Chapter 18

One week later.

‘In the name of privacy, this reporter has chosen not to reveal the identity of the Eden Thief. But the paper is happy to report that the thief has seen the error of her ways, and all the stolen items have been returned to their rightful owners.

Even though the items were just “stuff”, these things were valuable not because of their monetary worth (that means how much they cost), but because of their sentimental worth. We Eden Girls are strong. But we are also living far from our homes. Some of us desperately miss our families. And while we are like a family to each other, there are some days where a piece of our real homes is what we need to feel connected. Maybe it’s your nonna’s necklace. Or your aunt’s scarf. Or maybe it’s something that reminds you of a special person who is no longer with us. But so long as these items bind you to the giver, you will always have a reminder of that person who holds a special place in your heart. And that special bond is something that can never be stolen.’

I finished reading my opinion piece and looked up nervously. The rest of the Eden Press team were silent. Ivy stood up and wiped a tear from her eye.

‘Ella, that was beautiful,’ she sniffed. ‘That’s exactly the kind of human-interest spin that we need in all our pieces. I think the school community is going to love the angle you’ve taken here!’

The other girls around the table began to applaud. My cheeks went bright red.

I looked to the end of the table and Saskia was staring straight at me. Then she lifted her hands and began to join in with the clapping.

‘I think it’s going to be a unanimous decision here,’ Ivy said. ‘Ella, would you like to be the Junior Journalist for Eden Press? This means you’d get the main feature pieces covering your year group and you’d lead the other Year 7 girls in what you want them to write each month.’

I nodded enthusiastically. ‘I’d love to!’

The end of lunchtime bell sounded and everyone hustled their belongings together. We all shuffled out of the meeting room and into the sunny day.

As I walked along, I breathed in the deep scent of jasmine on the wind. Above me, a kookaburra laughed gleefully. I smiled in agreement.

‘Ella! Wait up!’ a voice called from behind me. Saskia trotted up.

‘Hi, Saskia.’

‘Ella, I just wanted … to say thank you.’

‘For what?’

‘For not writing about me in your newspaper piece. Thank you for not telling everyone—especially my sister—that I was the Eden Thief.’

I nodded lightly. ‘I wouldn’t do that to you, Saskia.’

‘I probably deserved it,’ she said quietly.

‘Did you get into a lot of trouble?’ I asked.

‘Well, yes and no,’ she frowned. ‘Mrs Sinclair did call my parents and we ended up having a video meeting with them, Ms Montgomery and me. I finally told them about the pressure I was feeling to live up to Ivy. They’d never heard me talk about that before, so they were surprised. And they turned out to be pretty sympathetic. They said they would stop expecting me to be like my sister, as long as I promised to always try my best.’

I smiled. ‘Sounds like a good compromise.’

‘Well,’ she added, ‘I am still grounded—no weekend passes or common room fun for four weeks—and, as part of my punishment, I have to help with kitchen duty for the rest of the term! It could have been a lot worse though, I suppose. You and Grace and Zoe didn’t get in too much trouble, did you?’

‘Nah, it was fine. Mrs Sinclair understood why we did what we did. Thanks for backing us up as to why we were there. If you hadn’t come clean, Mrs Sinclair may have blamed us, too.’

Saskia nodded slightly.

‘But Ms Montgomery made us write out the house rule about not sneaking out after dark, like, a thousand times, just to make sure we knew how to behave in future.’ I grimaced.

Saskia grinned.

‘I heard you got into the top stream after the tests,’ she said. ‘Congratulations.’

‘Thanks,’ I replied. ‘It really wasn’t as big a deal as we were all making it out to be. I talked to Mrs Sinclair about it, and she said I didn’t need to worry about my scholarship. She told me just to do my best and that was always going to be enough.’

The truth was, Mrs Sinclair also told me that there were lots of girls on scholarships or other kinds of funded positions at the school. She said we make up a really important part of the school community, and I should never feel like I’m at risk of being sent away just because I’m on a scholarship. But I didn’t tell that to Saskia.

‘Well, you’re going to have to put up with me in your classes, I’m afraid,’ Saskia said, smiling. ‘Mrs Sinclair let me sit a different test—one I hadn’t seen before— and turns out I can get good marks just by using my brain! Who knew? So I’ll be in the same stream as you. You’d better watch out!’

I wrinkled my nose up. Had Saskia really changed? She seemed pretty sorry. But there was always going to be that competitive streak to her, that’s for sure. I knew I would have to keep my eyes open with her around. But at least we were heading in the right direction this time.

Saskia let out a little laugh and flicked her ponytail behind her as she skipped off up the path. I shook my head and smiled as I walked away to my next class.