Rebecca's Rules Read Free Page A

Normally I would feel the same. I used to have nightmares about tidal waves and water wars after her classes. But today I couldn’t even bring myself to care. If I can’t have Paperboy, I might as well just sit around eating insects.
    At the end of the class I think Miss Kelly was a bit worried that she’d gone too far because she told us that not all insects were safe to eat and we shouldn’t go out and try eating random bugs. Like any of us were sitting in the class going, ‘Oh yes, Miss Kelly, eating grasshoppers in some sort of post-apocalyptic wasteland sounds brilliant, I think I’ll start doing it straight away!’ I mean, even though I might have lost all faith in the future and I don’t care what happens, I’m not going to start eating bugs until I absolutely have to.
TUESDAY
    Cass and I went to the library after school. I love libraries; it’s like going shopping for books only you’re allowed to takeaway whatever you want for free! As long as you have space on your library card and don’t owe loads of fines like SOME people (Cass). Unfortunately, when we went in to the library today, the first thing I saw was a display of new books with my mother’s stupid teen novel right at the front with a ‘Children’s Book of the Month’ sign on top of it. And next to it was a big coffee table book full of photos of Canada! Even the library has turned against me.
    Anyway, I ignored this terrible display and headed for the teenage section, and we both found some good books (Well, they look good. Sometimes I just base my decisions on the cover). Cass took a deep breath and marched up to the desk to check hers out. When she scanned her ticket the librarian looked sternly at Cass and said, ‘Ah, Miss McDermott. I hope you remember to bring these books back on time.’ This is because Cass once took some books out and didn’t give them back for about two years. The fines were enormous. She says once it reached a certain stage she was too embarrassed to give them back so she just didn’t go to the library for a while. The library wrote to her house, but she hid the letters like some sort of criminal. To be honest, I’m surprised they ever let her have a library ticket again after all that, but clearly librariansare a forgiving lot. So once she had given back the books and paid a giant fine, they decided to let bygones be bygones. Well, most of them, anyway. This one hasn’t forgotten. But she did give Cass the books.
    In fact, I had a worse time checking books out because the librarian knows who I am too (we’ve all been going to this library since before we could read).
    ‘Ah,’ she said. ‘I hope you saw your mother’s book in our display! It’s doing very well, you know. There’s a waiting list for it and everything.’
    She smiled at me like she thought I’d be pleased, whereas of course the thought of loads of people basically queuing up to read about that terrible Ruthie does not please me at all. Anyway, I just said, ‘Oh, really?’ in what I hope was a polite voice and luckily the librarian left it at that THANK GOD. I am fed up being polite to people about that stupid book, especially now that my life is even more of a tragedy.
    On a more positive note, Cass thought of something when we were walking back from the library. She pointed out that if Miss Kelly is right about the future being electricity-free, then it’s a good thing we like reading. At least we’ll be able to amuse ourselves reading by candlelight when all the power has runout, and books will distract us from our insect-eating lives of toil. Cass is surprisingly practical sometimes.
    I mentioned this to my mother when I got home and she said, ‘I think your geography teacher is exaggerating a bit. I don’t think we’re going to be living without power or eating bugs any time soon.’
    She would think that, though, because she and my dad are so hideously wasteful. They don’t care about the environment at all. When I got home