STUART FLEMING
The nature of school
ILLUSTRATION: AIDAR ZEINESHEV
Remember: every element is vital.
F
ran watched Eric from across the playground. He was busy directing his friends, confidently arranging them into teams for a game of football. Eric liked being in control and he especially liked winning. Earlier that week Principal Tetram had issued a challenge to the school: Each student does enough activity at lunchtime to make them puff. Eric had quickly decided to accept the dare and boldly set about creating a football competition between classes. “Any goal Eric sets himself he achieves,” F r a n s i g h e d . “ H e ’s s o f o c u s e d a n d determined. I wish I was as firm as he is.” “WAIT!” The urgent cry from Amy carried over the noisy playground and made Eric stop dead. He turned to see her jogging across the grass towards him, waving a neatly folded piece of paper. “If these two classes play each other now, it will mess up your competition draw,” Amy explained. “You need to get one of them to stand down because there’s still one team that hasn’t played yet.”
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“See?” she said, pointing to the chart on the piece of paper. “It does make sense!” Eric blinked at Amy’s logic, puzzled at how he hadn’t seen the error. “She’s so focused,” Eric thought. “Her eye for detail is amazing. I wish I could think as clearly as she does.” Amy trotted back to the concrete step beside the hall. A small huddle of students had formed nearby and seemed to be looking at something on the ground. Amy changed direction for a closer look and nudged her way between the onlookers. Kneeling beside the playground first-aid kit was William. He was applying a plaster to a small scrape on the knee of one of the new entrants. A skipping rope was still limply wrapped around her tiny foot. “Everyone falls over when they’re trying out new skip routines,” William was explaining patiently to the teary-eyed girl. “The main thing is to give it another go when it doesn’t work the first time. I’m sure you’ll have that jump-trick nailed in no time, just like your friends.”
Amy smiled. Trust William to be offering words of comfort; he was the most considerate person she knew. Incredibly loyal to his classmates, William had a knack for making sure everyone was getting on well. Why, just yesterday he had smoothed out a festering disagreement between the MacArthur twins. “He’s so dedicated,” Amy muttered under her breath. “I wish I was as calm.” As William stood, holding the first-aid kit, he stretched his legs. They were still stiff from yesterday’s cross-country run. He didn’t like running very much. He had considered pulling out of the event, but had bumped into Fran as he arrived at school yesterday. Fran had been fizzing, excited to see whether the course would be more fun than last year, especially since she’d made suggestions to Principal Tetram to improve the route. In just a five-minute conversation, Fran had inspired William enough about the challenge that any thought of pulling out was erased.
