Hannah in the Spotlight by Natasha Mac a'Bháird Read Free Book Online Page A

bring those little brats out if you can’t control them!’
    ‘What do you mean?’ I scrambled to my feet, the book abandoned on the seat beside me. ‘What’s going on?’
    ‘Your stupid little brother thinks he owns the library. I think you need to explain to him that these books belongto everyone!’ Tracy stood with her hands on her hips and glared at me.
    I hurried over to the aisle where I’d left Zach looking through some encyclopaedias. He was holding grimly on to a book while Tracey’s little brother Tyler (who is nearly as horrible as she is) tried to grab it. Zach’s face was red and his jaw was clenched in determination, and I could tell he was on the verge of tears. Even though he’s older Zach is way more sensitive than Bobby, who would probably just have told Tyler to get lost.
    ‘Hannah!’ His voice wobbled. ‘I had this first. Really I did. And Tyler just tried to take it off me.’
    ‘He’s had it for ages!’ Tyler whined. ‘It’s not his! I need it!’
    He gave an extra hard tug on the book. To my horror there was a loud sound of paper tearing and the book ripped right in half.
    Zach immediately burst into tears. I put my arm around him and tried to comfort him, all the while looking at the damaged book and wondering what on earth we were going to do.
    I heard the swift patter of feet from behind the bookshelves and one of the library staff appeared. My heart sank. Just our luck that it wasn’t the nice young red-haired lady who often helps me choose books. No, it had to be Mr Jenkins, the grumpiest and meanest librarian who ever lived.
    ‘What’s going on here?’ he asked.
    ‘Look what you’ve done, Zach!’ Tracey said. ‘This is all your fault! If you had shared nicely with Tyler this would never have happened.’
    Zach was crying too hard to answer.
    ‘It’s not his fault,’ I told Mr Jenkins, trying my best to speak calmly. ‘Zach was reading this book first, and Tyler tried to take it from him.’
    ‘I was just asking him to share it!’ Tyler said. ‘I want to learn all about dinosaurs too! I just asked him to share it and he pulled it away so hard it tore!’
    ‘Yes, that’s exactly what happened, I was watching,’ Tracey said.
    ‘That’s not true!’ I exclaimed, shocked at the bare-faced lie. ‘Tyler was the one who tried to pull it away from Zach!’
    ‘Sounds to me like you’re both to blame,’ Mr Jenkins snapped. ‘Well, the book will have to be paid for. Where are your parents?’
    ‘My mum’s not here,’ I said. ‘I’m looking after Zach.’
    ‘And I’m looking after Tyler, but I was actually keeping an eye on him, not like Hannah who was all the way over there, ignoring her brother,’ Tracey said. ‘That’s how I know what really happened.’
    ‘Well, you’ll both have to come up to the desk and show me your library cards so I can put it on your accounts,’ Mr Jenkins said. ‘There’ll be no more borrowing books until that fine is paid.’
    I trailed after him, my arm still around Zach. I was furious that Zach was being blamed in the wrong, but there didn’t seem to be anything we could do – it was Tracey’s word against mine.
    We stood at the desk while Mr Jenkins made a great show of bringing up the right files on the computer, grumbling all the while about young people today having no respect for library property. I felt a little tug on my sleeve. Bobby was standing there with a big pile of books in his arms.
    ‘Not now, Bobby,’ I whispered.
    I didn’t know whether Mr Jenkins was going to ban us all from taking out books, or just Zach.
    ‘Hannah …’ Bobby said, tugging at my sleeve urgently.
    ‘I said not now!’ I repeated in a fierce whisper.
    I wondered how much the book would cost to replace. It was a big encyclopaedia so it was probably pretty expensive. Even if Tyler was going to have to pay half of it, I wasn’t sure I had enough money for Zach’s share.
    Mr Jenkins was still muttering away. ‘Disgraceful