had promised to write to me every now and then if I wrote back. Her first letter did me a lot of good. It was about the kids at the hospital and, of course, a lot about Jock and his new family. She told me the two little boys in the family were bonding with Jock big time. He walked to school with the eldest boy and was there waiting on the doormat when he arrived home. The youngest boy was scared at first but then ended up riding Jock around the yard. Apparently Jock has even worked out how to open the car door! What a smart dog! But Tatania’s next letter, which arrived only a week later, wasn’t quite so cheerful.
Turns out the new family had to move suddenly and their new house didn’t have a yard big enough for a dog. The woman had turned up on Tatania’s doorstep with Jock (even though she’d agreed to take him) and literally dumped him. Poor Jock the Boomerang.
‘Can you love a dog too much?’ Tatania wrote, as if I’d know the answer. I know about the other side, of loving too little. She was a bit frightened to advertise for a new owner in case a nutter or someone cruel responded.
I wasn’t missing hospital but I was missing Tatania. I loved it that she thought I could help solve her Jock problem, that she trusted my judgment. Come to think of it, I loved the idea that I could help anyone with any problem at all!
I was worried about going back to school but the fake interview was old news and kids were talking to me again. Naturally enough, there were a few bully girls who had a go at me, hissing ‘anorexic’ or ‘skeletor’ at me as I passed by. But man, did Zoë have a go at anyone she heard teasing me! And Selma and Saji were fierce in their defence of me, too. They all made me feel stronger.
Then in English a couple of girls asked me for help with their Journalism assignment and that made me feel really good. Up to that moment at school I’d thought I was only interesting by association, as an appendage to Zoë. But these girls didn’t have much to say to Zoë, yet they had heaps to talk to me about.
Zoë, in the meantime, was becoming more of a star. Even some of the teachers (not Miss Pate) made good-natured jokes about the whole interview affair.Plus there was the admiring group of boys at the bus stop every day.
‘Why
are
you my friend Zoë?’ I couldn’t help asking her one afternoon as our bus approached and her admirers dispersed.
‘Because you’re such a dag,’ she said, throwing her arm around my shoulders and grinning at me.
Maybe that was the truth, I thought, as the bus trundled towards Bondi Beach. I’m the fall guy, sidekick, servant girl, page girl, weirdo, loser! Actually, maybe that wasn’t true. I guess I had to have something going for me if I was important to Zoë, I reasoned, remembering Tatania’s advice. She was always telling me to focus more on the positive.
Maybe life was really beginning to look up. Not only were the kids at school talking to me again, but I got asked out on a date! Seb Johnson invited me to go to the End of Year dance with him! The dance was the hot topic at school, no matter what class you were in. Who was asking whom? Who was wearing what? I’d never been to a school dance. No-one had ever asked me and I hadn’t had the guts to ask anyone. Even though lots of girls go by themselves, I couldn’t face the idea of being the loner among the happy couples. I’d always been scared that compared to everyone else I’d look—hang on, I’d promised not to say the words
fat
or
ugly
about myself ever again. But let’s say I knew I wouldn’t be a star so it had always been easier not to go. Then out of the blue Seb invited me. I wondered if Zoë had put him up to it because he’d only eversaid hello to me before. But she swore she had absolutely nothing to do with it and she was so serious I had to believe her.
This is how it happened. We were at the bus stop and Zoë was surrounded by the usual group of boys. Seb came and stood beside
Turns out the new family had to move suddenly and their new house didn’t have a yard big enough for a dog. The woman had turned up on Tatania’s doorstep with Jock (even though she’d agreed to take him) and literally dumped him. Poor Jock the Boomerang.
‘Can you love a dog too much?’ Tatania wrote, as if I’d know the answer. I know about the other side, of loving too little. She was a bit frightened to advertise for a new owner in case a nutter or someone cruel responded.
I wasn’t missing hospital but I was missing Tatania. I loved it that she thought I could help solve her Jock problem, that she trusted my judgment. Come to think of it, I loved the idea that I could help anyone with any problem at all!
I was worried about going back to school but the fake interview was old news and kids were talking to me again. Naturally enough, there were a few bully girls who had a go at me, hissing ‘anorexic’ or ‘skeletor’ at me as I passed by. But man, did Zoë have a go at anyone she heard teasing me! And Selma and Saji were fierce in their defence of me, too. They all made me feel stronger.
Then in English a couple of girls asked me for help with their Journalism assignment and that made me feel really good. Up to that moment at school I’d thought I was only interesting by association, as an appendage to Zoë. But these girls didn’t have much to say to Zoë, yet they had heaps to talk to me about.
Zoë, in the meantime, was becoming more of a star. Even some of the teachers (not Miss Pate) made good-natured jokes about the whole interview affair.Plus there was the admiring group of boys at the bus stop every day.
‘Why
are
you my friend Zoë?’ I couldn’t help asking her one afternoon as our bus approached and her admirers dispersed.
‘Because you’re such a dag,’ she said, throwing her arm around my shoulders and grinning at me.
Maybe that was the truth, I thought, as the bus trundled towards Bondi Beach. I’m the fall guy, sidekick, servant girl, page girl, weirdo, loser! Actually, maybe that wasn’t true. I guess I had to have something going for me if I was important to Zoë, I reasoned, remembering Tatania’s advice. She was always telling me to focus more on the positive.
Maybe life was really beginning to look up. Not only were the kids at school talking to me again, but I got asked out on a date! Seb Johnson invited me to go to the End of Year dance with him! The dance was the hot topic at school, no matter what class you were in. Who was asking whom? Who was wearing what? I’d never been to a school dance. No-one had ever asked me and I hadn’t had the guts to ask anyone. Even though lots of girls go by themselves, I couldn’t face the idea of being the loner among the happy couples. I’d always been scared that compared to everyone else I’d look—hang on, I’d promised not to say the words
fat
or
ugly
about myself ever again. But let’s say I knew I wouldn’t be a star so it had always been easier not to go. Then out of the blue Seb invited me. I wondered if Zoë had put him up to it because he’d only eversaid hello to me before. But she swore she had absolutely nothing to do with it and she was so serious I had to believe her.
This is how it happened. We were at the bus stop and Zoë was surrounded by the usual group of boys. Seb came and stood beside
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