Julie

 Julie was a close friend in high school. This is when I went to Mooroopna High before I switched to Shepparton.

She was a very bright and diligent student in my class of all girls. Two out of the six or seven year level classes were all girl classes and every year I was always in one of those classes; 7A or 8B etc. They were the nerdy girls and probably the classes most teachers looked forward to teaching.

Julie was a big framed girl. Tall and apple shaped body. She never wore pants or cords like me, only ever skirts or dresses. She had short hair and despite her dresses there was something butch about her. She said she was Swedish origin and her surname was certainly that but she was also born into a Jehovah's Witness family. She said her dad used to beat them with a hose if they were naughty. She had a younger sister who used to hang out with us sometimes.

Julie had a massive crush on the Dutch PE teacher and every school holidays I would get an envelope jam packed with news and always a page on Mr Van. It was almost like she and I had competitions every school holidays to write the longest letters to each other and it was such a thrill to open up the 4 gallon mail drum on the corner and see a big fat envelope waiting for me to read it.

I'm not sure what happened to Julie after Year 11 when I changed high schools. She would have done well at VCE but then I heard at one point Julie was working at the same workplace as my dad, in an admin role.

I found her on Facebook and sent a friend request many years later but never got a reply. Her account looked inactive, like one of those ones where you join Facebook and then decide you don't like it.