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Authors: Candy Harper
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listens to Amelia talking about how unreasonable her science teacher is.
Mum sighed. ‘There just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day.’
‘Maybe you should sleep less,’ Lucy said. I don’t think she’s noticed the dark circles under Mum’s eyes.
‘You could stop ironing,’ I said. ‘Chloe just crumples everything anyway.’
Mum smiled that smile that grown-ups do when they think you’re sweet, but you don’t understand enough to do anything really useful.
I really wanted to understand. I really wanted to do something useful. After all, if I was trying to be nice to everyone then my mum deserved it most of all.
‘I could make beans on toast tomorrow,’ I said.
‘Thank you, Ella. I would appreciate that. And I think I’ll need you girls to help a little around the house generally this term.’
Lucy threw a scrunched-up ball of chip paper at the bin and missed. ‘We already do the washing-up and the hoovering. If we do anything else, you’ll have to pay us.’
Mum laughed. ‘All right, you do some cooking and cleaning and I’ll pay you with food and shelter and the endless love of a mother. How does that sound?’
‘Sounds like you can’t buy sweets with it like you do with real money,’ she said and stomped off to the Pit again.
I finished tidying up and, when I looked at Mum, she was still frowning at her books.
‘Don’t worry too much,’ I said. ‘I don’t think everybody reads all the corrections that teachers put. If they did, Lucy would be able to spell
“assassinate” properly by now.’
Mum pushed her hair out of her eyes. ‘But I have to set targets. The trouble is, lots of them need to work on the same area so I’m writing the same thing over and over.’
‘Maybe I could write some for you?’
‘I don’t think that’s allowed.’
I had an idea. ‘I could make you some stickers!’
So I got on the computer and typed out Mum’s most used comments. First, I did smiley faces that tell you what you’re doing right (
Sparkling vocabulary! Excellent use of capital
letters! Nice connectives!
). And then I typed out what you need to improve to get to the next level. (
Use full stops! Check your spelling! How about some wow words?
). I printed them on
address labels and Mum just stuck the appropriate ones in the books. Even then, she couldn’t resist adding a personal comment occasionally, but it made things much quicker.
‘Thank you, Ella,’ Mum said. ‘You’ve been extremely helpful.’
I was really glad I could help Mum feel less stressed. I just wished I could sort out Ashandra and Kayleigh as easily.
Wednesday night at Dad’s wasn’t fun. Dad told Lucy to stop sticking her head in Kirsti’s basket. Lucy shouted at Dad and then had a go at Suvi too. For once,
even Suvi looked like she was about to lose her temper; she took Kirsti upstairs for her bath, even though it wasn’t time. Somehow, Amelia managed to join in by shouting at Dad and Chloe, and
then at me when I asked her if she was all right.
In the morning, after Dad woke us up, Amelia went back to sleep. When I’d finished breakfast, she was only just staggering downstairs, even though we needed to leave really soon.
‘Why didn’t you wake me again?’ she asked Suvi.
‘You knew it was school today, yes?’ Suvi asked.
‘Of course I knew it was school! I’m not an imbecile.’
‘Then you know you have to get up.’
Amelia picked up her bag and walked straight out of the door, slamming it behind her.
‘She didn’t have any cereal! Not even as a Magic Breakfast!’ Chloe said to me.
That wasn’t really the bit that shocked me most. I dragged Chloe into the upstairs bathroom and locked the door behind us. It’s the only place at Dad’s house that you can have
a private conversation.
‘Is this about panda-eyes, pig-face Amelia?’ Chloe asked.
I shook my head. I didn’t see what we could possibly do about Amelia and her stomping.
‘Did you see what Lucy was doing at
Mum sighed. ‘There just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day.’
‘Maybe you should sleep less,’ Lucy said. I don’t think she’s noticed the dark circles under Mum’s eyes.
‘You could stop ironing,’ I said. ‘Chloe just crumples everything anyway.’
Mum smiled that smile that grown-ups do when they think you’re sweet, but you don’t understand enough to do anything really useful.
I really wanted to understand. I really wanted to do something useful. After all, if I was trying to be nice to everyone then my mum deserved it most of all.
‘I could make beans on toast tomorrow,’ I said.
‘Thank you, Ella. I would appreciate that. And I think I’ll need you girls to help a little around the house generally this term.’
Lucy threw a scrunched-up ball of chip paper at the bin and missed. ‘We already do the washing-up and the hoovering. If we do anything else, you’ll have to pay us.’
Mum laughed. ‘All right, you do some cooking and cleaning and I’ll pay you with food and shelter and the endless love of a mother. How does that sound?’
‘Sounds like you can’t buy sweets with it like you do with real money,’ she said and stomped off to the Pit again.
I finished tidying up and, when I looked at Mum, she was still frowning at her books.
‘Don’t worry too much,’ I said. ‘I don’t think everybody reads all the corrections that teachers put. If they did, Lucy would be able to spell
“assassinate” properly by now.’
Mum pushed her hair out of her eyes. ‘But I have to set targets. The trouble is, lots of them need to work on the same area so I’m writing the same thing over and over.’
‘Maybe I could write some for you?’
‘I don’t think that’s allowed.’
I had an idea. ‘I could make you some stickers!’
So I got on the computer and typed out Mum’s most used comments. First, I did smiley faces that tell you what you’re doing right (
Sparkling vocabulary! Excellent use of capital
letters! Nice connectives!
). And then I typed out what you need to improve to get to the next level. (
Use full stops! Check your spelling! How about some wow words?
). I printed them on
address labels and Mum just stuck the appropriate ones in the books. Even then, she couldn’t resist adding a personal comment occasionally, but it made things much quicker.
‘Thank you, Ella,’ Mum said. ‘You’ve been extremely helpful.’
I was really glad I could help Mum feel less stressed. I just wished I could sort out Ashandra and Kayleigh as easily.
Wednesday night at Dad’s wasn’t fun. Dad told Lucy to stop sticking her head in Kirsti’s basket. Lucy shouted at Dad and then had a go at Suvi too. For once,
even Suvi looked like she was about to lose her temper; she took Kirsti upstairs for her bath, even though it wasn’t time. Somehow, Amelia managed to join in by shouting at Dad and Chloe, and
then at me when I asked her if she was all right.
In the morning, after Dad woke us up, Amelia went back to sleep. When I’d finished breakfast, she was only just staggering downstairs, even though we needed to leave really soon.
‘Why didn’t you wake me again?’ she asked Suvi.
‘You knew it was school today, yes?’ Suvi asked.
‘Of course I knew it was school! I’m not an imbecile.’
‘Then you know you have to get up.’
Amelia picked up her bag and walked straight out of the door, slamming it behind her.
‘She didn’t have any cereal! Not even as a Magic Breakfast!’ Chloe said to me.
That wasn’t really the bit that shocked me most. I dragged Chloe into the upstairs bathroom and locked the door behind us. It’s the only place at Dad’s house that you can have
a private conversation.
‘Is this about panda-eyes, pig-face Amelia?’ Chloe asked.
I shook my head. I didn’t see what we could possibly do about Amelia and her stomping.
‘Did you see what Lucy was doing at
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