Page 47 - The Mending Season

miss MORE school, which we BOTH know you DESPER­ ATELY need.”She paused and gave everyone a chance to absorb what she had just said. “Now, Standard Sixes, I hope you’ve had a good rest and you’re ready for work. We have a lot to go through this year. A lot of learning to do,” she dusted the chalkboard as she spoke. “And in my opinion many of you can do a lot better than you did last year.” She turned around to face us as she licked chalk dust offher palm.“She always eats chalk,” Veronica whispered behind me.“Miss, why do you always eat chalk?” Veronica asked. The teacher looked embarrassed for a moment.“Yes, Miss, why?” Marianne chimed in.“It’s just something I do. Now, I see we have some new faces.” I had thought that I was the only one.“My mom says it’s a sign of iron deficiency,” a girl called Laura said in a soft voice. When everyone turned to look at her, she gave us an apologetic smile and lifted her shoulders to shrug but they stayed up. The teacher, sounding annoyed now, said, “Thank you for that information, Laura.”“I’m Mrs Addis to those ofyou who are new. I’ll be your Geography teacher this year. OK, let’s go around and say our names so that the new girls can tell us who they are and find out who everyone else is.”As they took turns saying their names, my heartbeat accel­ erated slightly.“I’m Theresa,” a White girl with a short, dark bob said shyly. We waited. “Theresa Fernandez,”she said and looked at her desk.“I’m Marianne, the class socialite,” Marianne said, pre­ tending to be a movie star playfully flirting with the camera, and brushed hair strands away from her eyes. The class laughed and Trish said, “Yes!” and clapped. Voices around me agreed. All I could hear were their smooth “r” and long47