Truly Tan Baffled

We do not have chairs at our assembly. We have to sit on the floor and it has prickly school carpet that is like sitting on Velcro. The teachers have chairs. So do the visitors. But not us. Gloria calls this an injustice. I call it a pain in the bum. INJUSTICE: say, in-jus-tiss . This means something isn’t fair. It is an injustice that students have to sit on the floor. It is also an injustice that we do not get to choose the Monday morning song and that we are banned from giggling at assembly. ‘Hello, Tan. Hello, Gloria,’ says Verity Crisp, and I’m sorry to say that Verity has decided to sit beside us. ‘Looking forward to the holidays?’ says Verity. Verity Crisp never asks about our holidays or our life. She doesn’t even ask about our pets or anything of importance. But today she is asking and Miss Dragone, our teacher, would call this ‘making an effort’. I am polite. I make an effort too. ‘Yes,’ I say. ‘It will be a welcome break.’ Lily sits beside Verity and they start whispering and Gloria and I pull faces at each other that are secret-code faces for ‘Oh, brother, look who’s sitting next to us.’ And then Mr Lamble claps his hands.

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