Becky's Terrible Term (2 page)

Chapter Two

Manor Hill School was about two kilometres from the Ryans' house. It was a nice walk, past the park, where the triplets had been going to play on the swings and feed the ducks for as long as they could remember, and then up the high street – definitely Annabel's favourite part of the journey.

“Come on, Bel!” shouted Katie, when she and Becky and Mum realized that they had lost a member of the party. “Look, she's window-shopping at Silver again.” Silver was absolutely Annabel's favourite shop. Katie and Becky quite liked it, too, but Annabel would have spent all her pocket money, and all her weekends there, given half a chance. Silver was mostly a clothes shop, but it also sold fab jewellery and lots of makeup – including nail polish, Annabel's main weakness. Practically her favourite possession was a big, pale pink, circular cardboard box filled with bottles of nail polish, in all colours. Sparkly, scented, glow in the dark – Annabel had them all, plus transfers and nail jewels.

“Bel! We're going to be late if you don't come on!” called Becky. “Let's look on the way home this afternoon.”

Annabel reluctantly dragged herself away from the window of Silver and ran to catch up with her sisters. “Sorry! There's such a gorgeous dress in the window. I'll show you later on.”

“OK, Becky, it's going to have to be quick march past the pet shop – got it?” said Katie, firmly grabbing her sister's elbow. “We're not being late on the first morning!”

“Oh, that's so unfair!” gasped Becky. “All the animals are inside – even I'm not animal-mad enough to want to look at a hamster-cage display for that long.”

“Could have fooled me,” said Mrs Ryan cheerfully.

Katie and Annabel laughed, and Becky grinned. “OK, OK, but you never know. We might get a hamster one of these days. I could really fancy having one of those tiny little Russian ones – they are
so
cute.”

“Yeah, Orlando and Pixie would love one of those,” added Katie. “Well, maybe one each.” She dodged out of the way as Becky swung a PE bag at her.

They were getting quite close to Manor Hill by this time, and there were lots of other children around, wearing the same uniform of grey trousers or green checked summer dresses. Even though it was September, it was still summer-hot, and none of the girls wanted to wear the stifling grey skirts and white blouses that were the winter uniform. Well, apart from the older-looking girls stalking past and giving all these new little children disgusted looks. They all looked as though they'd never been seen within ten metres of a checked summer dress. Practically everyone had on the dark green sweatshirt with the red Manor Hill badge in the middle.

The uniform meant that for once the triplets were dressed almost identically. They'd never really been keen on dressing in matching clothes, even when they were quite little. Their grandmothers were always sending them three sets of the same outfit (generally pink, and flouncy) and Mrs Ryan would get them to wear it long enough for a few very sulky photos, and that would be it.

Katie, Becky and Annabel were keeping an eye out for any of their friends from their old school – quite a few were coming to Manor Hill, too. They walked past St Anne's just at the end of the high street. It felt very strange to see all those children going into the playground when the triplets had to walk straight past. They were starting to feel a tiny bit nervous now, and Annabel looked back at their old school and said, “It's scary. We'll
be the youngest ones, the babies. We knew everybody at St Anne's and now we've got to start all over again.”

“I know what you mean,” Katie answered. “But I think we'll be OK. Remember our first day at St Anne's in the reception class? We were all terrified – you cried.”

“I did not! It was Becky!”

“You all did, as far as I can remember,” Mrs Ryan intervened. “But don't worry, Annabel. Think of it this way – there'll be some children there who don't know anybody at all. You three have got each other to rely on. But that doesn't mean letting Katie do all the work, you two.” Mrs Ryan pointed firmly at Becky and Annabel. “You can all help each other. And then there are all your old friends from St Anne's, too – you're really very lucky.”

“I suppose so,” said Annabel. “I do wish it was next week, though. Then we'd have met everybody, and we'd know where things were. I hate having to ask people, it makes me feel so silly.”

“And you think you'll know how to get everywhere by next week?” Katie asked disbelievingly. “You'll still be getting lost at the end of term, Bel, you know what you're like.”

“Yes, all right,” admitted Annabel. “But you know what I mean – by next week we'll kind of know what's going on, who the teachers are, and which ones are nice.”

“Our form teacher is new, too, isn't she, Mum?” asked Becky. “She'll be just as lost as we are. That's probably
a good thing.” She looked round at the swarms of green and grey going past her. How many people would fit
into this new school? Somehow, she suspected that not everyone was feeling lost, either. They didn't look it, all talking loudly and chasing after each other.

“You three will have to be careful,” warned Mum. “You know some teachers are horrified by the idea of having identical twins in the class – let alone identical triplets. Be on your best behaviour!”

“Yes, Mum,” chorused the triplets, grinning at each other. They liked
the idea of being a teacher's nightmare. Even Becky felt a bit more cheerful as the triplets imagined their new teachers realizing they had three identical girls in nearly identical uniforms to deal with – this would be fun!

“Hmmm. Well, just remember – I don't want any notes home!”

Three pairs of totally innocent, round blue eyes gazed up at her angelically. “Us?” they seemed to be saying. “Would we?”

Mrs Ryan sighed – after seven weeks of practically non-stop triplets over the summer holidays she had a lot of sympathy for their new school. The staff were in for a shock. Mrs Ryan had a twin sister herself – twins and triplets quite often run in families – and she remembered the mischief that she and her sister Janet had got up to at school.

“Look, we're nearly there,” said Becky nervously. The triplets and their mother were part of a flood of children now, all heading for the school gates. Becky looked round – no familiar faces. Manor Hill was quite a large school, drawing pupils from a wide area, and to three brand new year sevens it looked like there were thousands of them, all
huge
.

Suddenly Annabel was waving. “There's Fiona!” she exclaimed happily.

Fiona was a girl the triplets had known at St Anne's – they'd quite often walked to school with her, as she only lived a couple of streets away from them. It made all of the triplets feel a bit better to see at least one
other person they knew.

“Right, girls. Are you going to be OK if I leave you here?” asked Mrs Ryan, putting down all the bags she'd been carrying.

“Yes!” gulped Katie, and Becky and Annabel nodded.

“Don't forget – if your teacher gives you any letters to bring home about school trips, or anything like that – I do actually need to see them! I don't want to find them three weeks later in all the grot at the bottom of your schoolbags. Have a good day. Remember what you do so that you can tell me all about it when you get home. I'll see you at about four, yes? Come straight home! Bye darlings!” Mrs Ryan gave each of the girls a big hug, and then turned to go.

Katie, Annabel and Becky watched as she reached the corner of the road and then looked at each other. Then Annabel picked up her bags and said, “OK?”

“OK,” the other two answered, and together the Ryan triplets headed into the playground to start their first day at Manor Hill.

Chapter Three

The playground seemed to be entirely full of children dashing about, like a nest of mad bees.

“Come on,” decided Katie, taking the lead as usual. “I can't see anyone I know. Let's just go and put our bags down over there, and then we can look for people more easily.” She led the way over to a set of steps, which she at least recognized as leading into the dining hall. “Just dump it all here, then we'll go and find everyone – we know Fiona's here somewhere, at least!”

The triplets made a neat pile of their bags and then turned to survey the playground. They didn't realize it at first, but they were getting quite a lot of attention themselves. Their hair was different, but they still looked like the same girl three times over. Children who'd come from different schools whispered to each other, and pointed them out. Becky, who was always the most sensitive, noticed this, and felt embarrassed. The triplets were used to people – usually old ladies – stopping them in the street to ask questions and admire them, but Becky didn't remember quite so many people looking at them at once before. It felt really uncomfortable! She nudged Annabel. “Bel, look! People are staring at us! Those girls over there, do you see? And those two there!”

Annabel peered round carefully, checking out the girls Becky had nodded at, and spotting a few more curious glances on the way. “You're right, Becky. Good. This is going to be fun – I like being noticed!” She preened slightly, and stood up straighter.

Becky sighed. That was just like Annabel. Such a show-off! She watched Annabel tossing her long blonde hair and squirmed inside. It was all right for Bel – she loved attention. Whenever anyone asked her if she knew what she wanted to do when she was older, she always said the same thing, “I'm going to be famous!” Annabel wasn't sure what for yet, but Becky thought she probably would be one day. Bel could be
very
stubborn.

Meanwhile, Katie had finally found some people they knew. A group of children from St Anne's had gathered over by a huge horse chestnut tree in the corner of the playground. The tree had enormous roots that seemed to form little holes and seats, and the St Anne's lot were squashed all round it in a very precarious-looking fashion, obviously swapping gossip from their holidays.

The triplets dashed over, calling to people they knew. Fiona spotted them coming, and waved madly.

Saima bounced up from her seat – nearly knocking Fiona over on the way – and hugged all three triplets in turn. “Oh, I'm so glad to see you – I was so scared when I got to the playground. I couldn't see
anybody
I recognized!”

The triplets nipped back to grab their stuff and then dumped their bags in the teetering pile by the tree and grinned at each other, feeling a little bit silly. Mum was right – it was so much easier for the three of them.

“So come on, Saima, tell us! How was India?” asked Annabel.

“It was brilliant, but it was so hot! I'm just not used to it, I guess. My cousins were running around all over the place, but I could hardly move some days!”

“Did you bring back more gorgeous clothes?” asked Annabel. Saima had shown her some of the beautiful Indian outfits she owned. Lots of them were made of silk, and they were the most amazing colours. They were covered with embroidery, too, and Annabel loved them.

“Yeah, loads. Do you want to come and see them some time?”

“Definitely. Can we dress up in them again? Our dad gave us a digital camera to share – we could take photos,” Annabel said excitedly.

“That would be excellent. Oooh, talking of photos, you should see mine, Becky. We saw loads of animals – I was disappointed, though, I was hoping to see a tiger. So, what did you do this summer? Did you go away at all?”

“Yes, Dad took us on holiday – that's when he gave us the camera,” answered Becky a bit shyly. She'd never got to know Saima all that well, and found her quite scary – she was always so perfect-looking with her long, glossy black hair and completely immaculate uniform. “It was really cool. We went pony-trekking in Wales for a week. Not quite as exciting as India, though.”

“Yeah, and my bottom still hasn't recovered. Saddles are really, really hard!” cut in Annabel. “But Becky's right, it was so cool. We had the same pony each for the whole week. Mine was black and he was called Jet. He was really naughty, though. Every time we went past anything eatable-looking – nice flowers, or leaves, or someone's packed lunch – it was straight into his mouth. I kept having to pull him away.”

“And it was great to see Dad,” added Katie. “It felt like ages since we'd had any time with him.”

Saima nodded sympathetically – she knew that the triplets' dad was an engineer, and he worked abroad for long periods of time. It was part of the reason he and their mum had split up. “Has he gone back to Egypt now?” she asked.

“Yes, unfortunately,” groaned Katie. “He's working on an irrigation project, and they're really behind schedule. It could be a while before he's back here again. He emails us lots, though, and we can skype him.

“But apart from that week, we stayed at home,” explained Annabel. “It wasn't very exciting. In a way it's quite nice to be back at school.”

Everyone gave Annabel a look of horror.

“Don't look at me like that! I just mean that being at home was getting quite boring. It would have been OK if the weather was better, but it was totally grim. We were really lucky to get sunshine the week we were in Wales. Weren't we?” She nudged Katie, who clearly wasn't listening. Some boys that the triplets didn't know had started a football game in the middle of the playground, piling up jackets for the goals. Katie was watching them longingly. Annabel laughed. “OK, there's no point talking to Katie, not now there's a football in sight.”

It was very unlikely that the boys would let Katie join in, but she was sure she could play better than most of them. Look at that dark-haired one, for instance. His shots were going completely wide every time. He seemed to be a very selfish player, too – he kept hogging the ball and trying to shoot, even though his mates were yelling at him to pass. Katie itched to get up and tackle him. She didn't quite dare, though. Maybe in a couple of weeks' time she might know them enough to ask if she could play. For the moment she just sat tight and watched with a
very
critical eye.

Suddenly the dark-haired boy lost control of the ball entirely and booted it off the “pitch”, straight towards where the triplets and their friends were sitting. Fiona had to dodge backwards, and as it was the ball only just missed her glasses. It ended up practically at Becky's feet.

“Hey, watch it!” Katie yelled to the dark-haired boy. “You could have hurt somebody!”

“Stupid girls!” he snapped back at her. “You shouldn't have been in the way.”

The whole group round the tree gasped with indignation – how dare he! It had been completely his fault, and now he was trying to blame them! For once, Katie was speechless, and the boy rolled his eyes in disgust, propped his hands on his hips and turned on Becky. “Come on then,” he spat, “kick it back, you dumb blonde!”

Becky seemed to be frozen. She absolutely
hated
people staring at her and now it seemed as if the whole playground was watching. She was petrified of doing something wrong, making herself – and her sisters – look silly and causing this horrible boy to shout at her even more. She just couldn't make herself kick the ball, even though she knew how easy it was.

The boy glared at her. “Come on, stupid!” he yelled. “Kick it!” Then he sighed, seemed to give up on Becky ever plucking up the courage to move, and headed towards the girls to fetch the ball himself.

By this time, though, Katie was seething. How could this horrible boy yell at her sister – especially when he'd nearly hit Fiona, and not even bothered to apologize. She grabbed the ball with both hands and threw it at him, pushing it as hard as she could, and aiming it perfectly. It hit him right in the stomach – just where Katie had meant it to – and knocked the breath out of him. Katie followed the ball up to the boy and stood glaring at him as he gasped for air. She jabbed her finger in his chest and snarled, “Don't you ever speak to my sister like that again, you idiot – and why don't you learn to kick a ball properly!” Then she calmly collected the ball, which was on the ground next to the idiot boy (with her left foot, she was showing off a bit), and booted it with all her strength straight between the two piles of jackets, leaving the boys gobsmacked. She smirked at them all, turned, and headed back to her friends by the tree.

“Wow, Katie!” gasped Annabel. “That was brilliant! You really showed him!”

“Thanks, Katie,” whispered Becky, who was still looking really upset.

Katie put an arm round Becky and squeezed her tight. “You mustn't listen to idiots like him, Becky,” she said, turning to look back at the boys, who were just starting their game again, although the dark-haired boy didn't seem to be joining in much. “He's just a stupid, loud-mouthed moron and you can't let him upset you.”

“She's right. I know you, Becky, you'll worry about it all day – you just forget him,” added Annabel, coming up on Becky's other side and hugging her too.

Becky nodded, and smiled at her sisters, grateful for their hugs and encouraging words. It was hard, though. Bel and Katie were so much more confident than she was – and she didn't think they understood that. That boy had made her feel small and stupid, and she wished she could just go home.

Katie put her hands on Becky's shoulders and gave her a little shake. “C'mon! Smile properly!” she coaxed, and was rewarded with a bigger smile this time, as Becky tried hard to forget her bruised feelings.

Suddenly the bell rang, and several more teachers came out into the playground. One of them blew a whistle, and started to call out class names and point to teachers. Soon everyone was heading into the school – it was time for the triplets to meet their new class teacher.