Love and Muddy Puddles Read Online Free PDF Page A

breaking the rules. (Here no one said anything. Isabella looked scared, Lise looked down, Saffron looked superior and Tiger Lily just looked at me full in the face, narrowing her eyes.)
    At the end of it I was breathing faster and my head was spinning. This wasn’t going to be as simple as I thought. What if I forgot the rules? What if I accidentally did my hair wrong one day? What if I made a fashion faux pas? What if I talked to someone I shouldn’t talk to without realising it? Would they just drop me immediately or would I get a chance to make it up? And what were the consequences? Was I even game enough to ask?
    The panic must have started to show on my face because Saffron came over to sit next to me.
    “Don’t worry,” she said. “I picked you for a reason. You’re different from the other, ordinary girls. You’re one of us. You belong here.”
    I smiled bravely. “Thanks. I’m so glad I’m here. You have no idea. It’s really cool.” I shrugged. I didn’t really know what else to say. “I’ll try my best.”
    Saffron’s face was warm and welcoming. “You know, you’re really pretty,” she said. “But you should do your hair like this sometimes,” and she scraped and pulled my hair into the highest ponytail ever. “Oh wow—that’s great. Hey girls, what do you think of this?”
    “That looks heaps better,” said Isabella quickly. “That really suits your face, Coco. You should wear it like that all the time. It looks amazing, just like the way the model had it in that magazine I saw last week... what was its name? Sparkle? Spangle? Something like that...”
    Saffron cut her off. “You could probably get it to be shinier, which would help. I’ll show you the shampoo that I use. It’s exclusive. You can only get it from the salon I go to and it’s really expensive but it’s so worth it.”
    When we washed off the mud and the face gunk the conversation changed from being all about me to being all about people I’d never heard of. I focused on listening hard, trying to get used to everything and learning a whole lot of new names.
    “Remember that girl Cecelia who was in Year Five with us?” said Isabella. “The one whose brother was school captain? Well my mum said that they’ve moved out of Sydney.”
    “Where to?” said Tiger Lily. “Melbourne? Please don’t say Paris or New York or something amazing like that.”
    “No, no,” said Isabella. “Nothing cool. Nothing cool at all. It was like out in the back of beyond or something. They moved to somewhere like Tamworth or Wagga or something. Out there—you know.” And she waved a hand behind her.
    “Country?” said Lise. She stared dreamily in front of her. “Cows! Cute!”
    Tiger Lily looked at her and rolled her eyes. “Cows stink and they do very big poos,” she said. She turned to Isabella. “Why did they go there? There’s nothing out there. How is she going to have a social life? Some parents are just stupid.”
    “I know, right?” said Isabella. “But what’s even worse is that she’s going to some local public high school. So sad. She was quite nice.”
    “Loserville,” said Tiger Lily. “You can’t come back from that, no matter how pretty you are or whatever. She’s stuck in Loserville.” She shook her head. “I would kill my mum if she ever moved out of the city. Actually, I just wouldn’t go. And I’d like to see anyone try and make me.”
    “Let’s talk about something else,” said Saffron, getting impatient. “We’re breaking our own rules—even talking about losers. Let’s talk about someone heaps more interesting.” She gave me a secretive smile and winked.
    “Oh yes, yes, yes!” giggled Lise, just about jumping up and down. “Tell her!”
    I must’ve looked worried again because Saffron immediately tried to calm me down.
    “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s just that we’ve got someone who we really want you to meet.” Lise gave a chortle of joy and even Tiger looked