by Lari Don
Chapter Eight
Running, Together
They reached a busy crossing as the lights turned green. The traffic started moving, but there were half a dozen boys behind them with their blood high and their brains turned off. Ellie stopped at the kerb, but Amina grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the road.
They dodged between cars, banging past bumpers, and scraping along doors.
The exhaust fumes made them cough, and burned their legs.
They leapt onto the pavement, and kept running, still holding hands.
Ellie glanced back. A bus had stopped between them and the gang behind them, so no-one saw them as they swerved into an alley.
They came out at the docks. There were dirty cargo ships to their right, and the white shopping centre was ahead. Ellie wondered if Carlie was having fun in there.
They looked back. No-one was chasing them down the alley.
“Keep going,” gasped Amina.
They were crossing the bridge over the dirty city river when they heard a distant shout.
“Over the rail,” panted Ellie. They climbed on to the iron railings then scrambled to the girders on the underside of the bridge.
Ellie nearly lost her balance and Amina reached over to steady her. There was a splash.
Amina whispered, “Oops. I lost a shoe.”
They crouched under the bridge and listened, but they didn’t hear shouts or running footsteps.
It was a long time before Amina and Ellie felt it was safe to talk.
“What will you do at school?” Ellie asked. “Megan and Dale are both after you now.”
“They’re after you too. Sorry. But don’t worry. Megan will find someone else to pick on soon. And those boys have the attention spans of goldfish, they’ll have forgotten us by Monday.”
“But we still have to get through tomorrow. How will we do that?” Ellie said.
“Maybe we should go in disguise?” Amina suggested. “I’ve got some scarves you could borrow.”
There was a short silence. Then Ellie giggled. “I don’t think they’d suit me!”
They climbed out from under the bridge as darkness fell.
Once they were on the pavement, Ellie looked at Amina’s feet. “Can you walk with just one shoe?”
“I’ve still got my trainers in my bag from PE,” said Amina.
“Did you wear the scarf for PE?” Ellie asked.
“Yeah. And it got in the way every time I tried to score!”
Ellie laughed. “You’ll get used to it. We all will.”
Amina pulled her trainers on, and chucked the single high heel over the rail into the water. She nodded. “Everyone will get used to it.”
Dead Wood
Holly’s family move to the old house so her dad can do his job: bulldozing the ancient trees to make way for a housing estate. But there’s something haunting the old house. Something old, and angry, that doesn’t want the trees cut down. Something alive…
ISBN 978-1-4081-6335-1
RRP £5.99
Zero to Hero
Will is football mad, but he’s the shortest boy in the year, and one of the slowest. He knows his skills at passing and ball control could make up for his lack of size, but the team coach is looking for fast players. Will he ever get a chance to show what he can do?
ISBN 978-1-4081-5560-8
RRP £5.99
Pitch Dark
David wants to be on the school team, like he was before. But Nick, the current goalie, has killed off any hope of that. Walking home one night, David meets a stranger who will change his life forever. But will David’s football dream turn into a living nightmare?
ISBN 978-1-4081-5573-8
RRP £5.99
First published 2012 by A & C Black,
an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
This electronic edition published in February 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
www.acblack.com
Copyright © 2012 Lari Don
Illustrations copyright © 2012 Emma Chinnery
The rights of Lari Don and Emma Chinnery to be identified
as the author and illustrator of this work have been asserted by them
in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN 978 1 4081 6574 4
A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.
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