Alice Parker's Metamorphosis (Book 1 of the new adventure series for children) Read Online Free Page B

fidgeting uneasily in their chairs, she continued regardless.
    ‘ Results in the usual manner, read out according to the register.’
    They all hated this, some hid their faces behind their books. Their marks were revealed with groans and grimaces. For once, no one had more than 65% and that was Julia Hunt, the maths genius. Alice was red-faced and panicked. Her name had not been called – had she been left out for a reason, was her mark that bad?
    ‘ Have I missed anyone?’ asked Mrs Myers.
    ‘ Er, just me,’ said Alice quietly, her hand only half raised as if she were expecting it to be bitten off.
    ‘ Oh, yes, yours...’ She smiled and held her clipboard to her chest. ‘Alice Parker 100%.’
    A brief, stunned silence was followed by an outburst of noise, exclamations of amazement and disgust, one or two congratulatory comments and Lawrence attempting to stick his fingers down his throat and be sick. Quinton lifted the lid of his desk and pretended to be Alice, a mock-look of surprise on his face like that of a winning beauty queen, bowing to left and right, then blowing kisses in the direction of Mrs Myers. The coven had turned around and was looking at her scornfully, shaking its three heads. Even Sarah looked as though she had been slapped in the face by an invisible hand, her mouth partly open ready to say something, but seemingly unable to get the words out. Alice had her crimson face in her hands, elbows on her desk. She was absolutely horrified. How could this happen? She had only ever been average at maths and now this, even without revision?
    ‘ Don’t be embarrassed Alice,’ said Mrs Myers calmly. ‘We’re all over the moon for you. You should be proud of yourself, you’ve clearly worked hard for this.’
    Alice cringed and wished the floor beneath her chair would open and swallow her up. She glanced cautiously at Sarah, who finally managed to release the words that had been stuck in her throat.
    ‘ Well done. You are a brain box, aren’t you?’
    ‘ I just can’t believe it,’ whispered Alice. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
    ‘ Anyway, Year 8,’ Mrs Myers continued. ‘Now that someone has set a precedent for what can be achieved when you put your mind to it, let’s start the next chapter. Circles, arcs and sectors for the last week of term.’
    There was a widespread moan and a voice from the front piped up, ‘Can we make the circles into Christmas baubles, Miss?’
    ‘ Grow up, Sebastian,’ she snapped.
    When the buzzer finally rang for break, Alice had never been so relieved. She packed her rucksack as quickly as she could and rushed off without waiting for Sarah. She headed for a dark corner of the locker room, where she tried to pull herself together and munched thoughtfully on the jelly beans that Thomas had bought for her.
    ‘ Only art and English to get through now,’ she whispered aloud, giving herself a pep-talk. ‘No marks or test results due.’ She sank back into some coats hanging on pegs and reached into her bag for the mince pies.
    *
    Alice looked forward to art. She considered the lessons a fun part of her timetable. They didn’t even have to stand up for the teacher - Mr Sheldon was always there already, enjoying life in his light, airy art room. Alice had wondered if his hair and beard were white because the sunlight in there had bleached them, he spent so much time there. The class sat around two huge tables, which had been prepared with a neatly arranged bowl of fruit at each end. Sarah threw down her bag on the chair next to Alice.
    ‘ And where did you get to at break?’ she demanded, sounding miffed.
    ‘ Can I have your attention, please,’ began Mr Sheldon in his usual, quiet manner. Alice was grateful for the interruption. They settled down.
    ‘ No prize for guessing what you will be drawing today,’ he said with a grin. ‘The purpose of this exercise is to study the shape of the objects, notice where the light falls and where the shadows are cast.