Cindy Jones Read Online Free Page B

tea.”
    â€œA very nice girl. I’m sure you will find her helpful.”
    The silence lengthened. Cindy wondered what Miss Hopkins meant by “helpful,” but she wasn’t game to ask. This afternoon Miss Hopkins had little to say. Cindy felt embarrassed when she remembered how she had chattered the night before and confided all sorts of things.
    Cindy swapped her shopping into her school bag, carried Horace outside, and dropped him into the basket on the handlebars. Miss Hopkins gave a brief nod goodbye and shut her door.
    Horace crouched down so only his ears showed over the top of the basket. He was used to travelling in the bike basket and often came for a ride with Cindy. She cut across the park towards her home. Some boys kicked a ball around on the oval, and a group of girls watched by the railings.
    â€œHere comes little Miss Dirty Face herself,” someone sneered as she approached.
    Constance and Prunella were among the group of girls. Constance still had her phone to her ear. Cindy wondered if she took it to bed as well. The others moved over to block the path.
    â€œTeacher’s pet, too,” sneered another girl.
    She was a heavily built girl with frizzy hair wearing purple eye makeup. Cindy recognized her as a classmate, usually the butt of Miss Hopkins’s dry remarks about idlers and loafers.
    â€œWhat a funny looking cat.”
    â€œIt would look even funnier with a can on its tail.”
    An empty soft drink can was immediately tossed to the girl barring Cindy’s way. It came from Prunella’s direction.
    â€œDon’t you dare touch Horace.”
    â€œHorace! Horace! Horace!” jeered the group.
    The girls closed in a tighter circle. Cindy tried to ride away, but someone grabbed her arm in a vice-like grip. Apart from the boys at the other end of the oval, the park was deserted. There was no one around to help her.
    The frizzy-haired girl had already tied a shoelace around the can. She smirked as she reached for Horace, cowering in the basket, his ears flat to his head.
    â€œI’ll tie the can on his tail. This is going to be really funny,” she gloated.

 
    Chapter Six
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    Cindy struggled to pull free as Horace was dragged from the bike basket, his body limp and dangling.
    She stamped hard on a foot with her heavy lace-up shoe. One of the girls shrieked and slackened her grip. Cindy pushed hard on her pedals and rode straight at the girl holding Horace, who dodged. Constance yelled and went sprawling as the bike rammed into her.
    Cindy swung the bike around to ride at the other girl again, and Horace finally galvanized into action. His back legs swung up and raked the bare arms and legs around him, and he sunk his teeth into the hands holding him. The frizzy-haired girl swore and dropped him.
    He did a running leap into the basket of the bike, wailing his displeasure. Cindy pedaled hard through the gap that had opened between the girls. She had escaped! The boys stopped their aimless kicking of the ball to head towards the noisy group of girls.
    Cindy breathed hard as she rode home. She wished she had rammed Constance harder! She wished Horace had bitten and scratched more of them! That would teach them to try and tie cans to an animal’s tail.
    She latched the gate behind her and rode into the garage. Horace’s eyes glared a wild baleful yellow. His ears were flat against his head, his fur bristled, and his tail lashed his outrage.
    â€œWe’re home, so there’s no need to carry on,” Cindy soothed as she lifted him out of the basket, and opened the side door of the garage that led into the back yard.
    She blinked and clutched Horace more tightly, hoping the view would go away. For a few bewildered seconds, she wondered if she had ridden into the wrong place. Horace began a low threatening grumble that rose into his high-pitched wail. Cindy put him down.
    All the wisteria and ivy had been cut away from the pergola and the