Volume 1, Issue 1
June, 2013
Inside this issue:
Welcome to Wordly
Editorial
1
Poetry
2
Welcome to the first issue of the school
writing competitions and publishing
4
literary magazine Wordly! It is a special
opportunities outside school
moment to see something that was desired
It happened in
the library
Quiz
4
The death of
English
8
Shocktober
story
9
and planned for a long time become a
 opportunities to extend students’
self-motivation and organisation.
reality. Ever since I came to St.Vincent’s
College I felt that creative writers at this
For the first issue we had more
school need an outlet to present their work,
offerings than we could fit in one
hone their publishing skills but, most
manageable publication.
importantly, extend their love of words and
Nevertheless, the issue is a testament
stories. At last, I am delighted to have a
of girls’ many talents. Sophie Burton-
copy of Wordly in front of us.
Clark (Year 10) was the Student Editor
Preparation of a publication like this is
always an opportunity to have fun and mix
-in-chief, Emilia Hornas (Year 10) drew
the Wordly font for the first page and
a number of girls submitted their
Literary magazine Wordly
is published by the Learning Resource Centre,
St.Vincent’s College, Potts
Point.
with like-minded people. The group around
Frequency: Quarterly
we intend to publish Wordly quarterly.
Guest Student Editor-inchief: Sophie Burton-Clark
I believe in many useful outcomes that will
come from our Wordly gatherings and
publication. The group will contribute to the
development of students’ literacy and skills
while extending school’s rich literary
culture. Wordly will provide
Centre to celebrate the World Poetry
 support for creative writers
class.
 a forum for writing-related discussion and
I hope you will enjoy reading.
Banner: Emilia Hornas
Address:
Locked Bag 2700
Potts Point NSW 1335
Australia
Web:
stvincents.nsw.edu.au
Wordly intends to meet once a month to
talk about writing and provide feedback
and support to each other. At this stage,
writing in a number of forms and
genres. Most pieces were written in
students’ free time, some poems
were written in the workshop
organised by the Learning Resource
Day while others were written in class.
French poems were written in Ms
Hegarty’s class and Conor’s
reflection on the way our language
changes was written for her English
collaboration across year groups
 publishing opportunities
 opportunities for the development of
editing skills
Dr Suzana Sukovic
Head of Learning Resource Centre
 support for students’ participation in
Literary magazine Wordly Publication of the Learning Resource Centre, SVC is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
We celebrated the World Poetry
Day on 21 March by organising a
Tutor poetry slam and some poetry
making during lunchtime in the library. The girls made poems out of
book spines, a selection of words
stuck on walls, and cut-outs from
unlikely places such as science and
Poetry
Numbers
Numbers are forever
they can get bigger
and they can get smaller
Numbers are perfect
infinite and precise
even in the wrong, they are beyond
economics magazines.
compare
We had a poetry workshop on 25
March with a poet and scholar, Dr
Richard James Allen, as the presenter. Students considered elements of
poetry and then wrote their poems
on the topic of numbers and mathematics. Later we continued poetry
jamming in our Wordly meeting.
Numbers are hidden
deliberately playing a game
of hide and seek. Where is x and y?
Numbers are rigid
never changing and always
the same systems to solve them
Numbers are separation
a comma or a sign
to keep them apart
Is there a poem?
Is there a poem worthy?
Worthy for Wordly?
Is there a poem worthy for reading
at all?
Is the description right?
Is the tone dark or light?
Is it even worthy to be read by all?
Maisie Watkins (Y9)
Jinx Moore (Y9)
Wednesday
It’s still Wednesday won’t sneak up on you like
Monday
and won’t run away from you like Sunday
not so close to the start of the week
and so far away from the end it hurts.
Wednesday is perfect
quiet, comfortable at school
the teachers are getting sick of us.
And we’ll never get sick of each other
Wednesday
India Wyvill (Y9)
Emilia Hornas (Y10)
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
2
Poetry workshop wth
Richard James Allen
Maths
My knees were shaking,
and my heart was racing ,
my breathing was rapid,
Why was I so nervous??
I knew this question,
Sure I did,
I remembered doing this in class.
Wait,
Is this a decimal or is it a fraction?
A shape or an angle?
Yay! Only 20 more minutes to go.
Rrrrrrr!
Still don't get it ,
How could this be possible?
I know this equator and
I have practiced it plenty of times!
Please maths
just magically appear in my brain,
just for once .
Please .....
Gabriella Turco (Y7)
Grace Taranto Jones (Y9)
Wednesday
Wednesday
Middle of the week
Well, not quite.
Sitting in the classroom.
Walking on the street.
Waiting for the bell to ring.
Or tripping over my feet.
Wednesday
worst day of the week.
Well, not quite.
Monday’s worse.
Conor Leslie-Keefe (Y8)
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
3
Poésie
An Easter Poem
Happy Easter
A rabbit with a ribbon
A lily of the valley in a basket
A bell that’s not ugly
An Easter nest with a chick…
What a pretty drawing
And the chocolate eggs, all nine
of them.
I woke at seven
Lee Davis (Y10)
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
and found an egg
I left very happy
But my brother wasn’t patient
He ate all the chocolate
And I was cross!
Chloe Malmoux-Setz (Y10)
4
It happened in the library
In Term 1 the LRC invited students to participate in a writing challenge. The topic was It happened in the
library. We now have a pleasure of publishing winning entries by Saskia Riedel and Isabel Holborow, both
in Year 9. Congratulations, girls!
Story by Saskia Riedel
Five
o’clock.
The
door
slammed shut, the lights
were turned off, but not
everyone was out of the
library. I had managed to
avoid suspicion by staying
huddled in a little corner
brown and wispy and she had large, intelligent eyes.
She had a small, delicate features and a pointed pale
face and she was tiny.
‘Smile Annabelle!’ The Librarian said, toting a large
camera. The light flashed and a black and white print
of the girl slid out.
between two bookshelves.
Annabelle? I thought, that’s my name.
I was a small child with fine,
realised that this was not the first time I’d been here. I
Suddenly I
mousy hair and grey eyes –
remembered back to when the library used to be like
I had always been invisible
this – old with only a few tables.
within my school so it was
no
wonder
that
the
librarian did not see me. I
was deep into my novel when I heard a thump. I
looked up, startled. Lying directly in front of me was a
The caption at the bottom
thick brown book that I had never seen before.
read, ‘Students enjoying the
On the front cover were the words, History of the
library’. I smiled and suddenly
Library. I tentatively opened the frayed, yellow pages
I was falling through the book.
and started to flick through the book. On one page I
stopped. A picture of a smiling girl caught my eye. She
looked a lot like me. She had the same thin hair and
un-noticeable face. The caption at the bottom read,
‘Students enjoying the library’. I smiled and suddenly I
was falling through the book.
I found myself sitting back in the present-day library with
I landed in the same room, but there were a lot more
the book still in my lap. I looked at the picture of the
people.
Instead of saying 5 o’clock, the clock said
smiling girl. The words, ‘Students enjoying the library’
one-thirty. Two girls sat at a table talking intently. A
was still there but underneath were more words that I
few other students sat reading on benches and
had not noticed before:
couches.
Annabelle McPherson died a few weeks after this
‘Excuse me?’ I said to the two girls but they did not
picture was taken. Rest in Peace Annabelle (1990-
seem to hear me.
I listened to the conversation of the two girls next to
me.
‘How good is the new library?’ one said.
2004).
I shut the book and stood up. The smiling girl was me. I
floated serenely through the library forgetting what I just
read and saw.
‘Yeah, it’s really great,’ the other replied.
Then another girl entered the library, her hair was light
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
5
Story by Isabel Holborow
'Kat that is not fair!' Beth
I froze, wide eyed before I went a dark shade of pink.
screamed.
'Well, you know, my — well my aunt works there. Yeah.
I frowned. 'How is that
And I was with her last night before she closed up.'
unfair?'
It was Beth's turn to look at me puzzled. 'But didn't...last
She slouched in her chair.
night you had your-'
'I'm older. I should have
'Never mind that! Lucky, what have you got for lunch
been first.'
today?' I said shrilly.
'Beth? You're only older by
Lucky shook his head and sat up. 'Oh, um, I've got a
two and a half months.'
juice pop and a sandwich.'
'Yeah. And therefore I
'I want the juice pop!' Beth yelled raising her hand.
should have had my first
Lucky started laughing and I sighed with relief. Subject
kiss two and a half months
avoided.
before you.'
***
I rolled my eyes. Beth was
That afternoon after school, I went to see my Aunt Claire
always this strange with her reasoning.
at the library. It was a huge building, with more of a
Before I could say anything else, Mr Carther walked in
wooden touch to it instead of the modern glassy design
and announced the beginning of class. Mr Carther was
it had been planned for. The place was in fact
a funny man. He wore big glasses and Disney themed
barricaded off by those oh-so-restraining yellow plastic
ties. Beth and I always found it strange that in the two
caution ropes.
years we'd been in high school, we'd never seen Mr
I walked in anyway. Aunt Claire was over in the
Carther in a formal tie. We liked him though, because
parenting and health section scrubbing one of the
he always handed out treats to the top students.
shelves clean with detergent which made the whole
Unfortunately, today he handed out a test. Damn.
place smell like chemicals and tropical sunshine.
When class managed to crawl to an end, our friend,
'Hey Aunty Claire.'
Christopher Luck, or 'Lucky' as we call him, was waiting
She turned around and frowned at me. 'Kat? You
for us at the door. When I first met them, I thought Beth
shouldn't be in here.'
and Lucky were siblings. They both had dark blonde hair
'I wanted to see what happened. I totally missed it last
and coincidentally both had light brown eyes. Their only
night.'
real physical difference was Beth's numerous amounts of
Aunt Claire stood up and placed her hands on her hips.
freckles and Lucky's single distinctive beauty mark on his
'Look, I shouldn't have left you to lock up. You must've
left cheek.
done it wrong.'
'Did you girls hear about the library?'
It's not that I did it wrong. I locked up right after, well,
I felt a series of butterflies flutter around in my tummy. 'Li-
right after he came by. 'As if! I did it perfectly right.'
library?'
'Back doors?'
'What library?' Beth asked.
'The one down the road. Come on Beth. Haven't you
ever been?'
Beth laughed and I chuckled as well.
Lucky waved our giggles away. 'There was a massive
vandalism there.'
We both looked at him shocked. 'How bad?'
We sat down to have lunch and Lucky kept going. 'I was
'Yep.'
'Windows?'
'Them too.'
'Windows in the office?'
'Yes.'
'The..’
'Office and then the front door. Yes I did them all.'
there this morning before they closed it off.'
She pulled a chair from one of the tables and sat down.
Beth managed to look interested. 'When did it happen
'I can't see how they could have gotten in; after all,
do you think?'
He shrugged. 'Probably last night-'
'Impossible' I interrupted.
Lucky looked at me sceptically. 'How are you so sure?'
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
there isn't any damage other than the graffiti.'
I was starting to get paranoid. I'd have to ask him about
it tomorrow.
6
***
The next morning I walked into school feeling a bit queasy. I had no idea how I was going to talk to him but if I
wanted to work this mystery out, he was a valuable resource.
Oh my god, there he is!
Jet black ocean swept hair, dazzling blue eyes and, oh
my gosh, that shark tooth around his neck just turns me
into a bundle of nerves.
He is basically the dream boat of our year group.
I didn't realise Lucky was standing next to me until he
spoke. 'What're you staring at Max for?'
I almost jumped out of my school shoes. 'I need, um, just,
to talk to him that's all.' I said nervously.
Lucky raised an eyebrow at me before rolling his eyes.
'You girls...well I'm going to go find Beth. See ya.' He took
a sceptical glance at Max before turning on his heel
down the hallway.
Okay. Let's do this. 'Ma-Max!' I squeaked.
I don't know how he managed to hear me but he turned
around to see me anyway. He blinked twice at me and
Mouse tea party tie on. Why did he look like a demon?
'Class! Who wrote this on their test yesterday?!'
He held up a piece of paper that had a very inappropriate comment written across it. There were giggles
amongst the class. Especially Beth's.
'Class, I'll keep you all in if nobody owns up.'
No one admitted to the guilt. Mr Carther sighed. 'Okay,
ten minutes into lunch today.' There was a groan
amongst the students but we relaxed when Mr Carther
seemed to.
'People always trash their exam papers, why is Carther so
angry?' A girl called Jess said next to me.
That lead into a lot of hushed discussions that followed
into Recess as well as the ten minutes we had to stay in.
As Beth had said, Lucky was waiting for us after maths. He
looked agitated for some reason. 'Hey girls.'
'What's up?'
He hesitated before looking at me with questioning. 'You
were at your Aunt's library the night of the attack, right?'
'They're calling it 'the attack' now?' Beth asked.
smirked. Oh, how embarrassing. I needed to gather my-
Lucky ignored her. 'Kat?'
self.
'Yeah? Why?'
'Hey, Kate?' He said walking over to me. Stop heart.
'People are suspecting you now.'
Stop beating so fast.
To be continued…
'Oh it's Kat.' I said with less of a squeak.
'How can I help you?'
'Well,' I started, avoiding eye contact at all costs. 'You
know the other night in the library...'
Book Quiz
I saw his cheeks go slightly pink but he managed to keep
Try to complete it without using Google or looking it up in the book.
his smile on his face. 'Yeah, I remember.'
Q1. How many tributes died in the first day of the 74th Hunger Games?
'Well, there was a vandalism that night and I wanted to
Q2. What is Alec Lightwood’s middle name from The Mortal Instru-
know if you, well,' I looked up and saw he was sweating
ment’s Series?
slightly. Is he just as nervous about talking to me? I felt a
Q3. What is the sister book to the Book of Moons from the Beautiful
boost of courage. 'Well,did you know anything about it?'
Creatures Series?
He shook his head and gulped. 'I'll ask around for you.'
Q4. What was Marius’ last name from Les Misérables?
'For me?' I asked.
Q5. What state is the Gone Series set in?
'Uh, yeah.'
Q6. Who stole the Lightning Bolt in Percy Jackson and the Lightning
My arm was jerked to the left as I found Beth squealing
excitedly. 'Don't you two start kissing again!'
Thief?
Q7. In the Ashes Trilogy, when the electromagnetic pulse hits the
Earth, some people develop a super human ability whilst others de-
'Beth! Lucky! Lucky was looking for you!' I almost yelled at
velop a taste for what?
her.
Q8. In the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, why is Tom Bombadil considered to
Max chuckled and before I knew it he was walking
down the hallway.
'Beth, I didn't even get to say bye to him.'
Beth was laughing hysterically. 'Lucky said he'd meet us
after Maths again.'
Maths today was the scariest lesson ever. Mr Carther
managed to look like a demon even with his Mickey
deliver the ‘One Ring’ to the fires of Mount Doom?
Q9. What was the name of Ron Weasley’s first owl?
Q10. What was the name of the ship that sank in The Life of Pi?
Q11. What is the colour of Elphaba’s skin in Wicked?
Q12. In A Series of Unfortunate Events, what does Sunny, the youngest
child, like to do?
See answers on back page
Image: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/
Strix_aluco_3young.jpg/1280px-Strix_aluco_3young.jpg
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
7
The death of English language
Conor Leslie-Keefe
In this modern day, there are shortcuts for everything.
Theres always an easier way. But should we be
compromising our own language to make things easier
for the next generation, or should we preserve it?
Lately I have been noticing the growing trend of using
abbreviations not only in text but in speech. For example,
the classic 'btw' or 'by the way' has been pronounced as
'b-t-dubs'. This raises the question; wouldn't it be better to
just say 'by the way'?
Well, to you and to me, yes, it would. But to the growing
population of Internet savvy teenagers, not necessarily.
I can see the headlines now. ‘Lock all your doors!’
‘Protect the children!’ ‘The Internet is coming!!’. So
Another Internet abbreviation I have noticed in speech is
before you use lol in an English sentence think what will
'lol'. Lol literally means fun. In Dutch. But the meaning you
happen. Do something our current generation isn't totally
are probably more familiar with is 'laugh out loud' or 'lots
familiar with and think of the consequences. For if we
of love'. Nowadays, rather than laughing, people are
don't do something now the Internet will embed itself
simply saying lol. A good friend of mine considers the
even further in our lives, it will escape its position in
meaning of lol to be 'lack of laughter' which is probably a
cyberspace and kill our language. The Internet will eat
more accurate description.
your soul.
Now, I'm all for the use of abbreviations via text message
Abbreviations are to abbreviate, not to speak.
or for chatting over the Internet, when you really begin to
bring elements of the Internet into your everyday life,
absolutely TERRIFYING things can happen. The Internet is
our most treasured resource, yet it is also a blood-sucking
monster and a deep pit of despair. So what happens
when the Internet and the real world cross over?
http://xkcd.com/1083/
cn u spk sms
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
8
In October 2012 the LRC ran a spooky Choose Your
Own Adventure story as part of the Shocktober celebrations. While the story was initially begun by Miss
Bailey in the Learning Resource Centre, it wasn’t
long before enthusiastic students wanted to join in
the fun. The following story is the result of efforts of
not only the LRC staff, but also some talented stu-
you drift off to sleep and now the silence is deafening.
Back in the city, you didn’t really know your neighbours
beyond a polite nod in the hallway, but in the week since
you moved to town your family has received two
welcome baskets and at least three pies. You never knew
making polite conversation with neighbours could be so
exhausting.
the stairs to have some breakfast.
You’re having fun, though. You like the sense of
community in your new town and you’re starting to learn
about your neighbours. Old Barbara Finch down the road
(who makes a mean apple crumble) and her neighbour
Julie Downs (no welcome gift sighted from her yet) have
been having an ever so polite battle of wills for the last
three years. Barbara hates that Julie rakes her leaves
over onto her property and Julie gets mad when Barbara
lets her dog ‘do its business’ on her lawn. Neither is willing
to stop until the other one apologises and neither one of
them is going to apologise first, so they smile and pretend
that things are fine to each other and make catty
remarks about witchcraft and demons behind each
other’s backs to their neighbours.
‘You’re ready early,’ mum says, ‘couldn’t you sleep?’
You’ve been told that there are a girl and boy in your
‘I slept fine. Don’t worry mum,’ you lie, ‘I just didn’t want
year at school about a block away, Frankie and Alan,
dents.
Chapter 1 by Ms Bailey
‘Jess! It’s time to get up!’ You hear your mum calling for
you from downstairs. She obviously doesn’t know you’ve
been awake for hours, dressed and ready, playing
games on your phone because you can’t sleep. Today’s
a pretty big day for you and you’re really nervous.
‘Coming mum!’ You slip on your jacket and head down
to be late on my first day, so I set my alarm early.’
Mum gives you a suspicious look, ‘Fair enough. I’ve
packed you some lunch. I guess you can watch TV until
it’s time to catch the bus. And don’t forget that Mrs Finch
is coming to dinner tonight.’
and you wonder if they’ll be in any of your classes. It’s
your first day at a new school in a new town. It’s pretty
scary, but you’ve always gotten along well with people
and you’re confident you’ll make friends quickly. It’s all
about having a positive attitude, after all. When it’s
almost time to leave for the bus you run upstairs to brush
You grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast and hunker
your teeth. You pass the door to your bedroom and see a
down at the table, switching on a morning cartoon to
yellow envelope jutting out from under your door. That’s
wait for the bus. At least the cartoons out here are the
odd. It wasn’t there when you came out of your room
same. Moving to a country town and away from the city
and you were with mum the whole time. Dad left before
has been a steep learning curve for you and now you’re
you got up so it couldn’t have been him. You reach
finding out just how different things are. The silence at
down to find out what’s in it when your mum calls out for
night is deafening. You’re used to hearing the thin strains
you to hurry up. You quickly brush your teeth and head
of your neighbour upstairs watching TV late at night while
off to the bus forgetting all about it in your rush.
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
9
You hop on the bus and try to find a seat, but everyone
looks at you strangely. You notice that the five people
who have little blue badges on their school jackets all
have seats next to them, and everyone else is sitting
together at the back of the bus without a seat to spare.
You try to find a spot and sit down, but with every spare
opening and directs you to sit next to her.
Feeling heartened by this small act of camaraderie in the
face of an overwhelmingly hostile reception, you whisper a
brief thankyou as you sit down.
‘No problem. The kids here don’t exactly roll out the red
seat you go past, a blue-badged student moves so you
carpet for newcomers. I’m Frankie.’
can’t sit down.
‘I’m Jess,’ you say, ‘I think you live near me, on Robert
You finally get to the back of the bus and ask if there’s
Street.’
anywhere you can sit, but no-one seems to want to sit
‘That’s me, and my brother, Alan. He’s in the other History
next to you. Eventually two boys get up out of their seats
class. They can only handle one of us at a time.’
and go and squish up in the back seat with some friends
and you sit in your own near the back of the bus. You’re
starting to think that making friends won’t be as easy as
you thought. What could those blue badges be? You
don’t think the school has that many prefects, and it’s
unlikely that they’d all be catching the same bus.
When you get to school you head straight to the office
to get your timetable. When you get to the office, the
deputy principal, Mrs Hadley, introduces you to the
school and the rules and hands you your timetable. Mrs
After History, you find yourself sitting with Frankie again in
Art class where you get another icy reception from your
classmates and then spend fifty minutes drawing an apple
sitting on a table with a jug. Then it’s recess time. You’re
curious to meet Frankie’s twin, Alan, but on the way to sit
with them you’re cut off in the hall. A tall blonde boy
whispers at you as he blocks your path.
‘Where’s your mark?’ he hisses, ‘You’re supposed to be
wearing a mark, new girl.’
Hadley seems nice, but very busy and she rushes
‘What are you talking about?’ you ask, thinking he’s kind of
through what she has to say like she’s said it a million
cute until you recognise him as one of the boys on the bus
times before and doesn’t leave any room for questions.
who wouldn’t let you sit down. You’re just about fed up
She doesn’t make any mention of the blue badges
with the kids at this school. Where are everyone’s
though, and you’re waiting for a gap in her speech to
manners? Is Frankie the only nice girl here?
ask about them when the bell rings and interrupts
‘You mean you didn’t open it?’ He pauses for a second
her. Mrs Hadley looks at her watch and says ‘Looks like
and a flash of worry passes over his face.
it’s time for you to get to class. You wouldn’t want to be
late on your first day!’
‘You know what? I’ve got someone nice to go sit with at
recess. I’m not missing out on another second of her
You look at your timetable to discover, to your dismay,
company so I can listen to someone like you talking riddles
that your first subject is History and it is with a teacher
at me!’ You’re about to push past him and catch up with
called Mr Winters. While you are usually an above
Frankie when he hisses at you again.
average student, you always enjoyed exercising your
creative flair in English class over listening to the dry and
boring dates and facts in History. You look up from your
timetable to ask where your room is only to see the door
to Mrs Hadley’s office closing in your face.
In the reception area, you see a map of the classrooms
and, after some searching, manage to locate your
‘Keep your voice down! Look, I’m sorry about this morning
before school. There’s no rules for how to deal with
someone not wearing their mark and without a mark we
couldn’t talk to you in the open.’ He looks at you
plaintively and you think his apology is genuine.
‘Can you tell me what’s going on?’
classroom on the other side of the school. Rushing to get
‘Not now, it’s too risky. You’re safe with Frankie, though.
there in time, you arrive at the door only a few minutes
Just don’t mention to anyone I spoke with you.’ At this last
late, but late enough that the Mr Winters spots you
part he actually looks scared. You look into his eyes for the
immediately.
first time and you feel your chest thump. You wonder what
‘Ahh, you must be Jessica Taylor!’ he guides you to the
front of the classroom, ‘everyone say hello to Jessica’.
The room is filled with a resounding silence. Most of your
new classmates avoid making eye contact with one
notable exception. A girl towards the back of the room
with mysterious grey eyes and long, dark hair looks
directly at you and shuffles a little bit to allow more
space next to her. Your new teacher notices the
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
could possibly be scaring him so much. Could talking with
you be… dangerous? You’re about to ask him more
questions when he stuffs something in your pocket and
turns, walking the other way.
Confused by this encounter, you head over to Frankie,
who is sitting on a bench with a boy with the same grey
eyes and dark hair who you figure must be Alan. They are
both peering intently into their lunchboxes. While Frankie’s
eyes are mysterious, Alan’s eyes are intense. When he looks
10
up at you it feels like he can read your thoughts and he
seems to study your face. Then he breaks into a huge
smile.
‘Mum always forgets which one of us hates peanut butter
and which one hates vegemite and always gets our
lunches wrong. You must be Jessica.’
‘Hi, you must be Alan!’ startled by his sudden change in
tone, and still unsettled by your talk with the blonde boy,
you don’t know what to say next.
‘I saw you talking to Kevin,’ he says, ‘I’m surprised. He
never talks to anyone outside of his little group of friends.’
Oh no! You’re not supposed to let anyone know you spoke
with him and Alan knows already! ‘I was just…telling him
off. He and his friends tried some stupid prank this morning
and wouldn't let me sit down on the bus so I was giving
So, what are you going to do this afternoon?
 Rush home to find out what was in the yellow
envelope
 Call home to let your parents know that you’re
headed to Frankie and Alan’s place
 Go to the creek to meet Kevin and get some answers.
Chapter 2 by Sophie Burton-Clark
You decide not to go play Xbox because you want
some answers from Kevin. You can just play with Frankie
and Alan tomorrow.
‘Can we play Xbox tomorrow? I kind of just want to go
home and lie down. I’ve had a big day.’
‘Yeah that’s cool,’ replies Frankie. ‘See you tomorrow.’
The three of you open out your timetables to compare
You walk quickly to the school gate but get stuck behind
a large crowd of students. You jump up and realise that
the gate has not been opened yet. You and the rest of
the students have to wait another 5 minutes until the
door is opened by some strange janitor, who you
recognise but can’t quite put your finger on who it is.
classes and to your relief the only class you’ll have without
You reach the creek but Kevin isn’t there yet.
either Alan or Frankie is German. Alan and Frankie both do
‘Maybe he got out of school late?’ you think.
Japanese. You notice that they don’t have a single class
Then suddenly, something grabs you on the shoulder
which causes you to yelp. You turn around and see that
it is just Kevin, here to give you the answers you need.
him a piece of my mind. No big deal.’
‘Oh,’ He says. He’s still smiling, but his eyes have lost some
of their intensity, ‘fair enough.’
together. Your chatter with Frankie and Alan is fairly inane
for the rest of the day and you discover why they are kept
in separate classes. The two of them are insanely intelligent
and always talking. If they were in class together no one
‘You nearly gave me a heart attack! You’re lucky I didn’t
punch you.’
could do anything but listen to them chatter. You were a
‘Sorry, but no time to chat. Quick! Put this badge on.’
little nervous about meeting Alan, but you find that despite
Kevin hands you a blue badge similar to the one he is
wearing. You also notice that he is holding a yellow
envelope in his other hand, the one that appeared in
your doorway this morning.
his differences to Frankie, he’s still very friendly and you feel
like you can talk to him easily.
The rest of your day passes fairly inanely, with the frosty
looks from your classmates softened by the presence of
your new friends. Last period, your English teacher holds
you back to explain an ongoing assessment. After you
finally leave, feeling a little daunted by the work you’ll
need to catch up on, you go to put your assessment
notice into your pocket and see the note that Kevin left in
your pocket.
Meet me at the creek after school and I’ll explain
everything.
Kevin
Confused, you head out of the school building and almost
bump into Frankie and Alan, who were hovering near the
‘Where did you get that?’ you ask.
‘I went and got it from your room. That’s why I am so
late.’
‘Wait, you went into my room? How did you get into my
house?’
‘I will explain soon just put your mark on.’
‘Not until you explain what’s going on and how you got
into my house.’
‘Look here new girl. You better put that mark on or
things will happen, bad things! I am already risking myself
trying to help you so put it on. NOW!’
This frightens you so you quickly put the so called ‘Mark’
on and remain silent.
school gate talking quietly together. Alan looks like he’s
After a minute of silence you speak up: ‘Are you going to
explain all this to me now I have my mark on?’
been blushing and Frankie has a mischievous grin.
‘Yes but it may take a while. Let’s go sit down.’
‘So,’ says Frankie, ‘Alan and I were wondering if you
You go sit down by the creek on some mossy rocks. For a
little you sit in silence listening to the sound of the water
rushing over the rocks.
wanted to come over and hang out this afternoon,
maybe play on the xbox with us or something?’
If you didn’t know better, you’d think Frankie was trying to
set the two of you up.
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
‘Make sure you never take your mark off, even when
you are asleep.’ Kevin says, breaking the silence.
‘Why?’
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‘Like I said bad things will happen.’
In anger, you get up take your mark off and storm away.
‘Look, I am fed up with you keeping me in the dark so
either you explain this to me or I’m going,’ you say as
you start to get up.
Whilst you are walking home, you feel like someone is
following you. You keep turning around but no one is
there. As you turn the corner onto your street someone
grabs you ankle and trips you over. You are a little dazed
at first but as you try to get up, someone pushes you
back down. In the heat of the moment all you see is a
hooded figure with a skeleton face raising a heavy
looking object about to strike. It’s time to act and save
yourself!
‘No wait. Ok I will tell you but you mustn't tell anyone,
ok, not even your parents. You can only trust someone
with a mark on. You understand?’
‘Yes’
‘Sometime, in the past, don’t ask me when I’m not
good with dates, strange things started happening. Kids
started disappearing off the streets and no one knew
what was happening. We still don’t know. My
grandfather was the only one who ever survived the
encounter. He disappeared on his way home from
school and everyone thought he was gone like the rest
of them. No one looked for him. Then one night, there
was a knock at my great-grandparents door and he
was there, mumbling to himself talking in tongues. He
looked exactly the same as when he disappeared,
except he was wearing a mark like this.’
Oh no! What do you do?
 Hold up your blue mark so they can see it.
 Ditch your school bag and run away as fast as you
can.
 Fight back!
 Anything else
To be continued...
‘What happened to him?’ you ask.
‘No one knows. He never told anybody.’
‘What is so strange about these kidnappings? They
happen all the time.’
‘Yes but whenever a kid disappears, someone new
moves to town, exactly 50 years older than the kid that
disappeared, and this person always looks familiar, but
we can never put a name to the face.’
‘How come you haven’t been kidnapped?’
‘Because of the mark. It has strange powers. My
grandfather gave it to me before he died and I was the
only one of my brothers and sisters that wasn’t taken. I
made more and gave them out and now the
kidnappings have stopped. At least they’ve stopped for
the kids that would listen to me and wear the mark. I
think that maybe the symbol on it identifies that you are
part of the group or thing that is taking these kids so
they don’t touch you.’
‘So, how often do these kidnappings happen?’
Wordly is your chance to get some highly
‘About once a week. There is always some kid who will
not wear a mark or some group who dare someone not
to wear their mark for a day. They are always the ones
that go missing.’
regarded editing experience.
Contact Dr Sukovic for details!
‘So, someone new moves here every week? Am I one of
those missing kids then?’
‘No, you can’t be. You’re too young. You would have
to be at least 50 years or older. That’s what’s so strange
about you. Not one kid has ever moved here since
these things started happening. I at first thought that the
kids that had been kidnapped were coming back, but
when I looked up the names, not one was called Jess.’
Q1. 11
Q2. Gideon
Q3. The Book of Stars
Q4. Pontmercy
Q5. California
‘You are freaking me out here. You still haven’t
explained how you got into my house and why should I
believe this? I hardly know you.’
Q6. Luke Castellan
‘Look, I think this is more important than you knowing
how I got into your house…’
Q9. Pigwidgeon (Pig).
Errol was the Weasley family’s owl.
‘… Well how am I supposed to know if you are not just
some psycho killer who has been kidnapping these kids
from their houses and I’m next? I am going.’
Wordly Vol 1 Iss 1
Q7. Human Flesh
Q8. He is immune to its power.
Q10. The Tsimtsum.
Q11. Green
Q12. Bite things
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