Saving Amy

Sophia's first day at school

2008

"Sophia! Are you ready to go?" Isla's soft Australian voice called up the stairs. Sophia was standing in front of her bedroom mirror wearing a blue and white checked dress, white socks, and polished black shoes. Her hair was plaited, and her face had been washed. She pulled the Velcro straps on her shoes across, fastening them. She picked up her school bag from her bed, and hurried down the stairs.

"Wow, sweetie! You look so grown up!" Isla clapped her hands when she saw her. Sophia was five, and it was her first day of primary school. She was nervous about it, but Isla told her all the kids would be. She hoped her friends from preschool would be in her class.

Mitchell drove Sophia to the school with Isla in the back seat holding her hand. When they arrived at the school, Sophia jumped out of the car, excited.
"Do you want us to walk you to the door, sweetheart?" Mitchell asked. "No thank you! I'm a big girl!" Sophia said, making the two adults laugh. Sophia giggled, hugged them both goodbye, and ran for her new classroom door, swinging her book bag behind her.

In her class, Sophia was happy to find all the girls she'd been friends with in preschool, and Elijah and Taylor the two boys she'd played with sometimes. There were two new boys and five new girls. Luca, Connor, Maddie, Lisa, Flora, Sofia, and Sasha. Sophia quickly made friends with all seven of them. She loved her lessons. She found her maths a little bit hard to start with, but she soon grasped it. Her English was different, she learned her letters and spellings faster than the others. Her homework was just to colour a picture of an apple and write the letter A on the lines underneath several times. Isla had told Sophia she could ask her for help with homework if she needed it, but Sophia knew she wouldn't need help with this.

At the end of the day, the girls and the boys went to their separate cloakrooms to get their coats and bags. When all the girls left the cloakroom, Maddie and Eva tried to get through the door at the same time and got stuck, giggling until they managed to squeeze out. In the playground, the girls scanned The Pen where the parents waited. Sofia slipped her hand into Sophia's. "Where's your mummy?" She asked her. Sophia peered at the crowd of parents waiting. And then she spotted Isla in the middle of them, and pointed at her. "There she is! Bye Sofi!"
She ran to Isla and jumped into her arms. Ever since she was three and old enough to remember people, Sophia thought Isla was her mum and no one corrected her. Isla was the closest thing she had, anyway.

Isla kissed Sophia's soft cheek. "How was your first day, cutie?" Sophia beamed at her. "So good! My friends were there!" Looking around The Pen, Isla saw all the little girls and some of the boys from Sophia's preschool. "That's so great, honey! Come on, let's get you home." She carried Sophia to the car and fastened her seatbelt for her. They drove back home, Sophia talking about school and her lessons the whole way.

When they got back to the house, Mitchell was waiting because he opened the door as soon as the car pulled up. Sophia ran to him, grabbed on to his leg and immediately started telling him about school.

After Sophia's second day at school, Mitchell was there to pick her up. Sophia's teacher followed her out of the classroom and approached Mitchell, smiling. "Are you Sophia's dad?" She asked. "No, I'm her grandad, Mitchell Winehouse." He introduced himself. The teacher, Miss Sampson, stopped smiling. "Oh, is Sophia adopted?"
"No, she's my daughter's daughter. Why?" Sophia had run off to talk to her friend Eva, so he could say that. "It's just," Miss Sampson looked uncomfortable. "When I asked her what her name was, she said Sophia Green."

When they got in through their front door, Mitchell was trying to decide how to ask Sophia about what her teacher told him in a way she'd understand. But Sophia had already run into the lounge and was turning on the TV. He stood watching her in the doorway. She suddenly tilted her head and sniffed. Then she sniffed again. "Ewie!" She said. "It smells like cigarette smoke!" She ran to the downstairs toilet, grabbed the Febreze bottle and started spraying the whole room.

"How do you know what cigarette smoke smells like?" Mitchell asked her. Sophia stopped spraying for a minute. "Alessia's mummy smokes all the time, it smells horrible." Mitchell laughed. "Well, open the doors so you don't choke on it." Sophia opened the doors, and continued dancing around the room spraying everything. Mitchell just stood and watched her unknowingly doing what he'd forgotten to do, removing the smell of Amy from the house.