I Lost My Mobile At the Mall by Wendy Harmer Read Free Book Online Page A

campaign to make them fashionable again. With my tanned skin and long brown hair, I look a bit Native American, which is pretty 'on trend' I reckon.
    I can't help noticing that Bianca's hair has a slight greenish tinge. She's been spending too much time in her swimming pool again. Her dad's a maniac with the chlorine. He doesn't get the leaves and gunk out, just pours more and more stuff in it till you can taste it. On a hot day it feels like you're swimming in tom yum soup. The chlorine makes the peroxide streaks in Bianca's hair turn sort of mouldy. Erk!
    I don't say anything about this, of course, and then, just as I am following Bianca down the stairs, Jai jumps in between us.
    'We're all going to Palatial Pizzas for our first freebie, you wanna come, Bianca?' he asks. His beady eyes are like two black olive pips. Up close I can see his flaky skin and yellow pimples. He's got a face like a barbecue special, with extra cheese. But then, Bianca must be a meat-lover, 'cos she just nods and giggles.
    'So, um, you want to come, Elly?' Bianca asks. 'After all, it's 'cos of you that we . . . er . . .'
    Bianca runs out of things to say here. After all, what can she say? It's 'cos of your humiliation that we can all go and stuff our faces? A free thin-and-crispy crust means more to me than our entire friendship?
    I make some pathetic excuse about having to meet Tilly and then just walk away. I could go and try to get some ugly shots of Jai feeding his face, but now's not the time. He'd know what I was up to. Besides, I don't think I could manage to swallow one bite if I had to look at him. (BTW, up close he smells like an anchovy. Eeeyew!)
    'So, I'll save you a piece!' Bianca calls after me.
    Yeah, Bianca! Like a piece of cold pizza will somehow make up for all the mortification your jerk boyfriend has caused me! I can feel tears coming and I escape into the toilets so no-one can see. I'm looking in the mirror and wiping my eyes with a scrap of paper towel when one of the girls from Year Ten starts scoping me out.
    'Hey, Pickering! Didn't recognise you without that shower cap on your head,' says the blob with mouse-brown frizz on top.
    I am just about to have a complete nervous breakdown when I hear a cubicle door open behind me.
    'Rack off, you freak!' yells Tilly.
    'You're a pair of pickled . . . losers !' Furball replies and then makes fast escape.
    So lame! Pickled onion, pickled herring, pick-yourri-ng . . . I've heard it all before.
    Then Tilly turns to me, bottom lip stuck out, her face a perfect portrait of sympathy.
    'Hey, Elly,' she says. 'I've heard what's been happening. It's so not fair.'
    And it's like the dam breaks and I am in Tilly's arms, crying really hard. I hear a few people stick their head in the door and say Uh-oh! and then leave again. Now the word will get round that Jai has made me cry. That's the last thing I wanted that low-life to know and I cry even harder.
    'You know what, Els? I've got a good idea,' says Tilly.
    And I can hear from the tone of her voice that it is a good idea. I hope it's one of Tilly's award-winning good ideas.
    Tilly is one clever gal. She's brilliant at maths and science. She's a champion swimmer and plays the flute. Not only that, she is quite beautiful. (This happened only recently when she suddenly grew these amazing long legs and had her braces removed.) She has white skin, but perfectly straight chocolate brown hair and greenish eyes, like me. Only her eyes are an elegant almond shape, where mine are round, like walnuts. With all this you'd think she would be utterly graceful and kind to all, but she does have an evil streak in her. Sometimes she uses her dark arts on me, but mostly we're cool.
    'That Jai is a serial pest,' says Tilly, her eyes narrowing.
    She pauses and I can almost hear her thinking.
    'What we need are some classic pics of him to use for our own evil purposes.'
    I stop sniffling. That's exactly what I was thinking!
    'We are sisters after all, El. Let's