Page 48 - The Mending Season

“au” sounds. I was trying to learn the proper accent by care­ ful listening.“I’m Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Beth,” a tall White girl with strawberry blonde hair spoke from the back of the class, looking earnestly at the teacher. Her skin looked smooth and glowed like she had just splashed it with water and it had stayed that way. Her hair was pulled in a tight ponytail and her eyes were very bright. She looked like the kind ofgirl you saw in magazines all the time. She looked like she should be sure of herself except that she fiddled nervously with a pen in her hand and kept pulling at the tip ofher ponytail, her cheeks turning pink as she spoke. ‘Tm boring, because I am absolutely nuts about any and all kinds of sports. Its all I know.”The class cheered and agreed with her.Trish said, aShe cant stay away from the pool in the summer time.”“Or the hockey field in the winter, plus shes the best athlete in the whole school!”yelled Veronica.“Yes!”“She’s obsessed!” girls yelled all around the class.Beth shrugged without looking up at the other girls. “It’s allI ever do, really. Except some people don’t think it’s cool, because I’m not all about boys and clothes.”It sounded like a comment meant for someone specific. The class started talking all around me.Trish said in Setswana, “She doesn’t stop complaining,ngwanOy eeeyl”“All right! Let’s carry on!”Mrs Addis said.The class seemed to lose its excitement as we all waited for the next girl to speak. I saw the Black girls exchange glances in anticipation, but the person about to talk looked bored with the whole exercise. She put down a book she had been leafing through and sighed as if to say, “Ok, I suppose I must speak if you’re waiting.”Then she sat up straight and tilted her head to48