“Big school! Big school! We’re all going to Big School!” Daniel sang as he carefully avoided the puddles that had mysteriously appeared overnight. “I’ve never even been down this path before. It’s like an adventure. On the way to school!””
“I don’t know what you’re so excited about, Daniel,” Claire said, as she carefully unavoided the puddles that had mysteriously appeared overnight. “This path’s just as stupid as the old path and big school is just as bad as our old school. Which was AWFUL!”
“You haven’t even been to the big school yet, Claire,” said Agnes, as she carefully avoided telling Claire to carefully avoid the puddles that had mysteriously appeared overnight. “It might be nice.”
“It might be not,” said Claire. “And where are Tina and Ethel anyway?!”
“Their school doesn’t start until 9,” said Agnes, as she tentatively stepped over a smashed up garden fence. “And it’s nearer.”
“Urgh! That is so unfair!” Claire said, as she crunched her way satisfyingly across loads of broken glass. “No wonder they looked so smug eating their stupid cereal!”
“But they finish an hour later at Nice School,” Daniel said, limboing under a street sign that a car had half knocked down. “So we win!”
“At best that’s a draw,” Claire said. “And you’re forgetting detention, Daniel.”
“Perhaps you could try and not get put in detention this year, Claire,” Agnes suggested helpfully.
“Why would I do that?” Claire said, stomping extra hard in the final few puddles before the gates. “Detention’s the best bit.”
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Notes:
1. Written on September 2nd, 2026
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