Millie and the Night Heron by Catherine Bateson Read Free Book Online

went up in the recreation room. It divided us into four teams. I was in Koala Team.At least they divided us up. There was some At least they divided us up. There was some split up, as were Helen-Sarah-and-Rachel. Helen and Tayla were in Koala Team. It was clear they hated each other.
    Why they think team activities will build trust and friendships is beyond me. In my experience, the person on the team who fumbles the ball, doesn’t run fast enough or can’t think of a way to get a stupid tyre over a stupid wooden pole is hated, called names and never allowed to forget their failure. So much for trust and friendship!
    I knew I would be that person on Koala Team.
    I did fumble the ball and I was the only one who had any difficulty scaling the fence in the obstacle course, except for Jess who didn’t count because of her medication and Brett who was just plain fat.
    But I didn’t get called names and my mistakes were hardly noticed. Koala Team was focused on not letting Helen and Tayla kill each other. They picked on each other’s tiniest mistakes and hissed and spat at each other like wild cats.
    â€˜You dropped that, you’ve cost us a point,’ Tayla said, before Helen had even had a chance to catch, let alone drop, the ball.
    Helen retaliated by crossing her arms and not even trying.
    â€˜Yeah,’ she said, when the ball fell at her feet, ‘I sure did. Mind you, if you’d kept your big mouth shut, I might just have been able to catch that.’
    â€˜Tayla!’ Dion shouted, ‘let’s just try to finish the course, can we?’
    â€˜I’m not interested in playing with a team who doesn’t put in one hundred and ten per cent.’
    â€˜Well, I’m not interested in playing with some stuck-up little nobody who thinks she’s the greatest and criticises everyone else as though they’re complete losers.’
    â€˜Girls, if your whole team isn’t playing, you’ll be penalised one hundred points, and I mean that!’
    â€˜Sorry, Ms O’Grady. See what you’ve done now?’
    â€˜Oh, shut your face, Tayla. Could I care less?’
    â€˜It wasn’t Helen’s fault,’ I said, forgetting myself. ‘If you’d just stop being so mean, Tayla, we might get somewhere.’
    â€˜Oh, what would you know?’ Tayla turned the full force of her wrath on to me. ‘You aren’t even from round here, are you? How come you think you know anything?’
    â€˜I know what I saw,’ I said, ‘and I know what I heard.’
    â€˜Oh, do you? Well, I know what I saw on the obstacle course and that was you going around that fence without even trying.’
    â€˜I did try. I’m just not good at things like that.’
    â€˜Not good at much, are you, Millie Mouse? You cheated. You could get us disqualified for that.’
    â€˜Tayla Cameron, what is going on here?’
    â€˜Nothing Ms O’Grady. We’re just discussing our group and negotiating role changes, that’s all.’
    â€˜It sounds more like shouting,’ Ms O’Grady said. ‘Helen, come here. I want to talk to you. Team, take 50 points off for not finishing and a further 25 off for disputes. Then go and have some afternoon tea.’
    â€˜See what you’ve done, Millie Mouse the big cheat, you’ve upset Ms O’Grady. You shouldn’t upset pregnant women. You might make something happen to the baby.’
    â€˜That’s just rubbish,’ I said. ‘Honestly, Tayla, how do you expect to get away with that kind of stuff? She’s not upset, anyway. She’s just doing her job.’
    â€˜What would you know about Ms O’Grady? Do you know that she lost a baby last year? Well, do you?’
    â€˜No. No, I didn’t know that.’
    â€˜It’s true. The baby was born early. Stress, my mother said. She’d know. She’s a nurse. Bet you didn’t know that, Millie Mouse.’
    I