The Assistant Who Fell | Asa Butterfield

Chapter 29 - Presentation

Chapter 29

I remembered one time I joined a race with my little peers. It was a game of sliding a pencil inside an alcohol bottle, where one end of a pencil is tied around a string, and the other end of the string is tied around the person's waist. The pencil faces the back, and from there the person has to navigate the pencil between their legs. Here is an example:

So yes, basically I did a race with three other people, and whoever slides the pencil inside the bottle first wins. I was up for any type of races and was determined that I could do this as well. When the horn sound came off, I bent forward and focused on the pencil between my legs. It was a great deal on having a very good concentration as the people who were watching you couldn't stop giggling, but I wasn't having any of that as my eyes were solely on the prize.

A jar of chocolate chip cookies.

I nearly fell forward as I finally slid the pencil through the hole, but I did it. I didn't dare to move from my position as I cheered 'first!' and waved frantically in the air. Cheers and applauses noises in the air as I was handed over a jar of cookies by the host. I smiled a million watts and celebrated my win by finishing the whole jar to myself.

But this time, I knew Ace would give me a box of Pockies instead.

I stumbled back as he attacked me in a warm bear hug. It took me a couple of seconds to digest what just happened, until I let my arms wrapped itself around Ace's waist.

One of the many things I liked about his hugs was that they are cosy. His big frame towered over my small figure easily, which looked like he hugged a ten year old. I remembered a group of year tens from another school told me that, so I flipped the bird to them without hesitation.

Sooner than I expected to, we were pulled apart by force and he was then attacked by "congratulations" from his class mates. A pang of hurt thudded against my chest. It was jealousy, and jealous was an ugly thing.

One of my nicer classmates, Tom, came up to me and pat me on the shoulder, "Congrats girl, have you packed your bags yet?"

"Huh?"

"Melbourne? Did you fall over head with Ace that hard that you suddenly forgot about it?"

I blushed furiously, "Tom! your jokes are shit. And yes, I do remember it, I just haven't given it a second thought."

"You should be, it looks like your chances are high." He gave me one last smile and left to congratulate Ace.

My chances were high?

I skidded my way towards the end of the track. My eyes quickly found our car, which stopped just about a centimetre or two above from the line, but otherwise the closest one so far compared to the rest of the cars. My heart swelled in happiness and thudded heavily against my chance. Was this it...?

"For someone who forgot their pumper at last minute, sure do bring the best result." My teacher said, as he observed the car's distance closely.

"We're just lucky is all." I replied and bit my cheeks from grinning too big.

"Definitely luck." He nodded and left to check on others.

If I was going to Melbourne, what would I do there? Other than versing other schools obviously, but any entertainment I could do? I racked up my brains to remember what I did when I was younger. Oh gosh, I could ride the trams again with the spider web-like skies, or go shopping like crazy in Harbour Town, or even "accidentally" bump into mychonny...