The Angel of Nitshill Road Read Free

really, the cleaning in this school is a disgrace! The litter might just as well be a carpet, the way it’s all over the floors. And as for the top of this desk, well, I’m afraid that yesterday I could hardly bring myself to rest a tired elbow on it. So I’m polishing it nicely.’
    Mr Fairway sat down weakly at his desk. He didn’t know what to say. And next morning, when he strolled in the room andfound everybody else (except for Marigold) polishing their desks as well, he was quite lost for words.
    Celeste wasn’t, though.
    â€˜Ah, there you are!’ She beamed at him delightedly. ‘We thought you were never coming! Some of us had quite given up hope.’ Then, while he was still reeling from the smell of a dozen different polish sprays, she warned him confidentially: ‘Today I’m going to try and coax you into letting me off arithmetic. You see, I go all of a tremble with sums. I always have. I always will. And this morning I feel weak as a leaf. So mayn’t I just loll about at my desk till I feel a little bit stronger?’
    â€˜Now listen here, Celeste –’ began Mr Fairway.
    Everyone waited.
    But there wasn’t any more. Once again, he was speechless.
    Tracey nudged Penny, who was unwrapping a sweet beneath the desk.
    â€˜She
must
be a real angel,’ Tracey explained. ‘A normal person couldn’t get away with it. They’d get sent to Mrs Brown.’
    Celeste was never sent to Mrs Brown.
    She
must
have been a real angel.

4
‘Stuck again.’
    Whatever they did in heaven, it wasn’t arithmetic. Celeste was awful at maths. Truly awful. She was even worse than Marigold, which was saying something. She was the worst in the class.
    By
far
.
    Mr Fairway did his best with her.
    â€˜Try it again,’ he would coax. ‘One more time. I’m sure you’ve nearly got it. You’re coming along nicely.’
    She’d raise her angelic face to him, her sky-blue eyes as round as saucers.
    â€˜You can say to me all the pretty things you want,’ she would tell him. ‘But I still won’t be able to do arithmetic. Who would have thought a few horrid squiggles on a page could make a poor body so unhappy?And there’s no hope. Granny says baby girls come either with brains or with yellow hair – never with both.’
    â€˜That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard!’ Mr Fairway cried in a passion.
    â€˜There!’ Celeste wailed. ‘Now you’re in a pet with me! Now I shall cry.’
    She never did, though. Sometimes she got cross.
    â€˜No wonder I can’t do it,’ she’d scowl at him. ‘This classroom is sheer pandemonium. No one could
think
.’
    â€˜Tracey and Yusef are managing,’ Mr Fairway would point out tartly.
    Celeste would sulk.
    â€˜And it’s so dark in here I can barely see the book!’
    Mr Fairway flicked on the light switch.
    â€˜And this pencil must be Mark’s. It’s chewed down to a
splinter
.’
    â€˜Celeste!’ Mr Fairway said sternly.‘Stop all this complaining. Just try and get on with it,
please
. I have to go round and help other people.’
    She glowered at him from under her blazing hair.
    â€˜Very well. Go round and round the class like an old
Beano
! I’ll simply sit here and
rust
.’
    Relieved, Mr Fairway moved away. He went up and down between the desks, helping people, till he reached Marigold who was turning over a new page.
    â€˜Well done!’ he said. ‘On page 27 already! At this rate you’ll soon be on to the green book!’
    Marigold said something. She spoke so softly he couldn’t hear a word. He bent his head closer and told her:
    â€˜Say that again.’
    He didn’t expect that she would. But Marigold moved her head very near to his, and whispered in his ear:

    â€˜Which page is
she
on?’
    He didn’t need to be told which
she
Marigold wanted to know