The next morning when Sophie’s dad dropped her off there was already a crowd outside the school. Two big buses were parked in the street.

‘See you tomorrow!’ said Sophie, giving her dad a kiss.

‘Have a wonderful time, Monster,’ he said. ‘I’ll miss you.’

There was a lump in Sophie’s throat as he disappeared around the corner. For a horrible moment she thought she might cry, right in front of everyone.

Then she heard her name being called. Megan and Alice were already on one of the buses and they were waving to her from different windows. They both looked so excited that Sophie couldn’t help feeling excited too.

But once Sophie climbed on board she discovered something terrible. Both her friends had saved her a seat next to them. This was a big problem. Sophie stood in the doorway, not knowing what to do.

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Mrs Tran.

‘Hello, Sophie,’ she said, smiling. ‘Your mum just called to remind me that you get bus sick. You’d better sit up the front with me.’

Sophie went red. Her mum could be really embarrassing sometimes. She was about to tell Mrs Tran that she would be OK sitting up the back when she thought of something. If she sat next to Mrs Tran then she wouldn’t have to choose between her friends.

‘OK,’ she said, feeling a bit silly. ‘That’s a good idea.’

Sophie turned to Alice and Megan.

‘Maybe you can sit next to each other?’ she suggested.

‘I should probably sit with Katie,’ said Megan.

‘I’ll sit next to Marie,’ said Alice.

The two girls changed seats. Sophie sighed. It was going to be a difficult day. They hadn’t gone very far when Sophie felt someone kicking at her seat. She turned around and groaned when she saw who was there — Patrick Lee.

He grinned at her and stuck his finger up his nose. Sophie quickly turned away. How had she ended up sitting in front of the grossest, most annoying boy in the whole school?

It seemed like every week Patrick came up with a new way to annoy Sophie. Sometimes he threw paper planes at her head. Sometimes he made fart noises and pretended they came from her. Sometimes he pulled faces when it was her turn to read aloud. The faces he pulled were so strange that everyone who saw them couldn’t help laughing.

Everyone except for Sophie. She didn’t think they were at all funny.

The next time Patrick kicked the seat Sophie turned around and glared at him.

‘If you don’t stop doing that,’ she whispered angrily, ‘I’m going to tell Mrs Tran.’

Patrick’s grin grew even wider.

‘You wouldn’t dob on me, would you?’ he said.

‘Don’t be so sure,’ muttered Sophie.

Sophie knew that threats wouldn’t normally stop Patrick, but luckily just then someone up the back started singing a bus song. Patrick stopped kicking and started singing instead.

It was sung to the tune of ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’.

 

I know an annoying song

Annoying song

Annoying song

I know an annoying song

And this is how it goes.

 

When the kids reached the end they started again. It was the perfect song because it was very, very annoying!

Sophie could hear her friends singing up the back of the bus. She wished more than ever that she was sitting with them, having fun.

Mrs Tran let them sing the song ten times in a row.

Then she said, ‘I know an annoying sentence. It goes like this: the next person who sings that song will be walking the rest of the way!’

Everyone stop singing but there was still some giggling from the back.

It didn’t take long before Patrick started kicking Sophie’s seat again. She sighed.

It already felt like they had been driving for hours. How much longer was this going to take?