The Butterfly Club Read online

  Selma swallowed. I willed her not to say another word.

  Luckily Sam started acting up, throwing the cushions around and jumping on them.

  ‘Hey! Leave off, you little monster!’ said Mrs Johnson.

  ‘And I’m Big Daddy Monster and I’m going to get you if you don’t behave!’ said Jason, and he started crawling on the floor, pulling faces and making growling noises.

  Sam shrieked with laughter. Jason started wrestling with him and they rolled over and over. I stared at them, wondering why Jason let the boys get away with murder and yet was so picky with Selma. I looked at her and she rolled her eyes at me.

  Then we heard the doorbell. The pizzas were here – and the dough balls and the cookie-dough ice cream and the Cokes. We didn’t have to sit at the table with plates and knives and forks. We just sat where we were and ate out of the containers. It was much more fun.

  Mrs Johnson and Jason and Selma and I all had a pizza each, and a dough ball and a glass of Coke. (The ice cream was put in the freezer for afterwards.) Sam had three-quarters of a pizza, and a dough ball and a mug of Coke. Baby Joel had quarter of a pizza, and a dough ball and a bottle of Coke.

  I loved my pizza – apart from the onions, which were a bit slimy. I decided I was going to eat the whole thing (apart from the onions). I’d be able to boast to Phil and Maddie. But the more I ate, the bigger the pizza seemed to grow. The onions grew too. I was scared to bite into each slice in case I got a mouthful of onion.

  Selma saw me hesitating. ‘What’s up? Don’t you like it?’ she asked, while the others were all busy thumping baby Joel on the back because his pizza had gone down the wrong way.

  ‘I don’t like onions,’ I hissed.

  ‘Never mind. Look, I’ll eat your onions,’ Selma offered. She started picking out all my onions while I smiled at her gratefully.

  ‘What are you doing, Selma?’ Jason asked sharply. ‘Leave Tina’s pizza alone! Haven’t you got enough of your own?’

  ‘It’s all right, Jason, she’s just taking my onions. I don’t like them very much,’ I said quickly.

  ‘See!’ said Selma. ‘You’ve always got to stick your big nose in.’ Then she called Jason a rude word. She only muttered that bit under her breath, but I heard what she said. And he did too.

  ‘Right! That’s it! Get to bed!’ said Jason.

  ‘Oh, Jason, let the kid eat her pizza!’ said Mrs Johnson.

  ‘I warned her. Get!’ Jason shouted, and he pulled Selma to her feet and pushed her towards the door.

  She started crying then and he mocked her, pretending to cry himself. Sam thought this was very funny and roared with laughter. I felt sick.

  Then Selma was gone and I was left alone in the living room with this strange family.

  ‘Eat up, little Tina,’ said Jason, his voice normal now. ‘You didn’t want Selma mucking about with your food, did you?’

  I didn’t dare contradict him, though I felt terribly disloyal to Selma. Her own pizza and dough ball grew cold. I struggled to eat more of mine, but it was difficult with my stomach in knots. I took a mouthful of onions and heaved.

  ‘Please may I go to the bathroom?’ I gabbled, and shot out of the room.

  I was a bit sick. I’d never been sick on my own before. Mum or Dad had always held my forehead and mopped me up afterwards. I had to wash my face and take a drink of water all by myself.

  When I’d stopped shaking and felt a little better, I let myself out of the bathroom very quietly and tiptoed along the carpet to Selma’s bedroom. Her door was open and I could hear muffled sobbing.

  I crept right up to her door and went into her room. Selma was curled up in a ball on her bed, tears dripping down her face. She was holding something in her hand, whispering.

  I went nearer, wondering what it was.

  I could just see a little head poking out of Selma’s hand. A little china head.

  ‘Baby!’ I said.

  Selma jumped. She shoved her hand under her pillow. ‘What?’ she mumbled.

  ‘That’s Baby! My Baby! You had her all the time!’ I said. ‘You didn’t flush her down the loo, you stole her!’

  ‘No I didn’t! What Baby? I haven’t got any flipping Baby – see?’ Selma showed me two empty hands.

  But she knew and I knew that Baby was under her pillow.

  ‘Give me back Baby! I thought you were my friend! We’ve been friends for months and you kept her all this time!’ I said.

  ‘You’re mad! I haven’t got no Baby! Look, get out of my room, Little Bug,’ Selma shouted.

  ‘Hey, hey!’ It was Jason. ‘Are you two having an argy-bargy now? What’s she said to you, Tina? I’ll soon give her what for!’

  Selma looked at me. Her nose was running as well as her eyes. I was furious with her and I was desperate to get Baby back, but I couldn’t tell on her.

  ‘She hasn’t done anything,’ I said, and then I burst into tears too.

  Chapter Twenty

  I DIDN’T TELL Mum when she came to collect me. I didn’t want to talk about any of it. I just bent my head and didn’t answer when she asked if I’d had a good time.

  She gave me a hug. ‘I don’t think you did,’ she said. ‘Never mind. You don’t ever have to go again, not if you don’t want to.’

  Phil and Maddie were much more inquisitive, though they waited until we were all in bed.

  They were seriously impressed when I said I’d had a barbecue chicken melt pizza and a dough ball and a glass of Coke. (I couldn’t eat the cookie-dough ice cream because I was so upset.)

  They shivered when I told them about Jason and how scary he could be.

  ‘I think I’m starting to feel sorry for Selma,’ said Phil.

  ‘It must be awful to have a stepdad who doesn’t like you,’ agreed Maddie.

  ‘Yes, but then I found out something. Selma stole Baby!’ I told them.

  ‘You already know that, silly,’ said Phil.

  ‘She flushed her down the toilet,’ said Maddie.

  ‘No, she didn’t! She just pretended to. She must have shoved her up her sleeve or in her pocket or something when she was inside the toilet cubicle. Because she’s still got her. I saw! She was holding her, and it was definitely Baby, but she wouldn’t give her back. She hid her again and pretended I was mistaken, but I wasn’t. She’s kept Baby all this time, even though she was my friend and knows how much I miss her,’ I wailed.

  ‘Oh, Tina, you poor thing,’ said Phil.

  ‘Don’t worry. When school goes back we’ll confront her and make her give Baby back,’ said Maddie.

  ‘I don’t think I want her to be my friend any more,’ I said.

  ‘Well, you don’t need her as a friend – you’ve got us,’ said Phil.

  ‘But you’ve got Neera for your friend now,’ I pointed out.

  ‘Yes, Neera’s my best friend, and Maddie’s got Harry as her best friend, but you two are my bestest best friends,’ said Phil. ‘Isn’t that right, Maddie?’

  ‘Of course it is,’ said Maddie. ‘We’re Phil and Tina and me.’

  ‘We’re Maddie and Tina and me,’ said Phil.

  ‘We’re Phil and Maddie and me,’ I said, and I felt so very glad that I had my two sisters.

  It was lovely to be on holiday. Phil and Maddie and I helped Mum make a Christmas cake and we all had a go at stirring. We made our own Christmas cards and went shopping to buy presents. We clubbed together to buy a purse for Mum and a pen for Dad and a lipstick for Gran and woolly socks for Grandad. We went into the toy shop one by one to buy presents for each other. I bought a little plastic pony for Phil and a bag of marbles for Maddie. I tried not to think of the plants I could have bought instead of presents!

  I also spent half an hour every single day trying to learn my spellings. Miss Lovejoy had given me the list of fifty words.

  I copied each one out five times. It was very, very tedious. Then Phil and Maddie tested me. I didn’t get them all right. In fact, most of the time I got them wr