I’m not sure when
to give Mick the crackles.
Should I leave them on his desk
with a note from anonymous?
Or sneak them into his backpack
hanging on the verandah?
Maybe I’ll just hand him the package
and walk away before he has a chance to say no.
The bell rings for class,
the crackles stay hidden in my bag.
At morning recess, I can’t find Mick,
maybe he’s hiding from me?
All morning in class I think of the crackles
and hope they’re not melting.
At lunch I sit on my bench seat
the package of crackles on my lap
watching Mick and his friends
lazing against the back fence, laughing
and I know there’s only ten minutes
until the afternoon bell
and I can’t bear it any longer
so I take a deep breath,
and walk, knees knocking, hands shaking,
towards Mick and his gang.
Rachel sees me first and says, ‘Hi’
and Mick looks up
and I get scared
so I casually toss the parcel
and luckily he’s a good catch
and he laughs and says, ‘Whoa!’
which is not a word,
not really, it’s just a sound,
and I don’t know what to say
so I turn and start to walk
back to my bench
where I belong
and Mick says, ‘Laura’
he calls my name
so I turn back to him
and he unwraps the parcel
and everyone looks inside and laughs.
Cameron says, ‘Not more biscuits!’
and Mick blushes,
I’m sure he blushes, and says,
‘Sit down and help us eat them.’
He looks up at me and adds, ‘Please?’
And then he makes a space
between him and Selina
and offers me the first crackle
and it tastes
as fresh and crisp and sweet
as friendship.