The Bucket List

t h r e e

For Mia's pure pleasure, we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. I lost track on which stores we went into, and if it weren't for the shopping bags, I wouldn't have remembered where I bought most of my new clothes from. We spent majority of our time in Valley Girl, trying on clothes and pretty much modelling it out to each other in the changing rooms.

It was fun. But I had to cop a lot of hate on my current wardrobe. Mia described them as 'death's first choice', whereas I regrettably corrected her in describing them as 'comfortable and cute'. She ended up picking out the rest of my clothes to buy that day, saying she couldn't trust my taste.

The clothes Mia chose weren't bad. They were actually nice. I ended up buying a couple of blouses, some jeans, two culottes—something I discovered to love—a dress and a jumpsuit. It felt like a lot, but I didn't feel bad buying it. I mean, it wasn't like I would be wearing them any time soon.

At Mackellar College, it was all about uniforms. Luckily for me, we were all subjected to the same white blouse with a dark green tie with grey trimming, a dark green and grey tartan skirt, all to go along with a grey blazer. With of course, the black leather shoes. It was the epitome of private school uniform with our round hats and lion logo inside a golden crest. The number of glares I got while taking the train every morning only proved how much every other school in Melbourne hated us.

When I arrived at school the following day, I headed straight to Mr Halliday's office and handed him the signed form. The sooner I gave it, the faster I could tick it off my list.

I knocked on his door feeling more nervous than usual, but excited at the same time. I was hoping that Mr Halliday wouldn't ask me to provide another unnecessary and embarrassing speech as to why I should be part of the peer support club.

When I asked dad to sign the form this morning, he burst out laughing. Twice. It was irritating as I glared at him until his laughter died down and he realised I was being serious. His expression then changed to his poker face before asking why I wanted to join the club. I gave the same speech I gave to Mr Halliday yesterday and said it very proudly. But dad called out on my bull immediately. Not overly impressed but by mentioning mum, dad became sullen. It was a hard topic to bring up between us and when it did, it really did silence the room. But dad signed the form anyways.

I heard Mr Halliday answer on the other side of the door, telling me to enter. It felt like déjà vu. I entered the room and Mr Halliday was sipping on his coffee this time, while he squinted at his screen, again. He needed to wear his glasses if he struggled this much.

"Ah, Elizabeth," Mr Halliday smiled when he saw me.

I mentally cringed. "You can call me Ellie," I corrected casually, trying not to sound offended. I handed the signed form which he took with a smile. "I came to file this in."

He looked at the form. "Great. I'll file it now," he said, putting the yellow sheet in his in tray. "We hold meetings every Tuesday, which coincidentally, happens to be today. If you would like, you can join the meeting at second break in the classroom next door. Otherwise, you can come in next week."

I shook my head. "No, no, I'll be there," I told him. He welcomed me to the club once more before I left.

I eagerly rushed to homeroom. All I could think about on the way was crossing it off the list. I found a great thrill whenever I did, like it was a huge accomplishment. Even though they were probably menial and boring things.

As I entered English class later in the day, I took a seat at the very back. I watched as students began filling up the room and tried putting a name to their face. I knew majority of them, but there were a few I couldn't remember.