Page 6 of Anxious Hearts

Kelly saw him at once. He was sitting at the previously spare desk in the second back row next to Oliver Turnbull, the world’s most annoying boy.

The rest of the grade six class was dropping off bags and settling in as the music played.

The new kid was hunched over and staring at the floor, but he was clearly tall.

He looked sporty. Not good. There were enough sweaty imbeciles in the class already.

Kelly sat down in her usual spot next to her best friend, Toula. They were in the row in front of the new boy, three desks to the right. ‘Who’s the new kid?’ Kelly asked.

Toula shrugged. ‘Dunno. I just got here. He’s cute, though.’

Kelly rolled her eyes. Toula’s sudden obsession with who was and wasn’t cute was painful.

The bell rang and the rest of the students took their places. Mrs Richards stood at the front of the class.

‘Good morning, 6R.’

‘Good morning, Mrs Richards,’ the students chanted in unison.

‘Who’s doing our world of welcome today?’

Kelly raised her hand.

Mrs Richards turned to her. ‘And what country do we have this morning, Kelly?’

‘France, Mrs Richards.’

‘Wonderful. Welcome us as though we were in Paris, s’il te pla?t.’

Kelly cleared her throat. She’d been practising this welcome ever since Mrs Richards had assigned the class exercise at the beginning of term. She’d listened to the words over and over on a language website to make sure her accent was perfect. ‘Bienvenue la classe.’

‘Très bien, Kelly,’ Mrs Richards said. ‘I can almost taste the croissants. Well done.’

Kelly smiled with pride.

‘Suck,’ Toula whispered.

‘Degenerate,’ Kelly said out of the corner of her mouth.

Mrs Richards clapped her hands. ‘All right, 6R. Continuing with our welcoming theme, we have a new student joining us today.’

Every kid in the class swivelled round to look at the new boy. He was staring at his hands and looked like he wanted to throw himself out the window. Defenestration, Kelly thought. A cool word she’d learned this year.

‘Welcome, Finley,’ Mrs Richards said.

Oliver sniggered. ‘Finley,’ he said. ‘Sounds like a girl’s name.’

All the boys laughed. Idiots.

‘Congratulations, Oliver,’ Mrs Richards said. ‘You’ve just earned yourself maths work at lunchtime.’

Oliver groaned. His stupid friends smirked.

‘Take out your notebooks, please. We’re starting with spelling this morning,’ Mrs Richards said.

Everyone opened their desks and rustled around for pens and paper.

Kelly lifted her lid and took the notebook labelled Spelling from the top of the neatly ordered pile.

They always had spelling on a Monday morning, so she’d arranged it for easy access at the end of class on Friday, taking home her separate homework book over the weekend.

She selected one of her blue pens, opened her notebook and wrote the date at the top of a fresh page.

‘It’s a boy’s name.’

Kelly twisted in her seat. So did every other student. All eyes were on the new kid. Nobody made a sound.

Mrs Richards looked confused. ‘I beg your pardon, Finley?’

The boy sat up straight and pulled his shoulders back.

He was even bigger than Kelly had first thought.

Despite her annoyance at Toula’s cuteness obsession, she could see that he was nice looking.

Something about the way his eyes met Mrs Richards’ now made Kelly want to talk to him more.

It was a strange feeling. She’d never wanted to talk to any of the other boys.

‘Finley. It’s a boy’s name,’ he said in a firm, clear voice.

Mrs Richards smiled like she does when somebody answers a really hard question. ‘Indeed. And do you know the meaning of your name, Finley?’

‘Yes,’ he said. And then he looked directly at Kelly. ‘It means warrior.’

Kelly’s heart thumped and her entire body tingled. Last week, Mrs Richards had made them research the origins and meanings of their names.

Toula turned to Kelly with her mouth and eyes wide open. ‘OMG,’ she mouthed.

Finley looked away. Kelly did the same but angled herself slightly so that she could see him from the corner of her eye. He was staring at the chart on the wall that listed every student’s name and its corresponding meaning.

Kelly followed the alphabetical list to her entry: Kelly – Gaelic – Warrior .