Maka

• Amelie Toop, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2015

Once there was an Australian boy named Maka. Maka wasn't just any ordinary Australian boy, he was Indigenous Australian. His tanned skin and black curly hair draw eyes as he walked through a crowd. Maka was just starting at a new school after his father found a good job near Brisbane. His thoughts were going wild as he was driven to school by his mum. Thoughts like 'will everyone like me?' and 'will anyone even want to talk to me?', kept firing through his mind. As Maka walked down the front footpath of his new school, people stared. There was only one other person who's skin was as dark as his, and he was an African-Anerican, one of the 'cool kids'. When he got to his locker, that's when people started talking. One kid Coke right up to his face and said 'why don't you go back to Woolagabalabadoo or something?', trying to come up with an Aboriginal town name to make fun of him. Maka knew that things like this would happen, so he wasn't effected by it too much, but that's when he saw Juliet. She was one of the prettiest girls in his school, he'd been told by his only mate he already new there. But surprisingly, she wasn't one the most popular people in grade 10. Maka watched her as she walked past him, admiring her face, her eyes, her hair. As she was about to turn a corner though, she glanced at him and gave a slight smile, Maka turned away quickly. Maka thought to himself that he'd never get to talk to her, that he'd be no match for someone so beautiful. months went by, Maka finally started to make some more good friends, he was surprised at how welcome people were once they started to get to know him. Maka still believed he'd never have a chance with Juliet, they'd only ever exchanged a few words. But one during lunchtime, he was sitting with his group of friends when Juliet came over to talk to him. Maka was confused as to why she'd even want to talk to someone so different as himself, but she grabbed his arm and dragged him over to an empty table. Maka looked at her, confused, and said 'what is it?'. Juliet seemed nervous, even though she seemed like such a confident person. She finally started talking 'Well, prom is coming up in a few weeks..'