Every morning when I walk in the school gate I feel weird. I mean I’m so glad that I get to go to a nice spot around the back and meet up with my friends. Friends that other people look up to! And yet something makes me glance left along the fence, looking for Matthew and Stephen, even though I know they don’t wait for me here any longer.

I don’t want to think about them anymore! It’s not like I did anything really bad to them. I straighten my shoulders and head towards the cool spot that’s mine now, too. It’s way out past the portables and not many year sevens have discovered it. Tiffany knew about it because she’s got a sister in year ten.

The first time the cool girls took me there, I was really surprised. There was this veggie garden, all laid out in rows with a fence around it, a lot bigger than Will’s. ‘It belongs to the year eleven veggie class,’ Tiffany told me with a chuckle, ‘the ones who are too dumb to do VCE.’

‘Did they come here over the holidays to look after it?’ I asked.

The others gave me this look like, ‘Who cares?’ I thought they might kick me out of the group right then. Since that day I’ve tried harder to keep from blurting out my thoughts.

I’ve reached the spot now, and as usual the others are already here. Sitting in the shade of the toolshed. There’s this nice thick grass that’s really comfy, because I think it gets accidentally watered when the year elevens do the garden.

I sit down beside my friends. It’s obvious they’ve been talking about our trip to the city, because the first thing Olivia says is, ‘We thought we’d catch the 10:09. That okay with you?’

‘Sure.’ A train to the city with me and my friends! Fizzy excitement races through my brain.

‘What are you gonna wear?’ Tiffany asks me in an eager voice, ‘I’ve got this hot new top from Jetty Surf.’

‘Uh …’ what am I going to wear? Nobody who buys me clothes believes in brand names.

‘Hello, Kaitlin.’ I look up to where the deep voice came from. It’s the year ten boy I met in detention!

‘Hi, James.’ His eyes look even bluer in the sunlight. He gives me a wink and walks past.

‘He likes you!’ Olivia and Tiffany squeal at the same time.

‘You’re so lucky,’ Charlotte says wistfully.

Their words, and the way they’re looking at me, make me feel full of yellow light. If only I had something good to wear on Saturday, I’d be totally happy.