Secret Friends Read Online Free Page B

gushed. “The police are urging scavengers to hand in property recovered from the beach so that it can be returned to its rightful owners.”
    “Vultures, the lot of them!” said Dad, squeezing past his wife to wash his hands at the sink. “It’s nothing more than common theft. I had a girl come in today with her older brother. Lauren something; she claimed she was a friend of yours, Antonia. She had a huge sack of car bits she’d found on the beach. Herbrother asked me to buy them and turned nasty when I told him I wouldn’t.”
    “Lauren Hampton,” said Antonia, suddenly realising why Lauren had been particularly mean to her at school. “She’s no friend of mine.”
    “I’m glad to hear it,” said Dad as he turned round to reach for the towel. “I won’t have any of my family behaving like that. I don’t know what’s got into people. It’s—” Dad broke off as he noticed Antonia’s dress. “Whatever have you done to yourself?”
    Antonia blushed so fiercely even her scalp turned red. She’d completely forgotten about her dress. “It’s oil,” she said.
    “Antonia!” Mum stopped arranging cucumber slices around a dish of salad to study herdaughter’s clothes. “Were you on the beach today?”
    For a split second Antonia considered telling her parents she’d got oil on her clothes helping out at Sea Watch, but she couldn’t do it. She felt guilty enough about all the fibs she’d had to tell to cover up for being a Silver Dolphin.
    She nodded. “Yes, I was.”
    “And you didn’t take me. That’s so mean,” wailed Jessica.
    Dad’s eyes narrowed to slits. “What were you doing on the beach?”
    Antonia shrugged. “I only wanted to have a look. Nothing like this has happened before. Everyone’s talking about it at school.”
    “So long as looking is all you were doing. If I find you’ve been taking things from thebeach, young lady, you’ll be grounded for ever. Do you hear me?”
    “Mark,” Antonia’s mum put a hand on her husband’s arm. “She knows not to take other people’s things, don’t you, darling?”
    “Of course I do,” said Antonia.
    “Good. Promise me you’ll stay away from the beach. I don’t want you anywhere near it until this circus is over.” Dad looked at Antonia sternly.
    “I promise.” Antonia wasn’t quite able to meet her dad’s eye as, under her breath, she added, “Unless Spirit calls me.”
    After tea, to ease her conscience, Antonia stacked the dishwasher, took the recycling out and emptied the vegetable waste into the composter. Composting was her least favouritejob. She hated the writhing knot of worms that clung to the underside of the lid each time the composting bin was opened.
    “Yuk!” she exclaimed as several blood-red worms fell and almost landed on her bare feet.
    Replacing the lid Antonia stood in the garden staring out at the bay. She hoped the oil would disperse quickly. She also hoped that the growing number of speedboats would go away and leave the bay in peace. Antonia longed to return to the sea and swim with Bubbles.
    At bedtime she was sure she wouldn’t sleep, but to her surprise she dropped off immediately, sleeping soundly until the alarm woke her.It was Sophie who looked like she’d hardly slept. When Antonia called for her friend on the way to school Sophie’s eyes were ringed with shadows and she couldn’t stop yawning. She didn’t talk much, but Antonia was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to wonder about it. Her stomach bubbled with excitement each time she remembered how she’d become a Silver Dolphin on her own. She wished she could share her secret with someone apart from Claudia, but she knew she mustn’t. What if the magic stopped working because she’d talked about it? Turning her thoughts to Sea Watch, Antonia wondered how the injured seabirds were this morning. She would ask Cai as soon as she got to school. Halfway down Sandy Bay RoadSophie suddenly asked, “Can we go to the