Page 17 - HowToBeMe

Avalon Jones clapped. “OK, everyone, listening please. Next category, colours. Go!”
“Red ... blue ... orange ... green...” chimed out around me.
The girl just sat staring at me. The air got hotter. The floor smelled sour, like school changing rooms. The smell of people’s feet.
“So, you’ve really got a ballroom?” the girl said.
I drummed on the floor. “Leave me alone.” Then: “Yellow.”
“But you have?” She stretched out a leg, flexing, hunkering down on her elbows. Why didn’t she stay still?
“Blue,” I said. “It’s colours now.”
“Where do you live?” she said, like, Is it on the moon?
“Near ... near here,” I said. My home, Gladstone House, overlooked the town green. Something twisted in my insides. “You’re supposed to be saying colours.”
“I can’t,” she said. “I’m thinking.”
“Right, everyone, stop!” called Avalon.
“I win, in fact,” I said. But the words were small
and far away.
“Who cares about winning?” said the girl. “It’s
How to Be Me by Cath Howe Uncorrected Sample
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