Hattie and Olaf by Frida Nilsson

Author:Frida Nilsson [Nilsson, Frida]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781776573196
Publisher: Gecko Press
Published: 2021-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

When she hears crying, she can finally stop. Blood is rushing from Alfie’s nose. The others look at her with eyes like dark holes, full of fright. Alfie gets to his feet.

“I’m telling the teacher on you!” he wails, running away. His cap lies on the ground, bloody and wet.

Ice grips the back of Hattie’s neck. This is the worst thing she’s ever done. She’s never hit anyone before. But she couldn’t stop herself. Why did he have to shout donkey like that? He has only himself to blame!

It’s not long before the bell rings. Hattie sees a drop of blood on the steps, and in the coat room there’s a long red trail running across the floor. But Alfie isn’t there; he’s gone to the school nurse. In the classroom the teacher is so angry he’s shaking. He storms over to Hattie and grabs her arm. “What have you done!?” he shouts.

She sits hard and cold like a stone and listens to the lecture. You’re not allowed to fight! You can’t hit someone so hard that their nose bleeds! You must talk with your mouth and not your fists!

Hattie answers quietly, only “yes” and “no” and “yes.” Her hands hurt and her knuckles are grazed. No one mentions that you aren’t allowed to run around and shout donkey at someone.

In the end the teacher says she has to go to the nurse and say sorry to Alfie, who’s lying there with a white bandage on his nose, crying.

Hattie gets up slowly. The sorry word. That’s the hardest word she knows.

But now it’s extra hard! Why should she say sorry and not Alfie? She, who had to walk away like an idiot, while a whole gang ran after her, laughing.

No, never! She throws open the classroom door, pulls on her jacket and stomps off. The teacher calls out something from far away.

The snow on the ground is still white and beautiful. But Hattie treads long brown streaks of anger into it. She hates bullies! She hates teachers who don’t care if they’re fair or not!

She goes straight up to the grove of trees, and there she stays for the rest of the day in her thin jacket.

Sometimes she kicks a rock or a tree. Sometimes tears run. When the school bus comes, she rushes over to it like a shot. She doesn’t talk to anyone. All the way home she sits with her face pressed to the window. It’s stinging cold, but her forehead is on fire.

Up on the snowy compost heap, Olaf stands stubbornly. He won’t go into the stable; he’d rather freeze.

“Why are you so stupid?” shrieks Hattie. “I hate you!”

Olaf is silent. He gives her a long look with his narrow eyes. Then he turns and walks away. A lump of ice dangles in the tuft of his tail.

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