A Year in Girl Hell Read online

  CONTENTS

  Copyright Page

  Term One: Crushed

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Term Two: Dumped

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Term Three: Burned

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Term Four: Trashed

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 1

  ‘Lexi, can you hurry up, please? You’re not the only one who wants to use the bathroom.’

  Mum’s stressing as usual. But she’s just going to have to wait.

  I pull my fringe down at the side with my fingers, trying to get it to sit straight. It stays there for a second, then flicks back up again. Hopeless. Maybe if I clamp it down with clips … Nope, that looks even worse.

  There’s a hammering on the door.

  ‘Mum says you have to come out right now.’

  It’s Jordan, my little brother.

  ‘Tough,’ I call back to him, wishing we had a hair straightener.

  ‘But I want to clean my teeth,’ he whines. ‘And –’

  I grab his red Spiderman toothbrush from the holder. Then I open the door a crack and pass it through to him. ‘Here,’ I tell him. ‘Go and clean your teeth in the kitchen sink.’

  Jordan doesn’t know how lucky he is. Sure, it’s his first day of school too. But he’s going back to the same school he was at last year. A school where he already knows everyone. Besides, he’s only seven. Who cares what he looks like?

  Not like me. I have to start all over again, at the bottom of a new school. At high school all the older kids will be staring at me, judging me. Plus the kids from other schools who end up in my class. And it’s freaking me out. One look at my hair and they’ll know I’m a loser.

  ‘Lexi?’ It’s Mum again. ‘Mia’s here.’

  ‘Coming!’ I yell. I give my fringe one last tug, squirt some of Mum’s best perfume onto my wrists, then unlock the door.

  ‘Finally,’ groans Jordan, scooting inside.

  Mia’s standing in the hall in her new school uniform. It looks crisp and cool – unlike mine, which hangs off me like a sack. The material’s all stiff and scratchy. Not like the comfy old yellow polo tops we wore at Gold Street Primary.

  Mia smiles at me. ‘Ready?’

  ‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I mean, no. Do you think my hair looks okay?’ I’m dying to run back into the bathroom to check it one last time.

  ‘It looks fine,’ says Mia.

  I wish I could believe her. If only I had hair like hers. Mia never has a bad hair day. Or a bad anything day. And if she does, she doesn’t care about it.

  Mum comes up behind her. ‘You two better get going,’ she tells us. ‘You don’t want to be late on your first day. Remember, girls. First impressions count.’ She drops a kiss on the top of my head then goes off to round up Jordan.

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ I call after her. ‘Just what I need to hear right now.’

  I grab my backpack and follow Mia out into the street. It’s only a couple of blocks from home to the bus stop. Spring Hills Secondary College is a fifteen minute bus ride. Something else to get used to. At least I don’t have to walk with Jordan and his grotty little friends anymore.

  On the bus, Mia’s all talk about what our new school’s going to be like, but I’m stressing out too much to follow what she’s saying. Everyone on the bus seems to be staring at us or whispering about us to their friends. I tug at my fringe again, and check my reflection in the bus window in case my nose has grown overnight or something.

  The bus finally pulls up near the school gates. Mia and I spot Alysha at the same time, her blonde hair standing out like a beacon as random groups of kids surge past her into the school grounds. She gives us a big wave.

  ‘You guys took your time,’ she tells us. ‘Dad dropped me off way early. I’ve been standing here waiting for, like, ever. I was just about to give up and go in on my own.’

  Mia gives her a hug. ‘It’s not our fault the bus was slow,’ she tells her.

  Alysha shrugs. She looks annoyed. I guess she’s feeling nervous too. But just seeing her cheers me up. Alysha’s parents wanted to send her to a private girls’ school, which would have split the three of us up. But then stuff happened, and it all fell through. Which is just as well, because no way did Alysha want to go there anyway. And now here we all are at Spring Hills.

  Alysha and Mia are my two best friends in the world. I can tell Mia anything and Alysha’s great fun. We’ve been tight since the first week of primary school, when we discovered we all owned identical pink lunch boxes. And we stayed that way through all the grades. Hanging out together, swapping secrets, always picking each other for teams. We even meet for weekly sleepovers in Pink HQ (but more about that later). Everyone calls us the Awesome Threesome, although sometimes I feel like I’m the glue that holds the three of us together. I guess we’re going to be like this forever.

  I stare at the kids surging through the gates, greeting their friends or walking in huddles. Everyone seems to know where they’re going. ‘So what do we do now?’ I ask Mia.

  She pulls a sheet of paper out of her backpack and unfolds it carefully. ‘It says all new students have to report to the library.’

  ‘Where’s that?’ asks Alysha.

  I think back to transition day last December, when some kids gave us a guided tour of the school.

  ‘Wasn’t it over this way?’ I say, flinging my arm out to the left and connecting with a guy’s face. He’s big – like maybe in Year 10 or something.

  ‘Watch it!’ he barks at me.

  Alysha rolls her eyes. ‘You are such a klutz, Lexi,’ she says affectionately.

  We’re saved by a teacher with a clipboard who’s come out to round up all the newbies. ‘All new students this way,’ she bellows.

  We follow her like little sheep. The library is large and airy, with banks of computers and rows of study tables. The walls are prison grey. There are a few posters stuck here and there, but it’s nothing like the comfy room we had at Gold Street, with shelves crammed with picture books and stuffed animal toys, and beanbags for reading or dreaming on.

  Everyone’s standing round in little groups, chatting quietly. I’m glad I’ve got people I know to stand next to. Not like the girl in the middle of the room, all by herse
lf. She keeps smiling nervously at people, hoping they’ll talk to her. But nobody does. I’d die if that were me. I point her out to Mia.

  ‘What if we end up in separate classes?’ I say. ‘Where I don’t know anyone, and no-one likes me? Like that girl over there.’

  ‘We won’t,’ Mia reassures me. ‘And even if we do, it’s no big deal. All the other kids will be wanting to make new friends, too.’

  I’m not convinced. ‘Yeah, but what if –?’

  ‘Don’t stress, Lex, okay?’ Alysha punches me lightly on the arm. ‘Check those guys out,’ she whispers.

  I turn my head. A couple of guys I’ve never seen before are mucking around over near the computers. ‘Cute, huh?’ says Alysha.

  ‘Yep,’ I say. And they are. Very cute. Nothing like the babies from our grade last year. I trade grins with Alysha and Mia, realising how lucky I am to have such good friends. They always seem to know exactly the right thing to say or do to make me feel okay about stuff.

  A group of teachers walks into the room and everyone starts to quieten down. ‘Welcome to Spring Hills Secondary College,’ a tall woman tells us. ‘I’m Ms Weiss, your year level co-ordinator.’

  And then she drones on and on about all the things we need to know, now we’re in high school. Rules and regulations, and stuff about timetables and bell times. Finally, she pulls out a clipboard and starts announcing the different classes and home rooms. I cross my fingers and hold my breath. The names roll off Ms Weiss’s tongue.

  I’m not in any of the first few classes she reads out. But that’s okay. Neither are Alysha and Mia.

  Ms Weiss turns the page. ‘Class D,’ she announces, ‘in Room Five. Alysha Aronsen, Nathan Berman …’

  The names keep coming. ‘Stefan Manos, Lexi Miller …’ Yes! Alysha and I are in the same class. Now all we need is for Mia’s name to come up …

  ‘… and Peter Yager. Now, in Class E, we have …’

  Huh? I turn to Mia. Maybe Ms Weiss said her name after all, and I missed it. But the look on her face tells me everything I need to know. Heart pounding, I tune in to the list again.

  ‘… and finally, Mia Zugaro. Welcome to Spring Hills, everyone!’

  The room breaks out into excited chatter as everyone picks up their backpacks and starts heading out of the library to find their home rooms. But all I can think of is how I’m going to survive a whole year in a class without Mia.

  Chapter 2

  The bus trip home is just as noisy as the one this morning. Everyone’s talking about their first day at school. Even me. Mia and I swap notes about our new classmates and teachers, our timetables (mine sucks – double maths on Friday afternoons), who we sat next to (I sat next to Alysha, of course), and how majorly bad it is to be at the bottom of the school again. All the older kids just seem to be so much more confident. They know where to go and what to do. Not like Alysha and me, who struggled our way around the school, trying to find all the different classrooms.

  Mia walks with me from the bus stop. We live in the same street. ‘Come over for a bit before dinner, okay?’ she says, as we reach my house. ‘Alysha’s coming too.’

  ‘Sure,’ I say. ‘See you soon.’ I open the gate and head inside.

  Mum looks up from her computer as I drop my backpack onto the floor. ‘Hi, darling. How was your day?’ She’s a graphic designer and works from home. We’re supposed to be quiet when it’s her work time but try telling Jordan that. He’s always zooming around the house like he’s a jet airliner or something. I usually just sit in my room downloading songs or listening to my iPod. Or I go over to Mia’s.

  ‘Okay, I guess,’ I sigh. I open the fridge and take out a bottle of juice. Pushkin, our kittycat, winds her way around my legs, purring softly. She always comes running every time someone opens the fridge.

  Mum presses the Save key then looks at me closely. ‘You don’t sound like it was okay. Was someone mean to you?’

  ‘No,’ I say. ‘Nothing like that. Everyone was really nice. Even the teachers. Well, most of them anyway,’ I add, remembering Mrs Smullins, our maths teacher. She’d been a Gorgon with a capital G.

  ‘So, what then?’ asks Mum. ‘You look like you just lost your best friend.’

  ‘Well I have, kind of,’ I say. ‘Mia and I got put in different classes.’

  ‘What about Alysha? Is she in a different class too?’

  ‘No, we’re still together.’

  ‘Well, that’s all right then, isn’t it? You’ve still got one friend to sit next to.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I say, ‘but it’s not the same. I wanted us to all be together. Like at Gold Street. Stupid teachers. Stupid school.’

  Mum sighs and turns back to her screen. ‘It’s not the end of the world, Lexi. You’ll still get to see each other at lunchtimes and after school. Now, I’ve got to get back to this, okay? I’m running late with this project and the client is going to kill me if it’s not finished by tomorrow …’

  She doesn’t understand. She probably never even had any best friends when she was at school. I put the juice back in the fridge and my glass in the dishwasher.

  ‘I’m going over to Mia’s,’ I tell Mum. ‘Okay?’

  She doesn’t even look up, just keeps tapping away at her keyboard. ‘Bye, darling,’ she says distractedly. ‘Be back by dinnertime though, okay?’

  I slam the door on my way out.

  ‘It’s so not fair,’ I announce as I flounce into the room.

  Mia rolls her eyes. ‘Tell me about it.’

  I kick a cushion out of the way and plonk myself down on the sofa in Mia’s garage. There’s a kind of platform thing at the back, which is divided off with a curtain to keep things private.

  We’ve been having weekly sleepovers in here since we were eight. We call it Pink HQ. Pink is still our favourite colour, even though we’ve grown out of the pink lunch box stage. Mia’s dad let us paint the walls bright pink, and we hung stripy pink and silver curtains in the windows. On sleepover nights, we arrange our sleeping bags on the floor, and surround them with heaps of giant cushions. Then we do the usual stuff – listening to music, eating heaps of chocolate, trying out new hairstyles and checking out who’s wearing what in magazines. And we talk about everything and anything. Celeb gossip. Stuff that’s bothering us at school, or arguments we’ve had with our families. Even little stuff, like who our favourite Starsearch contestant is, or the best way to wear our hair. We all know each other so well, it’s like we can guess what the other person’s feeling without them having to tell us.

  ‘I wanted us all to be together still,’ I say. ‘And now you’re stuck in that other dumb class, all on your own.’

  Mia squeezes in beside me. ‘I know, but there’s nothing we can do about it.’

  ‘But we’re the Awesome Threesome,’ I whine. ‘We have to do everything together.’

  ‘Not everything, I hope,’ says Alysha, appearing from behind the curtain like a magician’s assistant.

  I throw a heart-shaped cushion at her. ‘You know what I mean,’ I groan. I turn back to Mia. ‘And besides, you’re all by yourself. I’d be totally freaking out by now.’

  Mia grins at me. ‘That’s because you’re a stresshead. There are some okay people in there. Including those two guys you were trying to chat up this morning in the library, Leesh.’

  Alysha stares at her. ‘Seriously? That’s so not fair. I’m changing into your class.’

  ‘What!?’ I joke. ‘And leave me on my own with all the loser guys?’ Actually, the guys in our class aren’t too bad at all. One in particular, Jack Moxham I think his name is, is to die for.

  Mia laughs and picks up her dad’s old guitar. ‘Like that’s going to happen. Didn’t you hear Ms Weiss this morning?’ She deepens her voice to mimic the year co-ordinator’s. ‘No changes. Under any circumstances.’

  She plays a few soft chords and I lean back into the sofa, listening as the music swirls around me. It reminds me of when the three of us played at our primar
y school graduation ceremony last year. Our music teacher organised different kids from the school band into groups, and of course we all wanted to be in the same one. We did this song called ‘Graduation Friends Forever’. It was so perfect. We played on the stage in the school hall, and they flashed up a huge photo of all our year level on the screen behind us. My mum reckons even some of the boys were crying by the time we got to the last chorus.

  It was Mia’s idea to keep playing together. It was one of our Friday night sleepovers, just after Christmas. A song came on the radio that we all really liked, from a new girl band. Alysha jumped up and started dancing to it. Ten seconds later Mia and I joined her. We kept doing these really crazy dance moves, like you see on music clips. When the song finished, we all flopped down onto the pile of cushions we call Cushion Land.

  I said something like, ‘How cool would it be to have our own band, and be able to dance like that for real.’ And Mia said, ‘What’s stopping us?’ So ever since then we’ve been having these little ‘jam sessions’ out here in Pink HQ. That’s what Mia’s dad says they’re called and he used to play in real bands, so he’d know. I’ve never heard of anything named after a breakfast spread before.

  We bring along our guitars and try to work out how to play our favourite songs. Sometimes I use Mia’s dad’s old keyboard. He told us some of the best bands in the world started out just like us – a group of best friends.

  Mia stops playing and clicks her fingers in front of my face. ‘Earth to Lexi. Hello, are you there?’

  ‘Whuh?’ I give her a soppy smile as I pop a chocolate into my mouth. ‘Sorry, Mia. I was just thinking about how we all played at our graduation last year. Do you reckon we’ll still be able to do something like that this year, even though we’re in different classes?’

  Alysha’s looking at me strangely.

  ‘Well, not a graduation thing, obviously,’ I say. ‘But, you know, something. I mean, what if we start drifting apart or you find another best friend in your new class or –’ ‘Geez, Lexi, can you just shut up about it for a minute?’ Alysha flops down onto the couch beside us with her legs across our laps. She’s changed into shorts and her bare legs come dangerously close to my nose. ‘Anyone would think Mia’s died or something, just because she’s not in the room to hold your hand at roll call.’