Read Online The Trouble with Polly Brown by Tricia Bennett - Free Book Online

eye. His face changed, as if he instantly wished he’d stopped someone else—in fact anyone else—who was walking down the corridor, instead of her.
    â€œScience block. Any idea?” he dared to once again ask, all the while pulling a playful long face.
    Still Polly was slow to answer as she struggled to come out of her constant daydreaming, which over the years she had expertly honed to an art form.
    â€œUmm, physics…Now, let me see. Is it down the left-hand corridor or the right?”
    â€œSorry, I should have introduced myself. My name is Will; full title, William Ogilvy Montgomery, at your service. And if you’d be so terribly kind as to help me out, well, then, I promise to return the favor,” he said as he anxiously placed a hand on her arm in his very admirable attempt to keep her full attention. “I’m excellent at helping out with mathematics and/or French homework, and even though my history has in the past been described as both evasive and boorish, I will willingly offer any help that is required. So tell me, what’s your name?”
    â€œOh, I’m Polly, Polly Brown to be precise.”
    â€œWell, nice to meet you Polly. I do hope we can be friends,” he said in a voice much too cheerful for her liking. He then proceeded to further shock her by keenly holding out his hand in what was presumably intended to be a kind and friendly gesture. A shocked and confused Polly stared down at his outstretched hand as she battled to find the right words.
    â€œOh, um…Yes, well I guess we could be friends,” was her sickeningly slow response, as it slowly began to dawn on her that someone was trying heroically hard to be nice to her and, better still, might actually want to become her friend. Polly finally jumped to attention and timidly placed her hand out to shake his. “Thank you, er…er…”
    â€œWill, William Montgomery,” he quickly interjected as he continued to help her out.
    â€œEr, yes. Will. That would be really nice,” she said, giving a gentle smile as she finally dared to limply shake his hand.
    Will smiled back, but mainly, it appeared, from relief. “Well, Polly, as my mind-reading skills have yet to be honed to perfection, I do still need your expert help in pointing me in the right direction,” he said, giving a light laugh.
    â€œOops, sorry,” she spluttered, suddenly feeling shy and a bit of an idiot. Finally she became helpful enough to direct him toward the science block. “Go through the double doors, and then turn left. Don’t stop until you reach the end of that corridor. At the end of the corridor you need to take a sharp right into a link corridor, and then halfway down that corridor you will see a rather battered-looking blue door that leads into the science block.”
    â€œThanks again, Polly,” he said, breaking into a very generous smile, a smile, I might add, she truly didn’t deserve.
    â€œDon’t mention it. Glad to be of some service,” she said, entirely breaking with tradition by feigning a half smile.
    â€œWell, I hope to catch up with you later,” he said as he hurried off in the direction Polly had shown him. Polly nodded, her smile becoming wider as she watched the crazy new boy unwittingly bump into a large group of pupils, as he wasn’t properly looking where he was going.
    â€œMaybe we could meet up at lunchtime?” Will shouted back in her direction as he stooped to pick up a pile of his books and papers that now littered the floor of the link corridor. Polly’s face immediately went a significant scarlet in color as she considered his kind proposal to meet up. She therefore waved a quick good-bye and then with much relief turned on her heels to venture down a different corridor, as she had a class that she would be late to if she didn’t hurry up.
    â€œMy goodness, he’s drop dead gorgeous!” she giggled to herself.