Up Over Down Under by Micol Ostow Read Free Book Online Page A

of two or three wallflowers who were sitting at desks by themselves. A number of the girls sized Eliza up as she looked for an empty seat, but then returned to conversations about what they had done over the break.
    Eliza decided the best course of action was to present an air of calm, cool, collected self until she deciphered the social system here. She threw her shoulders back and made her way to a chair near the windows.
    Eliza may not have been the queen bee back home, but she had a comfortable, large circle of friends, and it was awkward suddenly to feel like she was the odd man out.
    Well, this is a change in perspective, she thought to herself as she made her way to an empty seat.
    â€œOi! You the American?”
    Eliza glanced over to see a tall, dark-haired girl looking at her from the next aisle over. She was backed by another girl leaning in from the chair on the far side. Both had their gray blazers tied around their waists, and the sidekick had a shock of blue hair framing the right side of her face, fading back into a brown razor cut.
    It was slightly intimidating. Not that Eliza was going to let them know it.
    â€œUm…yeah…that’s me.” She coughed, trying to psych herself up to sound more assured about it. “That’s me.”
    â€œHow you goin’?” the tall girl said. For all that her looks were kind of edgy and “bad-girl,” she seemed pretty friendly.
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œHow you goin’?”
    â€œJust to the chair here. Is it taken?” Why were they looking at her so strangely?
    Now both of the girls laughed in unison.
    â€œNah…Go on, take it,” the tall girl continued, moving closer to Eliza so that she wasn’t shouting across the room. “I’m Jess, and this’s Nomes.” She jerked her thumb at her backup dancer.
    â€œHey. I’m Eliza.”
    â€œSo, have you ever been to Melbourne before?”
    â€œNo, never been to Australia. I’ve never been west of California before.”
    â€œThis is your first time out of the U.S.?” Jess asked with surprise. “A country bumpkin?”
    â€œOh no, not at all. I’ve been to South America and the Caribbean, and last year my dad took us to Paris for my mom’s birthday.” The words came out in a rush, and Eliza realized that after a few days with Estelle and the twins, she was sort of starved for company from girls her own age.
    â€œNo way! I totally want to go to Paris! What was it like?” Jess asked with wide eyes.
    â€œIt was totally great. I’ve got pics on my laptop I can show you sometime.”
    â€œThat’d be cool.” Jess smiled.
    â€œI like your hair,” piped up Nomes.
    â€œWhat?” Eliza asked, reaching for her head. She remembered that she had twisted her hair into a bun in the back and had two ebony chopsticks with sparkles holding it in place. “Oh, this?”
    â€œYeah, it’s cool. How do you do that?” Nomes asked.
    â€œIt’s not hard, I’ll show you.” Eliza took out the chopsticks, shook down her hair, and with a deft flip, twist, roll, and skewer, had redone her hair perfectly.
    â€œRight on, that’s excellent. Welcome to St. Cat’s.”
    â€œThanks!” Eliza smiled. “So, this is pre-calculus, with”—Eliza checked her schedule sheet—“Mrs. Carroll?”
    Jess nodded. “Carroll’s cranky, but she grades easy and she doesn’t like throwing too many exams.”
    â€œAnd then I have”—Eliza checked her sheet again—
    â€œworld history.”
    Nomes perked up again. “Oh, I’m in that one, I’ll get you there. After math I’ll show you the way.”
    Nomes and Jess were a lot different from Eliza’s friends back home, she could tell just from their brief exchange. For starters, even in a school as liberal as hers, the children of politicos were not the type to dye their hair