Stuff Happens (2 page)

I went straight to the No Hat, No Play area at lunch. I had just finished my chicken wrap when someone from Mr Johnson's class recognised me. ‘You're the new kid, aren't you?' she asked.

‘Yeah.'

‘I'm Karlie.' She was sitting in the shade too, beside a boy who was on his knees, drawing on the concrete with chalk. ‘That's Angelo.'

Angelo didn't look up from his drawing when he said, ‘Hi.'

‘You forgot your hat on your first day?' Karlie asked.

‘Yeah.'

‘I cut my leg last week, so I can't run around,' she said. ‘Want to see it?'

‘It's gross,' Angelo added.

Before I could stop her, she pointed to the line of stitches just below her knee. ‘I have my hat in my bag if you wanna borrow it.'

I looked over at Jeff and his friends. They were sitting by the basketball hoop, scoffing down their lunch before they could start playing.

‘I can't,' I said.

Karlie didn't understand. ‘Why not?'

I changed the subject. ‘What are you drawing?'

‘Oh, it's nothing,' Angelo said.

I shuffled a little closer. Angelo had drawn a man in a cape with a
W
stitched to his chest – a superhero I didn't recognise.

‘It's Captain Wondersmash,' Karlie explained. ‘Angelo made him up.'

‘What's his superpower?' I asked.

‘Oh, he has plenty,' Angelo said. ‘Super-strength, obviously. But he can also make force fields and he can read backwards really quickly, which isn't very useful, but it's cool.'

Karlie changed the subject. ‘You know, you can go get the hat from my bag if you want,' she said.

I sighed. I had to tell her. ‘I told Jeff I liked soccer, but I don't.'

Karlie blinked at me. ‘And?'

‘If I have a hat, he'll make me play.'

She nodded slowly. ‘And you don't want to?'

‘I can't. I'm no good at it.'

She didn't say anything straight away. Eventually, she asked, ‘Are you going to forget your hat every day?'

Stacking his chair on top of our desk after school, Jeff asked me where I lived.

‘David Street.'

‘Sweet! I'm on Kent Road. That's on the way. We can walk home together.'

‘Awesome!'

‘Where are you from again?' he asked as we walked.

‘Bunbury.'

‘What's it like?'

My life back home was still so fresh in my mind. There were the weekends with Eddie and Christian, going to the movies, the river . . . I really missed it all.

‘Um . . .' It was hard to squeeze my old life into a sentence. And then I remembered
The Bunbury Primary Herald
. I used to stay up late writing book reviews and then give them to my old teacher Mrs McKenzie . . .

‘There was a student newspaper at my old school,' I said. ‘It was by the year six kids, but my teacher put my writing in there sometimes.'

‘That's cool,' Jeff said. ‘Do you want to be a reporter when you grow up?'

‘Maybe.'

‘I read the sports section in Dad's paper sometimes,' he said. ‘But I wanna play for the Vipers.' He mimed a kick as we walked. ‘Make sure you pack your hat for tomorrow.'

I thought back to what Karlie said at lunch. I couldn't forget my hat every day. I had to tell him the truth. ‘I don't like soccer,' I blurted.

‘But you said –'

‘I know, but I don't. I'm not really that into sport.'

‘Oh.'

Jeff stopped walking and I thought I'd blown it. He probably didn't want to hang out any more. Great. But before I could apologise, he pointed to our left. ‘This is my place,' he said. ‘Want to come in for a bit?'

I felt relieved. He wanted to hang out even though I said I didn't like soccer. But I hesitated. Mum had told me to come straight home after school, but my place was only around the corner . . .

‘You can use our phone to call your parents if you want,' Jeff added.

‘All right.'

His house was a lot like my new one, only there weren't unpacked boxes everywhere. Jeff rushed straight to the living room up the back. He handed me the cordless phone and started emptying his school bag on the coffee table.

I dialled Mum's number. She was really serious when she answered. ‘Hello, Tara speaking.'

Ah. She didn't recognise Jeff's number. ‘Hey Mum, it's me.'

Her voice changed. ‘Hi darling, where are you?'

‘A kid from school invited me to his house. Can I stay for a bit?'

Mum said yes, but I had to be home for dinner. Which was easy.

Jeff was sitting on the floor. He had his maths book out. ‘Want to do the homework?' he asked.

Honestly, I thought we would've played video games or something, but work was fine. I was just happy he'd invited me over. I sat down next to him and took out my stuff. We had fifteen questions from class to finish. I only had one left and it didn't take long.

‘Have you done question five? I think I've done it wrong.' Jeff looked over at my page. ‘Whoa! How did you do it so fast?'

I slid my book up beside his and compared our work. He noticed his mistake and quickly corrected it. ‘Thanks,' he said, but when I tried pulling my book back, he put his hand on it. ‘Wait a sec.' He started copying my answer for question six.

I said, ‘Want me to show you how I –?'

‘Nah, this is fine.'

Jeff moved on to question seven. He was just copying my work exactly.

‘Won't Mr Johnson notice?' I asked.

Jeff shook his head. ‘Nah, don't worry.'

But I
was
worrying, and not only because we might get in trouble. He was stealing my answers. Eddie and Christian never did that.

Jeff pushed my book back over to me. ‘I should get ready,' he said. ‘Gus and I are meeting at the park soon.'

‘Oh.' My stay was over already? ‘Can I come?'

He hesitated. ‘We're practising penalty shootouts, so you probably wouldn't like it.'

‘I probably wouldn't,' I mumbled, feeling rejected.

Jeff hurried off to his room to get changed and I stared down at our work. He had taken my answers, and was now going to hang out with a real friend. One that liked soccer. I felt stupid for thinking he liked me. We were so different.

‘You ready?' Jeff was standing in the doorway wearing his soccer gear.

‘Yeah, sure.' I quickly stuffed my books back in my bag.

‘Let's go,' he said.

I was glad he was in a hurry, because I wanted to get out of his house as fast as possible.

Mum brought up Jeff when we were setting the table for dinner.

‘Sean was invited to someone's house after school,' Mum said to Dad.

‘That was quick,' Dad said. He gave me a light pat on the back. ‘Good going.'

I forced a smile. I didn't
feel
good.

Mum was emptying the Chinese takeaway into bowls when she asked, ‘So . . . do you think you two might hang out some more?'

‘I don't know. Maybe.'

Dad glanced at Mum, and then back at me. ‘You all right, Sean? What's the matter, mate?'

‘I'm fine,' I said.

Mum didn't believe me. ‘Do you miss Bunbury?' she asked.

‘Yeah.'

‘Well.' Dad nodded at Mum. ‘We were thinking it was a big step, moving across Australia, so –'

‘We're going back?' I blurted.

Mum smiled and wiped her hands down her front. ‘No,' she said. She opened the closest cupboard door and took out a bag. She held it out. ‘We got you this.'

I walked over and reached inside. It was a mobile phone. I had wanted one since year three.

‘We thought you might want to keep in touch with your friends in WA,' Dad said.

It wasn't moving back home, but it was
something
. I hugged them both.

‘Go plug it in and wash your hands for dinner,' Mum said.

I sent Eddie and Christian a text message before bed.

Hey it's Sean. Mum + Dad got me a phone
☺

Even though it was eight o'clock in Monvale, it was only six o'clock in Bunbury. They were probably doing their homework. But Eddie replied straight away.

Cool! We're awesome. Christian and I are in line at the movies.

They were at the movies? But it was a school night.

‘Sean, lights out!' Mum called from down the hall.

Eddie sent another message.

We had no homework so Dad's brought us to see that new racing movie.

And another.

Christian says hi.

‘Sean, it's bedtime!' Mum sounded a little sterner.

I switched off my lamp. The only light in my room came from my phone screen.

I have to go to bed
, I texted.
It's eight o'clock
.

I kept my phone close and shut my eyes. After a few minutes, it vibrated.

It was a photo of Eddie and Christian in the queue. Underneath, there was the text:

C U
☺

Seeing them made me feel homesick. As good as having a mobile phone was, it wasn't the same as being there.

The next day Mr Johnson stood at the front of the classroom. ‘Good morning, everyone.'

‘Good morning, Mr Johnson,' we all said back.

‘Sit down,' he said as twenty-six chairs were dragged off their desks, ‘and take out last night's homework. I want you to swap with the person sitting next to you. You'll be marking theirs.'

Jeff and I swapped books and Mr Johnson took us through the answers. We both got the same mark.

‘What are the odds?' I asked.

Jeff laughed.

When Mr Johnson said we were going to do more maths, the rest of the class groaned. Except for Jeff. He seemed happy.

He whispered, ‘Just let me . . .' He didn't even finish his sentence, but I knew what he meant. He wanted me to let him copy, in class, in front of Mr Johnson. There was no way I was going to do that and get into trouble.

Mr Johnson handed out the questions, and I leaned forward. I was shielding my work so he couldn't copy it.

‘Psst. I can't see.'

I didn't budge.

‘Psssssssssssssst.'

I wasn't the only one who heard him that time. Angelo twisted around. He could tell what was happening. He mimed elbowing Jeff away.

I couldn't do that.

I didn't like being used for answers, but I didn't want Jeff hating me. I still had to sit next to him every day.

‘Angelo, sit properly. Jeff, eyes on your own work.' Mr Johnson hadn't even looked up from his marking. Angelo and Jeff both snapped back.

I was relieved. I kept working silently until Angelo said, ‘Oops.' He'd knocked his pencil case onto the floor. ‘Sir, can I –?'

‘Quickly.'

Angelo hopped down, and as he gathered his coloured pencils, he rolled a scrunched-up piece of paper towards me. It tapped the leg of my desk.

He smirked. ‘Done,' he said, getting back up on his chair.

When Mr Johnson wasn't looking, I quickly leaned down to pick up the ball of paper. I flattened it out.

It was a comic. I recognised the main character instantly. Captain Wondersmash. He was sitting at a desk that was way too small for him, doing his maths. Someone was trying to peek at his answers, but there was a force field around him.

Underneath him, it said:
Nobody copies off Captain Wondersmash.

I sniggered softly. I glanced up. Angelo flashed a smile before turning back to his work.

I had my white hat on at recess. It was the first time I was allowed out in the sun, but I walked straight to the No Hat, No Play area to sit with Karlie and Angelo.

‘Hey,' I said.

‘Hi.' Karlie squinted up at me. ‘You remembered your hat, what are you doing over here?'

‘I like the shade.'

Angelo was concentrating on a new drawing. He started with a few lines, and kept adding more and more, connecting some and crossing over others until Captain Wondersmash appeared. He was grinning.

‘I liked your comic,' I said.

‘It was just one tile, that's nothing. I have heaps at home, proper comic strips like in newspapers,' Angelo said.

‘Awesome. Can I see them?'

Karlie answered for him. ‘He doesn't let people see them.
I
haven't even seen them.'

Angelo poked his tongue out as he carefully shaded the captain's cape red. ‘Maybe when they're ready.'

‘Cool.'

‘I think his cape should be green or something,' Karlie said. ‘Every superhero has a red cape.'

Angelo looked up. ‘That's why his cape is red.'

‘But don't you want him to be different?'

And while Angelo and Karlie argued about what colour Captain Wondersmash's cape should be, I took my hat off and put it in my pocket.

I had a feeling I wouldn't need it.