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At the end of English,
Ella waits until everyone
has left the classroom,
before picking up her books.
I untie my shoelaces
to avoid looking at Manx
who gives up waiting for me
and charges towards the canteen.
Ella walks slowly past my desk.
‘What’s the term for
suffering Sutcliffe stoically?’ she asks.
‘Alliteration,’ I answer.
She reaches into her backpack,
pulls out a pear
and places it on my desk.
‘Your reward,’ she says.
I pick up the fruit
and feel its soft warm skin.
‘I could learn more from you
than Sutcliffe,’ Ella says.
She smiles and walks to the door.
‘And without Patrick’s violence,’ I say.
‘Do you want to share the pear, Jonah?’
I gather my books quickly,
but, in my eagerness to get to the door,
I trip over my untied shoelace.
Ella reaches out a hand
and stops me from falling.
‘One of us rhymes badly,
the other can’t tie his shoelaces,’ she says.
I follow her out of the building.
I’ll follow her anywhere.