Eva's Journey by Judi Curtin Read Free Book Online Page B

picked on, that she didn’t care any more.
    The lesson dragged on and on and on. Soon I knew far more than I ever wanted to know about geometry.
    I looked around and all I could see were glazed eyes and bored faces – it was like I’d dropped into the set of a very bad zombie movie.
    Suddenly Petronella dropped her book to the ground with a clatter. I jumped and a few of the boys laughed.
    Mr Gowing spun on his heel.
    â€˜Petronella,’ he said crossly. ‘I think you did that deliberately, just to annoy me.’
    For once, Petronella reacted.
    â€˜That’s not fair,’ she said. ‘It was an accident.’
    Mr Gowing walked to her desk and leaned down towards her with a mean look on his face.
    â€˜So, Petronella,’ he hissed. ‘So I’m not being fair. And what are you going to do about it – run home and tell your mama?’
    There were a few sniggers from the back of theclass.
    How could anyone find this funny?
    What kind of a sick school had I ended up in?
    Petronella took a deep breath.
    â€˜Actually, I think I will tell my mother,’ she said.
    Now Mr Gowing gave a laugh.
    â€˜Ha,’ he said. ‘Promises, promises. I know you’ll never tell on me. You’re just too chicken.’
    Petronella didn’t reply. I looked around in horror. Some of the kids were giggling. Even worse, some looked totally bored, like this kind of thing happened every day.
    I made up my mind.
    Mr Gowing mustn’t be allowed to treat the poor girl like that.
    It just wasn’t right.
    All I had to do was figure out a way to help her.
    There’s an ad on TV that says if you see someone being bullied at school, then you should talk to your teacher.
    But what were you supposed to do if the bully
was
your teacher?
    I had to talk to Petronella.
    I had to help her to be strong.
    I had to persuade her to talk to her mother about the way Mr Gowing was bullying her.
    Or maybe she should go to the principal?
    Perhaps there was a board of governers that should know?
    I turned to the back page of my maths book and started to make notes.

Chapter Ten
    A fter what felt like a hundred years, maths class was over.
    After what felt like a thousand years, the school day was over too.
    A bell rang, and everyone jumped up and started to shove their books into their bags.
    A couple of girls came over to chat to me. It was nice of them, but I didn’t really want to get involved.
    What was the point of making friends here if I was going back to my old school before long?
    So I smiled at them and said I had to rush, and they smiled back and said, ‘See you tomorrow.’
    I hoped I wouldn’t be spending too many tomorrows in this dump.
    And then I raced off after Petronella.

    It took me ages to catch her. She was walking along the road with two other girls. I was glad she had friends. But then, what kind of friends just stand by and watch their friend being bullied?
    I walked up to the three girls, trying to look all relaxed and casual, and not like I could barely breathe from running so fast.
    â€˜Hi,’ I said.
    â€˜Hi,’ they said back.
    Then they kept walking.
    I realised that maybe I should have planned my attack a bit better. Too late now though.
    â€˜Er, Petronella, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about,’ I said.
    â€˜So talk,’ she said.
    This was totally embarrassing. I hopped from one foot to another. The clump-clump of my heavy shoes on the footpath made me sound like an elephant tap-dancing.
    â€˜It’s …… it’s kind of private.’
    Now Petronella looked at me like I was crazy. I couldn’t really blame her. I’d never in my life spoken to this girl, and all of a sudden I wanted to have a private conversation with her. She probably thought I was some weird kind of stalker.
    Her friends giggled.
    â€˜Do you want some quiet time with your new friend?’ asked one.
    She