Girl Saves Boy by Steph Bowe

and why she did it, was completely screwed up.
    The True Grisham in my head was smart, dedicated, hardworking. True Grisham was willing to sacrifice friendship and enjoyment to better her career. Yes, True Grisham had tunnel vision. Yes, sometimes what she wanted in life differed from what other people might want. Certainly, she needed to learn to have fun.
    But True Grisham one hundred per cent did not have the time to be going out with boys. That was not part of True Grisham’s game plan. No, sir. She had made that clear.
    I realised how little I knew True Grisham, the person on the inside. I feared now that she was just a caricature to me, all rough edges and a two-dimensional personality.
    Or maybe the True Grisham I was watching across the oval, kissing the mystery boy, was just a clone of our True Grisham. The True Grisham who belonged to me, and, in a strange way, to Little Al, was in fact in the newspaper office right now writing an article, or improving her résumé, or doing some other serious, True Grisham-type activity that would advance her prospects.
    We sat in the school sick bay.
    It was empty, and the noise outside was dulled.
    Maddie had found electrolyte icy-poles in the freezer, and was sucking on one. Little Al sat length-ways on the bed, with its tatty Wiggles bedspread and all, and I sat on the bed by his feet. He was clutching an ice pack to his head for absolutely no reason at all.
    ‘We’ve entered an alternate universe, Duck. There’s a tear in the space-time continuum. This isn’t our reality. Is my hair a different colour?’ He looked panicked.
    ‘No, Al, your hair is the same as always. And we’re still in our universe.’ Then I added, ‘I was at dinner with her the other night, though, and she didn’t say anything about this guy. Not a thing.’
    The icy-pole in Maddie’s mouth was purple. She looked like she’d just eaten a bunch of blackberries.
    ‘I don’t know if my life will ever be the same, Duck.’ Al shook his head.
    ‘You’re being melodramatic, Al. Though I never thought that True would succumb to something as petty as hormones.’
    ‘Maybe he’s the son of a major newspaper proprietor?’
    Neither of us said anything for a while. Maddie sucked noisily on her icy-pole.
    ‘Maybe she just likes him?’ I said quietly.
    Little Al didn’t respond for a minute. Then he said, ‘I wouldn’t feel offended if she was kissing a girl, you know? But he’s a boy. So it isn’t as if she’s avoiding relationships; she’s just avoiding me.’
    Before I had a chance to respond, the office lady came in to the sick bay and told us to get outside. Even if I had had the time to say something, I don’t know what I would have said to Al, or whether there was really anything to say. Sometimes the hardest person in the world to talk to is your best friend, because it matters so much.
    Animals Sacha would rather be, so he could stop worrying about human things and just worry about his next meal
A snow leopard
A giant tortoise
A panda
A dragon
A meerkat
    We went back to the oval—against my better judgement—and, luckily for us, True and the mystery boy were no longer there.
    We were back on the oval because Maddie would not let us forget the teacups. I wished that I was four years old again, so that I wouldn’t notice when people around me were having near-breakdowns. Maybe it’s better for things to go over your head. The less you are aware of, the better.
    To Al’s credit, he wasn’t a blubbering mess. He picked up Maddie and wiped her face with a serviette, and then a guy came along dressed as a clown, wielding balloon animals.
    I wandered away a bit because anyone dressed as a clown made me feel uneasy.
    A couple of my classmates came up and said hi, and I spotted Mr Carr. I think we made eye contact, but it was too fleeting to tell.
    Then, of course, the person I’d been waiting to see all day appeared, and I had no idea what to do.
    She spotted me and waved uncertainly.