The Kitten Hunt by Anna Wilson Read Free Book Online

eyes dramatically and said, ‘All right, boss. So long as old Second-in-Command here doesn’t have to touch an actual prawn. Bleurgh! I’m sure I’ve got a
deadly allergy to those curly fishy things.’
    Jazz always conveniently developed allergies when she didn’t want to do something. Like the time we were supposed to be racing in an inter-schools swimming gala and Jazz suddenly developed
an allergy to chlorine.
    I smiled. ‘You won’t – I promise.’
    ‘Leaving a bit of food out twice a day is so easy: it’s cash for nothing,’ Jazz said, brightening as she rubbed her hands together – and repeating almost word for word
what I had said to her only minutes before. ‘Y a y! Just think – if we do a good job for Pinkella, she might recommend our services, and then we’ll be raking the cash in!
I’ll finally be able to get those new trainers – you know,the ones with the wheels in the bottom and the flashing lights on the side and the multicoloured laces and—’
    ‘I know the ones,’ I cut in. I’d heard the Plan to Buy Multicoloured Trainers at least a million times before.
    Jazz stopped walking. ‘Sorry,’ she said, looking at me guiltily from behind a curtain of hair and beads. ‘I kind of haven’t even asked you yet if you’ll split the
money with me.’ She took her arm out of mine and fished in the back pocket of her jeans. ‘Here.’ She held out what had become a distinctly crumpled five-pound note.
    I pushed her hand away and smiled. ‘I keep telling you – I really don’t care about the money, Jazz. You keep the down payment, and we’ll sort it out when Pinkella pays us
the rest.’
    Jazz stuffed the fiver back into her pocket and jabbed me in the ribs, grinning. ‘Hey, if you earn enough money from pet-sitting, you’ll be able to actually buy yourself whatever pet
you want – your dad won’t be able to stop you. It’s your own money.’
    I looked at Jazz and twisted my mouth to one side. ‘You obviously don’t know my dad as well as you think you do,’ I said. ‘Dad can stop me doing whatever he wants.
He’s Dad.’
    Jazz threw her hands in the air. ‘You’ve just got to try harder, Bertie. Try using some initiative. Sure, you’ve begged him and begged him for a pet and he’s said no a
thousand times, but you haven’t thought about other ways of getting round him, have you? What about washing the car every Saturday or doing the shopping once a month or something?’
    I frowned. ‘You obviously don’t know ME as well as you think you do either,’ I said. ‘I already do all those things anyway . It’s called “doing
chores”,’ I added sarcastically.
    Jazz didn’t have to help out around the house as much as I did. As well as her little brother, Ty, she had a mega-cool older sister, A leisha, who sometimes took Jazz out shopping or to
the cinema. She also had an older brother, Sam, who admittedly wasn’t around much these days, but he was just as cool as Aleisha. But better than all that she had a dad
and
a mum. A
Full Monty of a family.
    You’ve probably guessed by now that I don’t have a mum. She died when I was really small. I can’t even remember what she looks like and Dad’s not one for keeping the
photos out. So.
    Jazz’s face melted and she chewed her bottom lip. ‘Sorry,’ she mouthed.
    ‘Whatever.’ I shrugged. Then I blushed. None of this was Jazz’s fault. I forced a smile and quickly changed the subject. ‘Hey, let’s go and find that gorgeous
kitty. You coming or what?’
    We looked all through the house and the garden, but we couldn’t find Kaboodle anywhere. Jazz gave up before I did, saying her voice and legs were aching – hilarious, coming from a
girl who never stops singing and dancing, not to mention talking. I carried on calling and calling for him until I began to feel stupid.
    ‘I guess he’ll smell the prawns and come looking for them later,’ I said, coming in from the garden.
    I was disappointed though.