Student sample for assessment
Written by a Year 7 student in Thornleigh, New South Wales, Australia.
The storm hit so fast that nobody saw it as permanent. One moment the community hall had windows showing grey clouds. The next moment—hail against the roof like someone throwing gravel, and the power went out. "It's fine," Mrs Chen from the front desk said. "It'll pass in an hour. This is just a squall." It was not a squall. By 2 p.m., the hail had turned to heavy rain that pelted sideways. By 3 p.m., the wind had knocked branches across the parking lot. By 4 p.m., they'd stopped checking outside. Inside, there were five of them. Mrs Chen, who worked there. Arun, who'd been in the gym using the equipment. Jade, who'd come in to book the community room for her mum's book club. Tyler, who'd been using the computer room for homework. And Lex, a teenager who'd been volunteering there. Nobody had talked to anybody before the power went out. Arun lifted weights in the mornings when no one was around. Jade came in, did her task, left. Tyler was always on a computer. Lex was always doing something in the back. They were parallel people using the same building. By 6 p.m., without power or phones, they'd moved to the main hall because it had windows. By 7 p.m., the rain was so loud nobody wanted to talk. Arun and Lex found some snacks in the kitchen. Tyler and Jade sat on opposite benches, not speaking. Mrs Chen stood by a window, watching. "You should eat something," Mrs Chen said eventually, and she said it to all of them at once, as if they were already a group. Jade bit her thumbnail. "I'm not hungry." "You will be later," Mrs Chen said. She pulled out a container of rice crackers and some cheese. Tyler took some. Then Jade. Then Arun. They sat on the floor of the hall, eating in near-silence except for the thunder. Around 10 p.m., Tyler started shaking. Not from cold—the hall was warm—but something about the sustained noise and the dark, and maybe just the time. "I can't see anything," Tyler said, very quietly. Jade looked over. She got up and sat next to him. Didn't say anything. Just sat there. By midnight, Mrs Chen had convinced them to try sleeping. They made a rough bed of coats and towels in the back room. The storm had quieted slightly, and in the dark, they could hear the wind's rhythm instead of fighting it. Lex couldn't sleep either and sat up. "What's your name?" Lex asked Tyler. "Tyler." "I'm Lex." "I know." "But you don't. I volunteer here, but you're always on the computer, and I'm in the back. We've never actually talked." Tyler was quiet. Then: "That's true." "I like your music sometimes," Lex said. "I've heard it from your computer. The lo-fi stuff." Tyler turned toward Lex in the dark. "Really?" By dawn, the rain had stopped. By mid-morning, the power was back. Mrs Chen opened the front doors to air that smelled clean and caught on wet leaves. They walked outside blinking. The parking lot was covered with broken branches, but the road beyond was passable. Jade, who'd been quiet all night, turned to Arun. "I'm sorry I was weird yesterday," she said. "You weren't weird." "I was. I was scared." "Yeah," Arun said. "That's fair." They didn't make plans to see each other again. That's not what happened. But as they left, they knew each other. Arun held the door for Lex. Jade waved at Mrs Chen. Tyler and Lex walked out together, talking about the lo-fi playlist.