Read Online The Worry Web Site by Jacqueline Wilson - Free Book Online

your patch. I'll find you a spade. You can dig here any playtime or lunchtime, before school, after school, whenever.”
    I tried having a little dig there and then. I couldn't do too much because of my sore hand. I wasn't very good at it at first. I was too quick and clumsy andcouldn't budge the hard earth. Mr. Speed showed me how to do it slowly and rhythmically, putting my foot on the spade, straightening up so I wouldn't hurt my back.
    “That's it! Ah, you've got into the swing of things now. We'll be hiring you out on building sites at this rate. You'll have muscles like Madonna by the end of the month.”
    I think digging
has
made me stronger. Greg was mucking around in the corridor doing a silly dance and showing off in front of Holly. He did a twiddly bit and banged right into me. I pushed him away so hard he nearly fell over! That'll teach him. I can't stick Greg now. I don't envy Holly one bit. I wouldn't want him as a boyfriend if you paid me.
    I don't want
William
as my boyfriend either. But he seems to think he is!
    I cheered up a bit after I had my first little dig. I felt mean for making William cry so I went up to him after school. He cowered away as if I was going to hit him. That made me feel worse—so I put my arm round him.
    “Sorry I yelled at you, William,” I said, and I gave him a hug.
    I thought that was it. It
was
as far as I was concerned. But now William goes pink whenever I go near him and he follows me around like a little dog.He tries to carry my schoolbag and rushes to get my school lunch for me and whenever I go for a dig William trails after me and wants to dig too.
    I had a little moan about it to Mr. Speed.
    “It was
my
private patch, Mr. Speed, and now William wants to dig too.”
    “Yeah, I can see it's annoying having young William under your feet all the time, Samantha. But on the other hand he needs a bit of digging therapy himself.”
    “OK, Mr. Speed. But I wish he didn't have to dig on
my
bit. I tried planting an apple core just to see if it might just grow up into an apple tree and William dug it up the very next day.”
    “Perhaps you could mark off your special bit and make sure William keeps to his? And I'll let you have a few seeds and bulbs if you fancy a spot of real gardening. That's a great idea.”
    So I divided my patch into two and told William he could dig all he wanted on his own bit. Mr. Speed brought us lots of lovely things to plant in our new gardens. Mine were a mixture of pretty flower seeds: pinks and pansies, primroses and sweet peas.
    “And I'll see if I can get some raspberry canes too. They'll be a lot speedier than apple trees,” said Mr. Speed. “I thought you'd like to grow something to eat too, William, seeing as you're the lad of gargantuanappetite. I thought potatoes would be more in your line. Think of all those chips! And we might go for something really exotic like a squash. That
would
be a challenge for the Enormous Mouthful contest! But you'd better have a few flowers too.”
    Mr. Speed handed him a seed packet with a picture of deep purply-red-and-white little flowers on it. They were called Sweet Williams!
    “I wish there was a flower called Sweet Samantha,” said Mr. Speed.
    So now I've stopped digging and started gardening. Little weeny green shoots are starting to grow through the very well-dug earth. They might just be little weeds, though. We'll have to wait and see.
    Mr. Speed brought William and me a tomato plant today. My dad loves tomatoes. He can gollop up a whole pound, easy-peasy. If he comes to visit when my tomatoes are ripe I might offer him his very own homegrown tomato salad. But if he
doesn't
come then Mum and Simon and me will eat them all up. Well, I'll save enough for a special tomato sandwich for Mr. Speed.
    I have one worry less. My teacher really
does
like me lots!
    The first Worry Web Site story, about Holly, was made available on the Internet in 2001 by bol.com, an online bookseller, and the Guardian, a