Drawing a Veil (3 page)

“Having a bad hair day, Amina?” asked Megan. “Or have you got nits?”

“What's in the bag, Amina? A bomb?” Kate kicked Amina's bag.

“Don't kick it, idiot,” said Megan. “It might explode.”

Megan stepped right up to Amina. “If we take this off, do you shrivel up and die? Or do you drive boys wild with your beauty?” She tugged at the scarf.

Amina shoved Megan's hand away. Ellie moved round Kate to get Amina's bag.

“Are you leaving, Ellie?” asked Megan. “Quite right. She might cover you in veils, then marry you to someone you've never met.”

“Hey, don't knock it,” said Amina. “If you want to get married, you'll
need
to find someone who's never met you, or seen your face. Anyone else would run a mile.”

Megan gave a yell of rage and hit out at Amina. Ellie swung Amina's bag at the back of Megan's knees. Megan fell over, knocking into Kate. Ellie chucked Amina her bag, then they ran through the gate towards home.

Megan yelled, “Stop them! Stop the terrorists!”

Just ahead of Ellie and Amina were the boys playing football. They turned round to stare at the running girls.

Then Ellie saw who the boys were.

Megan was still screeching, “Stop them!”

And Dale, with the football at his feet, smiled.

Ellie and Amina were caught between Megan and Kate behind and Dale and his mates in front.

The girls swerved left onto the grass, and headed for the nearest road.

“Pull her scarf off!” screamed Megan.

Dale yelled back, “We'll catch her, and you can have the scarf!”

Ellie was in flat boots, and Amina was in her daft high heels. But Amina was much better at PE, so they ran at the same pace as they sprinted out of the park.

They turned the corner and headed for the harbour.

“We could hide up a side street,” panted Amina, but they heard shouts as Megan, Kate and the boys turned the corner behind them. They couldn't hide yet. They had to keep going.

They reached a busy crossing as the lights turned green. The traffic started moving, but there were half a dozen boys behind them with their blood high and their brains turned off.
Ellie stopped at the kerb, but Amina grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the road.

They dodged between cars, banging past bumpers, and scraping along doors.

The exhaust fumes made them cough, and burned their legs.

They leapt onto the pavement, and kept running, still holding hands.

Ellie glanced back. A bus had stopped between them and the gang behind them, so no-one saw them as they swerved into an alley.

They came out at the docks. There were dirty cargo ships to their right, and the white shopping centre was ahead. Ellie wondered if Carlie was having fun in there.

They looked back. No-one was chasing them down the alley.

“Keep going,” gasped Amina.

They were crossing the bridge over the dirty city river when they heard a distant shout.

“Over the rail,” panted Ellie. They climbed on to the iron railings then scrambled to the girders on the underside of the bridge.

Ellie nearly lost her balance and Amina reached over to steady her. There was a splash.

Amina whispered, “Oops. I lost a shoe.”

They crouched under the bridge and listened, but they didn't hear shouts or running footsteps.

It was a long time before Amina and Ellie felt it was safe to talk.

“What will you do at school?” Ellie asked. “Megan and Dale are
both
after you now.”

“They're after you too. Sorry. But don't worry. Megan will find someone else to pick on soon. And those boys have the attention spans of goldfish, they'll have forgotten us by Monday.”

“But we still have to get through tomorrow. How will we do that?” Ellie said.

“Maybe we should go in disguise?” Amina suggested. “I've got some scarves you could borrow.”

There was a short silence. Then Ellie giggled. “I don't think they'd suit me!”

They climbed out from under the bridge as darkness fell.

Once they were on the pavement, Ellie looked at Amina's feet. “Can you walk with just one shoe?”

“I've still got my trainers in my bag from PE,” said Amina.

“Did you wear the scarf for PE?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah. And it got in the way every time I tried to score!”

Ellie laughed. “You'll get used to it. We all will.”

Amina pulled her trainers on, and chucked the single high heel over the rail into the water. She nodded. “Everyone will get used to it.”

Holly's family move to the old house so her dad can do his job: bulldozing the ancient trees to make way for a housing estate. But there's something haunting the old house. Something old, and angry, that doesn't want the trees cut down. Something
alive
…

ISBN 978-1-4081-6335-1
RRP £5.99

 

Will is football mad, but he's the shortest boy in the year, and one of the slowest. He knows his skills at passing and ball control could make up for his lack of size, but the team coach is looking for fast players. Will he ever get a chance to show what he can do?

ISBN 978-1-4081-5560-8
RRP £5.99

 

David wants to be on the school team, like he was before. But Nick, the current goalie, has killed off any hope of that. Walking home one night, David meets a stranger who will change his life forever. But will David's football dream turn into a living nightmare?

ISBN 978-1-4081-5573-8
RRP £5.99

First published 2012 by A & C Black,
an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

This electronic edition published in February 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

www.acblack.com

Copyright © 2012 Lari Don
Illustrations copyright © 2012 Emma Chinnery

The rights of Lari Don and Emma Chinnery to be identified
as the author and illustrator of this work have been asserted by them
in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN 978 1 4081 6574 4

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

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Catch Up is a not-for-profit charity which aims to address the problem of underachievement that has its roots in literacy and numeracy difficulties.

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