The Tornado Chasers Read Free Page A

muttered. ‘Can you remember which street you live on?’
    ‘Um … Magnolia Crescent, I think,’ I said nervously.
    There was an audible gasp across the room. The children in front of me covered their mouths and snorted with delight.
    ‘Not
Callum
!’
    ‘I can’t believe it!’
    ‘He won’t last a
week
!’
    Miss Pewlish found the name on the list. Any softness in her face immediately disappeared. She clenched her jaw.
    ‘Callum … Brenner,’
she said, each word an accusation.
    The tables before me immediately parted, leaving a clear path to the back of the classroom. There, sat alone, was a boy. He was slightly too big for his chair, and was making up for it by leaning it back and balancing it on one leg. His desk was covered in broken pencils. All the other desks around him were empty, and scattered with screwed-up balls of paper. He looked me up and down in disgust.
    ‘Are you
serious
?’ he said. ‘I’m not walking home … with
that
!’
    Miss Pewlish’s left eyelid started twitching uncontrollably, like a fly in a web.
    ‘
Tough
!’ she shouted. ‘You’ll do as you’re told, Callum Brenner! You’ve been walking home with the Cartwright twins for long enough – I think it’s time we finally gave them a break.’
    She indicated a boy and a girl in the front row, who were wiping tears of gratitude from their eyes and mouthing the words ‘thank you’ at the ceiling.
    Callum kicked the desk. ‘But
Victoria
…’
    ‘Stop calling me that!’ Miss Pewlish snapped, her cheeks trembling. ‘One more peep out of you, Callum Brenner, and I’ll have you repeating the entire year
again
!’
    The class sniggered. Callum shot them a hateful look,and fell silent, his hand tightly gripping a pencil beside him. Miss Pewlish nudged me forwards.
    ‘Go on then, Owen,’ she muttered. ‘Go and, er … sit next to him.’
    I slowly made my way through the pathway of tables towards Callum. The other children could barely hide their delight at my suffering, like I’d been caught painting swear words on a fence by my mum or I’d just dropped my ice cream down the toilet. Not one of them said hello to me, or waved, or even tried to be friendly. Miss Pewlish was right – Barrow wasn’t like Skirting at all.
    I sat down on the back row and glanced at my new partner. Callum stared back at me, his mouth open in disgust. I swallowed nervously. I’d never had any trouble making friends back in Skirting. All I had to do was be myself, and ask lots of questions. I nodded to the screwed-up pieces of paper on the floor.
    ‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Look at all that paper! You must really like writing.’
    Callum gripped his pencil tighter. I cleared my throat.
    ‘So,’ I said. ‘I guess we’re partners now.’
    I held out my hand, and put on my best cowboy voice.
    ‘Put it there, partner,’ I said.
    Callum snapped his pencil in two.

3
The Hardest Boy in Barrow
    The read-through for the play lasted all morning. Then after lunch, we did it all over again. Neither Callum nor I had any lines, so we sat in silence and followed the words in the script. At least,
I
followed them. Callum ripped out the pages and threw them at people.
    Finally the bell rang for the end of the day. Miss Pewlish immediately dropped her script and leapt to the door, waving a rattle above her head.
    ‘Quarter to four!’ she cried. ‘Fifteen minutes to get home before curfew starts! Go, go, go!’
    The children flew from their desks without another word, grabbing their partners and racing out the classroom.
    ‘GO! GO! GO!’ Miss Pewlish bellowed after the evacuating children. ‘And don’t forget, the day after tomorrow is Presentation Day! Make sure you all have something prepared!’
    I quickly got to my feet and looked around for my partner. Callum was grabbing pots of pencils from off the windowsill and emptying them into his bag. I took his hand. He swung round in horror and shoved me backwards.
    ‘What are you doing?’ he yelled.
    I