Take My Word for It Read Free

annoys me too. I think people should show a bit of guts, instead of sneaking round the place like a shadow. I know she’s had a hard time, and it’s terrible what’s happened to her, but she’s not the only one, and she sure doesn’t help herself.
    I was watching her a bit today but you have to be careful. If she thinks you’re watching she becomes self-conscious and hides, or makes like she’s busy. Like in Maths, she was sitting next to Cathy, and everyone was looking at Cathy while she was answering some long problem, and Marina just kept her head down and pretended she was writing. But I could see what she was doing: drawing faces in her book. I’ve seen her do that quite a lot.
    At mealtimes she always sits near big groups, but if they talk to her she moves away quickly. And I don’t know if I’m imagining this, but I reckon she hangs around the phone a lot when people are talking to their parents. She always seems to be there, I don’t know why. It just struck me tonight.
    Speaking of phones . . . I wish Huw’d ring. I like him, but he is slack. I’ve rung him the last three times, and it’s such a hassle. It’s the same for people ringing here I guess. You wait ten minutes for someone to answer, then you wait ten minutes for them to find him, and half the time he’s not there anyway, and that’s cost you every coin you’ve got. Last week I think they forgot me completely—I hung on for half the night, then got cut off without any answer.
    F EBRUARY 21
    This weekend’s the first Exeat Day, the only way to get out of here short of tunnelling. Issy asked me to go out with her parents but I said Chloe and Hamish were coming down again. They’re not, but I hate wrecking people’s exeats all the time by going out with them. It’s not fair to them. Issy hasn’t seen her parents for over three weeks and she’s entitled to the time. Then Tracey asked me too, and I used the same excuse. I think everyone’s going out except me, but I don’t, repeat, do not care.
    I feel so disgusting tonight. I pigged out on a whole block of peppermint chocolate. Why do I do these things? I just took off the wrapper and tore open the foil, thinking I’d have one row, four squares, and then stop . . . ten minutes later I was licking up the last crumbs and feeling sick and revolting already. I’ll have to go for another run tomorrow. I do all that training and then blow it in one big binge. My ambition is to win the biathalon. I came fifth last year, which wasn’t bad for Year 8, and since then Holly, Liz Matthews and Liz Chen have left.
    We had to write a poem for Prep. Yikes! I can’t write poems. He gave us the first line and we had to do the rest. Mine was:
    In the silence of the night (he gave us that)
    The house was dark and tense .
    I looked at the sky and thought ,
    But nothing made any sense .
    I looked at the moon and the clouds ,
    I saw the shape of a bird .
    I said a silent prayer
    And wondered if anyone heard .
    We’ve been passing them around all through Prep. People seemed to like mine. Sophie wrote:
    In the silence of the dark
    I thought of Steve and thought of Mark .
    I thought of David, Will and Rick ,
    Jeremy, Richard, James and Nick .
    Alex, Trent, Serge and Ben
    Where are you guys? I need some men!
    Way to write, Soph! She was pretty proud of that.
    Â 
    I liked Cathy’s poem the most, but she’s the best writer in the class.
    In the silence of the night
    I walked across a plain
    Of falling flowering snow
    And gentle dancing rain .
    I came to a rippling river
    Near a smooth and ancient hill .
    Where the snow was soft and even
    And the wind and stars stood still .
    And there I saw the colour
    That I’d been looking for ,
    A little green by the river ,
    A tree that grew on its shore .
    F EBRUARY 22
    Dear Ms Journal, I got heaps and heaps of work done tonight, while everyone else