Love Lessons by Nick Sharratt

hand over her mouth. ‘No, no,’ she said indistinctly. ‘We’ll send you to Kingtown High. Your dad went there, when it was a grammar school. He’d like to think you were following in his footsteps. Though maybe he’d feel happier if it was an all girls’ school. That’s it, we’ll find you a nice decent girls’ school.’
    She said it as if she could conjure up a demure convent directly down the road. I saw myself in a straw boater and blazer, arm in arm with my best friend Jane. We’d giggle together and share secrets. It wouldn’t matter if we were the odd ones out, because we’d have each other.
    I pictured Grace tagging along behind us on our way to school. I felt sorry for her, so I gave her a best friend too, a roly-poly red-cheeked little girl who loved Grace dearly and stuck up for her whenever she was teased. I even imagined Mum making friends with some of the other mums while Dad nodded benignly in the background, a gentle, frail invalid . . .

We had to go to Wentworth. All the other schools were full up, with long waiting lists.
    â€˜We can’t go to Wentworth, Mum!’ I said. ‘We won’t go. You need me to help out in the shop now, anyway.’
    â€˜We can’t risk it. If that education inspector chappie comes back and catches you working then we’ll really be prosecuted,’ said Mum. ‘No, Prue, you’re starting at Wentworth next Monday, it’s all fixed.’
    â€˜But Mum, I don’t want to go to Wentworth. Look, you said —’
    â€˜I know what I said. But I can’t help it. I don’t know what else I can do. For God’s sake, can’t you try to make this easier for me? Don’t you see I’m at the end of my tether?’
    I wasn’t sure what a tether was. I imagined a long fraying rope with Mum tied on the end, fat legs dangling.
    â€˜OK, OK. Don’t you worry, Mum, we’ll go,’ I said.
    â€˜But it’ll be awful ,’ Grace wept in our bedroom that night. ‘When I go to the sweet shop these girls from Wentworth are always making faces at me and whispering and giggling. I know they’re talking about me. And they steal stuff, I’ve seen them. And the boys are worse, you know they are.’
    â€˜Don’t go on about it, Grace,’ I said, because I wanted to drift off with Tobias into our own private world.
    â€˜It’s all right for you. You’re pretty and skinny and clever. You’ll make heaps of friends. But what about me? They’ll all pick on me and tease me because I’m fat.’
    â€˜No they won’t. Well, if they do, I’ll bash them up,’ I said fiercely, though I wasn’t sure I could bash so much as a boiled egg.
    Grace looked a bit doubtful too.
    â€˜Look, if it’s really really awful we simply won’t go,’ I said. ‘We’ll pretend we’re going, but we’ll just hang out round the town, go for walks, whatever, just like I did when I was supposed to be seeing that awful Miss Roberts.’
    â€˜Really?’ said Grace. She sat up in bed and blew her nose. ‘Oh Prue, don’t let’s go at all. Let’s just bunk off right from the start. It will be fun!’
    â€˜Well, you’ll have to keep it absolutely quiet. No blurting it out to Mum!’
    â€˜I’ll keep my lips totally sealed, I promise,’ Grace said.
    Mum started fussing on Sunday night about what we were to wear.
    â€˜I phoned up on Friday and explained it might be a problem getting both of you kitted out for uniform. I hoped I’d find something in BHS but no one does that green, and even so, the prices are ludicrous. They told me there’s a second-hand school uniform shop open every Friday. It’s meant to be very reasonable, so you’ll be able to get yourselves sorted out. Meanwhile you’ll just have to wear your dresses and cardies and explain if