Stay Well Soon Read Free Page B

‘But in the books it says a horse has to be at least fourteen point three hands otherwise it’s a pony.’
    April laughs. ‘You’re supposed to say he’s “fourteen three hands”. You don’t pronounce the “point”. Everyone knows that.’
    Charlotte laughs too.
    April has won the argument, as usual.
    The bell rings and we go to line up. On the way Mr Parks stops me and asks why Morgan isn’t sitting with us. I say I don’t know.
    It’s a pity that Morgan can’t sit with us, but that’s just the way it has to be. Life isn’t always fair. That’s what Mum said after Dad Tony went away on holidays and took all our furniture.
    *
    April and Charlotte ask to speak to me before school starts the next morning. They tell me I’m not in the group anymore. You have to have a horse to be in the group.
    â€˜But Brianna doesn’t have a horse,’ I say.
    April says I need to stop making excuses.
    So now I don’t have a group and I need a horse more than ever.
    I am on bin-monitor duty at lunchtime so at least I have something to do. You have to go around the school picking up rubbish with a pair of barbeque tongs. I pretend to be a lobster. I snap up the Prima straw wrappers with my claws. I imagine that my lobster claws are snapping at April’s stupid bony ankles. She would not like that. Some of the Grade 3/4 kids on the bin team start being lobsters too. When we get back to the main bin Mr Parks says our bin team did the best-ever job. Because I was team leader I am going to get a Certificate of Recognition for Leadership at the next assembly, so that’s something . I have never got one of those before.
    At the end of the day we get a marble in the jar because there is no rubbish on the floor after we pack up. We are up to twenty-eight marbles, so that’s something too.
    The next day I tell Mum I feel sick, but she doesn’t believe me. She doesn’t even take my temperature. She just tells me to get up and get dressed. Of course, Rhys gets to stay home again.
    So when I get to school I sit by myself near the portables because I still don’t have a group anymore. But not having a group is only special circumstances. Once I have my dream horse, Atta Girl, I will be back in the group and everything will be okay.
    I read my book. It is a really good book about a wild brumby.
    When the bell rings for the start of school I don’t have to go anywhere because I am already at the portable. April, Charlotte and Brianna come over to line up. Brianna smiles at me but April and Charlotte don’t even look at me. It’s going to be a long day.
    After school we go to the doctors again because of Rhys. I brought my book but I am sick of reading. Even wild brumbies get boring if you read about them all day. I read about them before school, at recess, at lunchtime and at afternoon recess. That is what happens when you don’t have a group anymore.
    Mum and Rhys get called in to see the doctor. Mum has to wake Rhys up because he’s fallen asleep on the chair. When he sits up his face is all sweaty.
    I sit up straight in my chair. I am ready. When the office lady offers me a glass of juice, I will say yes.
    The man next to me keeps coughing. Maybe I will get sick too. Then I won’t have to go to school next week, and that will give me time to get a horse and get back in the group. I breathe really deeply through my mouth. I think the germs are going in and catching on the back of my throat. I swallow hard a few times.
    The office lady doesn’t talk to me. She probably thinks I don’t like juice. I have missed my chance because Mum and Rhys come back out again. They weren’t even in there for five minutes.
    While Mum is talking to the office lady the doctor comes back out and says, ‘Mrs Wilkins?’
    An old lady stands up and starts to walk slowly towards the doctor.
    On the way past Mum says, ‘Good