"Wild friends" by Chloe

We recently had a story-writing competition in Elm Class, with a prize of a paperback by Bear Grylls. There was one rule: the story had to be set in Australia; apart from that, it was up to the writer! We had four entries, all of which will be published on here. 

This is from one of our runners-up, Chloe.

Wild friends

"Did you see Home and Away last night?" asked Sheila. Lily smiled. "Classic episode! she replied. Sheila was Lily's best friend since she moved to Australia. However, she still missed her old friends from England. "Yes, it was awesome!" Sally interrupted. "Hey Sheila, I've got two tickets to a gig, wanna come?" "Sure!" she said. Lily stared at Sally, waiting for her to say something. "Oh, sorry Lily, you can't come, I've only got one extra ticket," Sally said. Lily stared at her feet. "It's ok, I've got something on tonight anyway," she mumbled. Lily hated Sally. Sally hated Lily. Sally was Sheila's second best friend and Lily's best enemy. 

"CLASS DISMISSED!" Lily walked home from school, the teacher's voice still ringing in her head. She thought about her homework: write about your dream pet. She sat on a bench and started. A fluff ball of smoky grey fur, a face so cute that you're spellbound, an amazing tree climber. "A koala," she said, and glanced into the Australian sunset. "That's my dream pet." "That's my dream pathetic pet more like!" laughed Sally who emerged from behind a tree. "You're such a baby Lily!" "I'm not the one listening to other people's conversations!" Lily said angrily. "Where's the conversation then?" asked Sally, who pretended to look under the bench. Lily was red with fury. "Arrrrr, is Lily a bit angwy?" Sally said in a stupid baby voice. "Whatever," said Lily, who continued to write her work out. "Whatever," Sally mimicked. "What are you writing anyway?" she asked, snatching Lily's work. "Hey, give that back!" Lily cried. Sally ripped it. "Oops." Lily glared at Sally. She ripped it again. "Like I said; pathetic!" She laughed, as she dropped it behind her. Lily walked away as Sally smirked. "So, when you starting your homework then?" she called. Lily ignored her.

She made it home. "Home sweet home," she sighed. The door opened to the same old sight; her younger brother (Lee)'s toys lying around everywhere. "Hello sweetie!" called her mum from the kitchen. "How about a sandwich?" "No thanks mum!" Lily called back. "I'm going into the garden." "Ok, be careful," her mum said, while examining the green slimy substance on the wall. "Lee, I told you not to put slime on the walls!" she shouted to him, as he was upstairs playing with his friends. "Sorry!" he called back. He wasn't. He never was. Lily traveled into the garden to hear rustling from in a bush. She peeped inside...

The bush revealed a koala that fitted the description Lily though of on the bench. Lily was startled. It was trying to climb up the fence, but its hind leg looked broken. Lily knew something was wrong. Quickly, she rushed it inside. "What's wrong Lily?" asked her mum. Uh oh, Lily thought. "I just... forgot my ... homework book!" she said. "Ok honey start it now if it is due in tomorrow." Lily helped the little koala, giving it food secretly, rushing home early to find it. And of course, the hardest of all, the big one (you get the idea!) hiding him from everyone else. 

It was all going to plan... until her mum went to tidy her room... "What's all this rubbish?" she asked herself, holding up a tatty bunny toy. She tossed it into a bin bag and carried on looking around for things to go. She looked under the bed. There were lots of board games with the pieces missing, so she dumped them away too. Amongst these, she saw a grey fluffy ball at the back of the bed. "I can't reach that," she sighed, and continued looking for stuff. You see, Lily SOMEHOW taught the koala to sleep in a ball so at least it wouldn't look like a wild animal at first sight. Lily came home from school only hours later. She was welcomed by her mum. "I tidied your room today, Lily, it was in a right state!" her mum said. "Oh no!" she cried. "What?" "Oh... ok mum!" Lily said and she rushed upstairs. The koala was nowhere to be seen. She looked everywhere in her room, but it wasn't there. Lily sat on her bed, head in hands. She heard something. She looked up. Then she saw it. Out on her window sill, it stared back at her. The koala. Lily breathed a sigh of relief. The koala bounded up to her, and pressed its head into her cupped hands. It was like it was saying everything was all right. "That was the closest call so far!" laughed Lily. And it was. Right up to the point everyone found out it was there...

Lee, Lily's little brother was allergic to koalas, but he liked snooping around in Lily's room. One day, he was looking for his barrel of slime (really another excuse to be in Lily's room) when he stared to sneeze. "Mum! A koala has been in Lily's room!" he shouted. "What?" gasped their mum. "What?" gasped Lily. They both rushed upstairs. "Look, fur's on the bed over there." "So there is!" laughed her mum wearily. "Do you feel ok Lily?" "Look mum, there is no koala in my room and there never will be!" Lily reassured her mum. At Lily's voice, the koala sprinted out of the wardrobe to Lily. He looked at everyone else. "Right, never," their mum said. Lee started sneezing again. "Quickly, downstairs Lee," she cried. He rushed out of the room. "Lily," she breathed. "Mum, please can I keep him, please?" Lily asked, desperate for an answer. "Your brother's allergic to them!" her mum shouted. "Well, he can stay out of my room then! He shouldn't be in here anyway," she replied. "No," her mum said sternly. "You can't keep it; think about the diseases it could give you. Why did you bring it in anyway?" "Its leg was broken," Lily said quietly. "We were learning about animals' bodies in school so I could help him." "Ok," her mum said calmly. "He can live in our back garden, but no house guests please." "Yes!" Lily cried. "Thank you, thank you and thank you!" Lily hugged her mum. "No house guests please," her mum repeated. "Ok!" Lily tried to hold in her excitement. She took the koala outside, and so after that, the koala lived in the garden. And it was very, very happy to have such a good friend like Lily.

And I hear you ask: "How do I know all this?" Well... I'm the koala!

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Thank you for your story, Chloe. Next time: "Frank" by Chris.