“Arny! Tom!”
The sound of continuous screeching rushing out into the playground echoed in my ears like the howl of a monkey. As usual, I went and sat down outside the Year 9 sports’ centre next to the basketball court, my favourite place in the whole school. I always sat by myself watching the cockatoos peck away at the grass like little lawnmowers. This time something was different. I looked around but saw nothing. I stood up to see if I could spot something I couldn’t see before. There, sitting next to the bin was a small girl feeding some minor birds her sandwich. I was extremely nervous, so I decided not to say hi. I saw her sitting there the next day too. I timidly shuffled over to her and said a quick, anxious, “Hi, how are you?” She lifted her dreary head and said a polite, “Hello, I’m fine. How are you?” From there we had a long conversation. Every word flowed out of my mouth like notes coming out of a gentle flute. We grew more confident and felt like we could tell each other anything. Every day we sat together at breaks, watched the cockatoos together and ate together. Little did I realise that a great friendship had come from a small thing, an anxious introduction.
The rest of the year went quickly and we soon became inseparable. I grew to know her as Jane, and she came to know me as Gigi. The basketball courts became our meeting place and the birds’ chorus became the enlightening tone of our friendship.
Then came the day where everything changed. A tall girl named Alice came and sat with us. Nice. Enough. At. First. Though soon she started teasing Alice about her hair. Everyday Alice would come to boast and bully. I didn’t have the guts to tell on her. I wish I did. I wished a lot of things. I wished that I was taller, that Alice would leave us alone, that Jane was in my class. These where a few of my many wishes but you soon come to learn that wishing doesn’t do anything. So, Alice kept on coming to find us.
I was thinking back to the day Alice came, it was a dark day, a gloomy day and every day she came was always dreary. That’s it! All I needed to do was bring light into Alice’s life and maybe we could make best of friends. Could we be as close as salt and pepper?
The next few days seemed to drag on forever as I thought more about how to help Alice. Finally, I had a great plan brewing. I didn’t know when I would get a chance to deploy my plan, but I certainly didn’t expect my chance to come so soon.
On Tuesday, Alice seemed to be super excited as she skipped towards Jane and I. She looked at us expectantly before saying, “Go on duck face, the least you could say is happy birthday.”
“Happy birthday Alice,” I replied calmly. I stood up and left for the lockers where I kept my belongings. All the while Jane stood there gobsmacked. I came back holding what looked like a small jam-jar and passed to Alice calmly. It had the words, ‘Bible Verses for All Occasions’ written clearly in big white letters across the front. I passed it to Alice. Inside were fifty or so colourful balls of paper each one with a different part of scripture on it. This time it was clearly Alice who was gobsmacked. She stared at me in shock then said, “It’s just a jar full of junk.” Although the feedback on my present was sheer negativity, I knew she was highly moved by the fact that although she had always been awful, I still got her a birthday gift.
The next day the sun shone warm and bright like a glowing candle. Small birds chirped whilst the cockatoos pecked at the grass. I looked up into the vast sky and spun around with joy. I had brought light to Alice’s life and the sun was back again. One small act of kindness can really change the world.