Five Things They Never Told Me by Rebecca Westcott

Author:Rebecca Westcott
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141359922
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2015-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

I sit down on my bed and pick up the parcel. Its weight is familiar and with my heart pounding I pull off the wrapping paper and look at the plain white box. It’s beautiful and even before I open it up I know exactly what’s inside. I just can’t quite bring myself to believe that they’ve let me have it, after everything that’s happened.

My hands are shaking as I open the lid. And there it is. My own iPad. I pull it out and look at the back, just to be sure. Erin Edwards is engraved on to the metal.

I turn it on eagerly and spend the next twenty minutes playing around. It takes me no time to get my email set up and when I check my inbox I see that Lauren and Nat have both sent me messages, telling me that the barbecue party starts at 3 p.m. and I’d better not be late. Lauren has sent me an extra, shorter message telling me to wear my funkiest clothes and put some make-up on. I ignore her – I am totally not putting on make-up for a barbecue with my two best friends! It’s not like there’ll be anybody there who needs impressing.

I grab my iPad and go back downstairs. Picasso is waiting for me in the hall and I decide that, as it IS my birthday, he should be allowed in the living room with me. After all, it was mostly Mum who had a problem with him. She made a house rule that he was only allowed in the hall and the kitchen because she ‘didn’t want dog hair all over the cushions and beds’. Dad probably only went along with it to make her happy. I’m starting to think he did quite a lot of that.

I sink down on to the sofa with Picasso snuggled up next to me and carry on playing with my iPad. It’s when I’m on level five of Angry Birds that I realize something is wrong.

I put down the iPad and stroke Picasso, trying to work out why I’m feeling weird. There’s a churning sensation in my stomach and my head feels crowded – like there’s a thought trying to push its way in but I’m not letting it. I get up and stretch. Maybe a drink and a biscuit will sort me out. Picasso’s asleep again so I cover him with the blanket off the back of the sofa (Mum would literally have a fit if she could see me doing this) and walk into the kitchen. I put the kettle on and while I’m waiting for it to boil I hear the thunk of the post dropping through our letterbox.

Racing into the hall I see a huge pile of brightly coloured envelopes and a slightly squashed Jiffy bag lying on the doormat. I recognize Mum’s writing on the squashed parcel immediately so I open it up and pull out a postcard with a picture of a donkey on the front.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.