by Holly Bell
‘It’s very serious to accuse someone of theft,’ Mr McNamara said, looking from Emma to Kate. Riya stood next to them in front of her locker, not saying a word.
‘We know,’ Emma said, her arms folded. ‘We’re not saying she stole the painting, but it’s in her locker and I want it back.’
Emma felt sick. She kept trying to think of reasons why Riya might have taken it. Riya seemed so sweet – not like a thief at all. Emma felt sure there had to be an explanation.
‘OK, girls,’ the principal sighed. ‘Let’s open it up and see, then.’
He gestured to the locker, and Riya slowly opened the door. The painting was still in there.
Riya and Emma locked eyes.
Mr McNamara shook his head. ‘Riya, you’d better come with me and explain yourself,’ he said, looking disappointed.
Mr McNamara and Riya walked away as the bell rang for class. Abbey, Matilda, Maddie and Olivia approached.
‘What’s going on?’ Abbey asked.
‘We found the painting,’ Kate said.
‘Yeah,’ Emma said quickly. ‘Riya found it! She has it in her locker for us.’
‘That’s great,’ squealed Matilda, giving Emma a hug. ‘You must be thrilled!’
Emma smiled at her friends, and they all headed off to class.
As they walked, Kate gave Emma a nudge. ‘It’s really nice of you to cover for Riya,’ she whispered.
‘I’m sure there’s a good reason why she took the painting,’ Emma whispered back. ‘I just need to find out what it is …’
Riya wasn’t in class for the roll call. She wasn’t there all morning, in fact. At lunchtime, Emma decided to find her.
After looking everywhere she could think of, she finally found Riya at the far end of the school oval. Riya was sitting hugging her knees to her chest. She wiped her eyes when she saw Emma approaching.
‘I’m so sorry, Emma,’ Riya said as soon as Emma got close. She didn’t sound as shy as she normally did. She sounded sorry.
‘I feel awful. I really wanted to tell you about the painting, but I just couldn’t,’ Riya said between sniffles. ‘You were so nice to me from the moment we met. Then I found out it was your mum’s painting and how upset you were about it. I’m so sorry!’
‘It’s OK,’ Emma said, sitting down next to Riya. ‘But why did you take it?’
‘It was a total accident,’ Riya said.
Emma frowned, confused. ‘How?’
‘I was drinking a banana smoothie during our tour of the Lifesaving Club,’ Riya said, wiping her cheek. ‘Bob pointed out the painting and I thought it was beautiful, so I stayed to look at it. But then I tripped and my smoothie splashed all over it.’
Riya sighed and shook her head. ‘I’m really clumsy. I trip over my own feet all the time. Anyway, I panicked and hid the painting in my backpack.’
‘So that’s why your locker smelled like bananas,’ Emma said thoughtfully. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. ‘But I don’t understand why you didn’t just tell someone.’
‘I freaked out. I thought everyone would hate me. It’s hard enough being the new girl without being the new girl who ruined a painting!’ Riya smiled tearily. ‘Anyway, I thought I could get it fixed. And then I tried to tell you so many times, but I’d chicken out each time. I almost did it when I followed you to the quarry, but then the other girls were there too and I lost my nerve.’
‘I can see how that would have made it hard to say anything,’ Emma said. ‘And I had a feeling someone was following me around this week. I’m glad it was you!’
‘Oh yeah,’ Riya said, rolling her eyes. ‘I ended up in the bushes a few times when I had to hide.’
Emma and Riya giggled. Emma could just imagine Riya diving into the bushes.
‘You’ve been so nice to me,’ Riya said, all serious again. ‘And I just feel awful. Once this gets around the school I’ll have no chance of making any friends!’
Riya looked miserable. Emma patted her on the shoulder.
‘Nobody needs to know,’ Emma said firmly. ‘It’s just between us. Kate knows, but she can keep a secret.’
‘Really?’ Riya asked, wide-eyed. ‘You’d do that for me, even after I took the painting?’ ‘Sure,’ Emma said. ‘Like you said, it was an accident.’
Riya looked relieved.
‘By the way, I’ve never heard you talk so much!’ Emma chuckled.
Riya smiled. ‘Once I start, you can’t shut me up. I’m actually a bit of a chatterbox – just like you.’
‘First you take my mum’s picture and then you call me a chatterbox,’ Emma joked.
‘Oh yeah,’ Riya said with a cheeky sparkle in her eye. ‘We’ll be great friends in no time.’
Emma laughed. Despite everything that had happened, she thought Riya might just be right.
Emma rushed home after school. She clutched the painting to her chest as she walked through the front door.
‘Mum!’ she called. ‘Guess what!’
As soon as her mum appeared, Emma told her all about Riya and how they’d found the painting.
‘Well done, Emma,’ her mum said, giving her a big hug. ‘I’m so proud of you. And you did the right thing in keeping this a secret for Riya. It was just a silly accident, and no-one needs to know.’
Then she took a good look at the damage on the painting. ‘This won’t be too hard to fix up,’ she said. ‘I’ll have it back at the club before you know it!’
Emma’s mum went to her studio. First she cleaned the painting to get rid of all traces of the banana smoothie. Then she sorted through her paints, mixing them to match the painting’s colours.
Emma sat with her mum and Asha the dog in the sunny studio.
While her mum painted, Emma picked up her crochet. She was crocheting matching four-leaf clovers for her friends, but it was hard to stop Asha from chewing on the balls of wool!
The doorbell rang, but Emma pretended not to hear it. She liked it when it was just her and her mum in the studio.
‘Em, can you get the door? My hands are covered in paint,’ her mum said.
Emma groaned, but did as her mum asked. When she opened the door, Riya was standing there with a brown paper bag.
‘Hi,’ Riya said, and held out the bag. ‘I just went to the art shop and bought some paints and brushes for your mum. The man there knows her so he helped me choose what to get.’
‘Oh, that’s so sweet of you,’ Emma said, beaming at Riya.
Riya’s cheeks went red. ‘I just wanted to try to make things right.’
‘That’s really nice of you,’ Emma said. ‘Do you want to come in? You can give them to Mum yourself. And then you can help me with my crochet if you feel like hanging around?’
‘Oh cool. I love crochet!’ Riya gushed as she followed Emma inside.
‘Riya seems lovely, sweetheart. And she’s such a chatterer, just like you,’ her mum said, while Riya was in the bathroom.
‘I know,’ Emma said. ‘But it’s weird – she was so shy when we first met.’
‘Meeting new people can be hard,’ her mum said.
Riya came back to the studio, and plopped down next to Emma to pick up her crochet. Just then, Emma’s dad popped his head around the door. He’d been for a run and was covered in sweat.
‘Gross, Dad,’ Emma said. ‘Go have a shower!’
‘Will do,’ he said. ‘But first I’m going to make a banana smoothie. Who wants one?’
Emma and Riya looked at each other and burst into fits of laughter.
‘What’s so funny?’ her dad asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘Nothing,’ Emma squeaked between laughs. ‘Just no banana smoothies for us!’
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