A Deal's A Deal

• Juliette Davies, Grade 5, Neutral Bay Public School
• Short Story
• 2011

Excellence Award in the 'Step Write Up 2011' competition

Hi. My name is Roxxi Riverts. I am 11 years old and have just had the worst day of my entire life. This is how it all started.
I was being humiliated by Opal for my latest ‘fashion crime’. What did she say again? Oh, that’s right:
“What’s that? The latest fashion in garbage bags?”
I mean, who does she think she is? The fashion police!?
For those of you who don’t know, Opal Sweet is the most popular girl in our school. I don’t know how you get to be so popular when you’re so mean. It’s like everyone is under a spell. Every girl wants to be her BFF, every guy has a crush on her and every teacher gives her an A+ even though all she does is copy.
Take what happened this morning, for example. We were doing an exam. Halfway through the test, I felt Opal’s prying ice-blue eyes watching me. She gave me an evil grin, put her hand up and said in an annoyingly sugary sweet voice: “Ms Rose, Roxxi is copying me!”
Ms Rose came around, had a look at our work and told me I had to rewrite it at lunch. I thought that was pretty annoying, but it was not nearly as annoying as what happened next.
After school, as I walked home, I saw a flyer hanging up. Standing nearby was Kook Cane, a guy who from my school. I know: what kind of person has a name like Kook Cane? Honestly, I don’t know. This is what I think happened: as soon As Kook was old enough to babble a few words, his parents asked him what he wanted his name to be. And he just said “Kook!” Anyway, it turned out the flyer was about starting a spy club.
“Do you want to make a club together?” Kook asked me.
“No,” I replied.
“Please?” He asked.
“No.”
“What if I gave you something in return?” Kook offered.
“Like what?” I asked.
“A weeks worth of chocolate?”
I don’t know about you, but that really got to me. Unlike other girls, I’m not really into make-up or designer clothing. I’m obsessed with chocolate. I was daydreaming about all the delectable sweetness when I heard myself say “Okay”. I came back to reality and said “So…when do I get the chocolate?”
“I’ve got it right here,” said Kook. He handed me a tiny Easter egg that probably cost fifty cents. Then, I remembered. Kook’s mum is a health freak.
I said, “But that’s as much as you eat in a week, not me.”
“I offered the deal, so it should be my weeks worth of chocolate.”
“Then I quit!” I declared.
“It’s a deal. You can’t break a deal.”
“Whatever then,” I replied.
But then I had a brainwave. I grabbed my phone and dialed a number.
“Hello?” said the voice on the other end of the phone.
“Hi Opal,” I said. “Do you like chocolate?”