She looks at the pear. ‘You first,’ she offers. I take a bite and the juice dribbles on my pants. ‘Lucky we’re in the sun,’ Ella says, ‘so it’ll dry before Science, or it could look awkward.’ ‘Everything I do is embarrassing,’ I say. She takes a bite, cupping her hand under the pear to catch the juice and hands it back with a knowing look. ‘Tell me the most embarrassing moment ever in your life,’ she says. I think of the long list and slowly begin talking. Once I start I can’t stop. ‘In my first year of high school, before you came, a boy from year eight pushed me out of the canteen line. When I tried to get back in he punched me in the mouth. I fell over, with nowhere to go but to the end of the line. When I got home, Dad asked what’d happened. I didn’t want to tell him.’ I shake my head as Ella offers me the pear. ‘When Dad found out he jumped in the car and was gone for hours. I spent all that time in my bedroom imagining the worst. He came home just before dark.
What do You think about Another Night In Mullet Town?
