‘What do you think of school so far?’ I asked. ‘It’s pretty good. I like moving round to different lessons; it’s better than being with one teacher all day.’ ‘I like Miss Espinoza too,’ I said. ‘She’s nice. And I like Mr Garibaldi and Mrs Holt is a really good teacher. The lessons are more interesting than primary school, aren’t they?’ She smiled. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’ I didn’t smile. ‘Ella! Stop pretending you’re not super smart. You don’t need to worry about schoolwork.’ ‘I’m not worrying,’ I said. ‘I mean, I think maybe Mrs Holt thought that thing I said about book blurbs was silly.’ ‘Mrs Holt can see that you’re clever and nice. All the teachers think that, except maybe the scary ones, because when you try to answer their questions you go really quiet and they can’t actually hear that you’re giving them the right answer. You just look like this to them.’ She opened and shut her mouth like a bashful goldfish.
