Paws and Whiskers (3 page)

‘Go on, Leonie, get lost,’ said Keira triumphantly.

‘I’ve got a cat,’ I blurted.

‘No, you haven’t!’

‘Yes I have so,’ I said, but I knew I sounded doubtful.

‘I bet you mean you’ve got a
toy
cat,’ said Keira.

My face felt very hot. I hoped I wasn’t blushing. I had been thinking of my white furry cat nightdress-case.

Julie was looking sad. ‘Toys don’t really count, Leonie,’ she said gently.

‘She’s not a toy. She’s real. She’s not a proper cat yet, she’s a little kitten. My mum got her for me because we’ve had to move. She’s lovely. She’s got bags of personality and she’s ever so cuddly. She’s the best pet ever,’ I lied desperately.

Julie was smiling from ear to ear. ‘Why didn’t you
say
? What’s her name?’

I thought hard. My favourite author, Jenna Williams, had a new kitten. I’d seen a photo of it in a girls’ magazine. She’d called her Lulu.

‘My kitten’s called Lulu,’ I said.

‘Oh, that’s a lovely name,’ said Julie. ‘Right, let’s write Lulu’s name in our Pet Book. We’ll need a full description of her – and can you bring a photo of her to school tomorrow so we can stick it in our book?’

‘Yes, of course,’ I said, swallowing hard.

‘So you’re an official member of our Pet Girls Club now. Rosie, can you make Leonie one of our badges?’

Rosie cut a circle out of cardboard, inked a big PG on the front, and attached a safety pin to the back. I pinned my badge on my sweatshirt with pride. Julie showed me their special book and I admired everyone’s pets. Well, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about Dustbin the Labrador because I didn’t like Keira and it was plain she still couldn’t stand me. But I was a proper Pet Girl now, and there was nothing she could do about it.

I was friends with Rosie and Harpreet and Anya and even Emily. I was maybe almost
best
friends with Julie, because she moved her desk nearer to mine in class and sent me little notes, and when we came out
of school she skipped along beside me, her long hair flying out behind her.

‘Bye, Leonie,’ she said. ‘Remember to bring Lulu’s photo tomorrow! I’m
so
glad you’re a Pet Girl now.’

‘So am I,’ I said.

Mum was waiting by the gate to pick me up. She was holding Jumbo’s right hand. He had his left hand out, holding invisible Harry.

‘My goodness, you look happy for once!’ said Mum. ‘Who was that pretty fair girl you were talking to?’

‘That’s Julie. She’s my friend,’ I said.

‘There! I knew you’d make friends soon enough.’

‘We’re in a secret club,’ I said proudly. Then I paused. ‘Mum? Do you think I could possibly have a kitten?’

‘Oh, Leonie! You know Jumbo’s allergic,’ she said.

‘Yes, but a kitten’s only little, and I’ll keep it out of Jumbo’s way. And I know we haven’t got much money now, but I could buy all the kitten food out of my pocket money – and I could eat my cornflakes dry and the kitten could have my milk and—’

‘No,’ said Mum.

‘But—’

‘No. I’m sorry, love, but it’s just not possible. Maybe in a few years’ time, if Jumbo’s asthma gets better.’

I didn’t need a kitten in a few years’ time. I needed a kitten right this instant.

‘They won’t let me stay in the club if I don’t have a kitten,’ I said.

‘What? Well, then, it’s a very silly club and you don’t want to be in it,’ said Mum.

She didn’t understand at all. I desperately wanted to stay in the Pet Girls Club. I had to keep on pretending I had a kitten. If Keira found out I’d been lying, she’d be incredibly mean and crowing and have me kicked out in a nanosecond. Julie might protest, but she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

I had to keep on lying. I couldn’t take a photo of Lulu because she didn’t exist. I wondered about saying we simply didn’t have a camera, but they’d all wonder why I couldn’t take a photo with Mum’s mobile phone. I decided to be crafty.

After tea I spent a long time in my bedroom
drawing
a kitten. I don’t want to sound as if I’m boasting, but I am very good at drawing. I found the photo of Jenna Williams with her kitten. I copied Lulu very carefully, and then coloured my picture with my best felt tips. I spent ages with the grey pen, inking in hundreds of little dashes to make the kitten look extra furry.

Jumbo kept pestering me, trying to see what I was drawing.

‘Go
away
, Jumbo. I’m busy – can’t you see?’ I said irritably.

‘Please let me look, Leonie,’ he said. ‘I love looking at your drawings. You’re so good at doing pictures.’

Jumbo has this knack of saying exactly the right thing to get his own way. I let him have a look and he clapped his hands.

‘It’s ever so good. I love that little cat,’ he said.

‘She’s my kitten. She’s called Lulu,’ I said.

‘I like her. Can I stroke her?’ said Jumbo, and he very gently touched the drawing with one finger.

‘Watch out! Wipe your hand on your T-shirt, it’s all sticky,’ I said, but I let him stroke Lulu. I even made funny purring sounds. The good thing about having an odd little brother is that you can play all sorts of pretend games and nobody teases you for being babyish.

‘I want a pet too!’ said Jumbo. ‘Draw me a pet, Leonie, go on.’

‘I’m a bit sick of drawing now. My hand aches after doing all that fur,’ I said.

Jumbo wouldn’t give up. ‘
Please
will you draw me a pet, Leonie? That way it’s fair – you can have one and I can have one. Go on. I’d absolutely love a pet.’

You just have to do whatever Jumbo wants.

‘Do you want a kitten too?’

‘No, I want a
big
pet.’

‘A dog?’

‘No, I want a pet I can ride!’

‘A horse?’

‘Bigger than a horse. I want an elephant as a pet. Go on, Leonie, draw me a great big elephant!’

So I had to draw him his elephant, and then I had to pretend to feed the elephant with buns and make trumpeting elephant noises until I was hoarse. I felt tired out when I went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately – but I woke up in the middle of the night worrying whether I would still be allowed into the Pet Girls Club without a photograph.

I kept seeing Keira saying, ‘Push off, Leonie. You’re a wicked liar and we aren’t ever letting you into our club,’ while all the other Pet Girls shook their fists at me – even Julie. I had to climb into bed with Jumbo and hug him for comfort to get back to sleep.

I took my drawing of Lulu to school with me, carefully tucked inside my project folder.

‘Hi, Leonie! Have you remembered to bring your photo?’ Julie asked, as soon as I went into the playground.

‘I haven’t got any,’ I said, sighing. ‘My dad’s got all the photos, and he lives miles and miles away now and we hardly ever see him.’

Keira narrowed her eyes suspiciously but Julie nodded, and Rosie even put her arm round me.

‘My mum and dad have split up too,’ she said. ‘It sucks, doesn’t it?’

‘Can’t you take a new photo?’ said Keira.

‘My dad’s got the camera too.’

‘Take one with your mobile, silly,’ said Keira.

‘I haven’t
got
a mobile. We haven’t got much money now, see,’ I said.

‘Use your mum’s mobile, then,’ Keira went on relentlessly.

‘It’s such an old granny one it can’t take photos. I wish you’d stop going on about it, Keira. Look, I’ve done a drawing of Lulu instead,’ I said, brandishing it.

‘Oh wow!’ said Julie. ‘You’re brilliant at drawing, Leonie!’

‘I thought
I
was ace at drawing but you’re heaps better,’ said Harpreet.

‘It looks just like real fur!’ said Anya.

‘You’re ever so good at drawing cats,’ said Emily. ‘Do you think you could do a drawing of Salt and Pepper for me?’

Keira said nothing at all. I’d settled
her
hash.

I had a wonderful day at school. I sat with Julie and the other Pet Girls at lunch, and then we all huddled up together, looking through our special Pet
Book. Julie produced a glue stick from her school bag and carefully stuck my picture of Lulu onto a fresh page.

Then I wrote out a detailed description of her, listing all her special likes and dislikes. I’d imagined her so vividly in my head that I found this easy-peasy.

‘Lulu likes her toy mouse, and she likes chasing her little ball, and best of all she likes climbing up the curtains, though my mum goes mad when she does it. And she
doesn’t
like loud, noisy things like vacuum cleaners, and she doesn’t like water – she cried when she fell in my bath one day,’ I said happily.

‘Oh, she sounds adorable!’ said Julie. ‘Bobo doesn’t climb the curtains, but he’s chewed all the hems, he’s so naughty. I’d love it if they could meet up, my Bobo and your Lulu – but I think he’d probably chase her. He barks like crazy when he sees our neighbour’s cat.’

‘Salt and Pepper would like Lulu – they’re very kind to little kittens. They’d be like her auntie and uncle,’ said Emily.

‘I
think
my Woffles would like Lulu,’ said Harpreet.

‘Poor Twitchy wouldn’t!’ said Anya.

‘Neither would Joey!’ said Rosie. ‘When my gran
comes to stay with her cat Tabitha, we can’t ever let him out of his bird cage, just in case.’

‘Dustbin would quite definitely chase her – and catch her too,’ said Keira with unnecessary relish.

‘No, he wouldn’t catch her. Lulu can run like the wind. She’d run to me and clamber up into my arms and I’d keep her safe,’ I said, feeling ultra protective of Lulu – almost forgetting she wasn’t real.

Each day I told the Pet Girls a new made-up anecdote about Lulu. I told them how she hid in the airing cupboard, how she climbed up the bookcase, how she knocked over all the photos on the mantelpiece, how she curled up beside me on my pillow at night – and they all hung on my every word.

‘Could I perhaps come to your house and play after school and meet Lulu?’ Julie asked, putting her arm round me.

I didn’t know what to say. I desperately wanted Julie to come and play, but I couldn’t produce a kitten out of thin air.

‘I’d love that, Julie, but I’m afraid Mum says I can’t have anyone round at the moment,’ I said anxiously.

‘Oh, that’s a pity,’ said Julie.

‘
Why
won’t your mum let you have friends round to play?’ asked Keira.

‘Oh, Keira! I expect Leonie’s mum is feeling a bit
stressed,’ said Rosie. ‘I know my mum was miserable for ages. You have to make allowances.’

They were such kind girls – all except Keira. She had a way of staring at me as if she could look straight into my head and see all the lies and worries tangled up inside, like skeins of knitting wool. She was the only one who still seemed very suspicious.

I tried hard to think of some way I could convince her. That evening I rifled through the magazine again and found the photo of Jenna Williams and Lulu. I got my scissors and carefully snipped around Lulu. There, I had one little photo of my kitten! But it was clear I’d cut it out of a magazine because there were a lot of words on the back. I thought hard and then fished around in my jewellery box. I had a little silver locket Dad had bought me as a birthday present. I hadn’t worn it for ages because I didn’t like my dad any more. But now I prised it open and dug out the photo inside – one of Dad holding me when I was a baby. I snipped away at the photo of Lulu until it fitted exactly, and then slotted it in place inside the locket. It looked perfect.

I wore my locket to school the next day, tucking it away underneath my school sweatshirt. I waited until playtime, and then when all the Pet Girls gathered together I fished my locket out.

‘I
have
got a photo of Lulu after all,’ I said. ‘I just remembered last night. There’s this one in my special locket.’

I opened it up and showed them. Everyone made special ‘Aaaah’ noises – except Keira.

‘See, Keira!’ I said, thrusting the locket under her nose.

‘Mmm,’ she said.

She
still
didn’t look utterly convinced. I didn’t like the way she was looking at me. There was a weird gleam in her eye, but she didn’t say anything else.

My heart turned over the next morning at school. Keira was waving an old magazine around.

‘Look what’s in here,’ she said, opening up the magazine and stabbing at the page with her finger.

All the Pet Girls peered at it curiously.

‘That’s Jenna Williams. I’ve got some of her books,’ said Julie.

‘She’s got a lovely little kitten,’ said Rosie.

‘Yes. And guess what her kitten is called!’ said Keira.

‘It says she’s called Lulu – just like your kitten, Leonie!’ said Harpreet.

‘What a coincidence,’ said Anya.

‘Coincidence, my bottom!’ said Keira. ‘It’s not a coincidence at all. Show us that picture in your locket,
Leonie, go on. Then we can all see for ourselves. That
isn’t
your kitten! It’s Jenna Willams’ own cat. I
knew
you were fibbing – and then I found the photo last night in my sister’s mag. You’re just a pathetic little liar, Leonie. You can’t be in our Pet Girls Club because you haven’t got a pet – so push off!’

Julie and the others were staring at me, stunned.

‘I’m sure you’ve made a mistake, Keira,’ said Julie anxiously. ‘Let’s see your photo again, Leonie.’

‘Yes, go on, we’ll prove it,’ said Keira, tugging at the chain of my locket.

‘Stop it! You’ll break it if you’re not careful,’ I said, struggling.

It was no use. Keira’s hard little fingers scrabbled at my neck, then she opened the locket with her thumbnail and poked my photo out. She held it up triumphantly for all to see the printing on the back.

‘There! See!’ she said, her face pink with triumph.

They all saw.

‘Oh, Leonie,’ said Julie sorrowfully.

‘You fibber!’ said Emily, looking outraged.

‘I’m not, I’m not,’ I said. I couldn’t bear it. It had been so wonderful to be Julie’s friend and one of the Pet Girls gang. I thought desperately hard.

‘All right, I did tell a little bit of a fib,’ I said. ‘Lulu isn’t exactly
my
kitten. You’re right, Keira, she does
belong to Jenna Williams. But she lets me play with her lots and says she can be partly mine too.’