Made For Me

• Zara Catto, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2022

I go to this all girls boarding school, Robinvale. I didn’t want to go there but daddy made me. He said I needed to get a ‘proper education.’ No matter what I said or did, he still made me go. On my first day the kids were kind of nice to me but I still didn’t talk, I didn't even say my name… When I went to my room I shared with another girl called Charlotte, she was super nice and started talking to me.
“What’s your name?” she asked gently.
“Zoe” I replied in a whisper.
“Do you want to come and hang out with my friends?” asked Charlotte, studying my timetable. “We are in the classes with my friends Isla and Lily, come sit with us at dinner” she offered, smiling as she left the room. At dinner I got my plate of mac and cheese with vegetables and found a spot next to Charlotte, Isla and Lily.
“Hey Zoe!” said Isla cheerfully.
“Lottie told us a little about you. Would you care to fill in the gaps that she didn’t know?” asked Lily.
“Lottie?” I whispered perplexed.
“Charlotte” Isla clarified patiently.
“Well my name is Zoe and I -“ I got cut short as all the girls from our house table -Trentham- started whispering about my strange accent.
“Don’t mind them” said Charlotte from across the table “they just want to get under your skin.”
“As I was saying, I moved to Australia with my daddy from Britain because mummy died there from murder and daddy thought we might be the next target. My daddy wanted me to get a ‘proper education’ when I moved here so now I'm here.” I said, sighing. Isla, Lily and Lottie looked sympathetic as I told them about my roller coaster life in Britain. After we cleared our plates we walked to the dorm rooms but along the way girls picked on me because of my strange accent. My new friends told me to ignore them but it was hard. I wanted to be with my daddy, for him to tell me everything will be okay just like he did when mummy died but I had no daddy, just my friends but they were all I needed. Once in the privacy of our room my friends told me to be careful of Piper as she would just try and make my life miserable. Just before Isla and Lily went to their room there was a quiet knock on the door. Cautiously, I got up and opened it and in the doorway stood a girl in our year.
“Hi Zoe! Hey Charlotte, Lily and Isla, I'm already friends with you but…yeah, Zoe. I’m Kaitlin, sorry the other girls were so mean before. I love your accent so don’t bother with them. My parents were born in Britain then they died so I live with my grandparents. Ignore them just be you.”
That’s when I knew Robinvale wasn’t perfect but it was made for me and my friends!