Bad Girls Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Copyright

  Dedication

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Bad Girls

  Red

  Orange

  Yellow

  Green

  Blue

  Indigo

  Violet

  Rainbow

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  Epub ISBN: 9781407046341

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  BAD GIRLS

  A CORGI YEARLING BOOK 9780440867623

  First published in Great Britain by Doubleday an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

  Doubleday edition published 1996 First Corgi Yearling edition published 1997 This Corgi Yearling edition published 2006

  3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4

  Copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 1996

  Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 1996

  The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

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  Corgi Yearling Books are published by Random House Children’s Books,

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  THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009

  www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by

  Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire

  I once met a girl with rainbow glasses. She was standing at the end of a very long queue waiting for one of her books to be signed. I was tired and my hand ached with writing and my throat was sore because I’d been talking to so many children. But then I perked up at the sight of this very special girl with amazing glasses. They were really all the colours of the rainbow, red orange yellow green blue indigo violet, and they looked so cool!

  I chatted to her for a while and did a special drawing in her book as well as a signature, and I promised her that one day I’d put a girl with rainbow glasses in one of my books. Then I started to daydream about this future book. I decided that my main girl, Mandy, would start off wearing ordinary glasses. I thought she might look the exact opposite of cool at first. I pictured her as small for her age, babyish, maybe with little bunny rabbits decorating her cardigan. She has little-girly glasses and plaits. She’s the sort of shy sweet brainy girl who might easily get teased.

  I decided to invent a truly scary horrible girl who would make her life a misery. Kim is one of the nastiest characters I’ve ever invented. She’s so cruel to Mandy, teasing her in that hateful spiteful way girls are so good at. Kim has two friends, Sarah and Melanie, who do exactly what she says. They’re all out to get poor Mandy. They are definitely Bad Girls.

  Then I invented a new friend for Mandy. I’m so fond of Tanya. She’s a warm funny feisty girl who’s had a very tough time in the past. Now she’s in foster care and she’s missing her little sister. Mandy seems a wonderful substitute.

  Mandy is thrilled to have Tanya for a friend. She absolutely hero-worships her – especially because she’s brilliant at snubbing Kim and Melanie and Sarah. But then Mandy finds out Tanya goes shoplifting on a regular basis. Now it’s Tanya who’s the Bad Girl and Mandy doesn’t know what to do.

  I get my girls into terrible trouble but the book does have a kind of happy ending. In all sorts of myths and religions there’s often a rainbow after a ferocious flood, and it’s used to symbolise peace. Mandy learns to stand up for herself and sees life differently through her new rainbow glasses.

  I divided the book up into chapters standing for all the colours of the rainbow. There are several references to each colour within each chapter. I had a little trouble finding a way to use Indigo, but then I thought it sounded like the name of a trendy designer denim shop. I’ve had lots of girls asking me if it’s a real shop!

  I liked Tanya so much that she makes a brief appearance in another of my books, Dustbin Baby. Maybe I’ll write another book about her sometime. Then we can all find out if Mandy and Tanya get together again one day.

  For Rebecca Hillman,

  special friend and fellow writer

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JACQUELINE WILSON is one of Britain’s most outstanding writers for young readers. She is the most borrowed author from British libraries and has sold over 20 million books in this country. As a child, she always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine, filling countless exercise books as she grew up. She started work at a publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on Jackie magazine (which was named after her) before turning to writing fiction full-time.

  Jacqueline has been honoured with many of the UK’s top awards for children’s books, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the Smarties Prize, the Red House Book Award and the Children’s Book of the Year. She was awarded an OBE in 2002 and is the Children’s Laureate for 2005-2007.

  ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

  NICK SHARRATT knew from an early age that he wanted to use his drawing skills as his career, so he went to Manchester Polytechnic to do an Art Foundation course. He followed this up with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design at St Martin’s School of Art in London from 1981–1984.

  Since graduating, Nick has been working full-time as an illustrator for children’s books, publishers and a wide range of magazines. His brilliant illustrations have brought to life many books, most notably the titles by Jacqueline Wilson.

  Nick also writes books as well as illustrating them.

  They were going to get me.

  I saw them the moment I turned the corner. They were halfway down, waiting near the bus stop. Melanie, Sarah and Kim. Kim, the worst one of all.

  I didn’t know what to do. I took a step forward, my sandal sticking to the pavement.

  They were nudging each other. They’d spotted me.

  I couldn’t see that far, even with my glasses, but I knew Kim would have that great big smile on her face.

  I stood still. I looked over my shoulder. Perhaps I could run back to school? I’d hung around for ages already. Maybe they’d locked the playground gates? But perhaps one of the teachers would still be there? I could pretend I had a stomachache or something and then maybe I’d get a lift in their car?

  ‘Look at Mandy! She’s going to go rushing back to school. Baby!’ Kim yelled.

  She seemed to have her own magic glasses that let her see right inside my head. She didn’t wear ordinary glasses, of course. Girls like Kim never wear glasses or braces on their teeth. They never get fat. They never have a sill