie grins. “Well, some of ours are.”
    â€œSpeak for yourself, Mack.”
    Everyone is laughing. Ms Bamkin tries to keep a straight face. “If you even think about drinking, remember this experiment – if alcohol can cook an egg, imagine what it does to your insides.”
    Selena nudges me, in mock seriousness. “Don’t worry. We’re superhuman.”
    I can’t help but smile. She grins back, as Ms Bamkin continues. “Okay, everyone get a beaker out then come and get an egg. You’ll also need to measure yourself 100ml of ethanol. It’s up the front here.”
    Selena, Anya and I are lab partners. Anya is super-smart, not that you’d know it from the way she’s been acting lately. She says she wants to be a doctor like her dad. I think I want to be an artist. Selena is typically dismissive of the whole what-do-you-want-to-do-when-you-leave-school question. She jokes that she’s going to be one of those B-list celebrities who get invited to all the parties but don’t actually have to do anything.
    I get the egg and Anya pulls a beaker from the cupboard. Selena goes to measure the ethanol at Ms Bamkin’s desk. There are only two bottles so people have to wait their turn. I see Nona hanging back as Selena dodges her way to the front.
    John Lane fills his beaker and hands Selena the bottle. He winks. “Careful with that. It’s pretty potent.”
    He’s got a crush on Selena. He doesn’t stand a chance. She lets him hope, though, and smiles back as she wafts the invisible fumes towards her nose. She inhales deeply, then raises her voice. “Maybe we should steal some and sell it to the drunks outside Woolworths. Make a fortune.”
    John looks uncomfortable but forces a laugh. It is Selena, after all. She pours a measure of ethanol then looks up, past John and the other students, to Nona.
    Calmly, deliberately, she says, “What do you think, Nona? Reckon they’d buy it?”
    Nona shrinks into herself, as if trying to disappear. I look around to see who else has heard. John catches my eye, in an uneasy plea for help. Behind him, Ali looks confused. Anya appears to be absorbed in her textbook. Ms Bamkin is busy helping Charlie; she hasn’t heard.
    Selena carries her ethanol back to our desk and sits on the lab stool beside me. I can’t meet her eye. She nudges me. “What?”
    I keep my gaze straight ahead. I crack the egg into the beaker.
    â€œIt was just a joke, Rosie. Geez, lighten