Book One: Trunk & Chopbox Girls

Chapter Seven

November

A couple of days after my conversation with Lorraine, we received the invitation to St. Clarence Boys' School's annual debate for first year students. It was a healthy competitive tradition that both schools had created since the 1930s to promote gender equality. St. Clarence had won more trophies than BAGS but we were slowly catching up. This year's topic was on the boarding school system and just how beneficial it was on children.

The night before our first outing outside the gates of this school, some of the Form 2 and 3 girls decided to advice on how to play our cards right.

"Tomorrow will determine whether you can get a boy or not", they told us while reminiscing on the times they had to go to St. Clarence.

I hated to admit it but it did make me worry. I had never had a boyfriend. The boys I had known in my old school liked girls like...well Nann. Or even Lorraine. I had male friends but I had never had a boy tell me he liked me. Most of the girls dating boys in St. Clarence did share that they met on debate night.

"Do you know any of your mates at Clarence?" Josie asked me before we went to bed. That evening had been one of the times she was in a good mood and so she did not mind that I was even sitting on her trunk.

"I know some but I'm sure I'll meet others too", I replied.

"That's how I met Jason", she told me dreamily. She was wearing a football jersey and I strongly suspected it was Jason's.

I smiled. "I don't know how my parents met but they attended BAGS and St. Clarence."

"That's romantic. Have you picked out your clothes for tomorrow?" she asked. Josie looked at my red skirt and cream-colored shirt hanging on the side of the bed and scowled. "This shirt is too big! Get my needle and thread, I can't have you meeting Jason looking ugly."

"I'm meeting Jason?"

She looked up at me as she threaded the needle and then lowered her voice, "I need you to give him something for me." Josie handed me an envelope. She glared at me before releasing her grip on it. "Do not open it."

"I won't", I swore.

When she turned her back to me I smelled the envelope. She had doused the poor piece of paper in her perfume. It was so strong but she didn't notice when I made a face.

"I'll give you my phone tomorrow. When you get there, text him. I repeat, do not read anything on my phone either", she lowered her voice as she gave out her instructions.

"He will meet up with you for this. I'm sure he also has something special for me."

It wasn't just Josie who got excited whenever St. Clarence was brought up; almost all the girls were in love with someone from that school. They always referred to them as 'our boys'. They were so used to seeing girls that any boy was a sight to behold. It was kind of funny actually.

I was more excited to be going out of the four corners of this school and seeing what lay beyond us than worrying about which boy from St. Clarence was going to be my boyfriend for the next two and a half years. Maybe a month ago, this would have been the perfect way to escape from the school but not so much anymore.

Despite me not caring about the impression I was going to make at St. Clarence, I was glad that Josie altered my shirt to fit me better.

"You even look slim!" she admired her handiwork on me.

I could tell that Josie had taken this very personally. She was all over me that morning even though we weren't going to be leaving for the next four to five hours.

"She looks nice", Gifty, who had been watching us, observed.

"She's going to get a boy today!" Josie squealed excitedly.

I looked at Nann when she said that but it didn't seem like she was even listening to us. She was neatly folding her housedress into her trunk. Nann wouldn't have a problem getting the attention of boys. As much as I hated to admit it, the girl was gorgeous. Her attitude just wasn't. It seemed the other two girls were watching her too.

"What about you Nann?" Gifty asked her.

Nann finally looked up at her bunkmate. "What about me?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Josie enquired.

"I think you already know the answer", Nann replied as she locked her trunk.

Nann excused herself as the two girls exchanged looks.

I turned to Gifty instead of Josie this time around. "I haven't heard any of my mates talk to a senior in this manner. We get punished for a little dust on our shutters."

Josie muttered under her breath. "Yeah, she's a special one."

She turned around quickly to see if we had heard her. I had but Gifty had gone back to her book.

"Did you say something?" I asked her.

"No", she frowned and then handed me her phone carefully wrapped in a bandana. "Remember my instructions."

Lorraine and I were fortunate to have gotten two available seats beside each other when we boarded the bus.

"Any improvement with Hannah?" I asked her once we were off to St. Clarence.

Lorraine shrugged rather dejectedly. "I don't know. Maybe it's me, JJ. She talks to me but it feels like I should be lucky she's talking to me."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. I would have been miserable if you weren't here", Lorraine said sadly.

I placed my hand on hers. "Why are you saying that? You have friends in our class and I'm sure some of the Stockton girls aren't so bad."

I found it funny that the tables had turned. Last month, Lorraine was excited with just about everything at BAGS. Even when she got punished one time, she told me it was all part of the boarding school experience. She was gathering stories to tell. But she was just that type of person who saw everything in a positive light so to see her so sad about her best friend Hannah kind of broke my heart.

"When you came to our class the first time, I was the only one without a sitting partner", she said.

I was pretty sure that was because they were an odd number but I didn't want to sound patronizing.

"Well", I smiled at her. "That was a good thing. We were meant to be sitting partners."

The bus roared to life and we were out of BAGS and on the road. It felt sort of liberating when we passed through the gates on our way out. Even Lorraine's mood picked up on our way St. Clarence. Soon, we arrived at the boys' school. St. Clarence was nearly three times bigger than our school and it was painted in the school's colors, sky blue, white and black.

"Boys!" Lorraine tapped my shoulder excitedly as we peered out.

My reaction to seeing boys took me by surprise. With the exception of the male teachers in our school, we hardly saw boys closer to our ages. Of course, had I been at Mountain Crest it would not have been an issue. But it was different here and somehow, it felt kind of good.