Jemma, The Mermaid

I remember when my best mate, Jemma Matheson first came to our school. All any of us could see was a girl in a wheelchair and I have to admit that I was one of those who, before I really got to know her, thought of her as disabled but then something happened that made me see Jemma in a different light.

It was on a school trip to the Lake District. Our teacher, Mrs Henderson, had told me that I was to pair up with Jemma because she didn’t have any friends and I remember being a real cow; getting stroppy and shouting , “Why me? Why can’t one of the other girls do it?”.

Oh, I was terrible back then, I remember. Anyway, I wanted to sit with my mates, as they were then, Karen Finchley and Alison Lawson. Funny that, because I fell out with them years ago and haven’t really talked to either much since but, anyway, I wanted to sit with them but Mrs Henderson made me sit next to Jemma and I just remember, all the way going there on the coach, I never said a single word to her because I was so angry but I glanced over at her and I saw her drawing this really cool picture of a mermaid with all bright coloured scales on its tail, that now I’ve got pinned up on my bedroom wall and I remember thinking at the time, “Jemma’s really good at art”, but I was too proud to say anything, you see, so I just sat there all through the journey looking very annoyed and wishing I could go up and sit with my mates at the back of the coach who seemed like they were having a right laugh and singing and then, when we got to the Lake District, they let everyone get out and wander round on their own but I had to go round with Jemma and push her wheelchair and then, it’s really awful now that I remember it, how it happened, because we were near the edge of a lake and I had this horrible nasty thought in my head that I’d like to push Jemma into the lake in her wheelchair.

It’s something I’ve never told her or anyone because I feel really bad about it now but then, you see, the next thing that happened is that it was me who ended up in the lake because I was leaning on some railings and, probably because I was really fat back then, like a whale, they just gave way and I ended up falling head first.

I was really quite terrified because it was quite deep, you see, and I couldn’t swim and I was sure I was going to drown because my head kept going under and I was swallowing mouthfuls of water because I was screaming and waving my arms all about like a madwoman but there was no one about to hear me, except Jemma.

And then, I remember, and it was truly amazing, I saw Jemma lean forwards and throw herself out of her wheelchair and into the water and it all seemed a bit, like, in slow motion or a dream but, next thing I knew, Jemma had swum over towards me and had grabbed hold of me across the chest and, well, she saved my life to be honest. I’m sure that I would be dead now if it hadn’t been for her diving in and saving me.

That’s why I keep that picture she drew of a mermaid on my wall, you see, because it reminds me of the day she saved me; that’s the day me and Jemma became best mates and we’ve been best mates ever since.