A Uniform Approach

By Andrew Elstone

Riley Goldsmith's biggest fear has always been that one day, school bully Scott McElroy would swallow him whole! But when Riley decides to wear his sister's hand-me-down skirt to school one morning, a schoolyard bully becomes the least of his problems. Riley is surprised by all the attention he is getting from his uniform choices and is worried that he may be asked to wave a rainbow flag at the end-of-term athletics carnival. All Riley wants is to be a kid. I mean, after all, is a boy in a skirt really going to be the end of the world?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jul 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781528967365

Andrew Elstone

Andrew currently lives in Melbourne, Australia. He has a degree in criminology and has worked in administration roles for healthcare and not-for-profit organisations. Andrew has an interest in amateur theatre and film, in addition to his passion for writing. He has a special interest in social issues and gender-based discussions. This is his first children's book, which he hopes to be the first of many to come.

Book preview

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About The Author

Andrew currently lives in Melbourne, Australia. He has a degree in criminology and has worked in administration roles for healthcare and not-for-profit organisations. Andrew has an interest in amateur theatre and film, in addition to his passion for writing. He has a special interest in social issues and gender-based discussions. This is his first children’s book, which he hopes to be the first of many to come.

Copyright Information ©

Andrew Elstone (2019)

The right of Andrew Elstone to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528933186 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528933193 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781528967365 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2019)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Chapter 1

Mr Symonds was wrong, Climate change wasn’t going to be the end of the world, I was. All those times Mum said to me, If you lose your goggles at swimming lessons, it’s not the end of the world. What the heck did she know? And all those times Mr Symonds would tell me about the green lighthouse effect, it doesn’t matter now. I’d barely made it to the front gate of school when the year 6 vice-captain gave me the biggest greasy you could have seen it from another planet ‒ perhaps I’ll ask Mum and Dad if it was reported on the news when I get home tonight. Or better yet, if I make it home tonight.

Riley! I heard from behind me. I hated my name, so stupid and whiny. Mum always said to me you know if a name works based on how it sounds when you’re yelling to find your kids at the supermarket. The more screechy the name and the more people who turned to look, the more downmarket it was. I think she worked out this theory after I was born though, as every time we went to the shops she never looked forward to chasing me all the way through the frozen food aisle like a headless chook.

Rileeyyyy! I heard again. This time I turned around with a sense of dread and saw it was Benjamin. He was my best friend, but not because I liked him better than everyone else, but mainly because he liked me more than even I did. And I’m not sure why I even liked Benjamin; he didn’t share any of his junk food with me at morning tea and he thinks Pokémon is a kind of rash you get in The Amazon. So trading cards with him was absolutely no fun at all.

Mate, what are you doing buddy? he said earnestly. Benjamin always called me mate and buddy and it always made me feel really weird. It’s as if he didn’t know we were mates, but constantly wanted me to reassure him that we were. I think he also heard his older cousins banter a lot when working on building sites that he wanted to feel more like a man, though I don’t think it suited him all that well. He sounded more like a loner than a builder.

I gave him a puzzled look, even though I knew exactly what he was talking about. How do you mean, matey? I said sarcastically. Benjamin picked at his gums with his fingers, which he usually did when he felt anxious or when he was trying to stop himself from giggling in the middle of maths class.

Uh, nothing mate. Let’s go to the canteen benches!

That was our usual spot because Benjamin always felt safe knowing that microwavable treats were close by.

We wandered through the gates, past the vice-captain who was still looking at me like I was one of those dirty dole bludgers that Dad always joked about whenever we watched A Current Affair. Pure disgust, but then again I was used to being seen with Benjamin who was known for getting nose bleeds almost every day, despite being told by Mr Symonds on a daily basis not to drill for oil every opportunity he got.

We passed the handball courts and the giant chessboard next to the auditorium, and sat in our usual spot by the canteen. Benjamin liked to sit here so that in case his packed lunch wasn’t enough he could easily buy a doughnut or a finger bun with the money he made from doing magic tricks at his granddads veterans club. His magic was bogus though; instead of getting items to disappear I always suspected when he put things in his mouth he’d actually eaten them. And no one would ever know, or at least they wouldn’t be present later when he went on a long and needed trip to the loo.

Did you watch the new series of House of Cards last night? asked Benjamin eagerly.

Nah, I don’t watch it, remember? It’s not because I didn’t want to, but our family didn’t have Netflix or Amazon or anything cool. Besides House of Cards is a super adult show that I don’t think he even understands but feels cool by telling me he watches it. We still went the local Video Ezy to rent