Thief! by Malorie Blackman Read Free Book Online Page A

walking. Surely someone would’ve spotted Anne bringing binoculars to school? Besides it was an awful lot of effort to go to just to get someone in trouble. But why not? Maybe Anne reckoned that getting Lydia in trouble and getting Frankie back as her best friend at the same time would be worth the risk.
    Lydia’s left foot slipped on a patch of ice. She stepped gingerly across it and carried on walking. The sooner she was out of the car-park, and away from Anne and Frankie and everyone else, the better.
    That’s all I need – to slip and trip and skate along on my bum all the way back down to Sainsbury’s, Lydia thought sourly. She smiled slowly. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea! If she broke an arm or a leg then she’d be off school for a while – as long as she didn’t break her neck first! On second thoughts, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
    ‘Lydia, hang on. Didn’t you hear me calling you?’
    Lydia turned. Frankie came puffing uphill towards her. Lydia glared at her but said nothing. So much for wanting to be alone to walk home and think. She’d only made it as far as the car-park exit! When Frankie reached Lydia, she looked around nervously, then tentatively smiled. Lydia’s face remained a frozen mask. Frankie’s attempt at a smile faded to nothing.
    ‘I want to talk to you.’
    ‘Why?’ asked Lydia. Her voice was icier than the weather. ‘So you can rub it in about how Anne set me up?’ And I bet you had more than a little to do with it . . . Lydia’s eyes narrowed at the thought.
    ‘You know Anne did it?’ Frankie asked, astonished.
    ‘I’m not stupid, you know,’ Lydia shouted at her. ‘I didn’t put that stinking cup in my locker. It doesn’t take a genius to guess who did.’
    ‘Listen, Lydia. I’m on your side. I want to help you.’
    ‘Yeah, right!’ Lydia scoffed.
    ‘I do,’ Frankie insisted.
    ‘That’s why you told Anne where to go just now in the supermarket – right? That’s why you’ve stood up for me over the past week when everyone’s been calling me a . . . calling me names,’ said Lydia bitterly.
    ‘I couldn’t say anything . . .’
    ‘Of course you couldn’t,’ Lydia scorned.
    ‘If you’ll just listen to me . . .’ Frankie put her hand on Lydia’s arm.
    Lydia slapped it away, pulling back from Frankie at the same time. Frankie’s feet slipped on the patch of ice beneath her. Her arms shot out and spun around like a windmill. Then the whole world slowed down into the slowest motion. As Lydia watched horrified, Frankie started falling backwards . . .
    Lydia took a step towards her but it was as if she was wading through thick treacle, as if time itself was running so slowly that it was almost at a standstill – except that Lydia could see and understand everything that was happening. Her brain was running at normal speed but her body wasn’t. Frankie took a desperate step backwards into the road to steady herself, her arms still flailing. Lydia put out her hand to grab hold of Frankie’s coat but her fingers missed it by millimetres. And Frankie carried on falling. Lydia moved forward again to grab for Frankie – but she was too late. The driver of the oncoming car turning into the car-park tried to swerve out of the way, but he couldn’t do it in time. The front of his car smacked into Frankie. There was a sickening thud and Frankie spun around like a top before sinking to the ground.
    Then time speeded up and everything happened at once.
    The screech of brakes, footsteps running, someone screaming, more people shouting – the sounds came from all around. And Lydia stood and stared at Frankie who lay in a crumpled heap in the road.
    Do something! DO SOMETHING! The voice in Lydia’s head screamed over and over.
    ‘I couldn’t help it . . . She came out of nowhere.’ The driver of the car stumbled out of his car. He was a tank of a man, easily over two metres high and built like an American footballer. But he