Class Act Read Online Free PDF Page B

and licked – yes licked – the creature clean. That afternoon, while shopping in town, she’d glanced in the window of a jeweller’s shop and squealed, ‘ There’s my engagement ring. You don’t mind, do you, Bernard? It’s just so beautiful and it’ll always remind me of our picnic, and you can make me lots of other jewellery, and, oh, the poor poppet, what a dreadful way to die.’
    Because trapped inside the amber was a tiny honey bee.
    It looked at first glance like a tangle of black cotton. But on closer inspection it took shape as a breathtaking complication of wiry legs, ghostly wings and hunched body. It was enclosed in an air bubble. Only one back leg, fatter than the others, was actually touching the amber. Mum had explained to Brian how the creature had once been caught in sticky resin, probably from a tree. The resin had hardened and fossilised around it. The jeweller had told her it was twenty million years old.
    â€˜Twenty million?’ he’d gasped. ‘That’s older than my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great–’ and he’d gone on and on until he was gasping for breath … ‘grandpa.’
    The first time he remembered her taking it off was on a trip to the beach. She’d handed it to Dad for safekeeping before jumping into the sea. She might as well have pulled her finger off. Seeing Brian’s shocked face, she’d laughed and said, well, yes, in a way it was part of her – her third most precious jewel, after him and Dad – and she’d never lose it, just like she’d never lose them.
    â€˜Except you did.’ Anger boiled inside him again. He hated Dad. He hated Florrie. A tear ran down his cheek. Brushing it furiously away, he stared at the ring.
    His rage cooled and hardened, gleamed and grew into a cold, smooth pearl of a plan. A plan that would stick two fingers at them both, make a fool of Florrie and make Dad super-sorry for letting him down. A plan that would bring Mum right back to his side.
    Brian slipped off the ring and put it in his pocket. He closed the box, replaced it in the drawer, smoothed the duvet where he’d sat on the bed and left the room. Shutting the door softly, he crept downstairs to Dad’s study. After printing what he needed from the Internet, he went back upstairs to do his homework like the good, obedient, well-behaved boy he was.

C HAPTER 6
    DON’T TRY THIS ON YOUR SISTER

    Dad tried to patch things up at dinner. He kept glancing at Brian with twitchy smiles. ‘More potato?’
    â€˜No thanks.’ Brian fixed him with cold, polite eyes.
    Dad pushed a pea round his plate with a knife. On good days Brian thought of peas as little green moons, cratered and calm. But this one looked shrivelled and mean, like a mouldy belly button.
    â€˜Shall we watch Celebrity Bathrooms ?’ Dad’s voice was bright and thin.
    â€˜OK.’ Brian collected the plates, binned the broccoli that Dad hadn’t dared make him eat and stacked the dishwasher, like the kind, helpful boy he was. He even insisted on sweeping the floor, brushing the dirt into tight piles while Dad went to the lounge and switched on the TV.
    Watching Tilly Capilly pull the ruby-tipped toilet chain that played her number one hit ‘U Bend My Heart’, Brian slipped his hand into his trouser pocket. His fingers closed round the ring.
    I can’t , he thought. Dad’ll be gutted. Florrie’ll be livid . And Mum would be … delighted. ‘It was only gathering dust,’ she’d say. Then, frowning at Dad, ‘At last someone’s standing up to that wicked old wasp.’ They were the only insects she disliked. Bullybugs, she called them. ‘Did you know,’ she’d once told Brian, ‘that bees put guards at the hive door to beat up any wasps that come looking for honey?’ Then she’d shaken her head. ‘It’s so unfair that bees