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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.