5

Text Me?

I didn’t get a chance to say sorry to Lily all day. So as soon as I got in after school I texted her.

Im sory I was hrid to yuo. Txt me bk?

Which autocorrect miraculously turned into:

I’m sorry I was horrid to you. Text me back?

I waited a few moments, but she didn’t reply. Lil’s not one of those people who goes off on a sulk. (Not like some others I could mention. No points for guessing who.) If she wasn’t talking to me then I must have really upset her. So I decided that if she didn’t text back I’d give her a call later.

Thursday is my night to cook supper. I put a pack of pasta on to boil, opened three tins of tuna and grated a small mountain of cheese. Honestly, The Brothers eat a ridonkulous amount of food. It’s all the sports they do. I threw together a tuna pasta bake and shoved it in the oven. Then I checked my phone again. Still no reply from Lily.

Thursdays are also, btw, the best night of the entire week. Gus has football training, Dan does rugby and Matt goes to karate (like he does pretty much every night). The Brothers are all unbelievably sporty and the hall mirror is covered with their medals. I literally haven’t won a medal since Lily and I won the three-legged race when I was about six. But Mum keeps the lot. One of these days that mirror’s going to fall off the wall – pulled down under the weight of our family’s amazing achievements.

LOL.

So straight after school on Thursdays, The Brothers all zoom in, grab their kits and rush straight back out again. Then they’re out for about two hours – until Mum picks them up on her way back from work.

Which leaves me all alone – with the computer! Matt’s the only one who’s got his own laptop – so I’m always having to fight Gus and Dan to get a go on the one in the kitchen. Mum’s promised me one – in Year 12! That’s five years away! I can’t wait that long because, fyi, I’ve got a business to launch. I sat down at the computer and opened up the website I was designing.

It might interest you to know that absolutely loads of incredibly successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic. Lord Alan Sugar (off The Apprentice) is, and so’s the woman who set up The Body Shop. Then there’s Richard Branson and Jamie Oliver … and the bloke who started Ikea. (I don’t know his name – and I probably couldn’t spell it if I did.) I’m determined to be one of them.

I’ve run loads of business schemes. Last summer I sold home-made cupcakes and lemonade outside our house, which was pretty successful. Then I tried hiring The Brothers out for babysitting and washing cars, which was not successful. Partly because the boys weren’t keen on handing over my fee (ten per cent of their earnings), but mostly because they weren’t that keen on working at all.

Anyhow, I have lots of ideas, but my best one at the moment is setting up a website for kids to flog off all their old games and clothes. Then they can use the money they make to buy new stuff and so, and here’s the clever bit, all the gaming shops and clothes stores will want to advertise on the site – which is how I’ll make the money. Genius or what?

But I can’t run a business without my own computer.

I’m working on it.

I checked my phone again. Still no reply from Lily. I bet Kara had told her to ignore me. So I tried calling – but Lil didn’t pick up. Just then I heard Mum’s key in the lock and suddenly The Brothers charged into the kitchen like a herd of starving elephants.

‘Mmmm, smells good,’ said Mum, following them in and giving me a hug.

‘Give me FOOOOD!’ yelled Gus, shoving past me and hurling himself in his chair.

‘What’s for supper?’ demanded Matt, climbing over Gus to get to his place.

‘Tuna pasta bake,’ I announced.

‘Please tell me you didn’t put peas in it,’ begged Dan, ducking under the table to get to his seat.

‘I put peas in it,’ I said cheerfully, putting the dish on the table.

‘Noooooo!’ groaned Dan, emerging on the other side.

‘Oh, man up and eat your greens.’ I grinned.

Mum sat calmly in her place, ignoring the chaos all around her.

‘Looks lovely, darling. Thank you,’ she said, picking up the serving spoon and ladling out the pasta.

Btw, it was delicious – if I say so myself.

‘So, good day at school, everyone?’ asked Mum as we all tucked in.

‘Perfect,’ replied Matt, shooting me a dark look. ‘The skirts were an absolute triumph,’ he said flatly.

‘Ah,’ said Mum.

‘Yeah, I particularly enjoyed getting rinsed by Mrs C,’ said Dan.

‘Not to mention getting to spend the entire day in someone else’s disgusting old clothes,’ groaned Gus.

‘Yeah, thanks, sis,’ said Dan.

‘It’s not my fault!’ I protested. ‘How was I to know Mrs C was going to make us raid the lost property.’

‘I’m sure something bit me.’ Gus shuddered, frantically scratching his legs.

Mum grimaced. ‘So, rubbish day all round then?’

‘Not completely,’ I said, and I told her about Nadima.

‘Where’s she from?’ asked Matt.

‘Dunno. She doesn’t speak enough English to ask her.’

‘That must be hard,’ said Mum, ‘spending all day with people you can’t understand.’

‘Just like being with the girls in my class,’ said Dan.

‘Probably a bit scary too,’ Mum went on.

‘Again, just like being with the girls in my class,’ said Dan. Matt grinned at him.

‘I hope everyone’s being friendly to her,’ said Mum. ‘Trying to make her welcome, helping her fit in.’

I thought about Kara trying to use Google Translate. But then I remembered how everyone had drifted off when they realised they couldn’t actually talk to Nadima. Which was a bit mean, come to think of it.

‘She’s dead keen to learn English,’ I said. ‘She kept pointing at things like the stairs or a bench and saying, “What is please?” So I spent the whole day telling her the names of stuff. I felt like a walking talking dictionary!’

‘Just don’t tell her how to spell anything,’ said Gus.

‘Oh, ha very ha,’ I said.

‘Gus – that’s not funny,’ said Mum with a warning look.

Gus tried giving me a grin, but I ignored him. I don’t mind them teasing me about my spelling and stuff, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood. I was fed up that my shorts protest had been such an epic fail, plus I really wanted Lily to text me back.

If she wasn’t talking to me, then tomorrow was going to be a really rubbish day.