Becky's Terrible Term by Holly Webb Page B

Becky’s age who was running towards them. Becky just had time to decide that she was almost certainly his owner before they all collided in a heap. “Sorry!” she gasped at the other girl, who’d ended up underneath.
    â€œNot – your – fault!” panted the familiar-looking person struggling to get up. “Really – sorry! It was a – squirrel!”
    Becky only looked confused for a second. Looking at the dog who’d caused all the trouble, she could see that he and a squirrel would be a really bad combination.
    â€œFeathers, you are a bad dog !”said Fran, the dark-haired girl from school, trying hard to sound really cross. “Bad, bad dog!” Feathers grinned and panted happily, showing a lot of tongue. “You see!” Fran said to Becky. “He couldn’t care less! He’s been to obedience classes, and that’s all very well for ‘Sit!’ and ‘Stay!’ – sometimes – but you don’t do squirrels in obedience class! He raced off after the poor thing, and dragged me with him. I was OK until I tripped up, and even then I held on for a while and he pulled me, but then I hit a molehill.”
    Becky giggled.
    â€œYou can laugh, Becky – you are Becky, aren’t you, it’s so hard to tell you three apart – bet you’ve never hit a molehill at top speed.”
    â€œSorry. You’re a bit muddy, you know.”
    Fran looked down at her mud-smeared jumper and sighed. “My dad will kill me. You are OK, aren’t you?” she suddenly asked Becky. “Feathers didn’t knock you over, or anything? He doesn’t mean to, he just doesn’t realize how big he is.”
    â€œI’m fine – I’ve just got very clean ears. Feathers is a lovely name for him,” Becky ventured shyly, looking at the dog’s delicate – and muddy – feathery coat.
    â€œYeees,” agreed Fran. “But don’t you think it’s a bit – I don’t know – gentle? Sometimes I think Elephant might suit him better.”
    Becky laughed – much as she hated to admit it, Katie and Annabel were right, Fran was really nice. She could imagine enjoying being her friend – and Feathers’s. Of course, as soon as she realized this her mind went blank, and she couldn’t think of anything to say. She panicked and managed to stammer out, “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go. Lunch. I promised Mum.”
    â€œOh, OK,” said Fran, surprised. “You’re sure you don’t want to—” She’d been going to say “come for a walk with me and Feathers” but Becky was already running. “See you Monday!” Fran yelled after her. “Thanks for catching him for me!”
    Becky waved, and kept going.
    Fran looked at Feathers, with a slightly hurt expression. “Just you and me, then.”
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    Meanwhile, Megan and Katie had flaked out on the grass, exhausted. After they’d shared a bottle of water and recovered a bit, Megan rolled on to her front and asked, “So how do you like Manor Hill?”
    â€œIt’s OK. Different though. St Anne’s was really nice, but it was small, and everyone knew us – or they thought they did. We were like these identical little blonde angels, and they always called us The Triplets, not our names. This might sound funny, but I actually want to be Katie Ryan now, not just one of those cute triplets.”
    â€œI think I see – it’s weird, I’d have thought it would be great having three of you. Do the other two think the same thing?”
    Katie hesitated. How much private triplet-stuff should she be telling an outsider? She decided just to see how it went – it might be good to talk about all this with someone who didn’t already know every detail of her life. “Yes and no. I think Annabel wants us to be together a bit less, but Becky’s different. And