Following Flora Read Online Free

do homework but really playing with the kittens who were tumbling in and out of Zoran’s guitar case next to her on the sofa.
    â€œI don’t know what you’re doing here,” she said. “I’m perfectly capable of walking home on my own.”
    â€œHow on earth did you get the kittens here?” I asked.
    â€œIn my pockets,” she said, like it was obvious.
    â€œYour sister got caught in the rain,” Zoran told me. “She was soaked to the skin when she got here.”
    Zoran hates it when Jas goes wandering off. He started on this whole lecture about how, in fact, Jas is still very small and has to learn to do what she is told, and how the rest of us really ought to look after her properly. He didn’t even notice when Hermione rolled off the sofa, padded across the carpet, and started to climb up his trouser leg.
    â€œIt was pure luck two of my students canceled this afternoon and I happened to be in. Pure luck!” Zoran scolded.
    â€œWhere is the boy?” I asked to distract him.
    â€œHe has football practice on Tuesdays.”
    I curled up next to Jas and tickled Ron, who started to purr, sounding like he might just burst out of pure excitement. It’s quite unbelievable that something so small can make so much noise. Then I looked round the flat again and noticed that unlike Ron, the boy Zach hadn’t made his presence felt at all.
    â€œWhere are all his things?” I asked. “Can I see his room?”
    â€œIt’s private,” Zoran said, and then he screamed as Hermione sank her fangs into his hand and started pedaling against his wrist with her back claws.
    Kitten claws are surprisingly sharp.
    I know Zoran said I shouldn’t, but his spare bedroom is one of my favorite rooms in the world, and I couldn’t resist looking to see what it looked like with someone actually living in it. It’s tiny, not much bigger than a closet. When Zoran first moved in he thought about just using it as a study or something, but then he decided that he really wanted somewhere people could come and stay, like his sister who lives in Sarajevo. So he bought a bed which fits perfectly across the width of the room under the window, and he put up hooks and shelves and even a fold-down table, painted the walls a soft pale blue like the sky, and hung those green and red glass balls you find at the seaside. It’s like a ship’s cabin, with a space for everything, but when I opened the door I was disappointed, because it looked exactly the same, but with clothes and schoolbooks dumped all over the floor and nothing hanging up.
    â€œIt’s like he can’t be bothered.”
    â€œI told you, he’s not exactly overjoyed about our arrangement,” Zoran said, and then he added, “I need you to take Jas and these animals home. My hand is actually bleeding.”
    â€œIs he going to play in your concert?”
    â€œNo, he is not. Apparently, he doesn’t
do
concerts.”
    Zoran picked up Hermione so her tummy was on his hand with her little legs and her head sticking out the side so she couldn’t hurt him again, and held her out to me.
    â€œRon just peed on your duvet,” said Jas.
    Zoran closed his eyes and made this little whining noise. Jas shoved Ron in one coat pocket and Hermione in the other, and we tiptoed out of the flat.
    Poor Zoran. He looked so despondent when we left him, with his hands covered in scratches and his duvet covered in kitten pee, but the reason I wrote that Ron and Hermione are living up to their magical names is that when Zach got back, he found Zoran cursing and swearing as he tried to stuff his duvet into the washing machine, and he thought the whole story of the kittens so hilarious he agreed to play in Zoran’s concert.
    â€œI think he felt sorry for me,” Zoran said when he called to tell us the news.
    â€œNobody likes cat pee,” I agreed. “Did you flatter him, like Flora