Poppy's Garden Read Online Free PDF

don’t let her get to you.”
    It isn’t her! It’s all of you!
Poppy wanted to wail, but she couldn’t face it. “I’ve got to go,” she muttered. “After-school club.” And she grabbed her bag, racing out into the corridor and making for the main hall, where after-school club was set up.
    Except she wasn’t going to after-school club, she decided as she got halfway down the corridor. She couldn’t stand all the lovely, fussy ladies who ran it right now. They wouldn’t let her get away withsitting in a corner being miserable, like she wanted to. They’d be trying to cheer her up. Telling her to come and join in with the others and play a game, or something.
    Poppy darted into the girls’ loos and took a deep, panicked breath. What would happen if she just didn’t turn up? Probably no one would notice for a while. Then they’d think she’d been away that day and no one had told them. That happened quite often; the after-school club staff were always complaining about it. Someone would go to the office eventually, and make sure. But she had a while before that happened.
    She turned back the way she’d come and headed out towards the school gate. She didn’t go to after-school club every day, so the staff who were seeing their classes off wouldn’t notice anything unusual. Mr Finlay was there, but he was “having a word” with Jensen’s dad about Jensen and Nick throwing wet paper towels at the ceiling in the girls’ loos, so she could just hurry past. As long as she looked like she was heading for her mum’s car, no one would say anything. Poppy pasted a smile on to her face, pretended to wave at someone and just walked down the street towards the shops, and no one stopped her.
    She’d never been in Millford on her own before. Her mum and dad weren’t really fussy and overprotective – they let her take Billy out for walks on her own, provided she took a mobile with her and she promised to be back by a certain time. But there was no way they’d let her go wandering around the town on her own. Mum had said once she was in Year Six they’d think about it. If she went with some of her friends, maybe.
    Poppy sniffed and stared miserably into the window of one of her favourite shops, the health food shop that sold the essential oils she liked. She couldn’t really go in. She didn’t have any money to buy anything, for a start. And Fran, who ran the shop, would recognise her, and she’d know that Poppy wasn’t supposed to be wandering round town. Poppy wasn’t sure she could pull off pretending that her mum was just in the bookshop, or something. Besides, she didn’t like the idea of lying to Fran.
    “Poppy!”
    Poppy whirled round, her heart thumping anxiously. “Izzy!”
    Izzy was standing there with her dad. She looked worried, and her dad looked surprised, and a bit confused.
    “Why aren’t you in after-school club?” Izzy demanded. “Did your mum come and pick you up early? Did they call her because you were all upset? Poppy, please tell me what’s wrong.” She looked so worried that Poppy couldn’t help wondering if she’d made a mistake. If Izzy
hadn’t
been laughing at her behind her back earlier on. If she had been, wouldn’t she have understood why Poppy was upset? She wouldn’t be looking so confused now, would she?
    Izzy looked round, as though she was searching for something, and then she suddenly gasped. “Poppy, where’s your mum? She’s not here, is she? Did you just walk out of after-school club?”
    “Hang on,” Izzy’s dad said, frowning. “Poppy, sweetheart. Is that right? Does anyone know you’re here on your own?”
    Poppy shook her head slowly, and then gave a massive sniff and started to cry.
    Izzy’s dad looked a bit panicked, as though he wasn’t sure what to do with a crying person, and he patted her shoulder awkwardly. Izzy gave her a hug, and all of a sudden Poppy decided that she couldn’t possibly have meant to be mean to her all afternoon. It