Thief! Read Online Free PDF Page A

her locker. Someone put it there. Some spiteful, vicious person who wanted to see Lydia get into trouble,’ Mum snapped back.
    ‘Next you’ll be telling me that it’s the same person who shot President John Kennedy,’ Dad said scornfully.
    ‘I didn’t say it was a major school conspiracy. All I meant was . . .’
    ‘All you meant was that the CIA or the FBI or the BBC or the RSPCA have it in for our daughter,’ said Dad.
    ‘Well, if you’re not going to take this seriously . . .’ Mum sniffed.
    ‘You’re wrong. I am taking this seriously,’ Dad said icily.
    Dismayed, Lydia watched the anger and frustration being batted back and forth between her parents. Mum and Dad, who usually only argued about who would get which section of the Sunday papers first, were quarrelling with each other.
    ‘So what are we going to do?’ Mum asked Dad.
    ‘I don’t see that there’s much we can do. To think that my little girl . . .’
    ‘I want to go to another school.’ The words fell out of Lydia’s mouth before she realized what she was saying.
    Dad’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why? Did you do it?’
    Lydia stared at her father, shocked.
    ‘Ben, what a thing to say.’ Mum sounded as shocked as Lydia.
    ‘I didn’t mean it that way,’ said Dad impatiently. ‘But if she didn’t do it, why does she want to run away?’
    ‘Lydia has no intention of running anywhere,’ said Mum through thinned lips.
    ‘I don’t believe Lydia stole the cup for one second, but we can’t get away from the fact that the cup was found in her locker.’
    ‘Who can get away from the fact when you keep dwelling on it like that?’ Mum said bitterly.
    ‘I just don’t like the idea of anyone thinking that my daughter is a thief.’
    ‘No one in their right mind would think that . . .’
    How could two people agree with each other, yet still argue about it? But that was exactly what Lydia’s mum and dad were doing. It was like watching a tennis match. Why? Where? How? Who? Back and forth, back and forth. And all the time, one word kept playing over and over in Lydia’s mind as she watched. THIEF  . . . Lydia put her hands over her ears to stop her head from bursting.
    ‘Stop it!’ she screamed. ‘Stop talking about me as if I wasn’t here. I didn’t take the rotten, stupid cup. I didn’t. I didn’t .’
    Lydia looked from her dad to her mum and back again. Mum’s eyes flashed like lightning, her lips a hard slash across her face. Whereas Dad . . . Dad had a questioning look in his eyes that he couldn’t hide. He didn’t think for a moment that Lydia had stolen the cup, but  . . . Lydia could see the ‘but’ written all over his face.
    Mum’s angry. And Dad . . . Dad doesn’t know what to think, Lydia realized sadly.
    Strange, but Lydia had been sure it’d be the other way around.
    ‘Lydia, what were you doing alone in the assembly hall after school on the night the cup was taken?’ Lydia’s mum asked.
    ‘I was . . . I wasn’t alone, Mum. Anne Turner was with me – only the caretaker didn’t see her.’
    ‘You weren’t alone?’ Dad turned quickly. ‘Why didn’t you tell that to Mr Simmers?’
    ‘Because I didn’t want to get Anne into trouble as well,’ Lydia replied.
    And that was the truth, but what good did it do her? Lydia could still remember Anne’s malicious smirk in the classroom earlier. And Anne was the one who’d told everyone about the cup being found in Lydia’s locker. Understanding burnt through Lydia as she realized that Anne didn’t like her much, that Anne had never liked her much. But why? Why ?
    ‘Lydia, it’s not a question of getting Anne in trouble as well,’ Dad frowned. ‘She can tell the headmaster that you didn’t do it.’
    Lydia shook her head. ‘Anne left the school before me,’ she admitted.
    Silence.
    ‘Why on earth were the two of you hanging around after school?’ Dad asked, furiously.
    Lydia chewed on her bottom lip but didn’t answer. Any