Stuff Happens (3 page)

I left my hat in my bag and went to the No Hat, No Play area at lunch. And the lunch after that. And the lunch after that.

I started to feel excited about going to school, because it meant I could see Angelo and Karlie. I still missed Bunbury. But whenever Angelo snuck me a comic in class, or Karlie turned around in her seat and pulled a funny face, I forgot about it.

I liked hanging out with them. They asked Jessica C to trade bag hooks with me and now mine was closer to theirs, so they must've liked hanging out with me too.

When we were grabbing our bags on Friday afternoon, Karlie asked, ‘Have you been to High Street yet?'

I nodded. Mum had taken me. We'd bought groceries. I hadn't explored much, but it didn't seem too exciting. It was just a regular strip of shops.

‘We should go to Byron's,' she said.

‘When?' Angelo asked. ‘Now?'

‘Yeah, why not?'

I felt a little out of the loop. ‘Who's Byron?' I asked.

‘Oh, he's my dad,' Karlie explained. ‘But Byron's is his café. You have to try the burgers he makes. They're the best.'

‘They are,' Angelo insisted.

‘Would your parents let you have an early dinner with us?' Karlie asked.

I sent them both a message. Dad replied first:
Ask your mum
. Mum, soon after:
Yes, I'll call you when I finish work xx
.

It didn't take us long to get to Byron's.

The second Karlie opened the door, the man standing by the grill said, ‘Karlie! You hungry?'

‘Yeah, Dad,' she said.

‘Two of the usual?' he asked, looking at Angelo.

‘Three, actually.' Karlie pointed at me. ‘This is the new kid, Sean.'

‘Hi there, Sean,' her father said. ‘Do you like beetroot?'

‘I
love
beetroot!'

‘That's what I like to hear,' he said.

There was a reserved table up the back. We stashed our bags underneath and sat down. I looked around – the walls were covered with old black-and-white photos of Monvale. I recognised the school and parts of High Street. ‘We had a place like this back home,' I said. ‘They knew our order there, too.'

‘Do you miss living there?' Karlie asked.

I did. It was weird going to school without Eddie and Christian. It felt like I was only on holiday and any second it would end and I would go back. ‘I miss my friends,' I said. ‘Back home, nothing's different. They're just doing everything without me and I'm missing out.'

Angelo thought about it for a sec. ‘But we're about to eat the best burgers in Australia,' he said.

‘Yeah, we are,' Karlie said. ‘They should be upset that
they're
missing out. Oh, hi Mum!'

Karlie's mum was carrying three plates over to us. ‘Hi darling,' she said, setting the plates down on the table and pecking Karlie's forehead. ‘How was school?'

Karlie shrugged. ‘Normal.'

‘Nothing interesting?'

Karlie had already picked up her burger. ‘Guess not.'

Her mum took a chip off her plate and ate it. ‘And who's your new friend?' she asked.

‘This is Sean.' Karlie said it like it wasn't a big deal. Five seconds ago, we were just hanging out, and now we were friends. My insides were doing somersaults.

‘Nice to meet you, Sean,' Karlie's mum said. ‘I'm Tanya.'

‘Hi.'

‘Did you meet Karlie's dad, Byron?' she asked.

Byron heard. He waved his spatula. ‘The boy likes beetroot, so I like him.'

Speaking of beetroot, Karlie had gone bright pink. ‘Guys, you're embarrassing me.'

‘Really?' Tanya asked. ‘Angelo?'

‘Mm?' Angelo pulled his face out of his burger. He had half of it smeared on his cheeks.

‘Are we being embarrassing?' she asked.

He shook his head.

‘Sean?' Tanya asked.

I was laughing. ‘No.'

‘See? It's fine.' Tanya put her hand on Karlie's shoulder. ‘But I'll let you eat.' As she walked away, she added, ‘It was lovely to meet you, Sean.'

Karlie sighed as her mum disappeared through a door behind us. ‘Well, go on,' she said to me. ‘Try it.'

I picked up my burger. It was heavier than I thought it'd be. I opened my mouth wide and took a bite. It was . . . incredible. I actually made a ‘mmm' sound while I chewed.

‘Told you,' Karlie said. ‘The best ever.'

I rushed to take a second bite, before I thought of something and stopped.

‘What is it?' Karlie asked.

I took out my phone and aimed it at my plate. ‘I wanna send a pic to Eddie and Christian.'

‘We can get the whole table in,' Karlie suggested, putting down her burger. ‘Let me try.'

I handed her my phone. She held it out to one side and we all leaned in. ‘On three, say, “Cheese!”'

I sent the pic to Eddie and Christian with a
☺
underneath it.

It didn't take us long to finish our burgers, but it took us ages to eat our chips. We were starting to feel full!

Mum called when she finished work. She drove by Byron's on the way home to pick me up. When I got in the car, she asked how my day was.

‘Really good,' I said.

‘
Really
good?' Mum asked. ‘Why?'

I didn't have to think about the answer. ‘I've made new friends.'

‘Good.' Mum was smiling. ‘That is really good.'

I caught myself smiling too.

At lunch on Monday, Angelo slid a piece of chalk over to me. ‘Draw something,' he said.

I picked up the chalk and looked over. He'd drawn Captain Wondersmash riding half a motorbike. (It wasn't finished yet, obviously.) I couldn't draw anything like that. I had no idea where to start.

Angelo read my mind. ‘One sec.' He reached over and drew three separate lines – one was curved, one was jagged and one was straight. ‘Try joining them into something,' he said.

I squinted down at the lines until I thought of something to do with them. I turned the straight one into a nose, the jagged one into a bushy moustache and the curved one into a smile. I added the eyes and eyebrows, a circle around it all, the ears, the hair, the neck . . .

‘A face!' Karlie said.

‘It's not very good,' I said.

Angelo squinted down at it. ‘It's a good start. Here,' Angelo shuffled away from his drawing, ‘finish off the bike.'

I shook my head. ‘I can't.'

‘Just copy my wheel, start with a circle,' he said, holding out the chalk he'd been using. ‘Come on.'

I crawled closer and grabbed the chalk. Angelo and Karlie watched as I pressed it down on the concrete and started drawing the wheel. My line was bumpy.

‘Go faster,' Angelo said. ‘It makes your hand steadier.'

I followed his advice and the line became smoother.

‘There you go!' he said, when I reached my starting point. ‘Now just do what I did before.'

I looked over at his wheel and tried copying the details exactly. Amazing! It actually looked all right.

‘See?' Angelo said when I'd finished.

I stood up. It did look pretty cool. Angelo grabbed his bottle of water and was about to wash the drawing off when I stopped him.

‘Wait!' I reached into my pocket and took out my phone. ‘I want to send a photo of it to Eddie and Christian.'

‘We're not allowed to use our phones at lunch,' Karlie reminded me.

‘You're not allowed to use your phone ever,' Angelo joked.

‘Mum says it's just for emergencies!' Karlie said. ‘I have to keep it in my bag.'

‘That's what everybody's mum says,' Angelo laughed. ‘What if an emergency happens when you're not near your bag?'

‘Um.' Karlie didn't have an answer, so she picked up a piece of chalk and started drawing a curly moustache on Captain Wondersmash.

‘Hey!' Angelo laughed.

I was trying to take the photo. ‘Move your hand, Karlie.' She did and the camera flash went off. I was about to send the pic when I heard someone call my name across the yard.

‘Uh-oh,' Angelo and Karlie said at the same time.

I turned around. Mr Johnson was walking towards me. When he was close enough, he held out his hand.

I was busted. ‘Mr Johnson, I –'

‘You know the rules, Sean.'

I handed over my phone and he slid it into his pocket. ‘I'm going to look after it for a little while.'

‘How long?'

Mr Johnson didn't answer. He continued to walk around the yard.

I looked at Karlie and Angelo for help.

‘Told you,' Karlie said.

Mr Johnson told me to stay back at the end of the day. Back home, kids spent the day worrying they were going to get in big trouble, then the teacher just let them apologise after class.

As everyone else filed out of the room, I approached his desk. My phone was on it, and underneath I could see a note.

Mr Johnson looked up and waited for the last person to leave. ‘Sean, I'm going to hold onto your phone today. We have very strict rules about phones here at Monvale Primary, and they're all here on this note.' He pulled out the piece of paper from underneath the phone. ‘Give this to one of your parents to read and sign and bring it back to me tomorrow.'

What? No . . . this wasn't how it happened in Bunbury. Mum and Dad would know I'd gotten in trouble! I had
never
been in trouble at school before. What would my parents do if they found out? Would they ground me? Stop me from going for burgers with Karlie and Angelo after school?

‘But I promise I won't do it again,' I tried.

‘And I believe you, but I need the note signed.'

I had no choice. I took the piece of paper from him.

‘Have a nice afternoon, Sean,' he said.

That was it. I could kiss after-school burgers goodbye. I was as good as grounded. There was no way I was getting my phone back without them seeing that note.

I left for home, but I wasn't exactly in a hurry. Huck was walking down Thomas Road in front of me, dragging a long, thin tree branch behind him. Huck. The same Huck who had boasted about stealing back his confiscated phone on my first day.

‘Huck!' I called out.

He looked back and it took him a second to recognise me. ‘New kid! What's cracking?'

My bag swayed from side to side as I ran to catch up to him. ‘Mr Johnson took my phone.'

‘Told you he was strict,' Huck said.

‘How did you get yours back?'

Huck dropped the branch by the side of the road. ‘I got into the classroom at lunch. It was in the top drawer of his desk.'

It seemed like a bad idea. We weren't allowed in the classrooms at lunchtime. There were hall monitors. If they saw me, or if Mr Johnson found out I'd gone through his desk . . .

‘Wait . . . Didn't Mr Johnson realise the phone was missing?'

‘Oh yeah, I got a detention for it,' Huck said.

I didn't want to get into
more
trouble. So yep, the note was my only option and I had to show my parents tonight.

I took a deep breath. I was already starting to feel nervous.