“I’ll leave you two to it,” she said. She picked up our English books and headed out of the classroom.

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

I stared at the robot and felt my face go pink. It seemed like the robot was staring at me.

“Um. I guess I’ll just start with … hello,” I said. “I’m Anna.” I felt so awkward it was unreal.

Nothing happened for a moment and then the robot’s white eyes began to wiggle up and down. She was saying she was happy.

“Hello, Anna,” said Ellie. “Sorry you’ve got stuck inside with me at break-time.”

I smiled. “Oh, that’s fine,” I said. “I don’t do much at break-time anyway.” I wasn’t sure if that sounded a bit rude, but the robot’s eyes did another wiggle. I laughed.

“Do you like school?” said Ellie.

“It’s all right,” I said. “Miss Burnell is really nice.”

The robot hummed on the desk. Its eyes stayed in the happy setting. I sat there silent, trying to think of what I could say.

“Did you go to school before … um … before you got … ill?” I said. I instantly wished I hadn’t mentioned Ellie’s illness. That was probably the last thing she wanted to talk about! But Ellie didn’t seem to mind.

“Yes, but I haven’t been to school in person for about a year now,” she said.

I nodded. We sat in silence for a bit. I didn’t know what else to say.

“Where do you sit, Anna? Do you want to show me?” said Ellie.

“Sure!” I said. I carefully twisted the robot round so that it faced my empty desk. “I sit over there on the left with Erin, Seb and Anthony.”

I turned the robot back to face me again.

“I could show you around the rest of the classroom if you want?” I said.

The eyes on the robot wiggled again.

“Yes, please!” said Ellie. “You can tell me where everyone sits and what they’re like!”

I grinned, then carefully picked up the robot. I turned it round so that I was holding it against my chest, its eyes facing outwards.

“OK, so let’s start with Miss Burnell’s desk,” I said. I pointed the robot at the shelf behind her chair. “She keeps all of our workbooks here and she puts the book she’s currently reading on this stand so that we can see what it is.”

“Oh, I love reading. Don’t you?” said Ellie.

I thought about it. Did I like reading? I hadn’t read a book in ages.

“It’s OK, I guess,” I said.

I walked slowly around the class, showing Ellie where everyone sat. Then I went to the back wall where there was a big display of our latest art work. We had used pastels and chalks to draw Bronze Age tools.

“They look amazing!” said Ellie. “Which one is yours?”