"Before coming to the unit I was in the school's mainstream classes and have passed NCEA Levels 1 and 2. I came into the unit because it's such a nice, quiet place for me to study and prepare for the future.
"At high school, I dropped maths as soon as I could, I did mainstream English and took digital design, photography, art - the creative stuff.
"My dad's a graphic artist, mum a trained nurse, they're the most amazing people I know because they've got three disabled children. My twin sister, Chelsea, and our younger sister, Millie, have health issues too."
Our People is happy to accept that Paige respects their privacy and declines to reveal what ails them.
Her story continues:
"We lived in Australia until 2007, coming to Rotorua so mum could be closer to her family, dad's are still over there.
"Chelsea and I were born 26 weeks' premature, cerebral palsy's mainly caused by a brain bleed, to fix that they put a shunt in, it's a metal device that drains fluid from my brain, it can be quite challenging at times. Although I've found ways to get around most obstacles, I'm still terrified of falling over when I'm transferring in and out of my wheelchair.
"I guess I'm a bit of an over-thinker, I think about everything under the sun. I suppose that's why I want to be a creative writer, I'm doing a course on it through Waiariki.
"When I was younger I'd dictate my stories to my carers. The first one I wrote was about the Easter bunny bringing passionfruit instead of chocolate, at the time I had a real fascination with passionfruit, I used to eat them all the time.
"At the moment, I'm writing 1000 words about a medium who keeps seeing the ghost of her fiance, it's about her trying to let him go.
"My ideas come from my dreams, I have very, very vivid dreams. I wake up and go 'wow, I have to write that down'.
"I also write non-fiction poetry that has quite a deep meaning, I love humour and write pieces for the Ngongotaha News, I write about what inspires me."
OP: Has been in a wheelchair made it hard to form friendships with other kids your age?
"Most of the kids in mainstream were really nice to me, I made some amazing friends however if I'm being honest someone did bully me about being in my wheelchair, but I stood up for myself, told him off for picking on me, now we are really good friends. I've made lots of friends in the unit, it's good I can say I have friends who are able-bodied and disabled."
OP: Do you consider yourself disabled?
"Only sometimes, that's when I suffer from depression, I was diagnosed with it when I was 8 and have been on medication ever since. Sometimes it makes me really lazy and I stay in bed until midday but most days I come to school.
"In Australia, I went to conductive education to try and get myself walking but it didn't work for me. I have accepted that I'll always be in a wheelchair but I like to keep myself fit.
"I go to the gym at QE [Queen Elizabeth Health]. I lift weights, get out of my chair to do squats and work on the medicine ball. I was getting migraines so decided to knock it back for a bit but I'm staring to increase it again."
OP: Surprising as it may sound, Paige's a duly qualified triathlete.
"When I was at Kaharoa School, the other kids were doing the tri, I said I wanted to give it a go. At first the staff thought I was crazy but I badgered them so much they said 'okay'.
"I swam two widths of the pool with an aqua belt, then I pushed my manual wheelchair around an obstacle course they made especially for me. For the third leg, I hopped around on four pronged metal walking sticks that were made for me.
"Somebody took a picture of me as I crossed the finish line, I was doing a fist pump, saying 'yay', inside I felt triumph, joy, a real sense of accomplishment. I gave wheelchair basketball a shot for a while but struggled because I couldn't shoot hoops very well so gave up and went back to reading.
"I love JK Rowling's books, I've always dreamed of meeting her, granted, I've only read her first Harry Potter book but I've listened to the others on audio books and watched all the movies. I'd love to meet her because she's such a role model for all aspiring writers."
OP: What about the future - have you a job in mind?
"I would like a job in a bookshop or a library, I have done work experience at the Lynmore School library, I loved it, but my ultimate ambition is to write a book."
