‘Of course I did.’

‘Why didn’t you say anything then?’

Caroline looked up at the ceiling. ‘There’s lots of kids that leave this school because their parents don’t think the school does enough about bullying.’

‘What’s that got to do with Matilda and yesterday?’

‘It’s not that the school doesn’t do anything about bullying, they just figure we’ll work it out between ourselves and move on.’

I frowned. ‘What happened if you were bullied when you were little?’

‘Our teacher made us bake something together and then expected we get on with it.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Yep. We all kind of get on here at this school, so it can’t be that bad of a policy, can it?’

‘But Matilda was being racist,’ I protested.

Caroline sighed. ‘She probably didn’t know that she was, and I don’t know how to tell her, really.’

‘So it’s up to me?’ Typical.

‘Well, Michael is trying to teach us stuff about this. Hopefully she’ll come around.’

‘What do I do until then?’

Caroline smiled. ‘Just be yourself.’

‘But that’s the problem. I don’t think she likes me being myself.’

‘I don’t think it was about you at all,’ Caroline said. ‘You’re new, and that’s exciting. Everyone wants to get to know you.’

‘Really?’ I asked, trying not to appear too happy. Caroline had really made me feel better, although I was still a bit confused.

‘Yeah, really. Actually, do you want to come around on Friday night? I was thinking about having a few of the girls over.’

‘Sure,’ I said, knowing I’d have to run it past Dad and Caitlin first. But I knew they’d be happy I was making friends with kids from my class.

The air conditioners switched back on just before the bell and as we started walking back to class, I was feeling pretty satisfied about my chat with Caroline. I still managed to freeze up when I saw Matilda, Ashley and Hayley come towards us. Matilda had a basketball under her arm. ‘Where were you guys?’ she asked.

‘In the library. It’s way too hot!’

Matilda laughed. ‘You’re soft.’ She gave Caroline a nudge before Caroline swiped the ball from beneath her arm and started dribbling it towards class.

The air conditioning in the classroom was lovely now, and I stood beneath the vent for as long as I could before I had to take my seat. I knew that Michael was about to start our Australian history class again, focusing on Aboriginal history, so I looked over at Matilda, trying to sense if she was getting ready to strike me down.

‘Let’s begin,’ Michael said. ‘For our focus on Aboriginal history today, I’m simply going to provide a set of questions. I want you to write an answer down for each one and then we’ll discuss. However, I stress,’ he added, ‘I want genuine answers and not anything intended to be hurtful. Okay?’ He scanned the room, making eye contact with every student. I peered across to Matilda again to see if she was nodding in agreement.