Face – Benjamin Zephaniah

Natalie is a Year 9 student and lives in East London. She is out with
her boyfriend and his friends. They have stopped to chat with some
boys from school. Answer the question below and then check your
ideas against ours. You can use the bullet points to help you.

After a couple of minutes she realised that her every move was being
watched by a group of three girls and she couldn't help noticing how
tough they looked. All three were wearing dark blue baggy jeans. She
was pretty sure they were Londoners born and bred but thought they
could find a job working for the Jamaican tourist board, not simply
because of their dark skin but also because of their clothing. One had a
T-shirt saying 'I love Jamaica'. Another wore a T-shirt that was a
Jamaican flag and the third just had a West Ham football shirt on, but
she, like the others, was adorned with yellow, black and green
bangles, badges and necklaces. Natalie thought they looked good, but
dangerous.
Natalie shifted nervously. She didn't know quite where to look but she
had to put on a front. The other three girls made no attempt to hide
the fact that they were on Natalie's case. They began to whisper to
each other and smile as they stared at her. Natalie felt illuminated in
her green satins and began to wish she had chosen clothes which
weren't so loud. What are they grinning at? she wondered. Is it my
clothes? My shoes? My hair? Do I look too innocent? Suddenly the
three girls began to walk toward Natalie. Her heart began to race, the
palms of her hands began to sweat. She felt like falling apart but she
held herself together.
'You from round here, den?' said the big girl wearing the Jamaican
flag.
'Yeah.'
'What school yu go to, den?'
'Eastmorelands.'
'Yeah, I wanid to go there but they wouldn't let me, said I had ta go ta
Lonsdale Park, said it was nearer. What ya doing here?'
The other two girls continued to look her up and down. Natalie
expected trouble and in her mind she cursed the boys for bringing her
there and for the way they had got lost in their silly conversation about
football and cars.
'I'm just hanging around with my boyfriend and his mates.'
At this point the girl wearing the West Ham shirt reached into her back
pocket. Natalie swallowed hard as the girl pulled out a couple of
leaflets. After separating one from the other she handed one to

Natalie. 'Dat's the place to be, check it out, good vibes, good music. Ya
like rap?'
Natalie wanted to kick herself. She had completely misread the
situation. They weren't out for a fight, they wanted to find out if she
liked clubbing. They wanted to find out if she was one of them, an
Eastender.
'Yeah,' Natalie replied, feeling a sense of relief. 'Yeah, rap's cool...' She
began to wonder if she sometimes looked threatening and if she
herself had been misjudged in the past. For people to be friendly, did
they have to have permanent smiles on their faces?

Question
How does the writer show Natalie's thoughts and feelings
changing during the extract? Write your answer using P.E.E.D
paragraphs.

You should refer to:

 her first reactions to the girls she sees
 the way she acts just before, and when, they speak to her
 her thoughts at the end of the passage.