‘Ollie, you’ve been at the new school for less than two weeks. How have you had some life-changing revelation?’
It’s not that I’m not happy for Ollie . . . it’s more that I’mjealous. He’s had a breakthrough and I’ve not been a part of it.
‘It’s not a life-changing revelation as such. I’m trying to fit in here. The rules are different at this school. The people are different. And I want to get along with everyone, which means following their rules, not the ones I had before.’
This sounds more like Ollie. He wants to be a lawyer; he likes rules. And if in his new school the rule is to like electro music, then Ollie will learn to like electro music. He sees order in following the majority.
‘Makes sense. Just don’t change too much, okay?’
It sounds like I’m joking, but deep down, I don’t think I am.
***
The next day, I walk into the common room after French. There’s a stack of printed papers on the front table. The first edition ofThe Common Roomof the school year, released every Thursday. I grab one as I wait for Kira and Faye to meet me for lunch, and turn to the opening page.
?The Common Room?
New School Year - New Look - New Features
Contents
• Inside the staff room: Mr Edwards tells all
• Our favourite 10 apps to help with focusing
• Today’s Take: All-girls’ schools are the best for IOUs
• Into the archives: Weird school rules of the past
I immediately turn to ‘Today’s Take’. There it is, word for word – my Selena Says from last week. Underneath is a note from the editor:
I absolutely loved this take from an anonymous writer. Short, sweet, to-the-point. And it raises a few different topics for discussion. Our secret sender has some interesting points on women . . .
Tori proceeds to go off on an editorial rant about women’s rights and feminism and solidarity, using my words as a springboard for an opinion piece that has nothing to do with my initial point.
My first thought isHow did my Selena Says get into The Common Room?Followed immediately by the answer.
Faye and Kira walk in together, and I beeline for Kira.
‘Did you do this?’ I say, pulling them to the side and pointing at the article.
She glances down at it, looks back at me and shrugs.
‘Yeah,’ she says.
‘Why?’ I demand.
‘You’re the one who said they’ll never publish it. I wanted to test out the theory. So I submitted it from an anonymous email account. And look, now it’s published.’
‘You can’t take our texts and publish them,’ I say. ‘That’s like . . . an invasion of privacy.’
Kira rolls her eyes. ‘I don’t know why people thinkI’mthe dramatic one out of the two of us. Look, I know it’s a bit morally sketchy to do this without telling you in advance, but I did it for your own good. You were never going to submit anything byyourself. And look, it’s in print – and also, nobody knows it’s you.’
‘But what if they find out?’
Kira shrugs. ‘It’s a harmless opinion,’ she says.
‘But it’s stillmyopinion. Also one I amped up for comic effect – I don’t really believe in blackmail. And I wasn’t planning on sharing it with the school!’
