There Was an Orphan Girl Who Attended Our School

There was a girl at our schoolan orphan.

She lived with her grandmother, who was deeply religious and very elderly. Every Sunday, they walked past our house on their way to church, both looking thin and fragile, dressed in pristine white headscarves. Rumour had it the grandmother forbade her from watching television, eating sweets, or laughing openlylest devils enter her mouthand insisted she wash her face in freezing cold water every morning.

We used to tease her. She would look back at us with grey, grown-up eyes and say softly, God forgive them; they know not what they do. Nobody was friends with hereveryone called her odd. Her name was Grace. Grace Williams.

Back when I was a kid, school dinners werent anything to write home about. But Fridays were different; sometimes, youd get a currant bun with tea, or a sausage roll with hot chocolate and a tiny chocolate bar. One time, while we were picking on Grace, someone gave her a shove and she crashed right into me. I went flying against the dining table, knocking over trays of cocoa, sending a river of chocolate cascading onto two sixth formers.

So, they said ominously.

Run! I told Grace, grabbing her hand, and we dashed back to our classroom.

It felt like a pack of howling wolves, or a herd of stampeding cows, was chasing us. The last two lessons were maths. Behind the glass doors, I could see two tall figures lurking. Every so often, the door creaked open and two heads poked in, then whispered together. I knew what was coming: an investigation, a verdict, andif I recall classic English literaturea hanging.

The trick is to slip quietly out with everyone else and I know how to get onto the atticwell hide there until dusk, then run home.

No, said Grace, Well go exactly as girls should. In the daylight. Quietly.

But Grace, they’re They’ll

What? What will they do? Pour milk over our heads? Shout at us? Hit two Year Five girls? Really?

Well

Even if they do, itll only happen once. If you dodge it, youll worry about it every day.

We left the class with the others, just as proper girls shouldquietly. The two sixth formers were leaning against the wall.

Oi, little ones, which of you lost this? The boy had my Minnie Mouse purse with a ten-pound note inside (for paying for swimming and art club).

Here you go, he said, handing me the purse, Dont run away again.

I swung my satchel as I walked home, thinking how nice it felt to belong, and how lucky I was to have a new friend.

Let me ring Mum so she can call your gran and let you come over to watch cartoons at mine. Or arent you allowed?

Grace rolled her eyes.

Lets go get some wafer biscuits with condensed milkGran baked them today.

We stayed close friends for years, until life took us to separate parts of the world.

But I always remember that time. Jumping from the top diving board into the blue pool felt terrifyingbut scary just one time.

Its frightening to try something new. Whats the worst that could happen? Someone might say Im daft? Well, theyll say it only once. Otherwise, Ill let myself think it every day.

Youre scared onceor youre scared every day.

You beat fear one time, or it rules your life all the time.

Its always your choice.