in NSW
The bell rang for break and Tilly and I rushed out the hall doors. We ran into the grounds and searched for Gabrielle. ‘The bathroom?’ Tilly suggested. I nodded. We turned around and ran towards the girl’s bathroom. It isn’t as luxurious as the ones in say…Australian schools-actually Australian private schools-I’ve heard that the ones at public schools are pretty bad. Anyway, our bathrooms are grimy and stinky as! Blegh! ‘Gabrielle? I’m Tilly Richman and this is my friend Tallulah-Jane. She gets teased a lot too.’ Tilly said kindly. We heard sniffling from the far cubicle. I crept over and knocked. The door opened and I saw Gabrielle on the toilet seat, crying. ‘Are you Tilly?’ she asked. I shook my head. ‘Tallulah-Jane?’ I nodded. ‘Ees it zat bad?’ she sobbed. ‘It can be worse, Gabrielle. People call me Nazi because my parents are German.’ Gabrielle looked up. ‘Zat’s ‘orrible! So rude!’ she shouted. ‘AND, my parents weren’t even Christian-we’re Jewish.’ Gabrielle gasped. ‘Do zey know zat?’ I shrugged. ‘I told them in my speech, but I don’t think they were listening.’ Gabrielle growled. I jumped back and she laughed. I started laughing too and Tilly ran in. ‘I thought this was a crying affair? What’s so funny?’ But Gabrielle and I were laughing so hard, we couldn’t answer her. Finally, Gabrielle caught her breath. ‘Are you Tilly?’ she asked. ‘At your service.’ Tilly replied. Gabrielle cracked up again. ‘I ‘ave been to 5 places around ze globe.’ She told us. ‘Really? I haven’t been overseas at all!’ I shouted. ‘Where?’
‘Madrid, London, Sydney, Napa and ‘Ollywood.’ Tilly and I screamed. ‘What?’ she asked. ‘H-H-HOLLYWOOD!’ we screamed. ‘What’s so good about ‘Ollywood? Zat was ze place I got teased ze most. Making friends isn’t always easy, you know.’
‘Sorry.’ Me and Tilly said. ‘It wasn’t so easy for me, either.’ I said to her. Gabrielle nodded. ‘Racism is disgusting!’ She cried, fiercely. I jumped back again, this time onto Tilly’s foot. ‘We agree, Gabrielle. But we’re the only kids at the school who think so.’ I said, disappointed. ‘Uh-uh.’ Tilly argued. ‘Didn’t you see the episode of That’s So Raven?’ She asked. ‘You know, when Raven didn’t get a job at Sasseez because she was black?’
‘Oh, yeah.’
‘Yeah, there were only three of them then, so who says we can’t?’ I shrugged and I looked at Gabrielle. ‘We could give it a try.’ She said. ‘But…’ I argued. ‘Uh-uh. No ‘but’s.’ Tilly said, parentally. I poked my tongue out at her. ‘Are you two arguing?’ Gabrielle asked, anxiously. Tilly and I started laughing. ‘No! Friends always do that!’ I laughed. ‘Well, of course, I wouldn’t know. I haven’t had a proper friend.’ Gabrielle said. We stopped laughing then. ‘WHAT?’ I shouted. ‘Don’t worry we’ll be great friends. I promise.’ Tilly said, consolingly.
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