Poppy's Garden by Holly Webb Read Free Book Online

over or something. We shouldn’t talk about her, ever!”
    Ali was stalking towards them, flanked by Lucy and Elspeth, as always.
    “Did your mum ever do anything about making Mrs Angel have a meeting with her parents?” Izzy whispered.
    “No, I talked her out of it,” Poppy whispered back, out of the side of her mouth. “I said I was really tired and I’d just taken what Ali said the wrong way. She knew how late I was up that night, so she gave in. I had to stop her – Mrs Angel’s like a demon for people twisting the truth. She’d have worked it allout, and then it would have been awful.”
    “I suppose you think you’re really clever?” Ali snarled as soon as she got close to them. She’d obviously been working up to this ever since she found out she hadn’t won. She was white in the face, and her eyes were slitted with fury.
    “She is, actually,” Maya said, smiling sweetly at Ali. “A lot cleverer than you, anyway.”
    “Everyone knows you cheated,” Ali snapped, ignoring Maya. Since she’d found out that Maya’s mum was famous, she always tried to keep on her good side, so she just pretended she hadn’t heard.
    Poppy flinched a little, but she just stared back at Ali. “I didn’t,” she said flatly.
    Ali seemed rather surprised. Perhaps she’d been expecting Poppy to protest, or maybe cry. Such a matter-of-fact denial wasn’t what she wanted at all.
    “You did,” she said half-heartedly.
    Poppy and the others just stared at her. Poppy could feel Izzy on one side of her and Maya on the other. Izzy was so furious she was actually trembling, practically vibrating with crossness. Poppy could almost feel her saying,
Ignore her! Ignore her! She’s just horrible
. And it helped. She simply stared blankly back at Ali and didn’t say anything.
    Ali glared at them all, going whiter than ever, so that little red patches showed up on her cheekbones. Poppy knew from arguing with Alex and Jake that there was nothing more annoying than people refusing to join in an argument when you really wanted to yell at them. For a moment she almost felt sorry for Ali, who’d clearly worked herself up to have a massive, blazing row. But only almost.
    “Don’t sit there looking so smug,” Ali snarled. “You cheated, and I should have won. I definitely should.” Then the fury melted out of her face – it was quite horrible to watch, as though she was wax, and the frown lines just melted away. They were replaced with a very sweet, very nasty smile. “You’ll wish I had. You really will, Poppy.” She giggled. “We’ll get you back in your own way too.”

FIVE
    Poppy had tried her best not to worry about what Ali had said, but it was tricky. She’d looked so spooky, with her white face and her eyes all glittery like that. And what had she meant about getting Poppy back in her own way? It was eerie. Even Emily, who was usually unfazed by Ali’s nastiness, said it had sent shivers down her spine.
    Poppy couldn’t help glancing round at Ali and Lucy and Elspeth every so often for the rest of the day. But they just smirked at her, and it left her feeling edgier than ever. She was glad that it was a Thursday, and there was only one more day of school before the weekend. Perhaps Ali would forget about it?
    “She’s not giving you funny looks any more.” Izzy muttered before school the next morning. “Actually…”
    “What?” Poppy asked anxiously, trying to lookat Ali without being obvious. Izzy sounded oddly surprised.
    “She looks quite pleased about something. Maybe she’s given up being annoyed about the garden thing!”
    “I hope so,” Poppy agreed, feeling a lot better. “After all, just because I won our school’s competition, it doesn’t mean anything! Thousands of schools are going to enter!” The strange sinking feeling in her stomach eased away and Poppy suddenly wished she’d eaten more breakfast. She was starving now. Luckily Mum had made her a huge packed lunch as usual, so she got