Chapter 29: The Seven Dwarfs

The morning light peeking around the blinds had me ready to wake up. The movement in the bed next to me, and the hand flopping onto my face, completed the process. For some reason, it didn’t startle me or scare me, it simply woke me. I felt the movement, then I felt the hand land on my face, and I opened my eyes.

I gently moved the hand off my face and laid it on my upper chest. Glancing sideways, the owner of the hand was oblivious. Kala had rolled away from me during the night and now lay on her back, with her head on the pillow beside me. Her loose hair framed the soft Asian features of her face. The upper edge of the doona had folded back, leaving her pyjama clad chest and arms exposed. The bright red pyjamas stood out like a beacon in the dim morning light. Her chest rose and fell, ever so slightly, as she breathed. Her soft breathing disturbed strands of hair that floated near her face so that they fluttered in the air.

I lay there and watched her, entranced. She was like a sleeping angel, with her face so calm and relaxed. She’s so very small. It’s easy to understand why so many people think she’s only eight or nine, instead of her real age which is twelve going on thirteen.

I felt a surge of protectiveness. The Monica Lassars of the world had better stay away from this innocent little kid or I would have some things to say. She’s already had too much grief in her life. I wasn’t going to stand by and let more grief come her way. Not if I could help it.

I glanced over at the digital clock on the wall. It was 6:51am. Too early to get up. My bladder disagreed but I decided it could wait a little bit longer. The warmth and softness of the bed, and the angelic creature lying so peacefully next to me, overcame the puny demands of my bladder. It wasn’t that cold in the room, but I reached out anyway and carefully unfolded the edge of the doona so that Kala’s chest and shoulders were covered. I let my head sink back into the pillow and closed my eyes.

EEEEEE AAAAAAA!!

The alarm was sudden, strident, sharp, blaring.

I jerked so hard, that I swear my entire body lifted off the bed. My pulse raced and my hands clenched in shock. Frodo stood at my feet, teeth bared, shackles raised. Beside me, Kala had jerked awake and then relaxed again. The alarm went on and on, then cut off as suddenly as it had begun.

Kala’s eyes had been laughing as she lay there and watched my reaction.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” she said, her voice quiet and soft. Then she yawned and stretched and wriggled.

I let myself collapse onto the bed. “Do they have to make that so loud?”

She giggled. “I have to admit, it works. At home we used to have a clock radio in our room. It would start playing music when it was time to wake up. That was much nicer, but I can’t tell you how many times we rolled over and went back to sleep with the music playing.”

A pair of red-clad legs appeared and then descended as Sami lowered herself off the top bunk.

“Morning sis. How’d you sleep?” said Sami.

“I slept great,” said Kala. “Jacinta had a bad dream and woke me up. But I cuddled her and told her she was okay and I told her she was safe like you always do with me. She settled down and I went back to sleep. Apart from that, I didn’t wake up once.”

I blinked in confusion. I didn’t remember that. I didn’t remember any bad dreams from during the night.

Both Sami and Kala gave me kind smiles.

“Don’t worry,” said Sami. “Everybody here has bad dreams.”

“Everybody,” echoed Kala.

“Even me,” grouched Vee as she clambered down from the top bunk. “Last night, I dreamed that I was being strangled by a Ninja warrior wearing red pyjamas.”

She stopped and looked at Sami. “Oh, wait. Maybe that was real.”

“Ninja are Japanese,” pouted Sami. “My family is from Indonesia.”

“I know that,” said Vee. “But apparently my dream didn’t. But don’t worry, I got you back.”

“You did? How?” said Sami.

“I waited until you went back to sleep and shaved all the hair off your head.”

Sami gasped and put her hands to her head. All of her hair was still firmly attached.

“Oh,” said Vee. “Maybe that part was the dream.”

Vee reached out and gave Sami a sideways hug. Sami hugged her back.

“I’m sorry if I strangled you, Vee,” said Sami. “I didn’t mean to.”

Vee laughed and patted Sami on the bum.

“I got over it,” said Vee. “Let’s go and join the chaos in the bathroom. I’ll grab my brush. Maybe this morning, I’ll get to use it for brushing hair instead of whacking backsides.”

“Are you getting up?” asked Sami, looking at the two of us.

Kala sprang out of bed. “I’m up.”

I followed, a little more slowly, without saying anything. I stood and stretched. Now that I was up, I felt like I did have a good night’s sleep. Maybe there’s something to be said for having someone to cuddle up with. I grabbed my brush and my toiletry bag out of my cabinet and let the others know I was ready.

Vee walked over to Aubrey’s bunk. Aubrey had the pillow over her head and was holding it pressed against her ears. It was a pose she probably adopted when the alarm went off. She hadn’t moved since.

“Start stirring, Aubrey,” said Vee. “You know what I’ll do if you don’t get yourself up.”

Aubrey’s voice was muffled but understandable. “Fuck off bitch. I hate you. It can’t be morning yet. The fuckers did the alarm early. I hate them. I hate you. I hate everybody.”

Vee didn’t respond but she did walk over and raise the blinds to let the sun come streaming into the room.

“Let’s go,” said Vee.

We went.

Sami and Kala peeled off into their own room on the way.

“Wait for us,” called Kala.

“Nuh uh,” I said. “If I stand here too long, I’ll piss on the carpet. I’ll see you in there.”

I saw enough through their open door to know that they had a smaller room than me, with only one set of bunk beds. It was only the two of them sharing a room.

Vee and I made our way into the bathroom and it was as chaotic as promised. Sami and Kala arrived, soon after. They’d removed their pyjamas, for the first time since I met them, and were wrapped in towels ready for their showers. With the addition of those two, I think every girl but Aubrey was in that bathroom.

Some girls were using the toilets, some girls were using the showers, some girls were brushing their teeth. Every girl was finding a square of mirror they could use to brush their hair. Some of the girls were helping each other braid or style their hair – nothing fancy, but effective. Some girls were more awake than others but it felt like everyone had something to say. The multiple conversations going in that small space made it pretty noisy without being overwhelming. Some of the girls who were showering used the same trick as Maya had taught me the previous night and came out into the main section to dry themselves off. Then they would wrap the towel around themselves and do the rest of their preparations like that. Other girls dried off inside the cubicle and didn’t come out until they were securely wrapped in a towel.

I used the toilet, my bladder was suitably grateful, and I swapped out my tampon. This toilet cubicle had a painting of a unicorn on the door. It wasn’t one of those colourful kids’ cartoon unicorns. It was a strong grey horse with a single straight horn. It was nicely painted but not by an expert. It was done using the type of paint they have in school, not with the fancy stuff the professionals use. There was no name.

Back at the basins, I washed my hands, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, and used a band to pull my hair back into a simple pony tail. Many of the girls were braiding their hair, but I hardly ever do that so I’m not good at it.

One conversation I did pay attention to was the forecast. A couple of girls had checked their phones. It was going to be 22 degrees, and sunny. I’d been trying to decide whether to wear the dress or the long pants and shirt. I decided it was dress weather.

The 7:15am alarm went off while I was in the bathroom. It seemed to go for longer. It wasn’t deafening, but it was definitely loud. Maybe it was the unexpectedness of the first alarm that had shocked me and that had made it seem louder than it was.

I looked at all the girls trying to brush their hair at once. “If we had mirrors in our rooms, we could avoid some of this chaos,” I told the room.

Clara turned around and grinned at me. “A lot of us do have mirrors in our rooms. Little ones. But doing it this way is more fun. And it’s easier to get everything right with the bigger mirrors, so everyone prefers to do our hair in here. The little mirrors in our rooms are good for last minute checks of hair or makeup or whatever.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I didn’t say anything. Then I remembered that girls are pack animals, like wolves. We walk around in packs at school, or at the shops, or anywhere, really. If we’re going to the bathroom, we go in a pack. If given a choice between sleeping in a pile, or sleeping individually, most girls will choose to sleep in a pile. Okay, I don’t know about that last one. I’ve never understand the whole pack mentality. But then again, I’d just spent last night cuddled up with another girl and I’d loved doing that, so maybe that made me a typical girl.

I gathered it was normal to get dressed and ready for school before going down for breakfast, so I figured I would do that too. I went back to my room and changed out of my pyjamas. I put on fresh underwear and a bra, and got into the school uniform dress. My school dress was getting a bit old and thin. Half of the cotton holding the hem in place was gone so it had unfolded and hung unevenly. I’d grown a bit since I got it, so it was getting a bit short too, and a bit tight around the hips and around the chest. I sighed. There was no way this dress was going to last for another two and a half years of school. At some point soon, I was going to have to fork out for a new dress. The school had a second hand section of the uniform shop, so if I was lucky I wouldn’t have to pay too much. And SHORT was giving me that small allowance for clothes, so I really no longer had an excuse.