Girl Talk
"Where were you yesterday Billie?" Glenys Ball asks as she climbs across the wooden bench seat and sits down next to her at lunch break. Odd, Glenys Ball does not usually talk to her.
"I had to go to court," she tells the curious girl.
"What for?" She insists.
"Just something."
"Was it awful?"
"Yes."
"Did you do something wrong?" Glenys covers her mouth and whispers in Billie's ear.
"No, It's only about some old guy who is friends with my Mum. He has been doing 'dirty old man stuff' and now he has been charged with neglect or abuse or something like that. Really, it's nothing."
The girls' lunch time talk is completely forgotten the next morning. Everyone files into the first year's Algebra(1) class. Billie has started to look forward to her classes now; her track record is appalling. The marks have gone up dramatically and she soars with hope for those few short weeks left of the third term. The attendance roll is called and the class has not long commenced when the door opens and the Principal's secretary came into the room; the class noisily stood as one.
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