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I continuehall, turn a corner, and finally I’ve reached the three hundreds I take another look atbreak, CSPE, English, and then Mathematics I opento stack them as neatly as possible

As I close my locker I hear a curious voice ask, “Who are you?”

I turn and find a girl with short dark red hair, what do you call that colour? Auburn? Yes, auburn hair, and she’s got black eyes and freckles sprinkled over her cheeks and nose She’s looking at me expectantly

“I’m n-new” I reply

She grins “My name’s Caroline, you can latch ontoyou the ropes”

“Thanks, that’d be great” I tell her “I’m Flo”

“You’re in fifth year right, what’s your first class?”

“I’ve got CSPE first, but I don’t knohat that is”

“You’re in with me then CSPE means Civic, Social and Political Education” Caroline answers, her words are mildly sarcastic

“Oh, I-I-I s-see”

She sh not toyellow, that kind of colour nore I like her already There’s also a hint of sadness nestled deep within her, a long felt grief that won’t ever go away I wonder what it could et to know her better so that I can discover the source of her anguish

“Co the way down the hall

As alk I tell her how I ot a new job in Australia and I didn’t want to move so far away I know it’s a terrible lie, but I’d rather not get into the fact that he’s a low life, abusive, drug dealing heroin addict who couldn’t give a crap whether I lived or died

Inside of the classroo with each other The teacher has already arrived and is writing so in chalk on the blackboard She looks about forty, has short pixie cut hair and is wearing a beady green hippie dress and brown leather sandals The desks in the classrooer desk at the head of the circle Cynically, I wonder if this is supposed to symbolise equality I’m just about to follow Caroline and take a seat beside her when the teacher turns around and clocks me She smiles widely

“Hey, are you the new girl I was told about, Florence?”