by Holly Webb
For Hattie
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
About Holly Webb
Copyright
Jack stared down at the page in front of him. The words seemed to be getting all blurry round the edges and he blinked hard. He was not going to cry. He was not.
It wouldn’t have been quite so bad if it were Mr Gardner, their teacher, that he was trying to read with. But it was Amarah’s mum.
Jack had been really pleased when Amarah told him her mum was coming to help out with hearing their class read. He liked Amarah’s mum – he’d known her for years, ever since Amarah’s family had moved in next door.
It was different now that Amarah’s mum was trying to get him to read out loud, though. Every time he saw her over the fence, he was going to remember sitting here. He’d been fighting to read this sentence for what felt like hours.
“Try and sound it out,” Amarah’s mum said gently.
“I can’t,” Jack muttered.
“I bet you can if you try.”
“No, I can’t!” Jack banged the book down on the table. Stupid book! He’d thought it would be good, when he picked it. He loved dogs and the book had a photo of a glossy golden retriever on the front. The dog’s dark eyes looked right at him and its tongue was hanging out, as though it had just been for a run.
It shouldn’t be so hard – all Jack wanted to do was read about the dog. But the words just kept swimming away.
“Maybe we should take a break?” Mrs Iqbal suggested. “You’ve worked really hard today, Jack.”
Jack didn’t say anything. He fixed his eyes on the edge of the table, hoping the bell was going to ring. Waiting for Mr Gardner to say it was someone else’s turn to read. What made it worse was that he had worked really hard – he’d been trying and trying. But it was no good. The words just didn’t make sense.
Mrs Iqbal glanced round. “Oh – there’s Elsa. It’s her turn to read next.”
Jack was almost sure she was glad to get rid of him.
Jack slouched back down the corridor to his classroom. The rest of the class were doing maths and he was good at maths. Numbers did what they ought to, not like letters. But he was still feeling miserable, and antsy, and cross. He didn’t want to sit down and work out fractions. Mr Gardner would notice if he didn’t get back soon, though, and their head teacher, Mrs Bellamy, had a spooky habit of turning up whenever anyone wasn’t in the right place.
Glumly, Jack opened the door to the Year Five classroom.
Mr Gardner waved at him and said, “Amarah, can you show Jack where we’re up to on the worksheet, please?”
Amarah nodded importantly and as Jack slumped into the chair beside her, she started to point out the questions they’d been doing.
“All right,” he muttered, grabbing a pencil.
“What’s up with you?” Amarah asked, peering at him curiously.
“Nothing.”
“Was it the reading?” Amarah sounded sympathetic and Jack knew she was trying to be nice, but that didn’t help. It wasn’t fair! Why was it so much harder for him than for anybody else? And what if Amarah’s mum told her that he hadn’t been able to read? Then Amarah would think he was stupid. Jack’s eyes started to sting again and just in that minute he felt so angry with Amarah. And her mum.
“My reading’s fine,” he snapped. “Leave me alone!”
“Don’t be mean!” One of Amarah’s other friends, Lily, pointed her pencil at him. “Amarah’s only trying to be nice.”
Jack glared at her. “Just keep out of it, Lily. And stop waving that at me,” he added, smacking the pencil out of her hand.
He had only meant to stop her from waggling the pencil about – he thought it would just land on the table. Instead, it sailed across the room and hit Mr Gardner’s trousers.
“Now look what you’ve done!” said Lily. She sounded half horrified and half excited. “You’re going to get in trouble.”
“Oh no…” Amarah whispered, watching nervously as Mr Gardner came over to their table.
“Since you all look guilty, I’m guessing this came from one of you?” Mr Gardner said, sighing.
“Sorry, Mr Gardner,” Jack muttered, staring at the table. “It was an accident.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Lily put in and Amarah elbowed her.
“Be more careful, Jack. I’m watching this table.” Mr Gardner stood there for a moment longer, as though he wanted to say something else, but then the bell rang for lunch.
“What did you do that for?” Amarah whispered to Jack as she came to stand behind him in the line for lunch.
“Leave me alone!” Jack hissed back. And then when Amarah looked like she was going to keep on talking, he darted out of his place and went further down the line to stand with Mason and James instead.
But all through lunch he could feel Amarah watching him. She was sitting with Lily, like she usually did, but she kept glancing over at him and she looked miserable. Really miserable and confused, as if she didn’t know what she’d done wrong.
Jack didn’t eat very much lunch.
The puppy flinched anxiously back among the weeds as another car roared past. She didn’t understand what was happening. Were her people coming back? She’d tried to run after them when their car pulled away, but it was going much too fast and she was limping. She’d landed badly when they’d pushed her out of the car door – she hadn’t expected it and she’d banged hard against the tarmac.
She lifted up her paw now and licked at it, whining softly. She knew the way the car had gone but she wasn’t sure she could walk much further, not with her leg like this. She’d have to wait for them to come back.
She hoped it would be soon. She was so hungry and it felt like ages since she’d had anything to eat. The people had taken her mother away the day before, so she couldn’t have milk and they hadn’t given her any dry food that morning either.
The puppy had howled half the night with misery and she still didn’t know where her mother was. She was hungry and lonely and frightened, and she didn’t know what to do.
She huddled back again as the next car approached, but this time the car slowed down as it passed her. It slowed down even more, and then stopped.
The puppy wagged her tail uncertainly. Had her people come back? Perhaps her mother was in the car! She wagged a little harder and tried to sniff the air. She knew her mother’s smell, but the scent was all mixed up with the dusty road and the sharp whiff of cars…
“Hey, sweetie … are you lost?” Someone climbed out of the car and began to walk towards her. The puppy looked uncertainly up and down the road. This was a stranger, she was almost sure. Should she try to run? But her paw… She whimpered and the man approaching her slowed down and began to talk again, his voice very soft.
“It’s OK. Did you run off, little thing? You’re ever so skinny… Don’t be scared…” He crouched down a little way in front of her and held out his hand. “Where’s home then?” he murmured. “Come on, puppy, it’s OK… Come and see me…”
The gentle voice burbled on and the puppy wagged her tail again. She didn’t know him, but he was slow and quiet and he sounded kind. He might even have food and she was so, so hungry.
Hopping on three paws, the puppy struggled over to the edge of the road and sniffed his outstretched fingers. When the man picked her up and snuggled her against his jacket, she just sighed and nuzzled in. He was warm and he smelled gentle, and she didn’t know what else to do.
Jack was
in the garden, curled up at the top of the battered old slide, when he heard the back door bang.
“Are you up there?” his sister called. “Mum says do you want a banana?”
“Hate bananas,” Jack growled. He didn’t actually, but at the moment he didn’t feel like saying yes to anything. He’d got into trouble for accidentally on purpose kicking Mason’s football too hard against a window at lunch break, and he’d kept on feeling grim and angry all afternoon.
“OK.” There was a creaking sound and Mattie pulled herself the wrong way up the slide and came to sit next to him. It was a tight fit with two, but Jack was glad she hadn’t gone away. Mattie didn’t say anything, just closed her eyes and sat leaning back against the wooden slats.
“Are you OK?” Jack asked. She looked really tired.
“Got an essay to write.” Mattie sighed. She was at college doing her A levels and it seemed like a lot of work to Jack. Mattie was always stressing about essays, and she had to fit them in round weekend shifts at the supermarket and helping out at the animal shelter down the road. “I’m putting it off, but I’ve got to get it started before I go to the shelter. How about you?”
Jack didn’t say anything. He hadn’t told Mum about his awful day, though he thought she’d probably guessed something was wrong by the way he’d marched out of school glowering at everyone. Then he sighed. Mattie was easy to talk to. She didn’t look worried like Mum, or start trying to think of loads of ways to help. Mum was only being nice when she did that, but sometimes it made Jack feel worse.
“School was…” He stopped, trying to think how to put it.
“Not good?”
“Bad,” he admitted, staring at his hands. “You know Amarah’s mum helps out sometimes?” He waved at Amarah’s garden over the fence – it was beautiful, full of roses.
“Mmm. With the reading?”
“Yeah. She was listening to me read – except I couldn’t.” Jack glanced sideways at Mattie. “The book was really difficult,” he whispered. His voice was hoarse, as if he were about to cry. It was so hard saying it. “Difficult for me, I mean. Probably anyone else in my class could have read it.”
Mattie slipped an arm round his shoulders. “I bet there are people in your class who aren’t good at other things. You’re really good at maths.”
“Even in maths you have to read the questions,” Jack muttered.
Mattie sighed. “I suppose so.”
“It was horrible. I felt stupid and I didn’t know what to say. Amarah’s mum was really nice about it, but I bet she thinks I’m useless now. And what if she says something to Amarah?” Jack’s voice shook.
“I don’t think she’d do that,” Mattie said comfortingly. “Look, can I read with you sometimes? Mr Gardner said it was partly just practice you needed. When he had that meeting with Mum about you getting help with your reading.”
Jack leaned against her shoulder, feeling grateful. “That would be good,” he agreed.
“OK. Do you feel like doing it now?” Mattie peered sideways at him, a bit doubtfully. “Or maybe when you’re feeling better? We could do it before bedtime when I get back from the shelter?”
“Yeah…” Jack nodded. He could see that Mattie wanted to help, but when was she going to find the time? She was so busy with her college work and her job. And whenever she had a spare moment she went to the animal shelter to help walk the dogs or sit and stroke the cats. She’d told Jack that sometimes they needed reminding that people were nice. It seemed sad the cats had to be shown that, but Jack had visited the shelter with Mattie and he’d seen how hard the staff worked. They didn’t have time to give the dogs and cats all the fuss and love they needed.
Maybe he should ask Mum to help him with reading instead, Jack thought as Mattie shot down the slide and went inside to get on with her homework. Mum always offered, but usually Jack did everything he could to get out of it – saying he was tired, or he had maths homework to do, or it was sunny so could he go outside and play with Amarah? He hated it when he got words wrong and Mum looked so worried. It made the words even harder to understand.
The puppy was hiding. This pen was more comfortable than the one she’d been kept in before – there was a soft bed and a clean water bowl and more food than she’d ever had. But it was different and it smelled strange. It was noisy too – there were so many other dogs here, all barking and howling and whining. Every time she settled down in the cosy bed, someone would start to bark and she’d leap up shivering.
The puppy had nudged her bed towards the back of the pen, squashing it up against the corner. It was big enough that if she hopped over the top and curled up tight, no one could see her – or she hoped they couldn’t. The hard floor wasn’t that comfortable, but she felt better tucked away.
The man who’d picked her up by the side of the road had brought her here. She’d huddled up on the car seat next to him, wrapped in his coat but still shivering. The car had growled and shuddered and she’d hated it. What if he stopped and threw her out of the door, just as her people had? When the car’s engine finally died away and he reached over to pick her up, she’d cowered away from him with a whine.
The man had carried her into this place, murmuring to her gently, but then he’d left her. He went away and strangers had bandaged up her leg. It had hurt. They’d fed her and stroked her and fussed over her, but she didn’t understand what was happening. Were her people going to come back? Where was her mother? Why were all these other dogs here?
The puppy whimpered and wriggled her nose underneath the padded dog bed. It was dark there and warm. She wriggled in further and she could almost not hear the barking.
Amarah grabbed the sleeve of Jack’s sweater and pulled him ahead. Jack’s mum was walking them all to school, but she was busy talking to Amarah’s little sister Anika.
“What was wrong with you yesterday?” Amarah demanded, once they’d got far enough in front. “Why were you being so horrible?”
“I wasn’t!” Jack protested, but he knew she was right.
“I had art club after school or I’d have talked to you then. You can’t just pretend nothing happened. You were lucky Mr Gardner didn’t send you out of the class.”
Jack looked down at the pavement. “I know,” he muttered eventually. “Thanks for trying to stop Lily telling.”
“You did hit her pencil across the room. You can’t blame her.”
Jack only nodded and Amarah rolled her eyes at him. “So what made you so cross? It wasn’t just Lily. You were angry before she said anything.”
Jack’s shoulders drooped and he kicked the pavement with his toe. “It was your mum,” he whispered at last. “Don’t get upset!” he added quickly. “It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t do anything bad – she was hearing me read.”
Amarah looked at him for a moment. Then she said, “I thought you liked my mum!” in a hurt voice.
“I do!” Jack said, almost in a wail. “But I couldn’t read the book and she must have thought I was stupid. I was worried she would tell you.”
“Oh…” Amarah looked thoughtful. “Well, she didn’t. She said she’d had you for reading, but the only thing she told me about yesterday was that one of the girls in Year Two nearly threw up on her shoes.”
“What?” Jack gasped.
“Uh-huh. Mum got her feet out of the way just in time. But when I asked who it was, she said it wouldn’t be fair to tell me. She wouldn’t say mean things about you either, even if she thought them. And I bet she didn’t.” Amarah frowned, wrinkling her nose. “Actually, I’ve just remembered, she said she thought you’d had your hair cut and it looked nice.”
“Oh…” Jack blinked. He’d been almost positive that Amarah’s mum would tell her how terrible his reading was. He’d seen them talking about it so clearly in his head. It took him a little while to realize he’d imagined the whole story.
Amarah nodded. Then she added, “What was wrong with the reading?”
Jack shrugged, but then
he muttered, “Don’t know. I just can’t do it.”
“Was Mum any help?”
“Ummm. Not really. Sorry.” Jack glanced up at her anxiously. He really didn’t want to upset Amarah again, but she just looked thoughtful.
“So … what are you going to do?”
“Practise with Mum. Mattie said she’d help too, but I don’t think she’ll have time with all her school stuff and going to the shelter. And work. She’s never in. I was nearly asleep by the time she got back last night.” Jack sighed. “What else can I do?”
“I don’t know.” Amarah shook her head. “I’ll think about it, though. There must be something.”
“Maybe.” But Jack looked doubtful.
Mattie slumped down on the sofa next to Jack. “Want to do some reading now?” she asked, smothering a yawn. “I’ve got time.”
Jack felt himself tensing up, but he nodded. “I’ll get the book.” He was still trying to work his way through the one with the golden retriever on the cover, but he wasn’t enjoying it much. It was too hard to get into the story and he kept forgetting what had happened. He had read with Mattie and Mum a couple of times over the weekend, and he thought it might be helping, but it was all so difficult.
He and Mattie struggled through a page to the end of the chapter and looked at each other hopefully. “We could stop there?” Jack suggested and Mattie nodded.
“Mum’s making dinner. It’ll be ready in a minute.”
“Did you go to the shelter after college today?” Jack asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“What’s the matter?” Now that he looked at her properly, Mattie seemed really upset – Jack hadn’t even noticed. His big sister tried not to tell him about the sad bits of working at the shelter, but he knew she came home worrying about the cats and dogs a lot. Mattie rested her chin on her hands and heaved a sigh. “It’s one of the new dogs,” she explained. Then she looked round at him. “You’re sure you want me to tell you?”