First Time

The tears feel sticky as I run the back of my hand over my freckled cheeks. I think my head hurts more than my knee but the pains are different; my head throbs and my knee stings. I still don’t know who had pushed me over in the playground but I’ll find out and then there’ll be serious bother.

“Does it hurt a lot?” asks Penny as she gently presses a pad of lint on my leg in an effort to stop the blood running down my thin white shin and onto my black plimsoll.

I slowly look up and notice how blonde and curly her hair is. It looks like a plate of tinned spaghetti with all the sauce washed off. I think Penny is the best looking girl in my school; I think she’s the best looking girl in every school. She told us all in yesterday's class that her Dad allows her to stay up until 8:30 on a school day; that’s not fair, I have to be in bed by 8 o’clock.

“Bit,” I slowly reply, just like that man in the cowboy film I had watched on the television on Saturday. Penny’s dark blue blazer looks newer than mine. Her silver trim shines and mine looks dull. I rub my arm through the thick rough, itchy fabric.

“They’ll put witch-hazel on your bump and give you a head-case note.” Penny pauses, smiles and then continues. “I simply love the smell of witch-hazel. I’d like to wear it as a perfume when I’m bigger “

I run my tongue around my mouth. I can taste the faint lingering flavour of Wrigley’s gum, but the gum is not there. It probably fell out when I was pushed over .

“I’d like to be a nurse when I grow up. That’s why I walked you to the sickroom so I could practice being a nurse.”

Penny is different to all the other girls in my class. Her little snub turned-up nose is sweet and she can move her eyebrows one at a time; I wish I could to that. I wonder if she can make an owl sound by blowing into her hands?

Her finger suddenly jabs me in the chest. “You’ve got the skinniest legs I’ve ever seen. They look like they’ll break at any minute. I’ve got a guinea-pig and a hamster at home. Do you want to be my boy-friend?"

I miss a breath; my face begins to prickle and I can feel the colour start to change; I try to speak but my mouth flaps like a goldfish. Did I hear that correctly? She’s got a guinea-pig and a hamster at home; I’ve only got a dog: This girl’s got class. I’ve never had a girl-friend before.

Don't mind". I look at her shoes, they are clean and shiny: real class. "Okay, but don't tell anyone”.