The Story Traveller (7 page)

‘I'm to go to their wedding?' Lucy's happiness was obvious.

‘Of course! You'll be their flower girl. Now off with you.'

The dazed, but happy girl carefully covered herself in her cloak and climbed on Speed's back almost too tired to wave Twinkle goodbye. She closed her eyes, then when she opened them momentarily, realised her mother had just kissed her gently on the forehead.

Thank goodness it's Friday, was Lucy's first thought, when she woke up. She only had to get through the day, and then she'd two whole days free from Anna and her friends.

Not only that, she was going to the wedding of Cinderella and Prince Charming, and she was going to be their flower girl! Life couldn't get more exciting.

Then, with alarm, Lucy remembered her visitor.

‘Oh no! I nearly forgot!' Lucy sprang out of bed and hastily looked under the pillow for her cloak. ‘The little helper: I might have squashed her!' She picked up the cloak and peered inside the tiny pocket. Thankfully, it was empty. Quickly, she looked around, but couldn't see the wee fairy anywhere.

‘Twinkle's little helpers are small enough in Storyland. I doubt I'll even be able to see one here,' she thought, as she began a thorough search of her room. Lucy looked in every nook and cranny, in every box and bag, but her visitor was nowhere to be seen.

‘Perhaps I dreamt it!' Lucy said to herself, as she began to climb back into bed. Then, from the corner of her eye, she was sure she saw the top layer of her box of tissues move ever so slightly. Gently, Lucy peered inside: as she did so, she held her breath, her tongue quite still between the gap in her two front teeth, while she concentrated really hard. Yes, Lucy was sure she could just see the tiniest speck of light. At least she thought she could. Obviously, the little helper had found herself a snug soft bed.

‘Good morning little helper,' Lucy said as quietly as she could. She was certain the tiny dot of light moved a little. ‘Rest there for a while,' she whispered, ‘until I can find you a safer place to stay.' When Lucy's mother came to wake her, she found her daughter not only dressed, but ready to go down to breakfast.

‘My, you are an early bird today,' she told Lucy.

‘Mum, could I have toast and honey for breakfast?'

‘Of course, Honey Bun. Go and help yourself. I'll be down in a minute. Just got to help your sister with her hair.'

By the time Lucy's mum and sister came down, Lucy had finished her breakfast. In her left hand she carefully concealed a tiny square of toast, which was liberally covered in honey that had begun to run down her fingers.

‘Forgot to clean my teeth,' she told her mother and raced back up the stairs. Quickly and quietly, she slipped into her sister's bedroom, where she laid the tiny piece of toast on the kitchen table of Sophie's doll's house. She then picked up a minute jug, went to the bathroom, washed her sticky fingers, then filled the jug with water. Lucy then carefully carried the water back to the doll's house and put it beside the honey, before going to her room to fetch the wee fairy.

Gently, Lucy lowered the box of tissues on to the floor and invited her guest to step inside the doll's house.

‘I suggest you stay here, until it's time to go home.' Lucy spoke in the direction she thought the little fairy might be.

A tiny prism of light moved quickly into the house and began to sparkle from one room to the other. The tiny speck of light seemed to be everywhere at once.

‘She's obviously enjoying herself,' thought Lucy. ‘In fact I think she's really excited.' With a final goodbye Lucy left the little person to settle into her new home. She was fairly certain that Sophie wouldn't find her visitor, who was so wee you had to know she was there to have any chance of seeing her. In fact, Lucy wasn't one hundred percent certain she was there. It may have just been a little piece of sunlight that flitted around the rooms.

‘But I think I'm right,' Lucy said, as she carefully closed the bedroom door.

Only too soon, Lucy was back outside the school gates. Like clockwork, Anna and Martha stood and waited for her; though for once Diane was nowhere to be seen. As she approached, she realized Martha was saying, ‘Tea leaf, tea leaf,' over and over, though very softly, as if it was not from choice. Martha never raised her eyes to look at Lucy once, but kept them focused on the ground. Anna's unblinking stare, however, never wavered. She waited until Lucy was about to pass and then called out:

‘You'll find you won't be very popular with your classmates, Lucy Chase. They now know what you're really like. I suggest you find a new school, as soon as possible.'

Lucy held her head up high and stared back at Anna. This time she managed to hold her gaze, until she saw Anna bite her lips in irritation. A small victory, but still a victory. Then she walked on past Anna and Martha and crossed the playground.

But her troubles didn't stop at the gate. In the playground she found Diane, deep in conversation with a large group of pupils from her class. They all stared at Lucy with distrust. Some even pushed into her and made a play of checking their pockets. Every step got tougher. It was obvious Anna, Diane and Martha had done a good job.

Peter caught up with her as she reached the school corridor. His presence gave her a few moments of peace, as he shielded her from the angry glares.

‘You'll have to do something about those impudent miscreants
²
,' he told Lucy. ‘They really are vexatious
³
vipers.' Though distressed, Lucy gave him a small smile. She wasn't quite sure what he'd just said, but she knew he was on her side and that felt good.

‘I know, Peter I know. Don't worry; I know what I've got to do.'

Lucy went straight to the classroom to find her teacher, to tell her about the rumours. Miss Lewis listened attentively. As Twinkle had suggested, Lucy didn't mention any names, just that this story was going round the class about her.

‘Would you please ring my old school and find out if I ever stole anything while I was there?' she asked, as she tried her best not to show she was upset.

‘We know it's not true, Lucy,' her teacher replied. ‘There's no need to do that.'

‘You believe me, but they won't,' Lucy said sadly. ‘Please, please telephone – they will believe it then.'

‘Try not to let it get you down, Lucy. I know it's hard. But if it makes you feel better, then I'll certainly do as you ask. It will have to wait till break time, I'm afraid.'

‘Thank you, Miss Lewis.' Lucy went and sat at her desk, aware that Anna and Diane had followed her in. Anna stared at her intently. Her eyes bored into Lucy with icy spite, while Diane gave her a filthy look and made a rude hand gesture as she sat down. They had seen her talking to Miss Lewis and thought she'd told on them. Meantime, Martha was nowhere to be seen. Just as Miss Lewis started the register, Martha crept in. She gave a quick glance at Anna, nodded briefly, and then moved over to her desk, with a look of fear on her face, which was almost ashen.

After registration, Miss Lewis came and stood in front of the class.

‘It's come to my attention that there's a story going round that Lucy Chase was expelled from her last school for persistent thieving. I don't know where this has come from, but it's not true.' Miss Lewis stopped and looked round the class. ‘Would anyone like to tell me who started this rumour?' Silence.

Peter caught Lucy's eye and signalled she should speak up. Lucy just faintly shook her head and looked down.

‘I see. You do know this is a form of bullying, don't you?' Still the class remained silent. ‘This school will not tolerate bullying of any kind. Do I make myself clear?'

‘Yes, Miss Lewis,' came the muttered and somewhat embarrassed answer, from every corner of the class.

‘Lucy's asked me to ring her old school, for confirmation that this is a lie. I'll speak to you all again at the end of the day. Now off to your maths class.'

The atmosphere was definitely more subdued. Several boys and girls looked ashamed, though Anna, Diane and even Martha remained defiant.

The maths lesson went off without any more trouble for Lucy. Then, they had a period of practice on the hockey pitch. As soon as Lucy got to her locker, she knew someone else had been there: the door wasn't shut properly. She'd definitely closed and locked it. She wasn't surprised, therefore, to find her hockey boots missing. The games teacher wasn't impressed. ‘I suppose you've left them at home, Chase,' she said irritated by what was a recurring event from girls keen to get out of hockey practice. Lucy felt the injustice keenly, but knew the truth wouldn't help her.

‘I'm sorry Miss Gammon. I must have left them in my mum's car.'

‘You'll have to play in your gym shoes then. The ground's dry, so they won't come to any harm.' The gym shoes certainly survived the practice, but poor Lucy didn't. Diane, a good two inches taller and a stone heavier, managed to bang into, trip up and catch Lucy's unprotected ankles, time and time again, either with her hockey stick or her own solid boots. Lucy just couldn't get away quickly enough. Then, a particularly vicious blow knocked her off her feet. As she went down her glasses flew off. She landed on them heavily, cutting her head as she fell on the broken frame.

A tiny player darted across the pitch and helped Lucy up. The look of sympathy in her brown eyes brought Lucy nearer to tears than any of the bullying. She knew how hard it had been for Frances to show her support.

‘I'm so sorry Lucy,' Frances whispered, her hand up to her mouth, so that only she and Lucy could hear.

‘Thank you, Frances,' Lucy replied, as the other girl bent down and picked up her broken glasses. ‘Thank you so much.'

Miss Gammon's attention had been on the players with the ball, rather than the player using Lucy as a ball, so she just told her to stop messing about. But Lucy had suffered enough.

‘I'm sorry Miss Gammon, but my glasses are broken. I can't see to play without them.' This wasn't strictly true, but Lucy knew she needed to get away from the physical attacks.

‘You'd better see Nurse about that cut,' Miss Gammon told her, as she noticed the blood trickling down Lucy's forehead. With enormous relief, Lucy walked off the pitch.

A quick clean-up and a plaster, and she found herself free for another fifteen minutes. Lucy fetched her spare glasses and then dashed to the library, where she found a book of
100 Stories of Cinderella
. Never had a quarter of an hour passed so quickly. Lucy didn't even hear the bell, until Miss Watkins, the librarian, silently reminded her.

As Lucy walked into the locker room to put the library book away, she saw Diane and Martha hastily shutting her locker door.

‘So it
was
you, Martha Stewart, who pinched my boots,' she said, too angry to be afraid. ‘What have I ever done to you? And you, Diane Walker, you're nothing but a bully. One of these days you'll know what it's like to be kicked and pushed about by someone bigger and stronger. I notice your precious Anna gets you two to do all the dirty work! She won't be the one to get in trouble will she?'

Martha looked terrified. Her hands fluttered restlessly and she gave Lucy such a pleading look. Lucy suddenly realized, the ashen face, the scared looks, it was Martha who had a history of stealing. Anna had obviously known this, and had used this knowledge to get her to steal Lucy's shoes. Some friend! No wonder the poor girl looked so worried.

Diane, surprised that Lucy had found the courage to face her, stood there for a few seconds, biting her nails, not sure whether she should continue the argument. Finally, she walked away without a word, followed by the nervous Martha. Lucy put the book away and returned to class. She was left in relative peace for the rest of the day, though she was aware of constant hostile glances from Anna and Diane and more pitiful ones from Martha. She was obviously worried Lucy would tell Miss Lewis.

‘Let her sweat!' Lucy thought. ‘Though I don't intend to say anything.'

At the end of the day Miss Lewis spoke to the class again.

‘I spoke to Lucy's old headmistress, who was very shocked to hear the lies told about her. She said to tell you that not only was Lucy not a thief, but she won the highest award her school could give in her final year: The Three Nevers: Never Absent, Never Late, Never Discourteous.'

Lucy went pink with embarrassment: she'd only wanted them to confirm the rumour as untrue. However, she did find her journey on the bus home pleasantly friendly. As if wanting to make up for their unkindness, her class mates went out of their way to include her in all their chatter: except Anna, Diane and Martha. For once they seemed to be the ones on the outside.

Lucy felt much happier and definitely excited, as she got off the bus. She'd dealt successfully with the rumours: now she could look forward to the wedding. Also, she'd decided where she wanted to go to next on her travels. This weekend was going to be extra special.

As Lucy walked down the front drive, she kept a look out for a dandelion clock. Then, just as she was about to give up, she saw one just under the hedge, by the bird bath. It was a beauty. She picked it and carefully carried it to the house.

‘Hallo darling,' Jo Chase gave her daughter a kiss as she let her in. ‘What's the dandelion clock for?' ‘I've got to draw it for home work,' Lucy said, a little worried at lying to her mother.

‘Where's Sophie?'

‘She's next door, playing with Janie,' her mother told her, before she returned to the kitchen. Lucy gave a sigh of relief. She wouldn't have her devoted sister dogging her every step.

But as Lucy began to climb the stairs her mother came into the hall, wiping her hands on a cloth.

‘I've just realized, you've a plaster on your head. What happened?'

‘Accident during hockey! ‘Fraid I broke my glasses as well.'

‘Were you bullied again?' her mother asked. ‘Now, don't lie to me Lucy, or I'll ring the school.'

‘Yes Mum, but it's over. It won't happen again.'

Jo Chase went to hug her daughter, but Lucy managed a laugh and said: