Drawing a Veil Read Free

someone you’ve never met.”
    â€œHey, don’t knock it,” said Amina. “If you want to get married, you’ll
need
to find someone who’s never met you, or seen your face. Anyone else would run a mile.”
    Megan gave a yell of rage and hit out at Amina. Ellie swung Amina’s bag at the back of Megan’s knees. Megan fell over, knocking into Kate. Ellie chucked Amina her bag, then they ran through the gate towards home.
    Megan yelled, “Stop them! Stop the terrorists!”
    Just ahead of Ellie and Amina were the boys playing football. They turned round to stare at the running girls.
    Then Ellie saw who the boys were.
    Megan was still screeching, “Stop them!”
    And Dale, with the football at his feet, smiled.
    Ellie and Amina were caught between Megan and Kate behind and Dale and his mates in front.

    The girls swerved left onto the grass, and headed for the nearest road.
    â€œPull her scarf off!” screamed Megan.
    Dale yelled back, “We’ll catch her, and you can have the scarf!”
    Ellie was in flat boots, and Amina was in her daft high heels. But Amina was much better at PE, so they ran at the same pace as they sprinted out of the park.
    They turned the corner and headed for the harbour.
    â€œWe could hide up a side street,” panted Amina, but they heard shouts as Megan, Kate and the boys turned the corner behind them. They couldn’t hide yet. They had to keep going.

Chapter Eight

Running, Together
    They reached a busy crossing as the lights turned green. The traffic started moving, but there were half a dozen boys behind them with their blood high and their brains turned off.Ellie stopped at the kerb, but Amina grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the road.
    They dodged between cars, banging past bumpers, and scraping along doors.

    The exhaust fumes made them cough, and burned their legs.
    They leapt onto the pavement, and kept running, still holding hands.
    Ellie glanced back. A bus had stopped between them and the gang behind them, so no-one saw them as they swerved into an alley.
    They came out at the docks. There were dirty cargo ships to their right, and the white shopping centre was ahead. Ellie wondered if Carlie was having fun in there.
    They looked back. No-one was chasing them down the alley.
    â€œKeep going,” gasped Amina.
    They were crossing the bridge over the dirty city river when they heard a distant shout.
    â€œOver the rail,” panted Ellie. They climbed on to the iron railings then scrambled to the girders on the underside of the bridge.
    Ellie nearly lost her balance and Amina reached over to steady her. There was a splash.
    Amina whispered, “Oops. I lost a shoe.”
    They crouched under the bridge and listened, but they didn’t hear shouts or running footsteps.

    It was a long time before Amina and Ellie felt it was safe to talk.
    â€œWhat will you do at school?” Ellie asked. “Megan and Dale are
both
after you now.”
    â€œThey’re after you too. Sorry. But don’t worry. Megan will find someone else to pick on soon. And those boys have the attention spans of goldfish, they’ll have forgotten us by Monday.”
    â€œBut we still have to get through tomorrow. How will we do that?” Ellie said.
    â€œMaybe we should go in disguise?” Amina suggested. “I’ve got some scarves you could borrow.”
    There was a short silence. Then Ellie giggled. “I don’t think they’d suit me!”
    They climbed out from under the bridge as darkness fell.
    Once they were on the pavement, Ellie looked at Amina’s feet. “Can you walk with just one shoe?”
    â€œI’ve still got my trainers in my bag from PE,” said Amina.
    â€œDid you wear the scarf for PE?” Ellie asked.
    â€œYeah. And it got in the way every time I tried to score!”
    Ellie laughed. “You’ll get used to it. We all will.”

    Amina pulled her trainers