Chapter 3

March 12, 1996.

At school the next day, Selina is talking to Jerome Fualema during recess.

"Are you still able to go to Space Place this Saturday?" Jerome asked her.

"Irene said I could go." Selina replied.

Jerome smiled at Selina before saying, "Cool."

While Jerome and Selina were talking, Melanie Dolan, Jerome's ex-girlfriend, watched from a distance and was far from impressed.

"Are you going to the diner for lunch?" Jerome asked.

"Yeah." Selina responded.

"Come join me." Jerome said. "I don't have training at lunch."

"I would be honoured to have lunch with you." Selina said, smiling.

"Good. I'll meet you near the lockers." Jerome smiled back.

"Bye."

Once Jerome walked away, Melanie stormed over to Selina.

"Decided to date my ex-boyfriend now, have we?!" she snapped.

"And hello to you too, Melanie." Selina said, unimpressed by Melanie's rude voice.

"Listen here, Selina." Melanie shouted. "You are to stay away from Jerome!"

"Don't tell me what to do, Melanie. Besides, Jerome dumped you ages go!" Selina shouted back.

Melanie glared at Selina. "You know what you are?"

"What's that?" Selina said with a bored expression on her face.

"A dirty little slut!" Melanie shouted.

Selina just laughed off Melanie's comment.

"That's good coming from you! At least I never cheated on any of my boyfriends!" she said.

Melanie didn't say anything. She just kept scowling at Selina.

"Take your jealousy elsewhere. I'm off to find Shannon. Bye, bitch." Selina smirked.

Selina then walked away, leaving Melanie aghast!

Meanwhile, Stephanie and Tiegan are sitting outside near the tree listening to music when they see a Year 9 student being bullied.

"This is the sort of stuff I seen every day at Hartley High." Tiegan said, shaking her head.

"Excuse me." Stephanie said before storming over to the two male students.

"You got no friends!" one of them said, laughing.

"You're a loser!" the other boy said.

"STOP IT!" Stephanie shouted at them.

"And what are you going to do about it, Blackie Chan?!" the blonde haired boy asked angrily.

"STOP THE RACIST REMARKS AND LEAVE THIS POOR BOY ALONE!" Stephanie yelled.

"He's a spastic!" the brown haired boy shouted.

Upon hearing that, Tiegan storms over.

"What did you call him?!" she asked angrily.

"A spastic!" the boy shouted again.

"Right..." Tiegan said. "Stephanie, go comfort this boy."

"Come on, kid." Stephanie said, putting her arms around the bullied boy as they walked off.

"You and your friend need to mind your business and stop sticking your noses in OUR business!" the blonde haired boy shouted at Tiegan.

"Is your nose broken?" Tiegan asked him.

"No." he replied.

Suddenly, Tiegan elbows the blonde haired boy right in the face!

"Ooh!" the boy groaned.

"Maybe that will teach you not to bully others!" Tiegan shouted.

The boys ran off as Tiegan returned to Stephanie and the bullied student.

"Thank you for sticking up for me." he said.

"You're welcome, dude." Tiegan responded.

The Year 9 boy smiled before saying, "You girls are cool!"

"Thanks, buddy." Stephanie said.

The bell rang.

"Do you want us to take you back to class?" Stephanie asked the boy.

"No, I'll be fine." he replied before he left to go to his class.

"Good job, Tiegan."

"You did pretty good yourself."

Tiegan and Stephanie gave each other a high-five.

Later, Donald is teaching his Year 11 English class.

"I want you all to read Chapter 12 and then answer the comprehension questions after you've finished reading." he told the class.

Sonia Hammond raises her hand.

"What is it, Sonia?" Donald asked.

"May I go to the bathroom?"

"Fine. Don't take too long."

Sonia left the room.

"I wonder why she's asking to go to the toilet? She never does." Sally said to Stephanie.

"I know." Stephanie said. "It makes me wonder what she's up to."

"Same here." Tiegan said.

Instead of going to the toilet, Sonia sneaks inside Donald's office and goes through the student files before coming across Tiegan's.

"Here we are. Tiegan Brook." Sonia said to herself.

Sonia then opened the file and looked through the papers.

"What do you think you're doing?!" a voice shouted.

Sonia dropped the file, causing all of its contents to fall out. The school secretary, Joanne Brennan walked over to Sonia.

"What are you doing in Mr Fisher's office and why are you looking through another student's file?" Joanne asked sternly.

"Miss Brennan, it's not what you think." Sonia said.

"It is exactly what I think." Joanne said. "I'm sure Mr Fisher would be very interested to know what you've been up to."

Sonia looked shocked, knowing what the consequences of her actions would be.

NEXT TIME...
- Sonia gets in big trouble of Mr Fisher, but that doesn't stop her from airing Tiegan's history at her old high school
- Stephanie defends Tiegan, causing her and Sonia to get into a huge fight!
- Selina has another confrontation with Melanie