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‘Buckle up, everyone!’ called Mia’s mum, starting the car.

‘All right!’ said Jack. Then he grinned wickedly at Mia. ‘Let’s see if I can break my record today!’

Jack usually made Mia laugh within about a minute of the trip to school. It didn’t matter what kind of mood Mia was in when she got into the car, she was always laughing by the time they got to the school gates. Now it had become a competition to see how long she could last before Jack made her crack up.

‘Hey, Mia,’ said Jack. ‘What’s this?’

He started swinging his arm wildly around in front of him. Then he did a funny little dance in his seat. He looked so silly that Mia could already feel the laughter burbling up in her throat.

‘Um … ’ she said, holding the laughter down. ‘Do you need to go to the toilet, maybe?’

‘No,’ grinned Jack. ‘This is what I’ll look like winning the Ping-Pong-A-Thon! Woohoo!’

Mia burst out laughing.

‘Hey, that’s a record!’ chuckled Jack. ‘We haven’t even left the driveway and I’ve made you laugh!’

‘I’m not laughing because of your dance,’ giggled Mia. ‘I’m laughing at the idea of you beating me at ping-pong.’

‘There’s no way you’ll beat Mia,’ said Nick, turning around from the front seat. ‘I hardly ever beat her and I’m almost two years older. She turns into Magic Mia when she’s playing ping-pong. She never misses the ball!’

Mia felt good when Nick said that. Sometimes he acted like she was annoying. It was nice to hear him call her Magic Mia.

‘Well, she might be Magic Mia,’ said Jack, whacking invisible ping-pong balls around the car. ‘But I’m Ping-Pong Pang, the Ping-Pong King!’

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Mia burst out laughing again. Nick chuckled too.

‘Yes!’ said Jack, punching the air. ‘I made you both laugh and we’re still in our street.’

Then a song came on the radio that both Mia and Jack liked. Jack started singing. He had a great voice. To start with he sang the real words to the song. But then Mia realised he was making up his own words.

‘I know this girl Mi-AH, well she lives in a tree-AH!’

There was no way Mia was letting Jack get away with that!

‘You know that boy Jack-O, well he is really whack-O!’ Mia sang even louder than Jack, to drown him out.

Nick shoved his fingers in his ears. ‘Mum, I’m going to need some earplugs for when these two are together,’ he groaned.

Their mum laughed. ‘I can’t believe Mrs Bonacci thinks you’re shy, Mia,’ she said. ‘If she could hear you right now she wouldn’t think that at all!’

Jack turned and looked at Mia. ‘How come you’re sometimes shy and sometimes not?’ he said.

Mia shrugged. She wasn’t really sure why. She just was. It was like the moment she walked into class she turned into someone else. It also happened when she was around people she didn’t know very well. She often knew exactly what she wanted to say. But somehow the words got lost on their way out.

At school some kids called her Mouse because she was so quiet. Mia hated that nickname! She didn’t feel like a mouse inside. But being teased just made her even more shy.

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Mia’s mum stopped the car out the front of their school. Waiting near the front gate were Shae and Michiko.

Mia smiled. Michiko was swinging on the gate as usual, which was against the rules.

I bet Shae’s warning her to get off before she gets in trouble! thought Mia.

Shae and Michiko were really different to each other. And Mia was different to both of them. But they also had lots of things in common.

Mia looked across at Jack. Lots of things about him reminded her of Michiko and Shae. He liked reading adventure books like Shae. And he was good at doing handstands like Michiko.

Jack would get along really well with Michiko and Shae, decided Mia. But at school Jack played with his group and Mia played with hers. If a boy and a girl played together, everyone thought they liked each other.

It’s a pity, Mia sighed, getting out of the car. It’d be so cool if we were all friends!

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