One In A Billion by Anne-Marie Hart

able to manage it on her own, her mum insisted on coming with her.
    Toby waved when he saw her walking down to the stop, and then smiled sweetly when she arrived. 'Hello', he said.
    'Hi Toby', Alice said.
    He looked a lot smarter today than he did at the weekend, even though his trousers were frayed at the bottom, and he looked like he'd got dressed in a hurry, because the collar of his shirt was sticking up on one side.
    'This is Richard, and that's Katy', he said pointing at them in turn. 'This is Alice, she's new'.
    'You've made a friend already?' Alice's mum said, confused. 'I'm Mrs Cartright', she said to Toby. 'Alice's mum.'
    'I'll look after her at school, don't worry', Toby said, confidently.
    Judging by their red hair and freckles, Richard and Katy were brother and sister. Alice smiled sweetly at them, but they didn't seem interested. Katy seemed to be much more interested in eating the chocolate bar from her packed lunch. Judging by the size of her, it looked like it might have been something she did quite regularly.
    When the bus came, it was already full of other kids, all of whom looked at Alice suspiciously. The school was in another village, and the bus went through three of the surrounding villages to pick up the kids, their village being the last one it got to. There were no double seats left, so Alice couldn't sit next to Toby like she'd wanted to, and instead had to sit next to a girl called Stephanie who had dandruff in her hair and smelt of boiled mushrooms.
    The journey took about five minutes, and Alice was glad when it was over. She was in the same class as Toby and Katy, and their teacher introduced herself as Mrs Bold. She had glasses that were cut in half hanging around her neck, and her hair looked like a bundle of cobwebs all stuck together. Mrs Bold made Alice stand in front of the class and introduce herself, despite Alice's protests to the contrary. She stood there red faced and told everyone who she was, where she'd come from and where she lived, all the while thinking about how much she hated her new teacher for making her do it.
    Classes were pretty easy aside from that, and it got to break time before she knew it. Toby did his best to introduce her around, but he couldn't be by her side always, especially as he had football to play, and other friends to chat to. At least that was what he said he was doing, from where Alice was watching, it looked a lot like fighting, but she thought it was probably just how they played in the country. He also said he might look like a pansy if anyone knew they were friends, so he had to hide it just in case, even though he didn't want to.
    Alice was left to make her own way, which she was fine with, and soon enough she had a group of people around her, attracted by her novelty status as a newbie. Some of the things Alice's new group said to her she didn't entirely understand though. They seemed to hate Toby, or at least made it clear that he was the worst in the class, always causing trouble, always fighting, that his family were gypsies and that Alice shouldn't be friends with him because he had aids. They offered their support should Alice need it, and immediately made her a new member of their group. Alice wasn't entirely convinced of their stories, didn't really know what aids was anyway, and made a mental note to ask Toby about it later.
    In the afternoon, the classes were just as easy as the morning. They had maths, reading and then P.E, which Alice had to do in her pants and a stained T-shirt from the bin bag full of spares, because nobody had told her to bring her kit with her. She was mortified, but she wasn't the only one in the class, so it made it a little more easy to deal with. There was a girl called Janine, and a fat, red cheeked boy called Roy who'd forgotten their kits too.
    School finished at 3pm, by which time Alice had met a whole bunch of new people. She knew who the popular kids were (Casper, Stephanie, Sarah), who the unpopular kids