Katy Read online

  ‘It’s about time you stopped these silly pranks, Katy,’ he said. ‘You’re getting much too old for this nonsense. I know you probably meant well – I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But I’m so tired of you doing silly childish things without thinking first. You’re eleven now. You’re old enough to know better. You’re the eldest. All the others look up to you.’

  ‘Elsie doesn’t,’ I interrupted.

  ‘And that’s another thing. We’ve had so many conversations about Elsie and you’ve made so many promises. It upsets me that you continue to be so unkind to her.’

  ‘I don’t mean to be –’

  ‘Katy! Just listen to yourself. You’ve got to learn to think first. Be aware of all the consequences. You’re not a stupid girl – even though you behave stupidly. Now start clearing up this kitchen while I try to concoct some kind of breakfast for us,’ said Dad.

  ‘I’m sorry, Dad,’ I said, and I leaned against him miserably.

  He patted me on the back and I knew I was more or less forgiven, but I felt bad. I resolved to try harder to make Dad truly proud of me.

  I was positively saintly all the rest of Sunday, making a special effort with Elsie. It was a struggle. I wasn’t sure if Dad was noticing how good I was being, but when he came upstairs to kiss us all goodnight he gave me a special hug.

  ‘There. You’re my good girl now,’ he said, and I went to sleep happy.

  But somehow everything went wrong again on Monday. I overslept for a start. Well, I heard Izzie shouting at me to get up, but I didn’t want to. I was having a wonderful dream about Mum. I was little again, and she’d taken Clover and me to the park, and we were having such fun. It was so real. I could feel the hard seat of the swing underneath me, feel the gentle push of Mum’s hands behind me, see the clouds swirling dizzily up above … I wanted to get back into the dream and stay there forever.

  But then Izzie was suddenly in the bedroom, pulling my covers off me.

  ‘For goodness’ sake, will you get up! Didn’t you hear me calling? Clover’s washed and dressed and having her breakfast already. So are all the others. What’s the matter with you, Katy?’

  ‘You’re what’s the matter with me,’ I mumbled, but not quite loud enough for her to hear.

  I stumbled out of bed, and managed to go to the bathroom and get dressed in five minutes – a world record. I poured orange juice down my throat and crammed two pieces of toast and peanut butter into my mouth in another five minutes and was more or less ready when Izzie went to the garage for the car. She takes Clover and Elsie and Dorry and Jonnie and me to school and drops Phil off at nursery and then takes Tyler for a walk. Dad can’t take us because he likes to be at his surgery at eight sharp. It’s ridiculous that Izzie has to take us. I could walk us all to school easily, as I’ve said time and time again, but Izzie won’t hear of it. She seems to think I’d go into a daydream and let Dorry and Jonnie wander off by themselves.

  I hate her taking us and nag, nag, nagging all the way. She started a royal nag before we were even in the car because I couldn’t find my wretched maths book and had to hunt high and low for it.

  ‘I know I had it somewhere,’ I wailed. ‘I took it out of my school bag to do my homework last night.’

  I hadn’t actually done my homework because I’d got distracted making up a magazine with Clover. We’d designed the cover, I’d got started on a dramatic serial story, Clover had drawn some fashion pictures and it was coming along splendidly. But then suddenly it was time for Dad to read to us and obviously I didn’t want to miss that. I thought I might be able to do my homework in bed by torchlight but I couldn’t actually be bothered. I thought I’d wake up early and get it done then, only that plan hadn’t worked either.

  I decided not to get too fussed. I was sure Cecy would let me quickly copy out all her answers when I got to school. Cecy wasn’t actually too brilliant at maths, but wrong answers were better than no answers at all and Mr Robinson, our Year Six teacher, could get a bit narked if you didn’t do your homework. But I still had to find my maths book.

  I thought it must be in my bedroom somewhere but I couldn’t find it anyway. I wondered if it had somehow got shoved under my bed, so I crawled underneath. I found two odd socks, a hairbrush, an apple core, a doggy chew and a lot of dust – but no maths book. The doggy chew gave me a clue, however.

  ‘Tyler? Tyler! You haven’t had my maths book, have you?’ I said.

  This was brilliant deduction. I found my maths book in his puppy crate, the back cover completely torn off and a corner comprehensively nibbled. I stared at it a little anxiously, wondering what Mr Robinson was going to say. I wasn’t sure he’d appreciate a literal example of that old joke about the dog eating my homework. Still, at least I had the book, so I went charging downstairs where everyone was waiting for me.

  ‘Got it, got it, got it!’ I said triumphantly.

  ‘For goodness’ sake! What sort of state is it in?’ said Izzie. ‘How can you be so careless with your school-books, Katy? Now, come on! Let’s get in the car or we’ll all be horribly late.’

  So I got in the car, wondering why Clover was making very weird gestures at me. She was pushing her two hands together through the air and then waving them round in a semicircle, almost as if she were swimming. Swimming! Year Six had swimming first thing on Monday mornings. And I didn’t have my swimming stuff packed.

  ‘Just one tiny second,’ I said, jumping out of the car again and running back to the house.

  ‘Katy! I don’t believe this! Get back in the car at once,’ Izzie shouted, but I took no notice.

  I grabbed the emergency key from under the potted plant in the porch, let myself in and went charging upstairs. Swimming costume and towel. Now where would they be? I looked in the airing cupboard. There were plenty of old towels there, and Clover’s pink costume and Elsie’s silly little blue costume with Hello Kitty on the front, but I couldn’t see my red costume anywhere. What had Izzie done with the wretched thing? If she’d washed it, why wasn’t it waiting for me in the cupboard? If she’d washed it …

  I looked in the dirty-clothes basket, stirring my way through various crumpled garments large and small, but no costume there. I had put it in the dirty clothes, hadn’t I? Oh dear … Perhaps I’d forgotten.

  I looked in my wardrobe and there, right at the back, was a little soggy clump of costume and towel, exactly where I’d idly chucked it a week ago. It reeked to high heaven, like the dirtiest old dishmop in the world. I could barely pick it up, it smelled so disgusting. I tried running it under the bathroom tap to see if the smell would wash off, but it stayed resolutely revolting.

  I couldn’t arrive at the swimming baths without a costume again. I’d done it twice already this term. I would be in big trouble with Mr Robinson if it happened a third time.

  In desperation I grabbed a clean towel and Clover’s costume. Yes, it was a very girly pink, and yes, it would be far too small, but it was better than nothing. I could squeeze into it somehow. Clover was only a year younger than me after all.

  I went charging back downstairs and out the house. Izzie had the car all revved up and ready to go.

  ‘I give up on you, Katy Carr. You play this trick again and we’ll go without you,’ she snapped as we drove off.

  ‘Good! Why don’t you? I’d love to walk to school by myself,’ I said.

  ‘Oh yes! Could Katy and I possibly be allowed to do that?’ Clover asked eagerly.

  ‘No, you could not! You might be almost responsible enough, Clover, but Katy certainly isn’t,’ said Izzie.

  I couldn’t help blowing a little raspberry at her. It made Dorry and Jonnie and Phil giggle.

  ‘You’re making my point, Katy,’ said Izzie icily. ‘Do you have to behave so stupidly in front of the little ones?’

  She nagged on like this all the way to school. I stared out of the window and ignored her. When I was in the Infants, I used to pretend Mum was running along beside the car, her feet barely