Thunder Raker Read Free Page A

fast, circling the desks. A fair-haired boy in a wheelchair reversed rapidly out of her way as she passed.
    â€œSorry, Miss—no brakes!” the girl yelled as she shot by.
    Miss Jones grabbed the girl’s shoulders and was dragged along for several metres before they both skidded to a halt. The soles of the teacher’s shoes were smoking, and there was a strong smell of burnt rubber.
    â€œThank you, Beth,” Miss Jones said. “Now if you will please put those skates in the stock cupboard and sit down, I’d like to introduce Alfie, who’s joining Class 3D today.”
    â€œWicked,” shouted a boy with close-cut dark hair. “Can Alfie sit by me, Miss? Can he? Please?”
    â€œWe’ll sort out where Alfie sits in a minute,” Miss Jones told the boy. She waited for Beth to sit down. Under her helmet, Alfie saw that Beth had brown hair that was cut into the same exact shape, so it looked likeshe still had the helmet on.
    â€œRight, then,” Miss Jones said, “I think we should all introduce ourselves.”
    A smug-looking girl with dark hair and glasses cleared her throat and stood up. She looked at Alfie suspiciously. “I’m Chloe,” she said. “And my dad is just so important. He’s a spy, but obviously I can’t tell you his name or where he is. But I expect you know all about him anyway, he’s just so famous.” She looked expectantly at Alfie.
    â€œNo, sorry,” he said.
    Chloe went as pink as Beth’s helmet and sat down. She glared at Alfie.
    The boy with short dark hair laughed and Miss Jones pointed at him. “Jack.”
    Jack stood up. “I’m Jack and my dad’s farmore important than Chloe’s. During the holidays we went to Russia because Dad has to go to meetings at the Kremlin with the President and other important people. I worked out how they could keep the streets clear of snow and ice, but Dad said it would cost too much.”
    Next was the fair-haired boy in the wheelchair. One arm of the wheelchair opened and a clipboard with notes on it popped up on a metal rod. He read out loud from the notes. “I’m Sam. My mum works at the Hush-Hush Department inventing stuff for agents. She made my wheelchair because the NHS one didn’t have a very good anti-missile protection system. And one of the wheels was wonky.”
    Alfie tried his best not to look puzzled, because he didn’t want to look stupid in front of his new class. But it seemed to him that this was the most peculiar bunch of children he had ever met.
    Then Beth stood up. She had taken off the jet-skates and was now wearing a pair of ordinary looking trainers. “I’m Beth and I invent stuff. My dad’s in the Government Inventing Taskforce.” She paused and sniffed. “That’s GIT to you,” she said to Chloe, who scowled and looked away. “Anyway, I have my own laboratory and everything and I’ve designed tons of great stuff including a robot that can tie your shoelaces.”
    â€œShe brought it in for show and tell,” Sam said. “It tied her shoelaces together and she fell over.”
    â€œThat is not true,” Beth shouted. “Alice tripped me up.”
    â€œDid not,” said the last of the girls. She was short and thin with long blonde hair.“Never in a million years. And if I did, you deserved it. So there.” She caught Miss Jones’s severe look and stood up. “Anyway, I’m Alice. My dad’s a double-double agent.” She frowned and checked on her fingers. “Or it might be double-double-double. It gets very confusing.”
    â€œIsn’t that a triple-double?” the last of the boys asked.
    â€œNo,” Alice snapped back. “That’s just stupid. How can you be so stupid, Harry? It might be a double-triple, but whoever heard of a triple-double?”
    â€œYou next, Harry,” Miss Jones said quickly.
    Harry stood up.