Term-Time Trouble (9 page)

Twink grinned sheepishly. ‘Yes, but you were right, you know – I should have gone to Miss Shimmery sooner.'

The two friends landed in a sunny glade. Bimi leaned against a dandelion stalk, tipping her blue hair back. ‘Well, I still think you did a good job.' Suddenly she laughed. ‘But you'd better not tell Sooze that you had a chance to get rid of Mariella and didn't take it. She'd never speak to you again!'

.

.

Twink grinned at the thought, and then her smile turned wistful. She knew that something had shifted now between her and Sooze. Was she still Sooze's Opposite? Part of her hoped so . . . and part of her knew it was time to stop being Sooze's Opposite, and to just be herself.

‘It's amazing about Mariella, isn't it?' said Bimi.

Twink nodded. The pointy-faced fairy had been meekly quiet all day, obviously shaken by the events of the night before. And she had gone to each fairy in the branch in turn, apologising for her past behaviour.

‘Maybe she'll really change this time,' said Twink.

‘Maybe,' said Bimi. ‘It can't be easy for her to have apologised, anyway. I've never liked her, but you have to admire her for that!'

The two friends sat in companionable silence, stretching their wings in the sunshine. Twink watched a striped bumblebee bob past, buzzing industriously from flower to flower. It reminded her of herself, trying so hard to be a good Branch Leader. But maybe she hadn't done so badly with it after all, in the end.

‘You know what?' she said suddenly. ‘I'm really looking forward to our next Sparkle Art class.'

‘Why's that?' asked Bimi.

Twink smiled. ‘Oh, I don't know. I just have a feeling that my next self-portrait might come out a bit differently!'

c

The End

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Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney

First published in Great Britain in 2008 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY

Text copyright © Lee Weatherly 2008

Illustrations copyright © Smiljana Coh 2008

The moral right of the author has been asserted

This electronic edition published in August 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 4088 1348 5

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