Thief! Read Free

food.
    ‘Less of that, you cheeky toad!’ Mum tweaked Danny’s ear. ‘And slow down! You won’t lose your appetite before you’ve finished your food – I promise you!’
    Lydia looked at Mum and Dad and her brother Danny. For all Danny’s whining, he was coping better with the move to Tarwich than she was. It was all so strange and new. She still couldn’t get used to looking out of her bedroom window and seeing the moors stretching out beyond the neighbouring houses, towards the horizon. And in the still of the night, she could hear the river rushing and rumbling past their back garden. Lydia longed for houses and yet more houses as far as the eye could see and the rumble of traffic past their house, not a river. She missed London terribly.
    ‘Danny, I’m not going to tell you again,’ Mum said crossly as he continued to chew with his mouth open.
    Lydia glared at her brother, annoyed at having her reverie disrupted. Danny really was too gross! She looked down at her dinner plate again, her fork still in her hand.
    ‘Lydia, is something wrong?’ Dad leaned forward.
    ‘What? Er . . . no, I’m fine.’ Lydia tried to smile, but her face felt as if it was twisting horribly instead of smiling, so she gave up the attempt.
    ‘Are you sure?’
    Lydia nodded. ‘I think I’ll go to bed early. I’m just a little bit tired.’
    ‘But you haven’t finished your dinner. I squeezed lemon juice over your peas and potatoes, just the way you like it.’ Mum frowned.
    ‘No thanks, Mum. I’m not very hungry,’ Lydia said.
    ‘I don’t know why I bother, I really don’t.’ Mum sat back in her chair, annoyed. ‘I rush home to have dinner with my family only to find that my daughter isn’t hungry and my son eats like a cement mixer . . .’
    ‘Off you go, Lydia, while your mum is exercising her jaw.’ Dad winked.
    ‘I heard that!’ Mum tweaked Dad’s ear too.
    Lydia ran upstairs to her bedroom and flung herself down onto her bed. Everyone seemed so happy.
    Even Danny was settling down better than her. He went to a different school from hers so she didn’t even have him to talk to at breaktimes.
    The school cup . . . Had she made the right decision? At that moment it didn’t feel like it but Lydia suspected that, no matter what she had done, she would have felt the same way. So much for letting her conscience decide! All Lydia wanted to do now was hide. Hide under the duvet and never come out again.
    Ever.

Chapter Three

I Don’t Have It
    ‘I wish they’d get on with it. We’ve been standing here for ages,’ Frankie moaned. She shifted her weight from her right to her left foot. Lydia nodded but said nothing. ‘You’re very quiet,’ Frankie whispered.
    ‘Am I?’ Lydia forced a smile. The assembly hall was now completely different from the way it had been the previous afternoon. It was filled to overflowing with the rest of the school, all whispering and coughing. Lydia looked around. There, two rows in front of her, was Anne. A slight smile played over Anne’s face. As Lydia watched, Anne turned to look at the cup cabinet, then back at Lydia. Lydia turned her head to look at the cabinet but there were too many heads in the way for her to see more than the top left-hand corner of it.
    ‘Attention everyone. Pay attention,’ Mr Simmers, the headmaster, called out from up on the stage.
    Mr Simmers was a stout man who obviously enjoyed his food. He wore round spectacles which were too small for his face and made him look like a wise owl. Lydia liked him though. On her first day at Collivale, he had gone out of his way to be friendly. He did rather talk as if he’d just swallowed a dictionary but at least he always seemed to have a smile on his face. Except for now.
    ‘I have something very serious to report,’ Mr Simmers said. He peered over the top of his glasses, his beady gaze darting across the assembly hall, lighting on person after person. ‘The Collivale best all-rounder’s sports