Thief! by Malorie Blackman Read Free Book Online Page B

stood over Frankie, rocking back and forth, his eyes huge and unblinking. ‘She came out of nowhere.’ His voice trembled as he spoke. ‘It wasn’t my fault. She came out of nowhere . . .’
    ‘No! Don’t move her. It’s dangerous to do that,’ said a middle-aged woman who came running up. ‘Someone phone for an ambulance.’
    ‘What happened?’
    ‘Get the police . . .’
    ‘Is she badly hurt . . . ?’
    The questions, the noise, the people in the car-park – they all faded out to be replaced by the roar of Lydia’s blood rushing in her ears.
    ‘You pushed her. I saw you. You pushed her!’
    At the sound of Anne’s voice, Lydia spun around. With slow dawning shock she realized that Anne was pointing to her.
    ‘Lydia pushed her. I saw it. She and Frankie were arguing. I ran over here to help and Lydia’s hand went out. She pushed her!’ screamed Anne.
    Lydia gasped as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. She couldn’t have said a word if her very life had depended on it. Her tongue was frozen in her mouth. In fact her whole body had gone numb.
    ‘She pushed her. I saw it!’ Anne was still pointing at her, hatred blazing on her face.
    ‘I . . . didn’t . . .’ Lydia’s voice was an almost non-existent whisper. ‘I was trying to grab her, to stop her from falling.’
    She looked around. Those people who weren’t attending to Frankie were watching her, without saying a word. Lydia closed her eyes. She was back in the playground surrounded by the others in her year who watched her and called her names. She opened her eyes again. Grown-ups were all around her, surrounding her and silently watching.
    ‘Lydia, what’s going on?’ Lydia’s mum came running up. Then she saw Frankie lying in the road, still as a grave.
    ‘Oh my God . . .’ Lydia’s mum breathed.
    ‘I didn’t do it, Mum,’ Lydia exclaimed desperately. ‘It was an accident. She . . .’
    Before Lydia could say another word, sirens sounded in the distance, getting closer and closer.
    ‘Mum . . .’
    ‘Shush.’ Mum came and stood beside her, as did Danny.
    ‘She came out of nowhere . . .’ The driver of the car was still staring at Frankie, who hadn’t moved a millimetre since she’d been hit.
    The ambulance arrived within moments.
    ‘Could you all stand back please,’ said a paramedic, trying to push his way through the crowd.
    Everyone moved out of his way. Once through, the paramedic immediately crouched down beside Frankie. He and the woman who’d been driving the ambulance listened as Anne’s mother told them what had happened – even though she’d only just arrived herself.
    ‘Her name is Frances Weldon. She goes to school with my daughter. That man over there knocked her over but it was an accident.’
    ‘I . . . I . . .’ The driver’s skin was like tracing paper now.
    ‘I’ll look after him,’ the ambulance woman told her colleague. She went over to the driver and linked his arm with her own.
    ‘Come on, sir. Let’s get you to the hospital,’ she said softly, leading the way to the ambulance.
    ‘Mum, what’s wrong with him?’ Danny whispered.
    ‘He’s in shock,’ Mum replied grimly.
    Lydia’s heart was lodged somewhere in her throat, slowly choking her as the paramedic carefully examined Frankie. A pain in her chest grew sharper and more intense until, with a start, she realized that she had been holding her breath. She expelled the air in her lungs a tiny bit at a time.
    ‘Is Frankie OK?’ Anne’s mum asked the paramedic.
    ‘I don’t know. We’ll know more once we’ve got her to hospital,’ the paramedic replied. ‘Could you follow us, so we can get some details and contact her parents?’
    His colleague came back and helped him to carry Frankie’s prone body into the ambulance on a stretcher.
    Lydia didn’t take her eyes off Frankie. Even when the ambulance doors were shut behind her, Lydia still couldn’t look away.
    ‘I saw what you did – and