It is 1995 and I am in Standard 5. All of us kids are lined up on the netball court before school starts. I don't have any friends in my class. The few I made the year before are in other classes. Today is different though. There is a new girl in front of me. She has white blonde hair in a pony tail, skinny legs and a satchel that says 'Tracy.'
Reading it aloud, I say, 'Tracy.'
She swings around and shouts, 'What!?'
'Woah, the new girl is crazy,' I think.
'I'm sorry,' she says.
She is nervous and defensive but I understand. I tell her I'm Lauren and that she can hang with me if she wants.
The bell rings and we march off to class. The first lesson is Maths, my worst. The teacher hands us a test and everyone starts to scribble. Tracy sits to the left in front of me. She hauls out a scientific calculator and starts tapping away. 'Those are banned,' I think. Soon the teacher is yelling at her but she doesn't know the rules.
By break we are talking about her old school in Port Elizabeth and by the holidays we are best friends. We spend the summer of '95 playing Mario Brothers, watching taped music videos and writing fan mail to Green Day. We go for long walks in our neighbourhood and try to stay awake all night long. We eat milk tart washed down with Sprite and page through Kerrang magazine.
I pray that we'll be in the same class when we start high school the following month. We're not and I cry every night for the first term. On the weekends we go to the under 16 club and talk to boys. We watch Toy Story three times and tell each other we'll always be friends. All these year later, we still are.
Here we are hanging out with (read:stalking) Shaun Morgan of Seether and below that, is us knackered after a night on the town. I look sweaty and crazy in both of these, haha!
