Read Online Bone by Bone by Sanjida Kay - Free Book Online Page B

pushed her. Another one pulled her hood down. And then one snatched her portfolio. She cried out but they just laughed. They passed it between them and then to Levi. She ran towards him, trying to retrieve it, but he held it above his head and opened the zip, and her paintings cascaded out.
    And then her mum had come – too late. They’d already torn all her pictures up and scattered them in handfuls of bleeding ink into the rain and tossed them across the grass. Her mum had shouted at him and the boys had backed off. She thought of her mum, white and shaking, her face wet with rain, her voice trembling, frightened and angry; and Levi, beautiful, glowing, smiling, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. And his horrid laugh. It had made her shiver.
    She clutched Big Bear to her.
    And then her mum had pushed him and he’d fallen, and when he looked up his eyes were funny and unfocused and his cheek was bleeding and all bruised. Autumn shuddered. She couldn’t bear to think of what might have happened. What if her mum hadn’t come and got her? What would happen now?
    She’d tried not to dwell on it when she was out with Granny but she was worried. Her mum had looked terrible when they’d left: pale and hurt, as if she wanted some sort of reassurance, as if she wanted Autumn to tell her that it would all be okay. She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t think of the right words.
    â€˜Let’s choose a special pizza for Mum,’ she’d said, and they’d ordered one with extra toppings, all of Mum’s favourite food.
    When they’d arrived home, she’d felt sick. She thought they might walk in and find Levi’s parents talking to her mum. But she was sitting upstairs, half in her office, half on the landing, with a man. The one who’d come to fix her laptop. He didn’t look like a computer repair man. He looked… Autumn struggled to describe him… charming , like a prince in a fairy story.
    Her mum was clutching a glass of wine and leaning towards him as if he was the most fascinating person she’d met. It had shocked Autumn, this still tableau, lit with a single lamp, burning in the darkness of the house. And he was odd, this man, Aaron. He’d shaken her hand as if she were a grown-up, but he hadn’t looked at her. He hadn’t seen her.
    She’d grown agitated and run up the stairs, turning on all the lights. She hoped he would go, this strange man with the blankness inside him, who seemed to have enchanted her mother. Would he become her mum’s new boyfriend? Her mum had come up to say goodnight and she’d stroked her hair and told her that Levi would never bother her again.
    It was wrong to push him , she’d said, as she’d said several times before, but I stood up to him. He won’t hurt you now.
    She was frightened of Levi, Autumn thought, but she still came to get me, she told him to stop bullying me in front of all those boys. Maybe it will be okay.
    She hugged Big Bear more tightly.

Saturday 27 October

LAURA
    â€˜Y ou could try British Military Fitness,’ said Jacob.
    Laura made a face.
    â€˜I’m not kidding,’ said Jacob. ‘It would get you fit extremely quickly. You could go into the blue group, the easiest one.’
    â€˜I’d hate it.’
    Laura was barely listening. The first thing she’d thought of when she’d woken that morning had been Levi. The child’s face when she’d pushed him. His eyes opening wide with shock, his head rolling back. Thank God she wasn’t at home this morning. Would his parents be able to find her address? How could she explain why she’d done something so terrible?
    â€˜Don’t know until you try,’ Jacob continued. ‘You never know, big hulking soldiers yelling at you might turn out to be your thing.’ He smiled at her expression. ‘I’m kidding. We only yell a bit.’
    Jacob was small and wiry with