Clementine Rose and the Pet Day Disaster 2 by Jacqueline Harvey

Author:Jacqueline Harvey [Harvey, Jacqueline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2013-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Dr Everingham was right. About a lot of things. Clementine and her mother went straight to the office for a chat with Miss Critchley. The young woman listened and nodded and seemed to understand exactly what Clemmie was upset about. Miss Critchley asked Clementine and Lady Clarissa to wait a few minutes before they walked over to the classroom. She went ahead of them and by the time they arrived, the children were all sitting in different spots and there was an empty chair next to Sophie. Angus was beside another boy called Lester, who was the tallest in the class and seemed to wear a permanent frown on his face.

‘Good morning, Clementine,’ Miss Critchley greeted her at the door. ‘I hear you’ve been to the doctor. I do hope you’re feeling better.’

Clementine wondered why she said that when they had talked about it just a little while ago.

Mrs Bottomley strode over to where Clementine and her mother were standing. ‘Well, I hope you’re not sick. Kindergarten children are terribly good at spreading germs.’ She frowned and a deep line ran down the middle of her forehead. ‘I can tell you now that I am not in the mood for a bug.’

‘Hello Mrs Bottomley, I’m Clemmie’s mother, Clarissa Appleby.’ She offered her hand.

The old woman smiled thinly and reluctantly reached out to take Clarissa’s hand in hers.

‘I can assure you that Clemmie’s fine,’ Lady Clarissa said as she looked at the teacher, who was dressed head to toe in beige.

‘Good morning, Mrs Bottomley. That’s a good suit. It would look nice with a red scarf,’ Clementine suggested.

Mrs Bottomley didn’t take kindly to the child’s advice. ‘I beg your pardon, young lady. I can’t imagine ruining my beige with something as ghastly as red.’

‘Oh, I think Clementine’s absolutely right, Mrs Bottomley. A splash of red would look lovely,’ Miss Critchley said, and winked at Clementine.

The teacher rolled her eyes.

‘Look, Clementine, there’s a spare spot next to Sophie,’ said Miss Critchley, nodding at the empty desk. ‘Would you like to sit there?’

Sophie was beaming and Clementine smiled back. ‘Yes, please!’

‘Bye bye, Clemmie, I’ll see you after school.’ Her mother gave her a quick hug and the girl ran to sit next to her friend.

‘I’ll walk you out,’ Miss Critchley said to Lady Clarissa. ‘And by the way, kindergarten, I have a lovely surprise for you later on at assembly.’ The class began to talk at once. ‘Have a good day, Mrs Bottomley,’ the head teacher said with a smile at the older woman.

Mrs Bottomley pursed her lips and nodded at Miss Critchley. ‘All right, kindergarten, we need to focus.’

That morning, Clementine was astonished to realise that she had learned several words since the day before. When Mrs Bottomley asked for someone to read the sentence the class had written together on the board, Clemmie raised her hand. Of course Astrid raised hers first but this time Mrs Bottomley asked Clementine instead.

Clementine studied the squiggles carefully. ‘It says . . .’ She paused and concentrated hard, then read each word separately.

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