Secrets at St Jude's: New Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

be dressed like Amy, whereas Gina – in box-new, oversized clothes and woollen knee socks –
    would be labelled ‘dork’ before she even opened her mouth.
    Once Gina had her entire enormous uniform on, complete with Min’s safety pins to hold up the skirt, she angled the mirror on top of her chest of drawers to take a look at herself and was so horrified that, to her total embarrassment, she let out a muffled sob.
    She looked much worse than any of them. Even Min, whose clothes were voluminous, at least still managed to look pretty.
    ‘Erm . . . Are you OK?’ It was Min who responded to the sobbing sound first.
    ‘No!’ Gina admitted. ‘I am not OK. Look at this gross outfit!’ She turned to them so they could take a better look at the full horror of it. ‘I can’t go out like this! People are going to laugh at me.’
    And it was the thought of this – of a whole class full of strangers laughing and sniggering at her – that made Gina crumple down onto her bed, very close to a big, embarrassing, noisy crying outburst.
    There was an awkward silence.
    ‘Oh my Lord!’ Niffy said finally. ‘Well . . . there’s no point in denying it. You look like a total twerp. Look at 40
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    that skirt – it’s nearly at your ankles! As for the cardie
    – you’d have to be built like Barbie to fill that one up.’
    Although this wasn’t exactly helpful, it did at least stop Gina’s tears in their tracks. She wasn’t ready to laugh with Niffy yet though.
    Surprisingly, it was Amy who came to the rescue.
    Although yesterday she’d seemed pleased that Gina’s uniform was too big, today she seemed to have had a change of heart. Maybe she understood an outfit crisis only too well.
    ‘Just take everything off,’ she instructed Gina briskly. ‘You look about the same size as me, so you can borrow my spare things for the next few days, and at the weekend you can go to the uniform shop and change everything for smaller sizes. How about that?’
    This was such a kindness, Gina’s tears threatened to break out again, but fortunately they were nipped in the bud when Niffy added, ‘You should be warned though, before you borrow her clothes, that Amy smells.’
    ‘I do not smell!’ Amy retorted angrily.
    ‘You stink,’ Niffy replied. ‘You’re always covered in melony, fruity, stinky stuff. Hair gel and body spray and all that kind of thing.’
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    Amy rolled her eyes and began pulling her spare school clothes out of a drawer for Gina. ‘Funnily enough, not everyone wants to smell of horse and dog.’
    As Gina gratefully took the much smaller clothes from Amy’s arms, she clocked her totally bare face.
    Where yesterday there had been blusher, lipstick and eyeliner, today there was nothing but the gleam of moisturizer and lip salve.
    ‘Is make-up banned?’ she wondered out loud.
    ‘Not exactly,’ Amy told her. ‘But no boys – so what’s the point?’
    Gina hadn’t considered this. School with no boys.
    Not one. This was going to be a very new experience.
    School with no flirting, school with no crushes! But then again, school with no lame jokes, or fist-fights or truly terrible come-ons.
    After they’d made their beds and breakfasted in the packed dining room, it was time to set off on the five-minute walk to the main school building.
    ‘You are in 4C, aren’t you?’ Min checked. ‘Same form as us?’
    Gina nodded. They’d gone through the subjects they had in common last night. Everyone was doing English, maths, French, history and biology, but she 42
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    and Min were taking chemistry and physics, while Niffy and Amy did art and Spanish.
    ‘Shame,’ had been Niffy’s comment. ‘Winding up Mrs Lexington-Harris, head of art, is one of the highlights of our week. But Min will look after you in physics – Mrs Wilson loves her.