Surviving High School: the life of Bonnie Brown

Surviving High School: the life of Bonnie Brown

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Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

William Shakespeare.

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What is love? Some people wonder. Sometimes I also wonder about this question, such a strong, meaningful question, yet also one of the most difficult questions of mankind. But, I personally think I could answer that question.

Isn’t love like Bonnie and Clyde or Romeo and Juliet? A couple that physically and emotionally loves each other, with complete passion, even lust? It’s a tender affection for another being. To some people love is like a spark, set off with that very first look or kiss. To others, it’s just starts with a feeling, not much purpose at all, just a simple, silly little crush, that takes place inside your head, a mental thing, but it soon blooms into reality and your simple, silly little crush becomes love. You start to become mature and learn how to love, instead of crush. I guess that’s where things start to get interesting. 

It’s strange to think I wouldn’t have been able to answer this question four months ago. The only question I would be able to answer is: “How many head of cattle have you tagged so far?” or “Have you cleaned the horse tack?” Yeah, stuff like that. But now I knew what love was, I could describe what I thought it was without difficulty. That was because I have experienced it.

You are about to follow me on my rollercoaster ride of my life- and trust me, it will be one heck of a ride. One heck of a ride through high school and this is where it begins, on a large cattle station in the middle of Western Australia, about half and hour’s drive from the city of Kalgoorlie.

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“Bonnie, have you packed everything?” My mum asked from down the hall. I sighed.

“Yep, sure have.” I replied casually, shoving my boxes together. 

You would complain when you have to move house, to a different suburb. Well, I wonder what you would be like if you discovered your moving to a totally different country and living in a new lifestyle. That’s what was happening with my family, a small family of four, who owned a cattle station in the Western Australian desert. A place that is dry, humid, dusty and very, very red. Where cattle struggle to find edible vegetation in the sparse desert plains and clean fresh water in the dried up dams and creeks. It’s like your own personal hell. 

But it has a sweet side to it as well, the side with the amazing landscape, unique native animals, funny rock formations and strange flora. The lands peak time for having its lovable side is at dusk, when the sun sets. The sun setting in the desert is the most spectacular image you could ever see. Thousands of warm colours are illuminated across the sky, starting at the top with a fading pale blue, then merging into a yellow/blue, then yellow, gold, orange, fiery red and a bright orange sun, which is slowly fading into the distant horizon. The glow of the sun setting is sent across the red plains, lighting it up, so it looks like all those little shadows are dancing in the light. 

I was really going to miss those beautiful sunsets; they were a part of me and a part of Australia. 

Hollywood. That’s the country we are moving to, from Australia all the way over to Hollywood, a place of fame and fortune, where all the famous celebrities lived. You see, it was out of pure luck that we bought the winning lottery ticket from in town, something we did every month, with the prize money of $30.000.000 million dollars. At first when dad told me I thought it was just another one of his jokes, but after a while realisation sunk in and I figured out that dad was telling the truth- I screamed with joy, did a happy dance then ran around the house like a headless chook. I couldn’t believe my ears, we won a lottery, for so much money, I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. Next to come were those five devastating words that really shocked me: “We are moving to Hollywood.”. I guess I was excited but also upset at the same time, I really enjoyed living in Australia, it was a truly beautiful country, but I brightened up when dad explained that we would be keeping the farm and boy, what a relief that was.