The Tiger Who Sleeps Under My Chair by Hannah Foley

Author:Hannah Foley [Foley, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781803289809
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Devon, Summer Term 2023

The first shock of the afternoon was walking up the slope to triathlon practice behind Imogen.

‘Oh, hi, Jude,’ she said, waiting for me to catch up. ‘You joining the team?’

‘Uh, hi, Imogen. Yeah, Mr Harris said to come along.’ Who knew she even did triathlon?

The second shock was seeing Zak Riley and his minions hanging out on the railings leading to the Astroturf. I could not believe it. I don’t know the minions’ names, but they have the same haircut and the same sneery look on their faces. It’s like trying to tell identical triplets apart. That’s why Amin calls them the minions – interchangeable underlings for a despicable villain. If you hadn’t guessed, the villain is Zak.

The Astroturf is not Zak’s natural habitat, nothing to do with physical activity is. So I knew that he’d somehow found out I’d signed up for triathlon, and he was here to make a massive deal out of it.

I was hoping they wouldn’t notice us as we went past. Making awkward conversation with Imogen and getting back to sport were stressful enough, the last thing I needed was Zak Riley’s thoughts on the subject. But he was in the mood for sharing, and loudly.

‘How’s the girlfriend, Simple Simmons?’ Zak called out as we got close. ‘How’s Loopy Linden?’ he sneered.

Imogen shot me a look.

I shook my head vigorously. ‘We’re not, honest.’

‘Not what, Simple Simmons? Not in lurve?’ The minions laughed.

‘Bet Loopy Linden’s grateful for anyone taking an interest now she’s off her rocker. Even Simple Simmons, academy reject,’ Zak scoffed.

Imogen’s eyes narrowed. ‘What have you been saying about Rosie?’ she hissed.

‘Nothing!’ But she stormed off towards practice.

The minions were making smooching sounds and thought they were hilarious. I could tell I was turning bright, screaming red, which they found even more funny.

Luckily, Amin showed up at that precise moment. I don’t know what it is about Amin, but his very existence seems to wipe the smirk off Zak’s face. They live round the corner from each other, and I’m sure there’s history, but Amin won’t tell me.

‘Everything all right here?’ Amin asked, scanning our faces.

‘Just welcoming the latest recruit to the team,’ said Zak, sliding off the railing. ‘But we’re going now.’ He picked up his bag. ‘Have a good time, Jude.’

He blew me a kiss and they slunk off.

Amin slung his arm over my shoulders, steering me towards where everyone was warming up. ‘Mate, you let him get to you and it’s game over. You have got to ignore him.’

‘B-b-but, he’s so infuriating!’ I exploded. ‘You should have heard what he was saying about Rosie.’

Amin stopped and, as he often did, spelled things out for me. ‘Mate, there are things you do not want to know about Zak’s life. His dad is a specimen. Zak’s evolved like that just to survive his homelife. Ig. Nore. Him,’ he finished as we joined the rest of the team.

Imogen glared at me. ‘For the record, Jude, if you hurt Rosie in any way, I will personally oversee your execution.

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.