Wolfie Read Online Free Page B

school, just because everybody
else did? Why should anybody do anything, just because everybody else did? What if they were doing something silly, or cruel? What if they were —
    “Shooting wolves and chopping down forests,” suggested Fang.
    “Exactly.”
    “Or putting wolves in zoos.”
    “Yes.”
    “Or keeping rabbits in hutches, instead of doing the sensible thing, and eating them.”
    “Well…” said Lucie.
    “Still, we wolves can be a bit the same,” said Fang surprisingly. “All pack animals can. They like to be the same as the rest of the pack. But remember, the best kind of wolf
can fend for itself, outside the pack, when it needs to. You and I are not
just
pack animals, Lucie. We think for ourselves.”
    Lucie nodded. And suddenly she felt a lot better.
    Because it was the first day of term, Mum took Lucie to school by car. Fang sat on the back seat beside her.

    Lucie gazed through the window at the swarms of children, in their raw-meat-coloured sweatshirts, and felt sick. Fang licked her lips.
    “Bye-bye coco,” said Mum, pulling in at the kerb.
    Lucie hugged Fang and got out of the car. She watched as it pulled away.
    Why did other people like school, she wondered? Of course it did not help that she had been new last term, when her family had moved into town. Everyone else had friends already, and Lucie
always seemed to be on her own. And it was more than that.
I’m not a school sort of person
, she thought. Then she wondered if they would make fun of her red hair, the way they had last
term.
    She had told Fang about that last night. “If
I
were to come with you into school,” said Fang, “these ill-mannered children might think again.” And she snapped at
the air, just as she snapped at the gulls by the lake. Lucie had smiled. “Thank you, Fang. I’m afraid children are not as polite as wolves. They don’t care about people’s
feelings.”
    Now Lucie lifted her chin firmly.
You are not
just
a pack animal
, she reminded herself.
You can fend for yourself
. She marched through the school gates.
    Her bold mood lasted until halfway across the playground. Then she saw Marcus Mainwaring, with his friends Toby and Abdullah.
    “Hello Carrots,” said Marcus.
    Hello Turnip Face
, thought Lucie — but she didn’t say it aloud.
    From the grin on his face, Marcus had been looking forward to tormenting Lucie.
    “In that top you look like a blood orange,” he told her. “Red and orange mixed together. Yuk!”
    “Or ketchup mixed with mustard,” suggested Toby. They all snickered.
    Lucie blushed. Her top and hair
did
look horrible together. She knew they did.
    Some more kids drifted over: Marcus repeated his little joke and they giggled.
    “I’ve thought of a whole lot of new names for you,” Marcus went on. “Today it’s Blood Orange. Tuesday, Ginger Nut. Wednesday, Tangerine Dream. Thursday, Traffic
Lights. Friday —”
    “Hey! New girl — what’s your name?” A bigger boy wandered over to join the group. Everybody recognised him, even Lucie who had never spoken to him: Alex Beamer from the
year above. He played the saxophone, was the best in the school at art, and was the star of the school football team.
    “Today she’s called Blood Orange,” Marcus told him. “You can shorten it if you like to —”
    “Who asked
you
?” said Alex, his brows coming down in a way that made him suddenly forbidding. “Anyway, what’s with the stupid names?”
    “It’s because of my red hair,” said Lucie.
    “What’s wrong with red hair?” demanded Alex. There was a pause. Everybody realised what they should have done before — that Alex had red hair too. His was more coppery
than Lucie’s, but both were red.
    “Err —” said Marcus.
    “Go away,” said Alex.
    Marcus opened his mouth and shut it again. Then he slouched off, as if that was what he meant to do anyway. The others drifted after him.
    “There’s some real oafs in your year,” said Alex, watching Marcus go.