Gina?”
Just as Gina was about to tell us what we already knew, she spotted something that made her jaw clamp like a clam. The Cabinet were approaching!
If the rest of the school had not taken them so seriously, I would have laughed then, because they walked like a movie mean-girl gang, with heads held high and each with one hand (the right) in her blazer pocket. What was this, some kind of Western where they’d pull out their pistols and have a shootout?
Gina bared her teeth in what she hoped was a smile.
Brodie acknowledged Katie and me by giving us a small nod that barely tilted her chin. Then she turned to Gina. “Hey there, Regina. We hear you’ve been going around the school telling all and sundry that Amber has damaged your good name.”
She actually used the words “all and sundry”, Linh.
“Oh yeah?” demanded Gina, but her voice was fearful. “Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter who told who what.” That was Chelsea – she was less articulate. “If you have a problem with any of us, you should have the guts to say it to our faces.”
“Yeah,” said Amber. “I thought we were friends.”
Gina looked stunned: she’d never so much as contemplated the possibility that the Cabinet would consider her a friend.
“I’m hurt that you’ve been backstabbing me, Gina,” said Amber. “I thought that, as friends, we could joke around about stuff like that. I didn’t mean it! If anyone is the slut, it is obviously me .”
Gina was even more flabbergasted.
“Come on, who was the harlot who came back with the tacky pen?” Amber pulled it out and waved it around for emphasis.
“Yeah,” Chelsea added. “Imagine all the tricks Amber had to turn to get her cheap materialistic thrills.”
“She has no shame,” added Brodie.
Gina cracked a tentative smile. Then, seeing it was okay by the Cabinet, she started to laugh.
Amber flung an arm around Gina’s shoulder. “Here, my fellow ho.” Then she did something that took Gina completely by surprise. “Have this.” She handed Gina her flashing pink pen.
“Oh,” stammered Gina, “Oh . . . are you sure?”
“Of course! Chicks before dicks!”
After they left, Gina was in shock. “Oh my god, Amber just gave me this!” she said, as if Katie and I hadn’t just witnessed the whole thing. But I knew that Amber’s enthusiasm over her gift was all a show. She had only pretended to be proud of the thing to heighten its value, before she offloaded it. Gina had pen envy, and the Cabinet knew just how to fuel it.
“I feel so bad,” confessed Gina. “I was a backstabbing bitch to her over some stupid joke.”
“Yeah, that was real nice of them,” said Katie wistfully, and I looked at my friend, stunned.
A fter school that day I got off the train at Sunray and headed for the indoor market. “Bring meat home, four hundred grams of beef,” my mother had instructed me the night before. “Don’t pick the pieces that are brown, and don’t loiter.”
At Vinh and Robina’s Meats, Tully’s mother greeted me as I walked in the store. “Wah, look at you, Lucy, so smart in your uniform!”
At school I may have looked like a try-hard, super-polished version of everyone else in my immaculate uniform, but in this neighbourhood I stood out like a beacon, a sign to small business owners and factory workers that the next generation would belong to a different class. This was an outfit not made for messing up, or for hacking away at cow carcasses, or for hiding in back rooms threading needles. This outfit was made for a seated life, a life of air-conditioning, long lunches and weekends away in semi-rural cottages.
“How are you finding the work at the school?” asked Tully’s mother.
“Okay, Mrs Cho,” I answered. “There’s a lot more of it than at Christ Our Saviour.”
“Of course there is!” she exclaimed. “Those good schools always give you more work. It’s how they get students used to working hard at university.
Just as Gina was about to tell us what we already knew, she spotted something that made her jaw clamp like a clam. The Cabinet were approaching!
If the rest of the school had not taken them so seriously, I would have laughed then, because they walked like a movie mean-girl gang, with heads held high and each with one hand (the right) in her blazer pocket. What was this, some kind of Western where they’d pull out their pistols and have a shootout?
Gina bared her teeth in what she hoped was a smile.
Brodie acknowledged Katie and me by giving us a small nod that barely tilted her chin. Then she turned to Gina. “Hey there, Regina. We hear you’ve been going around the school telling all and sundry that Amber has damaged your good name.”
She actually used the words “all and sundry”, Linh.
“Oh yeah?” demanded Gina, but her voice was fearful. “Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter who told who what.” That was Chelsea – she was less articulate. “If you have a problem with any of us, you should have the guts to say it to our faces.”
“Yeah,” said Amber. “I thought we were friends.”
Gina looked stunned: she’d never so much as contemplated the possibility that the Cabinet would consider her a friend.
“I’m hurt that you’ve been backstabbing me, Gina,” said Amber. “I thought that, as friends, we could joke around about stuff like that. I didn’t mean it! If anyone is the slut, it is obviously me .”
Gina was even more flabbergasted.
“Come on, who was the harlot who came back with the tacky pen?” Amber pulled it out and waved it around for emphasis.
“Yeah,” Chelsea added. “Imagine all the tricks Amber had to turn to get her cheap materialistic thrills.”
“She has no shame,” added Brodie.
Gina cracked a tentative smile. Then, seeing it was okay by the Cabinet, she started to laugh.
Amber flung an arm around Gina’s shoulder. “Here, my fellow ho.” Then she did something that took Gina completely by surprise. “Have this.” She handed Gina her flashing pink pen.
“Oh,” stammered Gina, “Oh . . . are you sure?”
“Of course! Chicks before dicks!”
After they left, Gina was in shock. “Oh my god, Amber just gave me this!” she said, as if Katie and I hadn’t just witnessed the whole thing. But I knew that Amber’s enthusiasm over her gift was all a show. She had only pretended to be proud of the thing to heighten its value, before she offloaded it. Gina had pen envy, and the Cabinet knew just how to fuel it.
“I feel so bad,” confessed Gina. “I was a backstabbing bitch to her over some stupid joke.”
“Yeah, that was real nice of them,” said Katie wistfully, and I looked at my friend, stunned.
A fter school that day I got off the train at Sunray and headed for the indoor market. “Bring meat home, four hundred grams of beef,” my mother had instructed me the night before. “Don’t pick the pieces that are brown, and don’t loiter.”
At Vinh and Robina’s Meats, Tully’s mother greeted me as I walked in the store. “Wah, look at you, Lucy, so smart in your uniform!”
At school I may have looked like a try-hard, super-polished version of everyone else in my immaculate uniform, but in this neighbourhood I stood out like a beacon, a sign to small business owners and factory workers that the next generation would belong to a different class. This was an outfit not made for messing up, or for hacking away at cow carcasses, or for hiding in back rooms threading needles. This outfit was made for a seated life, a life of air-conditioning, long lunches and weekends away in semi-rural cottages.
“How are you finding the work at the school?” asked Tully’s mother.
“Okay, Mrs Cho,” I answered. “There’s a lot more of it than at Christ Our Saviour.”
“Of course there is!” she exclaimed. “Those good schools always give you more work. It’s how they get students used to working hard at university.
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