Leave it to Eva by Judi Curtin

then she followed me down to the bus stop. This time we sat downstairs on the bus. Unlike the other days, Ruby seemed bored and distractedand the journey seemed to take forever.
    At last we were outside the school. Ruby stood at the gate, almost like she’d been turned to stone.
    ‘Today is the swimming test,’ I said. ‘You’re amazing at swimming, Ruby. You could probably swim in your sleep. I don’t understand why you’re so nervous now.’
    ‘The interviews and fitness tests went really well,’ she said. ‘And I’m fairly sure I’ve passed those parts of the assessment. Now it’s all down to the swimming. What I do today could change my life forever.’
    ‘And that’s a good thing, isn’t it?’
    Her face was pale and her eyes looked huge.
    ‘This is all too big and scary for me, Eva. I’m not sure I can do it.’
    While we were talking, other girls and boys were walking past us into the school. Some of them smiled and said ‘hi’ to Ruby, but she barely glanced at them. She just pulled at the strap ofher swimming bag and looked like she’d rather be anywhere else in the whole wide world. I had a horrible feeling that if I walked away, she might never go into the school at all.
    ‘Would you like me to come in with you?’ I said in the end.
    For the first time that morning she smiled; ‘Would you, Eva?’
    ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Anything for a friend.’

    The inside of the school was amazing – all stained glass and high ceilings and squeaky polished floors. I followed Ruby down a long corridor until she stopped at a huge green door.
    ‘This is the changing room,’ she said. ‘But only competitors are allowed in. You can go to the viewing gallery. I think it’s up those stairs there.’
    I gave her a quick hug. ‘You’re going to be brilliant,’ I said. ‘I know it.’
    She didn’t answer. She just pushed open the door, and for a second I could hear the sound of laughing, chatting girls, before Ruby slipped inside and the door slammed behind her.
    I knew the swimming wouldn’t start for a while, so I took my time going up the stairs she’d pointed at. I spent a long time looking at scary pictures of ancient people, and then I walked down another wide corridor, peeping into any rooms that had open doors.
    I had just come out of a huge dining area, when I thought I heard a noise from the room next door. The door was closed, and I was busy convincing myself that I’d been imagining things, when I heard the noise again. This time there was no mistaking it. It was a woman’s voice, and she didn’t sound happy. ‘Help,’ she said in a weak, scared voice. ‘Please, someone help me.’
    I looked anxiously up and down the corridor, but it was completely empty. If anyone wasgoing to help her, then it had to be me.
    But what if the poor woman was being murdered or something?
    How could I possibly save her all on my own?
    But how could I just go away and leave her?
    I tapped on the door, suddenly feeling stupid. I was probably just hearing a TV, and I was going to look like a complete idiot when I rushed into the room trying to save someone from a movie.
    But a voice answered my tapping, ‘Come in, quickly. Whoever you are. This is an emergency!’
    I turned the big brass knob, and very slowly pushed the door open.
    A small, skinny woman was crouched on top of huge wooden desk, like a bird getting ready to fly. She looked really funny, but I decided that this probably wasn’t a time for laughing.
    ‘Oh, thank goodness,’ she whispered, looking at me like I was her favourite person in the world.
    There was no one else in the room, and Icouldn’t figure out what was going on. Maybe she was afraid of heights and couldn’t get down off the desk.
    But if she was afraid of heights, why would she climb up on the desk in the first place?
    ‘Er, are you stuck up there?’ I asked, as I walked towards her. ‘Do you want me to help you down?’
    ‘No,’ she said, in a weird mixture of a scream