Poppy's Secret Wish by Ann Bryant

Author:Ann Bryant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
Published: 2015-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

7 Trapped in the Circle

On Tuesday, I got more and more excited as the day went on. I’m always like this on Tuesdays, because it’s ballet after school. I wish it could be ballet after school every single day. But this Tuesday was especially important. I had christened it Last-Chance Tuesday.

At morning break, I rushed outside with Mia and Alice, but stopped when I heard Rose’s voice behind me.

“Hey, Poppy…”

“What?” I asked, turning round.

I got quite a shock. She was standing very straight with her hair scraped right back and not a bump in sight. On her face was a proud grin.

“Thought I’d get myself all ready today, then I won’t be late! Look!” She turned round and I saw that she’d even twizzled her ponytail into a bun and gripped it in place.

I didn’t know what to say. The trouble was, if I acted nice and friendly, Rose would only start talking in the middle of ballet, and it would be absolutely terrible if she put me off again. So I just said, “Oh yeah,” and hoped she’d go away.

But she didn’t. And to make everything double bad, a group of grinning boys suddenly appeared. They made a circle round us and I felt a bit scared standing in the middle with Rose.

“Ro’s getting girlie!” chanted Tom and Archie. “Ro’s getting girlie!”

“I am not!” screeched Rose, sticking her neck out and nearly spitting, she was so cross. “Get lost, you lot!”

But they didn’t.

I really wanted to escape and leave Rose to sort the boys out, but something was stopping me. It was a funny thought to be thinking, but Rose with a neat bun seemed like a different girl from tomboy Rose. And I would have felt horrible leaving this new Rose with all those nasty boys.

“Talking to your little ballet friend?” asked Alex in a high-pitched voice.

“With your little bunny-bun-bun!” said Tom.

The other boys just laughed and started going round on tiptoe with bent legs and high arms, because that’s the only ballet step boys know.

“Rosie Posie does ballet! Rosie Posie’s getting girlie!” they all chanted.

“I am not! And don’t call me that!” yelled Rose.

That only made them chant louder. “Rosie Posie! Rosie Posie!”

I could tell she was getting really furious, staring at the boys as though she would burst with anger. Then she suddenly reached round to the back of her head and started tugging. One or two hairgrips fell to the ground. Next she ripped the elastic band off her ponytail. It must have really hurt her because she did it so roughly. She shook her head hard a few times, and her hair fell round her shoulders, so she was back to normal.

The boys stopped going round and round and stared at her.

She stared right back, with black eyes flashing in an angry white face, and spoke in a sneery voice. “Did someone switch off the music box?”

Then she punched Tom on the arm and, while he was clutching it, pushed her way past him and ran away laughing.

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