Jacinta Takes a Walk
Copyright© 2025 by BarBar
Chapter 33: Tickle Fights and Fly Swats
I woke up with a start. I’d had another dream. Something to do with crushed cars and bent metal. Kala was in it, but I was with her. Then Frodo was there so everything was okay.
Frodo pulled me out of the bad dream and held me tight. “You’re safe now,” said Frodo. “I’ve got you.”
The details had already faded away. Frodo told me not to worry about it, so I didn’t.
Light from the morning sun was creeping through the shades. My bladder was ready to burst. Kala was using my shoulder as a pillow. The digital clock said it was 6:37am.
I gently moved Kala off my shoulder and slid the pillow under her head as a replacement. Then I carefully slid out from under the doona and lifted myself up and over Kala like a spider climbing across a web. Kala grumbled and rolled into the warm patch I’d left behind and then lay still.
I stood up beside the bed and glanced at the upper bunk. Both Vee and Sami were sleeping peacefully, curled up together like puppies in a pile. They looked so sweet.
I made my way out of the room and down to the bathroom.
The lights in the bathroom were on the low setting and I left them there. I didn’t need that much light for what I needed to do. There was someone in one of the showers, humming to herself. I used the toilet, swapped out my tampon and washed my hands. The girl in the shower was humming a Bruno Mars song. I forget its name but the chorus goes, “If the world was ending, I’d wanna be next to you.”
Back in the room, Kala had rolled and spread herself out over the whole bed. I lifted her nearer arm and leg and rolled her onto her side, with her back facing me. Then I slid in under the doona and spooned up against her back. I had to shift some hair off the pillow to make a spot for my head, but eventually I was able to settle. Kala slept like a log through the whole thing.
It was still ages until the alarm was due to go off, so I closed my eyes and relaxed.
EEEEEE AAAAAAA!!
The blaring alarm caught me by surprise. I jumped so much that I hit my head on the shelf at the head of the bed.
“Ow!” I said, rubbing my head.
Kala was watching me with a grin on her face. I swear she was laughing at me inside her head. I could almost see it bursting out of her.
I got myself out of bed and said, “If you’re going to be like that,...”
I threw off the doona, picked her up off the bed and dumped her on the carpet. Her grin turned to giggles, then outright laughter. I sprawled back onto the bed and splayed myself out over the entire bed.
Two heads appeared from the upper bunk. “What happened?” asked Sami.
“I hit my head,” I grumped.
“She jumped so high when the alarm went off,” gasped Kala, from where she still lay on the floor. “I’m amazed she didn’t launch into space.”
“Launching into space from there, would involve blasting straight up through the two of us,” said Vee. “I’d rather she didn’t do that.”
“So why are you on the floor?” Sami asked her sister.
“She tossed me out of bed,” said Kala, through her laughter. I’m sure I heard a pout in the way she said it. “All I did was laugh at the way she jumped, and she tossed me out of bed.”
“Serves you right,” said Sami.
The two heads above me disappeared and then Sami’s legs dangled down as she sat on the edge of the bunk. I heard a yawn, the sort of yawn that goes with a full stretch. Then Sami scrambled down and jumped onto her sister. A tickle fight broke out. I sat up to watch as the two sisters rolled on the floor, each gaining and then losing advantage and both giggling furiously. A pair of longer legs hanging from the bunk above suggested that Vee was also sitting on the edge of the bunk and watching.
The only one in the room not involved or watching was Aubrey. She had her pillow clamped over her head but was otherwise not moving.
The tickle fight ended as quickly as it had begun with the two of them lying on their backs, side by side, and gasping for breath. Standing up, I walked over to them and offered my hand to Kala to help her up. There was a thud behind me as Vee dropped off the top bunk. I offered the same hand to Sami and helped her up.
“I guess we should get to the bathroom,” I said. “That bus isn’t going to wait for us.”
The bathroom was as noisy and chaotic as it had been the previous morning. I slid into that chaos with a little smile. There was something comforting about being a part of this little crowd. It reminded me that girls are pack animals that like to come together from time to time like a swarm of bees around a honey pot. And I am, most definitely, a girl.
Sami and Kala arrived for their showers, wrapped in towels.
As Kala ducked into the shower cubicle, I called out, “Hey Kala, don’t forget to wash your bum.”
She stopped and poked her head back out at me looking confused. “What??”
The other girls in the bathroom were also looking at me.
Sami poked her head back out of the cubicle she was in. “What was that?” said Sami.
“A clean bum is a happy bum,” I explained.
“You are sooo weird,” said Kala and shut the door of the shower cubicle.
“So very weird,” said Sami. She pulled her head back and shut her door as well.
I turned to the other girls and held my hands out.
“What? It’s true.” I said.
There was a bit of laughter and the other girls went back to what they were doing.
Scarlet was standing nearby. She looked at me with a question on her face.
“Can you explain to me what that actually means?” she said.
That stopped me. I thought about it.
“I don’t know. It’s just a saying,” I said. “Maybe it means that nobody can be completely happy if they have a dirty bum. Or maybe it’s something people say to remind their kids to wash their bums. I don’t know. My dad used to say it to me.”
“I like it,” said Scarlet with a grin. “I think I shall adopt it as a personal motto in my life. It’s simple, and direct. It’s also ambiguous enough that it can mean whatever I want it to mean.”
“Excellent,” I said with exaggerated delight. “Another convert.”
I rubbed my fingertips together. “Soon we shall rule the world. Mwahaha.”
My villain impersonation needed some work, but it got a laugh so I was happy.
I finished brushing my teeth and then brushed my hair. All around me girls were braiding hair, but I didn’t bother.
I found out the forecast was for 19 degrees and sunny. I decided I’d go for the long pants and button up shirt version of the uniform based on the forecast. It was that sort of temperature that was in the middle. Colder days were definitely long pants days as far as I was concerned. Hotter days were definitely dress days. In the middle was either. Fortunately, the school didn’t care which version of the uniform we wore as long as we wore one of the versions.
“Don’t forget we have PE today,” Scarlet said to me. “Take your gear, we have prac today.”
I grunted. I could never keep track of when we had a prac class and when we had theory class for PE. As a result, I missed out on prac class more often than not because I didn’t have my PE gear to change into. It was good of Scarlet to remind me, but now I’d have no excuse for sitting out of the prac. I’m basically a lazy person and PE prac is often too much like hard work. Okay, I’m not really that lazy. It’s more like if I’m going to be active, I want it to be something I’ve chosen to do, not something someone else has told me to do.
I was still in the bathroom when Kala stepped out of her shower cubicle. She was biting her lip and looking nervous. Then a look of determination washed across her face. She turned her back on us and started drying herself.
Clara was the first to notice. “Hey Kala, cool scar. I never noticed that before.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Mei. “That is a cool scar. Can I touch it?”
Kala was surprised. “I guess.”
She stood still as Mei ran her fingers over the scar.
“Have you been hiding that?” said Maya. “Is that why you always stayed wrapped in a towel?”
Kala looked down at the floor. “Yeah. I was worried about you guys seeing it.”
Jana stepped in front of Kala and used a finger to gently lift up her chin.
“Silly duffer,” said Jana. “Why would we care about a little thing like that?”
Jana kissed her on the forehead and then gave her a hug.
“Keep moving girls,” said Maya to everyone.
The bustle resumed. Kala went back to drying herself, looking a bit stunned. I think she was surprised that not a single person had asked how she’d got the scar. She had her one line answer ready and she never got to use it.
Vee and I headed back to our bedroom. Aubrey hadn’t moved so we took turns to yell at her to get out of bed. When Aubrey still didn’t move, we worked together to drag her out of her bed and dumped her on the carpet. She clung onto her pillow as she was dragged, so that ended up on the carpet with her.
Aubrey told us we were both evil witches who deserved to be burnt at the stake. Then she curled up in a ball on the carpet and covered her head with her pillow.
I got dressed and put my schoolbag together. I realised I’d forgotten to grab a lunch last night so I ran down and grabbed a sandwich out of the freezer and an apple. I ran back upstairs and put that in my bag,
Aubrey was still lying on the carpet with her head under the pillow. I lifted one end of the pillow and yelled,”Wake up!” into her ear.
She told me how much she loved me. Those weren’t her exact words, but I knew that was what she meant.
I then lugged my bag downstairs and left it off to the side, out of the way of people. A number of others had done the same thing, so there was a line of school bags waiting against the wall.
If you’re wondering why I didn’t bring my bag downstairs the first time, so am I. I could have saved myself a whole trip up and down. Sometimes, I can be a bit dumb.
I handed the empty strip of painkillers to Roseanna in the office. I was up to day 4 of my period so the cramps were now not so much of a problem. I didn’t need any more pills. Breakfast this morning was a bowl of cornflakes, with milk and a glass of juice. I sat at a random table and chatted with the people who were there. That included Hazel, who I hadn’t talked to much, and Hao who was still managing his crutches due to his broken leg. Hunter also came and sat at the same table, but he did little more than acknowledge the rest of us and then eat his breakfast in silence.
I finished breakfast with about 10 minutes to spare so I went over and sat on one of the sofas and read a couple more pages of my novel.
When the time came, I joined the general exodus and walked with the group down to the bus stop. The bus going in the other direction arrived and was just pulling out when I saw Aubrey come running down the street, with her schoolbag on her back and a slice of toast in her hand. She made it in time to see the back of the bus driving away down the street.
Aubrey yelled at the bus and cursed and kicked a stone off the path, which went rattling away.
“Better get walking,” yelled Vee. “Move your ass or you’ll be late. Again.”
“Fuck off, you bitch,” yelled Aubrey. “I hate you forever.”
Vee held up her middle finger. Aubrey responded by doing the same.
Aubrey turned and started walking in the direction of the disappearing bus.
“Where’s she going?” I asked.
“She’s walking through to the main road,” explained Vee. “There’s a different bus that goes along there. If she catches it, that will get her to her school right on the bell. But she needs to move her ass to catch it. If she misses that, then the next bus for her, is the next one coming along this road, and she’ll be about 15 minutes late for school. Which means she gets another detention for being late. I think she only ends up being late about once every one or two weeks, but she cuts it fine every day.”
Our bus ended up being as crowded as it was on the Monday, but we got to school okay.
I sat in my usual spot for roll call and looked at the row of houses through the window. The odd house was still there, of course. There was a man walking over the roof, two houses to the left of the odd house. I wondered what he was up to.
I had Maths first. I was able to show Mr Hale that I’d complete the work from yesterday, so that was something. The new stuff we were doing made a little bit more sense to me. Minh sat next to me and was able to help me out the one time I got really stuck. Since I wasn’t interrupted by a call to see Mr Peterson, I actually got the set exercise completed by the end of the lesson. Mr Hale said that homework was to complete anything out of the exercise that we didn’t get done in class, so I was happy about that. But then he said there would be a test next Wednesday on the material we’d been doing so that made me less happy.
I had English next, and we were discussing Chapter 7 of the book. I sat between Claire and Jane. Scarlet ended up in the row in front. I hadn’t actually got that far in my reading, but at least I had a better understanding of the characters and the situation. I listened to the comments the other students were making, and wrote some notes. In the second half of the lesson, we had to write our own personal response to Chapter 7, so I wrote stuff based on what the other students had said. But I was able to relate it back to something that happened in Chapter 2, so that made me feel good.
At recess, I went and sat in my usual spot. After being in crowds and having people sitting next to me all morning, it felt like the first time I’d gotten to be on my own since my visit to the bathroom before the alarm went off that morning. It was nice just to relax and enjoy the chance to breathe.
As I sat there, I saw Josh and Amber, together, strolling through the crowds near the tuck shop and chatting to the younger kids. Later I saw a pair of Year 11s doing the same thing. That was curious. The Year 11s and 12s had their own lunch area. They were rarely around the juniors.
After recess, I had Japanese with Mr Mann. He was at school today, so that was good. The class went okay, but he set homework so that wasn’t so good. I had until Friday to get it done, so that was better.
Then I had PE with Miss Baranov. We had a prac class so that meant getting changed. I had my gear with me, because of Scarlet, so I could actually get changed and join in. Apparently in a theory class on Friday, they had discussed some coaching principles and techniques and some drills related to those. These particular drills worked for any ball sport where catching the ball was an important skill, which is most of them, I guess. Maybe not tennis, or bowls. We went outside and practised the drills with different sized balls for different sports – basketball, football, cricket, softball, netball, and so on. I picked up what was going on quickly enough. Every so often, we would stop and Miss Baranov would talk about how to refine the drill for that particular sport, and things the coach could say or do to go with the drill to improve the technique of the players. Then we’d swap out the balls for a different type and do the drills again. It was fun, but I can’t see myself ever being a coach, so I don’t know how useful the lesson was.
At lunch I went to my usual table.
There was a Year 8 boy sitting at my table. I scowled at him as I sat down.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He looked at me and a look of fright flashed across his face before he tamped it down and tried to look like he was in control.
He sneered and didn’t answer.
“I said, who the fuck are you?” I asked again, this time with a bit of a snarl.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.