Dance While You Can Read Online Free PDF Page A

together. How about starting by looking at me when I’m speaking to you?’
    To my surprise, he did – and the dreaded colour started to creep into my face.
    ‘That’s better,’ I said. ‘Now, I don’t want to go over what’s led to all this; and I don’t expect you do either. All I will say is that if you had thought about what might happen before you doctored that stupid golf-cart, then you would have known that . . .’
    ‘And what makes you so damned sure it was me who doctored the golf-cart?’ he snapped. ‘Did you see me do it? No. Let’s face it, you’ve had it in for me ever since you started here. You . . .’
    ‘Don’t you shout at me, Alexander Belmayne. You tricked me and you know you did.’
    ‘I did not trick you, you stupid woman!’
    ‘How dare you! I’ll have you know . . . No, don’t you interrupt me, I’m not listening to another word from you.’
    ‘Why? Afraid of what you might hear?’
    ‘I’m not afraid of you!’
    ‘ No? He stepped towards me – and I stepped back. ‘Look at you!’ he shouted. ‘Not quite so stuck up now, are you? Now you can listen to me for a change. I liked you, did you know that? I thought you were all right. I bothered to welcome you into this school, and what did you do in return? Ignored me. Whenever you saw me coming you walked the other way. If I spoke to you, you put on that hoity-toity voice of yours though with everyone else you were as nice as pie. As I said, I don’t know what I’m supposed to have done, but you must have got your own back by now. So why don’t you leave me alone!’
    ‘I never ignored you. After my first week it was you who ignored . . .’
    ‘Did you know, it was me, me who told everyone it didn’t matter if you weren’t quite like the rest of us. Me . . . ’
    ‘I’m common! Is that what you mean?’
    ‘Yes, common!’ He glared at me. ‘And now tell me this. Did it ever occur to you that the golf-cart might have had a genuine fault? No. You were adamant that someone had played you a trick. Well, they had, as it happens, but it wasn’t me! You’ve lost me my prefect’s badge, got me a caning and lost me my holiday too. So if you came out here trying to beg forgiveness, forget it, it’s too late.’
    ‘Beg forgiveness! From you! You conceited little . . .’
    ‘So why did you follow me out here?’
    ‘I was played a trick by someone and I’m suffering for it. And if it wasn’t you, why did you say it was?’
    He answered through clenched teeth. ‘In case you didn’t notice, I didn’t say it was me.’ He started to walk away.
    My mind was in a spin. ‘But you took the blame,’ I shouted after him. ‘Why did you do that if it wasn’t you?’
    He turned to look at me, his eyes filled with contempt. ‘I should have sneaked? Is that what you’re saying? Sneaked on someone else?’ He was spitting the words, and his face was white. But as he turned away from me again, I saw that he had begun to smile. It was a bitter, contemptuous smile, and before I knew what I was doing I had caught hold of him and started pummelling his shoulders.
    He put his arms up to protect himself, but I didn’t stop. ‘You nasty, small-minded, arrogant little creep! You think you’re really smart, don’t you? Well, here’s what I think of you!’ And I slapped him sharply round the cheek. Immediately, he grabbed my hands. Then, looking down into my face, he snarled, ‘Why don’t you just leave here? Go away somewhere, as far as you can get, with your own sort. You don’t belong here.’
    I tore my hands free, and turned quickly before he could see there were tears in my eyes. I stood with my back to him, for some reason unable to walk away. He was the first to speak.
    ‘I’m sorry. I had no right to talk to you like that.’
    I didn’t answer, so he came towards me. ‘Please don’t cry. I’m sorry, really I am. I don’t know why I said that.’ He put his hand on my shoulder. ‘I didn’t mean it.’
    I