by Holly Webb
“Jack?” Becky asked, in a slightly quavery voice, aware that Fran was glued to every word, and glad that Katie and Annabel were a couple of benches back this time.
“Yeah?” Jack looked round enquiringly.
Becky smiled at him. “Just wondering how the rats were.”
“Oh they’re fine,” Jack said, a bit dismissively.
“We were so impressed when we saw them. Weren’t we?” She nudged Fran, who nodded. “I mean, even though they’re not pets, you’re still looking after them really well – you must be, they’re so tame and lovely, and they wouldn’t be so friendly if you didn’t play with them all the time.”
Jack gazed down at his list of temperatures, looking a bit embarrassed. “Mmmm,” he said, and then turned to Robin. “It’s time again.”
Becky pretended to take Jack’s sudden interest in the accuracy of his experiment results at face value, and went back to her own beaker, grinning at Fran.
“Excellent! If we keep doing that whenever we get the chance, it’s got to make him feel bad when he looks at One and Two,” said Fran. “He’ll feel guilty when he sees them looking all lonely, and he’ll take them out and give them some attention, I’m sure he will.”
Becky sighed. “Either that or he’ll just cover the cage in a blanket so he can’t see them at all. But I reckon it’s got to be worth a try. We mustn’t be too obvious though.”
Unfortunately she didn’t realize that her plan was already attracting attention. Not only had Annabel and Katie and the others been desperately trying (and failing) to hear what was going on, but Amy and Cara were right behind her and Fran, and they had heard.
Amy had spent the last couple of days looking for a way to get back at David Morley and Becky for the way David had spoken to her in history on Tuesday. She was happy to bide her time, but neither of them were going to get away with it. She hid Becky’s sudden interest in Jack away in her mental stash of “possibly useful information”, and tapped her pen against her teeth thoughtfully. She was looking at Max Cooper – the one other person she knew who really couldn’t stand the triplets. She’d heard about the way he’d upset Becky in the dining hall, and everyone in the school had heard about his deliberate foul on Katie in the football match (Amy totally approved, but thought he was stupid to have been so obvious). Perhaps now they could work together? She needed a plan. . .
Annabel bounced up to Becky at the end of the lesson. “Do you think it worked?”
“I don’t know. I think I’m going to have to keep on doing it a bit at a time,” Becky mused.
“Like Chinese water torture,” put in Katie cheerfully.
“That’s not very nice!” said Becky in a slightly shocked voice. “But yes, I s’pose so.”
And that’s what she did. Dripping away at Jack, whenever she and Fran had a good opportunity. They dropped in plenty of nice things about lizards too – as Becky said to Fran when she was over at her house that weekend, helping her give Feathers a much-needed bath, if they could make him think about rats and lizards at the same time, maybe he’d start to like the rats more.
By Monday, Amy had seen Becky talking to Jack enough times that she thought it was worth saying something – something that would really get to her. She wasn’t quite sure what was going on – whether Becky liked Jack and was just using these stupid rats as an excuse, or what – but she knew that Becky would be horribly embarrassed either way.
It was cold and wet, so at lunch everyone was gathered in the classroom, sitting on the tables, reading, chatting or playing a bizarre game of volleyball with someone’s rolled-up scarf.
The triplets and their friends were sitting together as usual, having about five conversations at once, and ducking every time the scarf went over. Across on the other side of the classroom, Amy, Cara and Emily had their heads together, and every so often mean little giggles issued from their corner. The triplets exchanged frowns. This could be bad news. Amy was fairly nasty to most of their year, except when she wanted something, but she particularly liked to get at the triplets’ group – they reckoned it was because she was jealous. Amy liked to be the centre of attention, and she couldn’t cope with the triplets being more popular than she was – especially when they didn’t even seem to care that much.
They were right to suspect trouble. A couple of minutes later, Amy was leading the way across the room, a studiously innocent expression on her face. She was followed by Cara and Emily, both smirking.
Amy plumped herself down on the empty table next to them, and cooed sweetly, “Hi Becky!”
Becky actually looked over her shoulder. She knew perfectly well that there was no one else in the class called Becky, but she was so desperate for Amy to be talking to someone else behind her. But of course Amy wasn’t.
“We were wondering. . .” Amy giggled charmingly, and exchanged looks with Cara and Emily. “Are you actually going out with Jack now? Or hasn’t he asked you yet?”
“Wh-what?” Becky whispered, casting panicked looks at Katie and Annabel.
“You could always ask him, you know – if you don’t want to wait. It’s OK for a girl to ask a boy out.”
“Especially if they’re desperate,” sniggered Emily.
“Which you do seem to be, Becky,” – another charming smile from Amy – “I mean, you’re always hanging around him.”
Cara nodded. “Everyone’s noticed, Becky.”
“Shut up!” Katie snapped furiously. Amy, Emily and Cara had been swapping remarks so quickly that this was the first opportunity she’d had to break in. “What’s it got to do with you anyway?”
“I don’t want to go out with Jack!” Becky gasped, finally getting the words out.
“Yeah, it really looks like it,” smiled Amy. “Anyway, we just wanted to wish you luck. I’m not quite sure what you see in him, of course, but then I suppose you can’t be too picky.”
Amy cast her sparkly smile over the whole group, and the three of them waltzed off, sniggering.
Annabel put her arm round Becky, who was doing a goldfish impression, bug-eyed and gaping, as she tried to gather her wits. “Ignore her. She’s probably just jealous.”
“Yeah.” Katie nodded vigorously. “Don’t worry about it, Becky. She’s an idiot.”
The others nodded, and murmured soothing things about how crazy and mean Amy was, and how Becky should forget her.
But it wasn’t exactly easy to do. Did everyone in the class think she was chasing after Jack? Did Jack think so? She had been using tricks from a magazine that were supposed to get you a boyfriend, after all. Maybe it had been totally obvious to everyone! This was so embarrassing – she felt like she just wanted to curl up in a corner and die.
And unfortunately, it was all about to get much worse. . .
Chapter Seven
Becky watched miserably as Amy, Emily and Cara disappeared out of the classroom, looking back at her and giggling nastily. She sighed, her breath catching in her throat as she tried not to cry. Well, at least now they were gone – she had a bit of breathing space until the end of lunch.
Or so she thought. Unfortunately, Amy’s master plan was just getting started. . .
As Becky stared at the tabletop, trying to believe the comforting things the others were saying, she heard Katie and Annabel’s soothing nothings tail off. They weren’t out of patience with her already, were they? She looked up. Her sisters were staring over to the other side of the classroom, their backs stiff and grim expressions on their faces.
“What is it?” she asked worriedly, sitting up, and looking in the same direction. Then her heart sank. The small group of girls by the window was chuckling over something, and as she watched, a couple of them looked straight at her, then ducked their heads down quickly, sniggering.
“What are they doing?” she asked the others, her voice rising panickily – Becky just couldn’t be
lieve that something else was going wrong.
“I don’t know,” said Katie. “But I’m going to find out.” And she got up and stalked over to the group, looking murderous.
“Come on,” said Annabel firmly. “We need to know what’s going on.” And she tugged Becky up from her chair and propelled her in Katie’s wake. Fran, Saima and Megan followed – it didn’t look like Katie needed the moral support, but Becky certainly did. As Fran got up, she noticed Max watching avidly. Now, why was he so interested? She kept an eye on him as she went after the others.
Katie was standing with her arms folded, staring down at the group of girls, who were looking uncomfortable.
“Why were you looking at my sister like that?” she demanded.
“We didn’t mean anything. . .” said Janie Holmes – she wasn’t someone the triplets knew well, but she’d always seemed perfectly nice. “It’s just – someone gave us this.” She took a piece of paper from one of the others, and passed it to Katie, casting an apologetic glance at Becky as she did so.
Katie read what was written on it, then crumpled the note up furiously.
“Sorry!” said Janie – Katie’s face was so thunderous, she felt she needed to apologize.
Katie just scowled and herded the others in front of her out of the classroom.
“What is it? Where are we going?” Annabel hissed at her, but Katie just snapped. “Come on!” and marched out into the corridor.
They gathered a little way along, where there was a big window sill to sit on, and squashed on to it.
Becky stared very determinedly at Katie, and held out her hand. “Give me the note. Oh, come on, Katie, I have to know what it says!”
Katie didn’t really want to, because she knew it would really upset her, but Becky looked as though she meant it, so reluctantly she passed it to her. Annabel and the others looked over Becky’s shoulder as she read:
Don’t talk to that cheat Becky Ryan – she’s two-timing David and Jack!
Becky stared down at it – how could anyone say that? She wasn’t going out with either of them, let alone both!
“Who wrote this?” demanded Annabel, snatching it out of her hand. “I’m going to kill them!”
Suddenly Fran jumped down from the window sill. “He did!” she snapped. “Oh, come on, do you even need to ask?” She waved a hand dramatically down the corridor to where a very familiar face had just popped back round their classroom door.
“Max!” snarled Katie and Annabel together, and they grabbed Becky and stormed back into the classroom. Max was sitting at a table on his own, apparently transfixed by the game he was playing on his phone.
“Did you send that note round?” Annabel spat at him.
Max just looked back at her, his face innocently confused. “Oh, hello, Katie – where’s your mummy?”
“Oh, of course he did!” said Fran disgustedly. “He’s just not brave enough to admit it, that’s all. Loser!”
As she’d expected, that got Max talking. “So what if I did? It’s only the truth. People have a right to know.” He smirked. “After all, she might start flirting with someone else. I’m just warning people what kind of a person sweet little Becky really is!”
Becky gasped in horror. This just couldn’t be happening.
“You moron! You’re talking complete garbage – Becky and David are mates, that’s all!” Annabel said scathingly.
“And she’s only been talking to Jack about his rats, she’s not chasing after him!” Katie snapped.
“That’s not what Jack thinks!” snarled Max – he was standing by now, and practically spitting in their faces. Over the other side of the classroom, Jack was looking completely gobsmacked at this news, and his mate Robin was nearly having hysterics.
“That’s so typical – as soon as a girl speaks to a boy you assume she fancies him!” Annabel conveniently forgot that this was what her magazine had been suggesting all along, as she scowled at all three boys.
Max shook his head sadly. “Well, you only need to look at her – if I’m so wrong, why’s she looking so guilty? She knows she’s messed them around. David’s really annoyed with her.” He folded his arms and gazed triumphantly at Becky’s dismayed face.
He didn’t get the chance for long. Becky returned his stare for all of three seconds before the pressure of everyone (because quite a lot of the rest of the class were now blatantly listening in) staring at her became way too much. She shoved herself past Max harder than she would ever dare to normally, and raced out of the classroom.
Katie and Annabel stayed only to hiss, “You’re not getting away with this!” and “Brain-dead moron!” respectively at Max before they shot out after her.
Fran, Megan and Saima just glared at Max, but he seemed totally unfazed, and smiled sweetly as he walked away.
Megan voiced what the other two had been thinking. “It’s silly, isn’t it? When something like this happens, you don’t know whether they want us there or not. It’s not like being friends with just one person.”
Saima nodded and Fran made a face. “I know – I mean if Becky wasn’t a triplet I’d have gone after her straight away, but I kind of think it’s better to leave it as just them for a bit.”
Meanwhile, Katie and Annabel were trying to work out where Becky had gone. They tried three sets of girls’ toilets, which all seemed to be occupied by gangs of older girls who stared at them in disgust.
Katie slammed the door of the last set of loos angrily. “Where is she? I’m going to kill him, I really am!”
Annabel nodded. “But once we’ve sorted Becky out, I want to know what’s really happening. What’s she playing at? I hate to say it, but that idiot’s right, there is something going on, or she wouldn’t have run off like that.”
Katie looked confused. “Do you think so? I thought she was just upset because Max was being so mean – you don’t think she actually has been doing what he said, playing them against each other?”
“No, of course not!” Annabel replied scornfully. “Don’t be an idiot, Katie. Can you imagine Becky doing that?”
“Well then—”
“What I mean is, I think maybe she does like David and she’s upset because she thinks she’s hurt his feelings. And maybe she’s worried he won’t like her any more,” Annabel added practically.
“When you say like—” Katie paused.
“Mmmm?” said Annabel, who was looking around the corridor as if in search of inspiration. Where would Becky have gone?
“When you say like, do you mean like like, or just like?”
Amazingly, Annabel understood what she meant perfectly. “Don’t know. That’s what I want to ask Becky. I reckon she must have gone outside.”
“You think?” Katie asked doubtfully, looking out of the window at the drizzling rain. “I suppose she might have done, if she really wanted to get away from people.” Suddenly she grabbed Annabel’s arm. “The tree! I bet she’s on the other side of the tree!” And she raced out of the door, heading for the chestnut tree where the triplets often gathered with their friends before school – it was huge, and Becky could quite easily be round the side by the wall, hidden from them.
Meanwhile, Becky was on the other side of the tree, and she’d heard her sisters coming. But she wasn’t really sure whether or not she wanted them to find her. At the same time as she was desperate for Katie and Annabel to give her a hug and tell her that everything was going to be OK, she was dreading the questions they were bound to ask. Especially Annabel, who was so into boys and relationships.
The real problem was, she’d been asking herself all the questions already, and she had absolutely no idea what the answers were. At least she knew that what Max and Amy had said was completely untrue. She’d quite liked Jack, until she’d found out about the rats, but she had absolutely no interest in going out with him. That didn’t me
an she wanted to go out with David either, though. She just thought he was – nice. But she knew that Annabel was going to get madly excited if she admitted that. She didn’t even know if Max had been making it all up! Perhaps David hadn’t even noticed she’d been talking to Jack. Really, why should he? He probably couldn’t care less. How was she supposed to know?
She could hear Katie’s racing footsteps now, and she rubbed a hand across her eyes to try and make herself look a bit less of a state. It didn’t do much good. She’d been properly crying in the hiccupping, heaving, streaming fashion for a good five minutes, and what she needed was an industrial-sized pack of tissues and some eyedrops, not the back of her hand.
“Oh, Becky!” Katie flung herself down on a tree root next to her sister. “Look at you! You muppet, what did you run off for?” She dug a crumpled but basically clean tissue out of her pocket, and handed it to her sister. Meanwhile, Annabel panted up, and then stood with her hands on her hips glaring at Becky. She was about to tell Becky off for being a total idiot, and getting her wet so her hair would probably go all frizzy, but then she looked at her properly and realized that this just wasn’t the time. She sat down next to the pair of them, and then stood up again to go through her pockets for anything useful. Unfortunately, all she had was cherry lipgloss, and even Annabel could see that shiny, nice-tasting lips were pretty low on Becky’s list of priorities right now.
“Don’t you even have a tissue?” asked Katie hopefully.
“Nope. Well, I do, but they’re in my bag, which is, let me see, not here, in the middle of the playground, where it’s raining. Can we go in, pleeease?”
“Can’t – go – anywhere looking – like this,” heaved Becky.
“Well, you’re not going to stop looking like that until we sort you out, and we can’t do that here, with one tissue,” pointed out Annabel reasonably. She held out a hand to pull Becky up, and reluctantly Becky grabbed it. Then the three of them headed back into school, to find the least-occupied of the three sets of toilets that Katie and Annabel had just done a whistle-stop tour of.