by Dawn McNiff
I couldn’t help sniggering at that. It was too funny.
Then suddenly I felt a bit sheepish. Like I’d made a big fuss over nothing.
I gave her a wide grin.
‘Look, I ditched you on your birthday, so I owe you cake and a swim … so maybe we could go right now, this minute?’ I said, tugging on her soggy plait like a bell rope. ‘Or did you already swim in some puddles?’
‘Oh, I was hoping you’d say that,’ she cried. ‘I’ve got my cossie on under my clothes! And my lemon-jelly bag in your porch. Let’s DO it!’
She came upstairs with me to get my cossie and a towel.
As we passed Mum and Dad’s room, I could hear them both in there arguing, but in hushed voices like they didn’t want us to hear.
Again …
I couldn’t wait to be in that water with Lois.
Just away from here.
I got my towel and popped my head into Kyle’s room to see if he was OK.
‘I’m off swimming,’ I said. He was sitting at his desk, plugged into a computer game. He looked calmer now. Back like himself again.
‘Oh, OK … and hi, Lo,’ he called, when he saw her head bobbing behind me.
‘Hi!’ she said, waving.
We both stepped into his room for a second.
‘And can you tell Mum and Dad I’ve gone, because – guess what? – they’re having a fight in their room. They’re trying to shout quietly, but it’s not working.’
Kyle shook his head.
‘Obviously they are.’
‘But, hey, do you know what Mum said? She said they’re going to Relate counselling or something.’
Kyle’s eyes went wide then. He already seemed to know what Relate was.
‘But what is that exactly?’ I asked.
‘It’s like … they’ll go and talk to someone about their problems,’ Kyle said.
I nodded. That had to be good, didn’t it? It was something, at least.
Lois was just standing there, looking back and forth between us.
‘I’ll explain later,’ I said to her, and she nodded.
I didn’t mind at all if she knew about the big Mum-and-Dad trouble … In fact it might be good to talk to her about it. She was my best friend after all.
‘Yeah, well … ’ Kyle muttered, ‘Good luck to the counsellor, that’s all I can say. She’s gonna need a blinking magic wand to fix those two.’
Then he realised what he’d said and laughed. And I laughed too.
I liked having an in-joke with him.
‘Uh?’ said Lois. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘Nah, it’s just Kyle. He loves magic,’ I said. ‘He can’t shut up about it, can you, big bro?’ And I went over and hugged Kyle’s head, blowing a raspberry into his hair. He sort of let me, grinning.
‘See you later!’ I said.
As we went downstairs, Lois said,
‘Aww, it’s so nice you get on with Kyle like that. Max can’t really be bothered with me much.’
‘Hmmm,’ I said. It was nice. New but nice.
I remembered then what Gran had said about writing down good things that might happen, as well as my worries.
Maybe I could write – Getting a bit more friends with Kyle …
Or – Having Lois back to talk to.
It had stopped raining out.
I looked at Lois and grinned at her cheekily.
‘Last one there has to ask Cavey if she is growing her moustache for Movember!’ I cried, starting to run.
And we raced along the road to the pool, pushing each other into puddles and laughing.
Acknowledgements
Big thanks to the ever-astute James Catchpole for all your support and brainy brilliance.
A massive thank-you to the tip-top and utterly marvellous team at HKB – most of all, the lovely Emma Matthewson.
Thanks to Eddie and Esther for being my consultants on school life; and to Gooner for being my muse and furry foot-warmer.
And much love, big hugs and thank-yous to Steve, Poppy and Lola for dealing with all MY worry-worry-worrying.
Dawn McNiff
Dawn was born in a blue house by the sea in Sussex. She now lives in a brown house in Gloucestershire with her two teenage daughters and lots of furry pets. In 2008 she did an MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, which was 100% fab. In the past, she has worked as a bereavement counsellor, a copywriter, a teaching assistant and a children’s bookseller – but her best job has always been being a mummy. Dawn likes dancing to bad 80s songs, going for rainy walks, eating green soup, snoozing by her log-burner, and writing in cafes. (PS: Never challenge Dawn to a water fight cos you’ll lose.) Follow Dawn on Twitter: @DawnMcNiff
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First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Hot Key Books
Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0AT
Text copyright © Dawn McNiff 2015
Cover illustration copyright © Jan Bielecki 2015
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-4714-0372-9
This eBook was produced using Atomik ePublisher
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Hot Key Books is part of the Bonnier Publishing Group
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