Katy Birchall - The It Girl - Team Awkward

‘Miss Duke wants to see you in her office, Anna,’ Sophie told me, looking at her perfectly-manicured nails. ‘Pretty impressive, getting called to the headmistress’s office on the first day of term. Oh, and don’t forget to check out the list of events for sports day. I’ve put it up on the main noticeboard.’

‘Sophie was asked by the Sports department to put it up first thing this morning,’ Josie added as smugly as if Sophie had been asked to appear on the front cover of Vogue .

‘I take it you’ll be putting yourself forward to be team captain of the Puffins this year, Jess?’ Sophie raised an eyebrow. ‘Of course, there’ll be no competition for me – I’m going to be leading the Eagles.’

‘Actually, no,’ Jess answered calmly as I looked at them all in confusion. Puffins? Eagles? Had my school turned into a bird sanctuary over Easter? How had I missed this? ‘I want to put all of my focus on my Art project and my photography this term. So you don’t need to worry about me waving the winner’s trophy in your face when the Puffins win. I’m sure our captain will do the honours on my behalf.’

‘Oh per-lease!’ Sophie cackled. ‘The Puffins haven’t beaten the Eagles in years! Everyone knows you don’t have a chance. Besides,’ she looked me up and down, ‘it’s not like the Puffins have the . . . best team this year. Anna, I know you’re a Puffin. Good luck,’ she smirked. ‘I don’t think there are any plant-pot assault courses so you might not fail in every event.’ She turned on her heel and strode back down the hallway, with Josie laughing loudly next to her.

I looked at Jess in confusion.

‘Oh, don’t worry, I’ll fill you in about sports day later.’

‘Er . . . and the stern plant-pot telling-off you promised?’

‘Damn it!’

What’s wrong with you?

Nothing‘s wrong with me. I‘m concentrating, Jess.

No one concentrates this hard while Miss Brockley writes on the board in a language no one on the planet understands.

Yes they do. She‘s writing important words that we need to know for our end of term exams. And some people on the planet do understand French.

Some people like who?

Well, I‘m going to take a long shot and say that French people probably understand French.

Can you please tell me what’s wrong with you, so that we can hurry up and get to the bit where I tell you you’re ridiculous and then you realise that it’s actually fine? Are you worried about sports day? I told you I’d explain the whole Puffin thing to you. You don’t need to worry, the school’s just split into two teams.

Sounds weird to me – but no, I’m not worrying about sports day quite yet, although no doubt the fear will begin to loom soon.

Did Miss Duke say something weird? Was it something to do with the way you walk?

No, it wasn‘t a big deal, she just wanted to . . . Wait. What? What‘s wrong with my walk?

Nothing.

Jess! What is wrong with my walk?

Seriously, nothing. Stop passing notes. I’m concentrating.

Now I really am panicking. Why would you ask me if the headmistress wanted to see me about my walk?!

Geez, you’re such a drama queen. You just walk a bit funny, that’s all. Kind of . . . slumpy. I just wondered if she thought you had a problem or something that needed looking at. You know, in a caring way. Now tell me what’s bothering you. You have a funny look on your face. Is it Connor?

Forget what I’m thinking about Connor, now all I can think about is my ‘slumpy walk’.

Aha! So you were thinking about Connor! Spill.

It‘s nothing. I saw him this morning.

When?! What did he say???

When I came out of Miss Duke’s office. I walked straight into them.

Them? Who is THEM?

I mean him. Him. I think Miss Brockley is looking this way. Wait, no, she‘s looking past me. Hah, she definitely is. I‘m so stealthy at this. She’s none the wiser. What a dodo. Anyway–

‘What do you mean, you have detention?’

Why does Dad always have to make tiny things into such big deals? For example, that time when we went on holiday to the middle of nowhere in Ireland and as a joke I hid the hire car keys in a bush to make him panic. I couldn’t have predicted that I wouldn’t be able to remember which one I had hidden them in. I didn’t stop hearing about that for days.

And now here he was all angry at me because I’d had the courtesy to ring him to tell him I’d be late home for supper.

‘I got caught passing notes with Jess in French.’

‘And they gave you detention? That seems pretty extreme,’ Dad huffed. ‘Let me come in and have a word with them.’

‘In the note I called Miss Brockley a dodo for not realising I was passing notes.’

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then a long-drawn-out sigh.

‘Fine. Come home straight afterwards, we have people round this evening.’

‘Who do we have coming round? Actually, never mind,’ I said hurriedly as Jess mouthed ‘ lunch’ at me. ‘Got to go, Dad, see you at home.’

‘Bye, Anna,’ he said grumpily. ‘Try not to insult too many teachers this afternoon.’

I rolled my eyes, said goodbye and then hung up before heading to the dining room.

‘Why are you two always late?’ Danny grumbled, coming up behind us.

‘Duh, she’s an It Girl,’ Jess grinned. ‘It’s fashionable to be late. Anyway, Anna had to make a call.’

‘Don’t look too impressed,’ I said as Danny raised his eyebrows at me. ‘It was my dad.’

But as I sat down with my tray next to Danny I suddenly realised the whole room was staring at me and a spatter of giggles was coming from Sophie’s table.

‘What?’ Jess asked them, hands on hips. ‘Haven’t any of you seen a celebrity before? Play it cool, guys.’

There was an uncomfortable pause, and then everyone started talking again. I smiled gratefully at Jess. ‘Thanks.’

‘Whatever,’ she said, picking the mushrooms off her chicken. ‘They were probably just staring because of your walk. Nothing to do with any plant pots.’

‘Danny,’ I said, ‘do you think I walk funny?’

He shrugged. ‘Maybe a little. Not really. I’m not sure I’ve noticed.’

‘How would you describe Anna’s walk?’ Jess asked, picking up her glass of water. ‘If you had to use a word to describe her walk, what would it be?’

‘I don’t know.’ Danny looked thoughtful. ‘Slumpy?’

‘For goodness’ sake!’ I said as Jess raised her eyebrows victoriously at me. ‘That’s not even a thing!’

‘It is a thing. You have a slumpy walk,’ she said, with a smug I-told-you-so smile. ‘Will you tell me about seeing Connor this morning?’

‘Jess!’ I glanced around me nervously. ‘Stop talking about him so loudly.’

‘He’s not in here, I already checked.’

I craned my head to look carefully around the dining room. ‘You’re right. I wonder where he is.’

‘You should know that,’ Jess teased. ‘He’s your boyfriend .’

‘How has your morning been, Danny?’ I asked, attempting to change the conversation.

‘Oh you know, the usual, teachers trying to frighten us with exam talk,’ he sighed. ‘I watched such a good nature programme last night though. Did you know that a scorpion will attract a mate by taking her pincers in his and then commencing a dance of courtship?’