School Spirit

by Meredith Badger

  ‘Sophie Stewart! What are you doing?’

  Sophie looked down. Oops! It was Mrs Tran, and she looked mad.

  ‘You are on dinner duty tonight,’ said Mrs Tran. ‘I expect you down here in exactly one minute.’

  Mrs Tran could be very scary sometimes. Sophie climbed down straight away.

  ‘If you do anything like this again, I’ll have to send you home,’ said Mrs Tran. ‘Now, go and help the others with dinner.’

  ‘Yes, Mrs Tran,’ said Sophie.

  Alice and Megan had already started serving food when Sophie arrived.

  Sophie took her place between them. Alice was putting sausages on the plates as the kids walked by in a line. Megan added a dollop of mashed pumpkin. Sophie’s job was to give each person a scoop of peas.

  The three girls worked side by side but didn’t talk to each other.

  Sophie concentrated on giving out scoops of peas. She was thinking about how she would probably be cross with Alice and Megan forever when she heard a funny noise.

  It sounded disgusting — wet and squelchy. At first Sophie couldn’t work out where it was coming from. Then she realised that it happened every time Megan put mashed pumpkin on a plate. Sophie looked at Megan.

  Megan smiled and made the noise again by sucking on the inside of her cheek. It was a really gross sound.

  Sophie wanted to laugh, but if she laughed she knew she wouldn’t be angry anymore. She bit the corners of her mouth to stop them from curling up. Then she caught a glimpse of Alice, who had a big grin on her face.

  Megan made the sound again as a big scoop of pumpkin hit the plate. Alice giggled, although she looked like she was trying hard not to.

  Patrick was next in the queue.

  Sophie didn’t feel like serving Patrick any dinner.

  ‘I’m starving!’ said Patrick, holding out his plate. ‘Give me lots of food.’

  Alice looked at Sophie and gave her a wink. She picked up the smallest sausage in the tray and put it on Patrick’s plate.

  Sophie smiled. She knew what Alice had in mind. Sophie carefully dropped five peas next to the tiny sausage. Then Megan gave him a teaspoonful of mashed pumpkin.

  Patrick looked down at his plate. ‘Hey!’ he said. ‘How come I got such small serves?’

  ‘Because you’re a big pest,’ said Megan.

  ‘But I’m starving!’ said Patrick, crossly.

  ‘Oh,’ said Megan, ‘then why don’t you have some more!’

  She scooped up an enormous dollop of mashed pumpkin.

  Splat!

  The pumpkin covered all the other food on Patrick’s plate. It splashed over Patrick’s clothes. Some of it even stuck to his chin so he looked like he had a pumpkin beard! There was lots of pumpkin on Megan too, but she didn’t seem to care.

  ‘Is that enough?’ asked Megan, ‘or would you like some more?’

  Sophie burst out laughing. She couldn’t help it. Patrick looked so funny with pumpkin dripping off his chin. All the laughter she’d been squashing down came burbling out. Alice laughed too.

  Soon all three girls were laughing so hard they could hardly breathe.

  Patrick looked down at his huge plate of pumpkin. For a moment Sophie thought that he was going to get angry. But instead he did something Sophie wasn’t expecting — he started laughing too.

  He kept laughing as he walked away with the pumpkin still stuck on his chin.

  Sophie couldn’t believe it. For once it seemed that Patrick Lee didn’t have something smart to say.

  Once the girls had started laughing it seemed stupid not to talk to each other.

  ‘That was the funniest thing I’ve seen for ages,’ said Sophie.

  ‘Me too,’ said Alice, holding her stomach. ‘I’ve got a stitch.’

  She looked at Sophie. ‘Are you still mad?’ Alice asked.

  ‘Nope,’ said Sophie, shaking her head.

  ‘I’m sorry about yelling,’ Alice said to Megan. Then she kicked at the ground. ‘I suppose I get jealous sometimes because you’re Sophie’s oldest friend.’

  Megan shrugged. ‘Well, I get jealous because you’re her newest friend!’

  Sophie stared at her friends in surprise. It had never crossed her mind that this might be the cause of all the problems.

  Mrs Tran came over. ‘Make sure you have some dinner too,’ she said. ‘But be quick! The disco starts soon. Don’t forget the theme is Outer Space.’

  The disco!

  Sophie had forgotten all about it.

  Once Mrs Tran had gone the three girls examined the leftover food. It didn’t look very nice. The sausages were cold. The peas had gone all wrinkly and the mashed pumpkin was really runny.

  Then Sophie had an idea. ‘I’ve got chips,’ she said. ‘Let’s have those instead.’

  Megan nodded. ‘Cool. I’ve got biscuits and chocolate. What about you, Alice?’

  Alice shook her head. ‘I haven’t got anything.’

  ‘Nothing at all?’ asked Megan.

  Alice looked embarrassed. ‘Just sultanas. My mum doesn’t buy junk food.’

  ‘That’s OK,’ said Megan. ‘I love sultanas!’

  Alice looked surprised. ‘Really?’ she asked.

  Megan nodded. ‘Really. They’ll be perfect for our feast.’

  Sophie kept quiet. She knew Megan was lying about liking sultanas but she was glad. It was a good lie.

  In the tent the girls spread out their food and started to eat. They were all really hungry. Megan even ate a couple of sultanas, but Sophie noticed that she quickly had a chip afterwards.

  ‘Now,’ said Megan, once they had finished. ‘What should we wear to the disco?’

  Sophie thought about the stuff she had packed. There was nothing that was right.

  ‘Can’t we just go as we are?’ asked Alice.

  Megan looked shocked. ‘Of course not! You have to dress up,’ she said.

  ‘But I didn’t bring anything,’ said Sophie.

  ‘Me either,’ said Alice.

  Megan reached over and opened up her backpack. Clothes of all shapes and colours came spilling out.

  ‘Lucky I did then!’ she laughed.

  Megan picked out a shimmery silver top and matching silver skirt for Alice to wear.

  Alice looked at them doubtfully. ‘I don’t think these will even fit me,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, they will,’ said Megan.

  Alice tried them on and they fitted perfectly.

  ‘How do I look?’ Alice asked shyly.

  ‘Great!’ Sophie and Megan said at the same time. It was true. The top looked amazing on Alice. It made her eyes sparkle.

  Megan found Sophie a black top covered in tiny gold stars and a pair of black pants with gold thread. Sophie had never worn anything like this before.

  Once they were both dressed, Megan said, ‘Now for some make-up.’

  She pulled a big pink bag out of her backpack. Inside were hundreds of makeup samples from her mum’s work.

  ‘Try this,’ said Megan, holding out a little silver pot to Sophie and Alice.

  It was pink, sparkly lip gloss that smelled like peaches. Alice and Sophie stuck their fingers in and put some on their lips.

  ‘This one is for your eyelids,’ said Megan, handing over another little pot. It was filled with silver eye shadow. She got the girls to shut their eyes while she put it on for them.

  ‘You start from the inside of the lid and work across to the outside,’ she explained.

  When she had finished, Sophie and Alice looked at each other.

  ‘You look so much older!’ Sophie said to Alice.

  ‘So do you!’ said Alice. ‘You look totally different.’

  Sophie wished she could see herself. She had never worn much make-up before. In the distance, they could hear music playing.

  ‘It’s started!’ said Megan, jumping up. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘But you’re not ready,’ said Sophie.

  Megan’s top was still covered in dried-u
p pumpkin.

  ‘Oh yeah, I forgot,’ said Megan.

  She picked up the lip gloss and quickly dabbed some on her lips. Then she gave her clothes a quick brush-down with her hands. Some of the pumpkin came off but lots of it stayed stuck on.

  ‘OK, I’m ready,’ she said, and climbed out of the tent.

  Alice and Sophie followed behind.

  ‘You know,’ Alice said to Sophie, ‘normally I hate all that make-up and dressing-up stuff. But that was fun.’

  ‘Yeah,’ nodded Sophie. ‘It really was, wasn’t it?’

  Sophie gasped when she saw the clearing where the disco was being held. Someone had been very busy decorating. Silver stars and moons hung from the branches, sparkling and twinkling when the breeze blew through them. The tree trunks were wrapped up with streamers and the grass had been sprinkled with glitter.

  It looked almost magical.

  Mr Perelli had brought the school’s battery-powered stereo and it was playing loudly beneath one of the trees.

  There were already lots of kids there, but no-one was dancing — everyone was standing around the edge looking embarrassed. Megan grabbed Sophie and Alice.

  ‘Come on!’ she said, ‘Let’s be first.’

  ‘I’m no good at dancing,’ Alice said nervously, as Megan dragged her onto the dance floor. ‘Maybe I should just watch.’

  But Megan shook her head. ‘No way! Of course you can dance. Anyone can. Just move around like this.’

  Megan started dancing, and Sophie joined in too. She felt a bit silly at first, but the more she did it, the better she felt.

  ‘Come on, Alice!’ Sophie said. ‘It’s fun. I promise.’

  So Alice started dancing. She looked kind of funny. Her arms were moving around too quickly. She looked like she had bugs in her shirt that were tickling her.

  Sophie almost started laughing, but Megan stamped on her foot.

  ‘Ouch!’ said Sophie, hopping around.

  Megan frowned at her. ‘Don’t laugh,’ she whispered, ‘or Alice will give up.’

  Sophie nodded. Megan was right.

  It wasn’t long before Alice got the hang of it and was dancing just as well as Megan and Sophie.

  ‘Hey!’ she said, after a while. ‘This is fun.’

  Once the other kids saw Sophie, Megan and Alice dancing they started going onto the dance floor too.

  Soon everyone was dancing — even Mrs Tran and Mr Perelli!

  Alice knew all the words to every song. Sophie and Megan were surprised — they didn’t know Alice liked pop music.

  ‘Do you know this band?’ Megan asked Alice.

  Alice nodded. ‘X-Press — my sister has the CD.’

  ‘The boys in the band are so cute,’ said Megan, ‘don’t you think?’

  Alice went red. ‘I have a poster of them on my bedroom wall,’ she admitted.

  ‘Cool!’ said Megan. ‘I’d love to see it.’

  Sophie couldn’t help smiling. Megan and Alice had things in common after all!

  ‘Hey, watch me!’ said Sophie, and did a spin. When she stopped spinning she found she was staring right into Patrick Lee’s face. He must have been standing right behind her.

  ‘Hi,’ he said.

  ‘Go away,’ said Sophie, and started to turn her back on him.

  ‘Hang on,’ said Patrick. ‘I’ve got some thing to say.’

  For once he actually sounded serious.

  ‘What?’ asked Sophie.

  She would give him ten seconds, but that was all.

  ‘I’m sorry about wrecking the canoeing. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble,’ said Patrick.

  Sophie looked at him suspiciously. She waited for him to start laughing.

  But he didn’t.

  ‘Really?’ she asked.

  Patrick nodded. ‘Yep,’ he said. ‘I started thinking about what happened while I ate all that pumpkin. So I told Mr Perelli the whole story and he said that he’d take you and the others canoeing tomorrow.’

  Sophie didn’t know what to say. Had Patrick actually done something nice for a change? He had never been anything more than a big pain. Now he was standing there with an expression Sophie had never seen on his face before.

  He looked sorry.

  ‘Thanks, Patrick,’ Sophie said, smiling. ‘That’s really cool.’

  When Sophie turned back to her friends they wanted to hear the gossip. They couldn’t believe it when Sophie told them what he’d done.

  ‘You know,’ said Megan, ‘Patrick looks a bit like one of the boys from X-Press. And he’s a pretty good dancer, too.’

  Sophie sneaked a look at Patrick, who had gone back to his friends. Well, Megan was half-right — Patrick was a good dancer. But he definitely didn’t look like a pop star to Sophie!

  When they stopped to have a break, Mr Perelli came over.

  ‘So, who is going canoeing tomorrow?’ he asked.

  Sophie looked nervously at her friends.

  ‘Soph, you should go with Alice this time,’ said Megan.

  Sophie gave her friend a hug. ‘Thanks, Megan,’ she said. ‘You didn’t really like canoeing anyway, did you?’

  ‘Actually,’ said Megan, ‘by the end I was sort of enjoying it. Maybe I’ll go with Katie tomorrow — I might get the hang of it with a bit more practice.’

  A new song started playing on the stereo.

  ‘Come on!’ said Alice. ‘We have to dance to this one!’

  And she dragged Megan and Sophie back onto the dance floor.

  They kept dancing until the batteries ran out on the stereo. By the time they crawled into their tent their arms and legs ached, and their throats were sore from nonstop singing. It was very dark in the tent.

  Sophie wriggled into her sleeping-bag easily but she could hear the other two scuffling around, bumping into each other in the darkness.

  ‘I think my pyjamas have shrunk,’ said Megan. Her voice was muffled.

  ‘There is something seriously wrong with my sleeping-bag,’ said Alice, sounding confused.

  Sophie suddenly remembered the present her dad had given her. She felt under her pillow for her torch and turned it on. She couldn’t help laughing at what she saw.

  Megan had put her pyjama pants over her head and Alice was trying to climb into her backpack!

  Sophie put the torch near the entrance to the tent.

  ‘I’ll leave it here in case anyone needs it during the night,’ she laughed.

  Although Sophie was exhausted, she couldn’t get to sleep straight away. She kept thinking about all the things that had happened. Megan must have been thinking about the same stuff.

  Her voice drifted up through the darkness. ‘I can’t believe we’ve only been here one day,’ she said. ‘It feels so much longer.’

  ‘I know,’ said Alice. ‘What was your favourite bit?’

  ‘Definitely the disco,’ said Megan. ‘But dinner in the tent was fun, too. What about you, Sophie?’

  Sophie thought about it for a moment. She remembered the bus ride and the canoeing and the fight. She thought about Patrick’s pumpkin beard and getting ready for the disco and dancing until she was ready to drop.

  And she thought about how the thing she had always hoped for finally seemed to be happening. Her friends were getting along.

  ‘I loved it all,’ she said. ‘Every single minute.’

  And she meant it.

  School Spirit

  published in 2013 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

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A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.

  eISBN 9781743581360

  Back to School Text copyright © 2006 Meredith Badger

  Class Captain Text copyright © 2008 Rowan McAuley

  The New Girl Text copyright © 2006 Rowan McAuley

  Boyfriend? Text copyright © 2007 Meredith Badger

  Camp Chaos Text copyright © 2005 Meredith Badger

  Illustration and design copyright © 2013 Hardie Grant Egmont

  Illustration by Aki Fukuoka

  Design by Michelle Mackintosh

  Text design and typesetting by Ektavo

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