Page 33 of The New Girl

Ruby shot out from under the desk. ‘Shut up, Amber. Safa’s had planes drop bombs on her, so of course she’s afraid of them.’

‘They didn’t actually drop on her, though, did they?’ Amber said. ‘If they’d dropped on her, she’d be dead.’

‘A little sympathy would be nice. Safa’s had a really hard time,’ Ruby hissed.

‘I’m allowing her to live in my country, amn’t I? I’m allowing her to go to my school, amn’t I?’ Amber snapped. ‘What more do you want? Am I supposed to give her my clothes? She wouldn’t wear them anyway. She only wears horrible baggy clothes.’

‘That’s because of her religion,’ Ruby said.

‘My dad says we need to stop letting refugees into Ireland,’ Chrissie said. ‘They’re taking all our jobs and they’ll take over the country and make us all be Muslim and wear manky clothes and scarves on our heads and not let us eat bacon sandwiches. He said it’s dangerous to let too many foreigners into your country.’

‘Your dad is an idiot,’ Ruby said.

Safa stood up beside her friend. ‘It’s OK, Ruby. I’ve heard all of these comments before. You know, Chrissie, all I want is for my family to be together, to get an education and to work hard and live in a safe place. I don’t want to take over anyone’s country and I don’t care what anyone else eats or wears.’

‘Yeah, well of course you’re going to say that. My dad says refugees are sneaky and they pretend they’re your friend while they’re actually stealing your money and taking your job.’ Chrissie was not backing down.

Safa felt herself growing angry. ‘My father always taught me that we should respect everyone, no matter where they come from or what they believe.’ How dare this girl be so rude? How dare she accuse refugees of such awful things?

‘Yeah, well, my dad said we need to protect ourselves,’ Chrissie snapped.

‘The only person you need to protect yourself from is your stupid dad!’ Ruby shouted.

‘What’s going on here?’ They all spun around. Mrs Roberts was standing at the door of the classroom. ‘Is everything all right, Safa?’ the headmistress asked.

Safa glared at Chrissie. ‘Yes, Mrs Roberts, we were just having a discussion about refugees in Ireland.’

‘I hope everyone was being kind and compassionate?’ Mrs Roberts asked.

Safa was tempted to tell the headmistress how horrible Chrissie and Amber were being, but she knew it would only lead to more problems. So she bit her tongue. ‘It’s been very interesting,’ she said.

The headmistress nodded. ‘Right, well, I’m delighted that you are having such important conversations and that you are all clearly learning a lot from having Safa in the class. Miss Ingle and I feel that having Safa in the school is an excellent opportunity to open the minds of all the girls to the fact that other people have very different and difficult lives. I hope that you are all showing Safa how decent and welcoming Irish people are.’

Safa wanted to laugh. If only the headmistress had arrived a few minutes earlier and heard Chrissie’s vicious comments.

Chrissie’s face was red. She was looking down at the floor.

The headmistress left the room. Ruby turned to Chrissie. ‘You’re lucky Safa is a nice person. She could have got you into a lot of trouble. Next time you have something nasty to say, shut your big mouth.’

Safa was so proud of Ruby. She was being so brave, standing up to these rotten bullies. Ruby grabbed Safa’s arm and they went back outside. Denise and Clara were chatting in the corner of the yard.

‘You’re not going to believe what Chrissie said to Safa!’ Ruby said.

They filled the other girls in.

‘Wow, Ruby, I can’t believe you shouted at Amber and Chrissie. Good for you.’ Denise was impressed.

‘It’s about time everyone stood up to them. They’re horrible and ignorant,’ Clara said. Turning to Safa, she said in a very serious voice, ‘I apologise on behalf of the people of Ireland for those rotten cows and their racist comments. We love having you here.’

Safa giggled. Clara looked so serious. ‘Thank you. I accept your apology.’

‘I apologise for them too,’ Denise said.

‘Me three.’ Ruby grinned.

The girls giggled. Then out of the blue, Denise said, ‘Actually, Safa, we were just talking about star signs here.’ Denise winked at Ruby, who went a bit red. Denise turned to Safa. ‘My mum is obsessed with them, so I always have to find out what everyone’s is. I can’t believe I never asked you before.’

‘Yeah, she’s obsessed,’ Ruby said.

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