A Little Entertainment

[Poppy Bloxam]

The sun shone through a baby blue sky, the odd puffy white cloud floated here and there. For Poppy Bloxam and the other children at that school, it was tuesday lunch time. Tuesday was, perhaps, one of the more painful days of the week; having worked hard on monday after a weekend of homework, Poppy could only wish that it was the weekend, again, or, in the very least, time to go back home. She had just sat through a dreary maths lesson. The teacher had made them all write out page upon page of calculations. Calculations for things that they would surely never use. Poppy groaned with relief as she was finally freed from the confines of the classroom to go and have some lunch and a walk around the playground.

As the weather was nice, many students were eating outside. Poppy had brought with her a small blue lunch box containing two ham sandwiches, a packet of salted crisps, a juice drink and a small apple. She found herself an empty patch of grass to sit on her own and eat lunch. As she unwrapped and bit into one of her sandwiches, she watched the other students: Three boys who Poppy had once been good friends with, were pushing and shoving each other into one another. It was a game, of sorts, that Poppy had once been a part of. But the boys had started refusing to let her join in. Poppy didn't get it. It upset her. She had very few school friends, and even less, now that the boys were not talking to her. Still, at least her female friends were still pleasant towards her.

Poppy glanced around to see who else was outside that she could talk to. One girl seemed to stand out: Poppy had met the girl, and even worked with her in some of the lessons, though she had never really taken the time to get to know her. Maybe she could be her new friend? Maybe would be far more interesting than those stupid boys. Poppy raised an arm and waved to grab the girl's attention.

 

[Clarabella Mayfleet]

It was a nice day, but for Clarabella Mayfleet, she missed the French fields and the sun and croissants in the morning. It was Tuesday Lunchtime, her favorite day. They did Drama and French on Tuesdays. But she hated English, she also had to have extra lessons because she wasn't that good. She was losing her accent all ready. She wanted to stay in France and go to Paris with her friends and Bordeuax where ST. Jeanne lived. It was fascinating...but what was more fascinating was thee English children. They often pushed and shoved and shouted. Clara was told to always stay quiet when she was young and found this most disturbing. There was this one boy, called Dustdan who would follow her and make fun of her accent and her clothes and hair and many things about her. Clara often thought about changing her name. Clarabella was such a long name and it was difficult to write sometimes. She thought about changing it to Joey, her middle name was Josephine and Joey would fight nicely.

Clara walked outside onto the playground field and sat in her normal place. It was a nice little wooden reck that only she sat in, and disingenuous it most pleasurable, she was about to sit down, when she was disturbed. A girl in her class whom she had met a few times but had rarely converses with her had called her over. Clara cocked he r head slightly to one side, and pointed to herself, but realized the for meant her she decided to walk over. She walked slowly, a bit scared that te girl was going to take her lunch or take her hat. She was wearing Jean shorts and a vest with converse and a white cap on top. Clarabella didn't really care about fashion. She thought there were far more important things in life.

"Umm, hello. Poppy, Poppy Bloxam, isn't it?" she said in a tiny voice. She opened her French lunchbox. It was red with a strap and a cooler inside. She peeked in and saw a ham baguette, some grapes, a mini croissant with jam and a small wooden knife, a carton of apple juice and a few little chocolate eggs. Her mother always wanted her to have a good French lunch. She took two of the 4 eggs and offered them to Poppy.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy smiled as the girl- who she believed to be called 'Clarabella'- approached her. It couldn't be easy being different to the other children. Poppy was different to the others, though it would be just under half a year before she realised just how different she really was. "Yes," Poppy nodded in a friendly manner, "you're Clarabella, aren't you- the French girl?" She liked to confirm things when she got the chance. Poppy hated to get the wrong end of the stick and, thankfully, she was brave enough to just come out with her questions. Her eyes widened as she witnessed Clarabella revealing her lunch. In comparison, the slightly compressed ham sandwich was nothing to the baguette. It was as though the girl had brought a small feast with her. It was impolite to let one's eyes bulge so at the sight of food, and Poppy made a point to avert her gaze to her own lunch. Clarabella offered Poppy a couple of eggs. Smiling and giving a small "thank you" Poppy took the two eggs, popping one into her mouth and forgetting the hams sandwich which lay slumped in her lunchbox.

"I've not been to France. We're supposed to be going in July. I hear they have some fantastic gardens and art, there." She knew very little about French culture, and she didn't know many French words, at all. Poppy was still smiling, hoping that Clarabella did not think her overly ignorant, or just generally stupid. If she had been aware of the other world that lived so close to theirs, the world in which so many amazing things occurred every day, perhaps she would have been able to tell that this girl was a little more different than she currently revealed. Perhaps she would have seen that, culture and language aside, they weren't so different, after all.

A small insect passed Poppy's ear, buzzing as it went. The boys, who had been pushing each other just moments before, had gotten hold of a ball, and were now playing catch. Poppy caught one of them chancing a glance at her and Clarabella, though Poppy returned a rather dirty look. How dare they continue to have anything to do with her when they would not even let her join in the game. She felt evermore inclined to befriend Clarabella when those boys kept looking over at her.

 

[Clarabella Mayfleet]

Clarabella was a bit shocked when Poppy knew her name. She was a bit speechless until she quickly shook herself out of it. When Poppy mentioned France, Clara shot up. But she was more concentrated on the boys. "Call me Clara, Or Bella" she muttered while looking at them. One of them seemed to be nudging the other and gesturing towards Poppy and herself. "Poppy, what they doing?" she asked, eating her ham baguette.

(sorry it's short)

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Out of Character:

Don't worry about it I'm not against short posts

What are they doing? It was the very same question that Poppy had wondered herself, though she had never received an answer. She had always thought she could understand boys, and she got on with them better than girls. That was until recently, of course, when the boys had turned strange. "They're just being stupid," she replied, really wishing she could just march straight over to them and demand an answer. It wasn't that she wasn't brave enough to, more the fact that whenever she tried speaking to them, they all acted even weirder, or just walked away. "They're all idiots, anyway." Poppy reassured her, finally eating the other egg.

The lunch hour was ticking by and Poppy had finished both her sandwiches, and was just sipping her orange juice when she decided she wanted some exercise. "Do you like climbing?" She asked Clarabella with a small smile. Did she get much chance to climb in France? Had she ever climbed a tree before?

 

[Clarabella Mayfleet]

Clarabella ate her lunch until it was just the apple juice, eggs and her croissant. She held the deliate pastry in her thin slender fingers, and ate it slowly. Oh, are most boys like that?" she cocked her head slightly at them. When Poppy mentioned climbing, her face lit up. "I simply adore climbing, Poppy! I remember in the old country there was this very old big oak tree and my friends, Pierre and Jean-Paul, would dare me and each other to see how High we can climb! I always won. You know, Poppy, your my only friend here, in this country." she said to Poopy, smiling brightly.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy decided not to answer Clarabella's first question. It sort of felt like treachery if she said no- because not all boys were acting like that towards her, but if she said yes, that would be a lie. Poppy avoided lies like the plague, unless they were absolutely necessary, and, in this case, they weren't. Poppy beamed. At last she had found someone else who loved climbing. She also couldn't help feeling flattered by the French girl's kind words. "Thank you," she said with a stretching smile that wished to extend beyond the limitations of her face. "But I'm certain things will change once you have settled in." Poppy decided to waste no more time just sitting. She scrambled to her feet, shoving her lunch back into her rucksack. "Come on," she grinned, "there's a nice climbing spot, just over there. I know the trees are quite small, but they're a lot bigger than the first time I tried!" She reached out out to take Clarabella's hand to lead her to the biggest of the climbable trees.

 

[Clarabella Mayfleet]

Clara nodded at Poppy and took her hand to help herself up. When she was up she dusted her clothes before being taken to the tree's. Afterspotting the biggest one, Clara raced up to it. "Bet you two dollars I can climb this!" she said facing Poppy with excited eyes. She rolled up her sleeves and starting weeving up the tree before she reached the top, smiling and waving at Poppy.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

"I'm not a gambler," Poppy laughed, watching Clarabella zooming up the branches of the tree. She glanced around to check that no-one was watching, knowing that they weren't strictly allowed to climb the trees, on the grounds that they could fall and break a leg. Poppy walked towards the tree, choosing her route. She braced herself and leapt up in the air, gripping the first in a series of branches. Once she was sure she had a good grip, she swung round onto it, quickly finding her footing and the next sturdy branch to grip onto. She did this quite quickly, and perched a a short way from the top. "Nice work," Poppy breathed, stroking the branch she was sat on as though thanking it for the part it had played in her school life. "Do you do any sort of athletics?"

 

[Clarabella Mayfleet]

Clara smiled. No athletics. I'm not very good." she said, oblivious that she was actually great. She looked at the view. Amazin'" she said, a look of amazement on her face. Clara had never seen such a lively sight. She looked at Poppy. "I need to ask you something...do you have a best friend??" she asked, thinking and hoping what her answer would be. Clara hoped and wished that Poppy said no. Clara smiled but with a questioning look on her face. Poppy was her only friend, because she would hardly count Jasmine as a friend since they got off to a bad start.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy wanted to point out to Clara that in hurtling up the tree, she had proven herself to be a pretty good athlete in the making, but she decided not to as a question landed at her feet. Did she have a best friend? Poppy thought for a moment, her eyes wandering in the direction of the boys. They had been her closest friends, but now they were acting strange. She still longed for the friendship with them to last, but maybe.. Maybe it was fate? Maybe this was supposed to happen for a reason? She turned back to Clara with a smile. "No," she said at long last, "not yet." She allowed herself a fleeting smile. Perhaps this was the start of something new?

 

[Clarabella Mayfleet]

Clara grinned when Popph said no. Is it fate? Destiny? Fate playing tricks? I don't know but I want to find out! she thought. She took a deep breath. "I'm not every good with strangers, your my closest and only friend, Poppy." she started. "Can we maybe be best friends?" she said in a tiny voice. She looked at the ground and saw lots of boys looking up at them from the ground. She saw one of them point and say 'Teacher! Teacher!' he squealed and rushed off to the closest teacher, Miss Appleton. Miss Appleton was the nicest teacher and was Claras favorite.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy gave Clara a big smile. She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, she heard a shout from below. "Uh-oh.." she said, quickly glancing back to Clara. "Come on," Poppy said hurriedly, "we should get down from here before we get into more trouble.. Maybe we wont be sent to the gallows if we're quick enough." She was not going to try and run away from the situation. No, that would be truly dishonest, instead, Poppy clambered down from the tree and stood beside the trunk as the teacher approached from afar. Poppy hissed to Clara to hurry up. If the teacher didn't see them in the tree, then she would not have definitive proof that they had done anything other than stand at the tree's trunk.

 

[Clarabella Mayfleet]

Clara sighed with disappointment when Poppy was about to answer when those idiotic boys had to ruin everything. Realizing she would get in deep trouble she jumped, yes jumped, down from the tree just before the teacher came. "Hello Miss Appleton." she said, portraying the innocent little girl. Clara gave a quick glance at Poppy.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

The teacher eyed Poppy with one of her looks. They both knew what Poppy had been doing, though neither had sufficient evidence to prove either way. It was just one word against another. Poppy did not break eye contact for one moment. It seemed Clara's strategy was to act as innocent as possible- which she seemed to be getting away with. Poppy did not stand a chance if she attempted act innocent, for guilt was written all over her face. "I've just heard that there were a couple of girls climbing trees.. You two wouldn't be in any way involved, now, would you?" The tone she used sounded fair and pleasant, as though she believed they were both innocent. But the way she was looking at Poppy, suggested otherwise. At first, Poppy said nothing, however, she decided that a honest reply would be about right. "Yes, miss." Poppy replied in her sweet little voice. The teacher raised her eyebrows. "And why were you climbing the tree?" she enquired, keen to hear what marvelous excuse they had ready. Poppy smiled. "I never said we were climbing the tree." she said honestly, the expert in loopholes. The teacher, rather than looking angry, seemed a little entertained. "Well," she said, a distant bell ringing within the heart of the school, "whoever was in that tree, should not do it again. Now, you girls should head back to your lessons before I start making judgements according to guilty looks."

Lunch time was over and Poppy nodded to Clara to start walking back into the school building. "I've got science," she breathed to Clara with a slight smile that could worry any listening teacher, "I'll meet you at the gate after school." and with that, Poppy and Clara were finally parted until the school day's end.