Djinn by Laura Catherine Read Free Book Online

and turned my head away from him.
    "We better go or I'll be late for school."
    Dad drove me again, but we didn't talk much. I think he was feeling a little guilty over the conversation about Mum. He shifted in his seat, the way he did when he was uncomfortable or wanted to say something. I realised this might be the perfect opportunity to ask him about Lab.
    "Hey, Dad," I said, turning from the window to face him.
    "Hey, Kyra," he replied and I knew I'd used the "I want something" voice. He smiled at me. "What do you want now?"
    "Just listen to what I have to say first and then you can have your say, okay?"
    "Okay." He raised an eyebrow at me. "This is going to be good."
    "Shhh," I said. "No talking. So there is this stray dog, a Labrador, that I've sort of become friends with and I was hoping you might possibly consider letting me keep him."
    Dad's face said it all, and it wasn't the answer I was looking for.
    "Just hear me out," I pleaded. "He's smart and helpful. He's a good friend—"
    "Kyra …"
    "I can train him to be a watch dog. He'll earn his keep—"
    "Kyra, we've had this discussion before," he said.
    "Yeah, but I was younger and you were unreasonable." Shouldn't have said that.
    "It's not unreasonable. Dogs are a lot of work and mean more money being spent to keep them alive."
    I was clearly losing this argument, which meant I would revert to the only thing I could do.
    "I've never asked for anything before," I said, pretending to cry. I didn't do this often. I felt guilty about guilt-tripping Dad, but I wanted Lab more than anything. "I hardly have anything that's mine, and I just want something constant."
    "I'll think about it," he said.
    "Please I—wait, what?"
    "I said, I'll think about."
    Dad had never said that before. Had I actually gotten though to him?
    "Thanks, Dad."
    "It'll probably be another late one, kiddo," he said as we pulled up to the school, clearly done talking about Lab.
    "I promise to be careful and have dinner waiting." I put my left hand up. "Scout's honour."
    He laughed. "You never were a scout."
    "No, because I would have been far too good for them," I joked. Dad's reasoning for not letting me join the scouts when I was younger was that I was much better than them and it wouldn't have been fair. Really, he didn't want me getting attached because he had planned to move away the following weekend. It upset me, so he took me camping for a month to make up for it; although, now that I think about it, he probably just wanted to save more money.
    "See ya, Dad." I kissed his cheek.
    "Bye, Kyra."
    I watched him drive away before heading inside for first period, English. English was by far my favourite subject, even before sport. Sport was fun because I was good at it, but English was like my hobby; it was something I chose to do because I loved reading and books. There was so much interesting stuff to learn about.
    Miss Bree was one of the best English teachers I'd ever had. She liked to pick books outside of the curriculum, far more interesting books. I always sat in the front of her classes because it wasn't often I had a teacher I actually liked teaching my favourite subject.
    "Morning, class," she said with her usual smile. She was one of the youngest teachers at the school and her baby face didn't help her any. She looked like a student, really, except she dressed in suits to distinguish herself from the rest of us. "I have the results of your tests here."
    We'd just finished reading about King Arthur and Merlin, a great story full of castles and magic. I'd always been much more interested in the magical worlds of books. Magic just seemed much easier to understand.
    Miss Bree handed back our tests and I was pleased to see I'd received an A+. Not that I was surprised; I'd read everything I could find on King Arthur, spending three times as long working on the essay than I did my math homework.
    "Well done, Sally," Miss Bree said, handing a paper to the girl next to me. "I love the extra