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After reading the story, try this phrasal verb activity and a comprehension activity. Then do some writing yourself and see texts written by other readers.
"Got any goss?"
"Any what?"
"Any goss?"
"What’s ‘goss’’"
"’Goss’ – for ‘gossip’. Got any gossip?"
"Er, no," said Corinne, and started to walk off. She hadn’t been at the school long. She didn’t really have any friends there, and felt unhappy. She had moved to this new school only a few weeks ago when she had moved to North London with her Mum and her little sister. She still felt shy and embarrassed when she talked to the other students. Alicia carried on walking beside her anyway.
"You know, I like you really," said Alicia to Corinne as they walked along the street. "Some of the other girls think you’re a bit weird, but I think you’re alright".
"Er, thanks," said Corinne. She wasn’t really sure if Alicia had complimented her or not. She felt uncomfortable and a bit embarrassed with Alicia. Alicia was probably the most beautiful girl in the school – everybody knew it - and she always had great clothes. Today she was wearing a big red Tommy Hilfiger jacket over her school uniform. She looked brilliant. Corinne felt even more embarrassed than usual walking along the street with Alicia. Alicia carried on talking.
"You’re always really quiet. You always have your head in a book, reading. Some of the other girls think you’re strange because you never talk about anything. Some of them think you’re a snob and you don’t want to be with us."
"No! No!" shouted out Corinne suddenly. "That’s not it! That’s not it at all! I’m not a snob, I’m just a bit shy, I guess".
"Yeah – it’s difficult moving to a new school where nobody knows you, and you don’t know anybody. It happened to me a few years ago. I was new at school and I didn’t know anybody. I soon made loads of friends – it’s easy."
Alicia carried on talking all the way as far as Corinne’s bus stop. She was a real motor mouth, she never stopped talking. She only stopped when the bus arrived and Corinne got on.
"Bye, Corinne! See you tomorrow!"
"Bye, Alicia!"
Every evening Corinne wrote her diary. In her diary she wrote about everything that happened to her during the day. She also wrote about her feelings, her hopes, her plans and her dreams. Her diary was a friend for her, and she always carried it with her in her bag. That evening she wrote about her meeting with Alicia.
Something incredible happened today! Alicia Wilkinson started talking to me. Alicia is the most beautiful girl in the school. She’s got loads of friends and a boyfriend who’s older than she is. He’s 20! He’s got a job at a design company, or something like that. She told me all about him. His name’s Anthony, but everybody calls him Anto.
She said some of the other girls think I’m weird because I never talk to them, and all I do is read books all the time. I don’t think a person’s strange because they read books.
I’m going to see Alicia again at school tomorrow.
Before she went to bed, Corinne looked at herself in the mirror. She wasn’t as slim as Alicia, that was true. She often tried dieting, but it never made any difference. She had a pair of big thick glasses which she always wore. She tried taking them off sometimes, but her eyes hurt if she didn’t wear them. She wanted to get contact lenses, but her Mum said they were too expensive. She thought her face was too square, and thought about Alicia’s long oval face.
She started thinking about Alicia’s boyfriend, Anto. It was incredible to have a boyfriend as old as twenty. She thought about what he was like, and imagined that he would be really handsome. Then she remembered her own boyfriend, Ray. She hadn’t seen Ray for a couple of weeks because he lived in South London, where Corinne had lived before. Now they had moved it was difficult to meet very often. Some weekends they met up and went to the cinema, or to McDonald’s, or just went for a walk around the shops. Ray was really nice. She had known him for a long time – they had lived near each other and grown up together. Ray was like Corinne – they were both a bit shy, they both read a lot of books and didn’t have many other friends. When they were at elementary school, some of the other children used to laugh at them.
"Ray loves Corinne!" they shouted. "And Corinne loves Ray!" Corinne remembered feeling really embarrassed. They were together all the time, and eventually they became boyfriend and girlfriend just because it seemed natural. She took out her diary again, and started to write.
To be honest, I don’t know if I love Ray or not. I mean, he’s a really good friend, and we’re really similar to each other and we get on really well, but I don’t know if that’s really love. I like to be with him, but…I don’t know…it doesn’t feel like love!
She stopped writing and went to bed feeling unhappy.
The next day at lunch Alicia asked Corinne to come over and join her friends. They were all sitting around a table together, eating the sandwiches they brought for their lunch every day.
"This is Corinne," said Alicia to all the other girls. "She’s not weird. She just reads a lot of books!" Everybody laughed really loud. Corinne felt embarrassed and went red. She didn’t know if they were laughing at her or not.
"Anyway, Corinne’s my mate!" said Alicia. Corinne sat down at the table and ate her sandwich. She didn’t talk to anybody, but just listened to the other girls. They all talked about clothes, their boyfriends, and what they would do if they had lots of money.
"What would you do if you had loads of money?" one of the girls asked Corinne.
"I don’t know really," she replied. "I’d probably just travel loads. I’d love to go to Africa."
"Africa!" shouted the girl. "Why do you want to go there? You should go to Miami or Los Angeles, to America. That’s the best place to go!"
"I think I’d prefer Africa," said Corinne. She didn’t speak any more after that. Nobody asked her any more questions. They didn’t even ask her if she had any good goss.
Alicia was waiting for Corinne when school finished.
"Hi!" she said, and smiled. "Listen, Anto’s coming to pick me up in his car soon. Why don’t we go for a ride together?"
Corinne was really excited, but she also felt a bit nervous.
"I don’t know. I’ve got loads of homework to do."
"Come on! We’ll give you a lift home. You can meet Anto!"
At that moment, a big red BMW stopped next to them.
"Hello girls!" said the man driving. It was Anto.
Two minutes later they were in the car, driving along the road where Corinne usually walked or took the bus. Alicia was talking to Corinne.
"You know, I really admire you," she said.
"Why?" asked Corinne, surprised.
"You remember today when the other girls were saying what they would do if they had loads of money?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I thought they were all saying really stupid things. I really admired you for saying something different. It’s really good if you’re individual, if you can say what you really think and not let yourself be influenced by other people."
Anto turned round.
"Yeah, that’s absolutely right!" he said. "I like a girl who can say what she thinks". Then he smiled at Corinne. Corinne turned red. She didn’t know what to say. Anto really was as handsome as she had imagined. He had short black hair, dark skin and a really big smile. Corinne felt his big dark eyes watching her. A few minutes later, they arrived at Corinne’s house.
"See you around!" shouted Anto as he and Alicia drove away.
That night, Corinne wrote all about Anto in her diary. When her boyfriend Ray phoned, she was surprised, and felt a bit guilty. They arranged to meet up on Saturday anyway.
Alicia didn’t go to school for a few days after that. Corinne began to think that perhaps Alicia was angry with her for some reason, but then she remembered that Alicia often disappeared for a few days. She wasn’t really a very good student.
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