Birdy Read Online Free Page A

Alberta. Not the big one in Canada, the little one in Virginia. It’s tiny actually – only about a hundred people live there. Mum and Dad were driving across America when Mum started to get terribly sick so they stopped at the chemist there – you know, for the pregnancy test – and so that’s where they were when they found out I was on the way: Alberta, Virginia. I suppose they might’ve decided to call me Virginia but I must say on balance I think I prefer Alberta. There’s something rather austere about the name Virginia, I always think.’ Then she stopped herself, her eyes wide again. ‘Oh sorry,’ she said. ‘I mean, if anyone’s name is Virginia or anything. It is a lovely name still, just wouldn’t really suit
me
I don’t think.’
    We all just stared at her for a moment, fascinated by the unusual creature before us. You didn’t really come across people like Bert at Whistle Down.
    ‘Anyway, I’d best sit down,’ she said to Mr Hurst. ‘Shall I sit next to Frances?’
    ‘Uh, yes. Yes, good idea,’ Mr Hurst said, clearly as taken aback as the rest of us.
    As Bert headed to her seat, Jac Dubois lifted his arm and held up one index finger high above his head. Over the other side of the room, Gary caught sight of the gesture and laughed.
    ‘No way, man! You can’t be serious.’ He shook his head. ‘You got no standards, mate.’
    Jac just shrugged and smirked, and a few of the other boys laughed.
    Bert looked between them, confused, her smile fading for the first time. Then she slipped into the chair next to me. I could smell her shampoo, I think. Or maybe it was the soap her clothes had been washed in. She smelt like apples and cut grass. A sunny sort of smell.
    ‘That’s enough, Jac!’ Mr Hurst said, managing to raise his voice at last.
    Jac smirked again and lowered his hand. ‘What did he mean, that boy?’ Bert whispered to me as Mr Hurst began the register. ‘Why did he put his finger up like that?’
    ‘Nothing,’ I whispered back. ‘They’re morons. Don’t worry about it.’
    Bert frowned but she didn’t say anything else. Instead she opened her bag and took out a whole selection of items – a brown leather pencil case, a long metal ruler, an A4 notebook, a calculator and, for some reason, a bag of cherries. I watched her, wondering what she was up to.
    She saw me looking and misread my expression. She held the bag of fruit out to me. ‘Sorry,’ she whispered. ‘Would you like one?’
    I shook my head. ‘No, I’m all right thanks. But … you know, you don’t really need any stuff at the moment. This is just registration. We’ll be moving for first period.’
    Bert nodded. ‘Ah. OK,’ she said. ‘Say no more.’ She slid her things back into her bag, then she turned to me again. ‘What’s registration?’
    I looked at her, wondering if she was for real. I decided at this early stage in the game I was going to have to humour her.
    ‘Well, it’s this bit,’ I said. ‘Where Mr Hurst takes the register. To check who’s here. Then we’ll go to lessons after that.’
    Bert nodded, but she had the slightest crinkle between her eyebrows. ‘I see. Jolly good.’
    Bert obviously hadn’t forgotten Jac Dubois and his finger because as soon as Mr Hurst closed the register, she brought it up again. ‘Tell me, please,’ she said, her blue eyes wide. ‘Was it about me?’
    I sighed. ‘It just means one,’ I said. ‘Out of ten.’
    Bert frowned and she looked upwards, trying to work it out. ‘One out of ten? Well that can’t be a good thing, whatever it is. One seems ever so low.’
    I tried to think of something I could say to gloss over the matter but nothing came to me.
    I sighed again. ‘It means out of ten, he’d give you
one
.’
    I cringed at the sound of it. I wished I could’ve thought of some other explanation instead. But it didn’t really matter because Bert still wasn’t getting it.
    ‘But why? Based on what? What have I done to deserve such an