Chapter 9

Did Courtney hear correctly?

Did Mrs Grungle single her out?

Even after she partnered with Jack?

Courtney nervously looked at Mrs Grungle, who stared daggers at her. Courtney was certain she must have misheard. There was absolutely no way she would be the one singled out.

“Courtney! What are you waiting for? Come out here to assist me in demonstrating for the class,” she barked. There was no mistaking it. She had indeed been singled out. But Courtney knew little about AFL. She only did Auskick to talk to her friends. She had no idea how to kick or handball. She didn’t even know how to bounce the ball.

No matter what she was about to do, she was bound to embarrass herself.

In front of the entire class.

Was this Mrs Grungle’s plan?

Regardless, Courtney knew that the consequences would be severe if she refused Mrs Grungle. So she begrudgingly made her way to the front of the class. She could feel the eyes of the other students locked on to her. Their judging gazes.

She wanted to curl up and hide.

She hated being the centre of attention.

Mrs Grungle handed her a ball. She barely even knew how to hold it correctly. If she hadn’t watched it on TV occasionally, she would have held the ball sideways.

“Courtney, could you please demonstrate a dropkick for the class?”

Why did she have to demonstrate? Couldn’t she ask someone who was much better at sports to do it? Someone like Jack? That was why she agreed to partner with him in the first place. Courtney was certain Mrs Grungle was deliberately trying to embarrass her.

Courtney looked down at the oval shape. It seemed so far away. How was one supposed to kick the ball?

Courtney dropped the ball and swung her foot with as much force as she could. Her entire body weight was placed behind her foot. She needed to impress the class.

But she missed the ball altogether.

Her foot flung up into the air.

To others, it would have looked like she’d slipped on a banana peel as she fell to the ground.

The kids in the class were laughing at Courtney’s spectacular failure. But surprisingly, Courtney didn’t care about their laughs.

Because she was worried about something else.

She dreaded whatever caused the smooshing under her hand when she fell.

She glanced down, and she felt the colour drain from her face.

She began to tremble uncontrollably.

Squished… Brown… Dog poo.

At least she hoped it was dog poo, and of all the places on the oval, it just had to be where her hand landed.

Courtney resisted the urge to cry. She had to be brave. The judging gaze of the class was already on her. If she cried now, it would just add to their ridicule. As painful as it was, she had to be brave.

“Mrs Grungle…” she meekly commented.

“What is it, Courtney?” Mrs Grungle snapped, her expression making it clear she was not amused by Courtney’s spectacular failure to perform a dropkick.

Courtney held up her hand, still shaking from the shock and horror.

“My hand landed in poo.”

“Ewww, Courtney pooed herself,” Jack teased, laughing his arse off.

“I did not!” she snapped back, doing her best to suppress the tears from flowing.

“Courtney has poo cooties,” some of the boys sang, egged on by Jack's taunts.

“I do not!” Courtney could feel something in her chest constrict. She could barely breathe. It was so painful. She gripped her chest.

“Quiet, all of you,” Mrs Grungle snapped. The boys fell silent. “Courtney, go to the tap and wash off your hands.”

Courtney slowly stood up and took a step towards the tap.

“Courtney!” Mrs Grungle growled, making the already miserable girl traumatised.

“What is it?” Courtney asked, feeling as if she was about to pass out at any moment.

Mrs Grungle held up her bony finger, pointing directly at Courtney.

“It seems it wasn’t just your hand that landed in it.”

Courtney glanced down at her black pants. On the back was a smear of light brown. She could tell from the radiating stench that it wasn’t just mud from the oval.

“Courtney pooed herself,” the boys sang.

“Go to Miss Lorrell and ask her for a change of shorts,” Mrs Grungle instructed. There was absolutely no compassion in her voice. She didn’t even scold the other kids for laughing at her. Why did she allow them to ridicule her? This was the worst experience Courtney had ever felt.

Miss Lorell was the school nurse. It meant Courtney had to visit sick bay, which always had a weird, stale smell. A smell that normally she would hate, but it was a hundred times better than the smell that clung to Courtney.

She walked faster than she ever had to sick bay. She couldn’t stand the students' judgmental eyes.

She reached sick bay and knocked on the closed door.

She heard some scuttling inside, and Miss Lorell opened the door. Thankfully, there appeared to be no other students in the room.

“Courtney? Are you not feeling well?”

Courtney shook her head. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

It was so difficult to explain what had happened. It made her feel sick even thinking about it. She didn’t want to experience these icky feelings. So she couldn’t say the words she needed to.

“What’s up then? Why are you here?” Miss Lorell asked, tilting her head to the side.

Courtney shifted her gaze to the corner of the room. She felt more comfortable when she didn’t have to see how others reacted.

“I need a change of pants,” Courtney managed to say with as few words as possible.

There was a moment of silence. It felt like an eternity to Courtney.

“Alright, I’ll fetch you a pair of shorts.” Without another word, Miss Lorell handed Courtney a pair of shorts. Courtney hastily rushed to the toilets to change.

The shorts were dark green rather than the school's standard black. They stood out; students would know that they weren’t her usual clothes. But she had no choice but to wear them. She couldn’t walk around with poo on her.

Reluctantly, Courtney returned to PE, occasionally overhearing her classmates laughing at her.

Lunchtime was even worse because, out of the teachers' protection, the kids pointed and laughed at her. Even Leah and Sarah thought it was funny and teased her. All the while, she bottled up the miserable feelings she was having, masked behind her faux smile.

Courtney laughed with them, but deep down, she hurt. She wanted to curl up in a blanket and cry. When she got home, that was exactly what she did. It was difficult enough explaining what happened to her mum when she came to pick her up. The borrowed shorts needed to be washed so she could return them the following day.

A second round of embarrassment that she would have to live through.

Courtney felt so awful that she didn’t even watch the afternoon cartoons or eat dinner. She just lay curled up in her doona. Cuddled up to her favourite dragon plushie.

This was the worst day of her life, she thought as she cried herself to sleep.

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End of Chapter 9