Page 36 of The New Girl

Ruby reckoned that Orla thought that because the people she hung around with were not the smartest. But she didn’t want to say that.

None of Ruby’s friends thought that she was from a ‘retard family’. Orla was just upset because Kylie was being so nasty. And, besides, who cared what an ignorant fool thought? Kylie’s opinion didn’t matter.

‘Anyway,’ said Orla, ‘there was one small bright light in my otherwise crappy day.’

‘What?’

Orla smiled. ‘Kylie’s phone went missing and then someone found it floating in the loo.’

‘Wow, and how did it go missing?’ Ruby grinned.

‘I dunno, I guess someone must have sneaked it out of her bag when she was banging on about her new boyfriend. Now, it’s ruined, and she can’t text Conor.’ The sisters laughed.

‘You’re mad, Orla.’

‘She’ll have a new phone tomorrow, her parents are loaded, but at least I got a little bit of payback.’

After dinner Ruby went over to Safa’s to practise for the play. They had less than four weeks before the big performance and she kept forgetting her lines. Usually Safa came to her house, but she’d invited herself over to Safa’s because she needed to try to find the refugee papers.

Originally, she was going to take them, copy them and then put them back, but then Clara had come up with a better idea.

‘What if they notice that they’re gone?’ Ruby had asked Denise and Clara.

‘They won’t,’ Clara had said. ‘They probably never use them, like we hardly ever use our passports.’

Ruby hadn’t used her passport since Robbie was born. Before Robbie they had gone camping in France every year. It had been brilliant. Dad barbecued every night and they made friends with kids from other countries and the pool had a big swirly slide that they could fly down. There were tennis courts and a big area with table tennis tables and air hockey tables and an ice-cream fridge ... it was the best fun. Mum and Dad were always smiling and laughing, and they had been a real family. But Robbie didn’t react well to change, so they never went away now. Sometimes Ruby would take Dad’s phone and look through all the old photos, the ‘before Robbie’ photos, and feel sad because they all looked so happy, and Mum and Dad looked so much younger. Ruby wondered if she’d ever use her passport again.

‘What if her mum catches me taking the papers?’ Ruby had asked.

‘Just say you were looking for something to write on,’ Denise had said.

Ruby had thought that was a really stupid idea.

‘I’ve got it!’ Clara had shouted. ‘We don’t need to take them. Just take photos of the documents on your phone and then we can print off the photos in my mum’s office.’

Brilliant. Clara was a genius. Ruby felt a little less stressed after that conversation. But she still had to find the papers and photograph them. It wasn’t going to be easy.

Ruby knocked on the door. Rima answered. Ruby knew Safa’s mum from the school yard, where she picked her up every day. She was super nice. Her English still wasn’t great, but she always smiled and said a big hi to Ruby.

Safa said that her mum sometimes had bad days when she just stayed in bed, but that thankfully they didn’t happen too often. Ruby’s mum had lots of bad days when she sobbed in the bath and didn’t think Ruby could hear her, so she knew how bad days felt.

‘Hello, Mrs Karim,’ Ruby said.

‘Hello, Ruby, welcome. Are you wanting food?’ Rima asked her.

‘Oh, no thank you, I ate already,’ Ruby said, although the smell coming from the kitchen was so good that she wished she could eat.

‘Come, come, Safa eating.’

Rima guided her into the kitchen. The hall and stairs and kitchen were so tidy and clean. Ruby looked around. Everything was in its proper place. In her house there was stuff everywhere. Safa’s kitchen was warm, and the smell of spices and cooking made Ruby’s stomach grumble.

‘You want eating?’ Rima asked again. ‘Come on, much food.’

‘Well, if you’re sure, OK.’ Ruby sat down opposite Safa, who was eating a chicken curry. It looked and smelt delicious. Nothing like the plastic meal that Ruby had half eaten.

‘Hi,’ Safa said, her mouth full.

Rima put a dish of steaming curry in front of Ruby. ‘Eat, eat.’

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