Stay Well Soon Read Online Free PDF Page B

on my book, Rendezvous with the Rose-Grey Mare ,because of her.
    â€˜There are other places to sit, you know,’ I say.
    â€˜I know.’
    â€˜Well why do you have to sit here then?’
    â€˜I like it here. Why do you sit here?’
    â€˜I like it.’
    â€˜Do you like it more than sitting with April and that?’ she asks me.
    â€˜April only arrived last term,’ I say.
    â€˜So?’
    â€˜So don’t call them “April and that”. Us three, Charlotte, Brianna and me, were friends for ages before April arrived.’ In Grade 3, I remember everyone called us ‘Stevie and that’.
    â€˜Sorry. But they’re not your group anymore, right?’ she says.
    Morgan needs to mind her own business.
    â€˜I’m just not sitting with them at the moment but I don’t need more friends. There are special circumstances.’
    â€˜Okay.’
    Morgan starts reading her book again but I can’t concentrate on Rendezvous with the Rose-Grey Mare. She has ruined my peaceful lunchtime.
    After school we go to the hospital again to visit Rhys, even though there is no point because he just sleeps all the time. But Mum wants to be there when he wakes up. One thing I have learned with Rhys being in hospital is that sick people are really boring. They lie around doing nothing.
    Mum told me to draw a picture of a horse for Rhys to put up beside his bed. I’m drawing the rose-grey mare from the book. I draw a black saddle because black is Rhys’s favourite colour (even though black isn’t a colour, it’s a shade; Miss Ellis taught us that in art class, but Rhys doesn’t know anything even though he’s in Year 7).
    Underneath the horse I write, Get well soon Rhys. From Stevie .
    Mum sticks it up on the wall next to his bed.
    Rhys eventually opens his eyes.
    Mum says, ‘Hello, love. How are you feeling?’
    â€˜Awful,’ says Rhys.
    A nurse with a blonde ponytail and red glasses comes over. She says, ‘Good, you’re awake. We just have a couple more tests to do.’
    Rhys shakes his head. ‘No. Mum, I’m too tired.’
    â€˜Do you have to do them now?’ Mum asks.
    â€˜I’m afraid so,’ says the nurse. ‘It’ll only take a couple of minutes. It won’t be as bad as yesterday, I promise.’
    Rhys turns away from the nurse and looks at the wall. ‘Why is there a picture of an antelope?’
    â€˜Stevie drew it for you, love,’ says Mum. ‘It’s a horse . . . I think.’
    â€˜It’s rubbish. It doesn’t even look like a horse. I don’t want it.’
    Mum takes the picture down and hands it back to me. ‘We’ll put it up at home,’ she says.
    I fold the picture in half quickly. I don’t want the nurse to see it because Rhys is right, it’s not my best drawing, the legs are wrong again.
    The nurse smiles at me. ‘Big brothers,’ she says, as if this explains everything. ‘Come on then, let’s get this over with.’
    â€˜Stevie, why don’t you go to the Kidz Space?’ says Mum.
    The nurse pulls the curtain around Rhys’s bed.
    I don’t want to go to the Kidz Space. It will just be for little kids. I have nothing in common with them.
    I walk out of Rhys’s room but instead of turning left towards the Kidz Space I turn right and walk down the corridor. I see a door with a green exit sign over it. I make sure no-one is looking and then I open the door and peek inside. There are concrete stairs leading up and down. Maybe if I go down the stairs I’ll end up outside the hospital. I might be near the McDonald’s and find five dollars on the ground and get a Coke and some fries.
    The door clicks shut behind me as I start to walk down the stairs. The walls and the stairs are made of concrete. There’s a little landing every twelve steps and the stairs change direction backwards and forwards. I’m like a little