Free Worry Magic by Dawn McNiff

Lois, looking a bit stunned.
    Inside was this bracelet in its own velvet box.
    Proper posh. And not at all babyish.
    â€˜That’s SO gorgy!’ said Martha B.
    And Lois was all wow-thanks, wow-thanks over and over again.
    It was SO annoying.
    â€˜Yeah, it’s designer,’ said Bex. Pah, she reckoned!
    I was glad when Lois finally put the dumb bracelet away and showed us the wicked new phone she’d got for her birthday. She played us different ringtones, keeping an eye out for Miss Cave. All the teachers were really bossy about phones in our school – but Miss Cave was our tutor as well as our English teacher, and was extra strict with us about EVERYTHING. And quite scary. Which is why everyone called her Cave Woman, even though she was old and small, and often wore pink.
    â€˜Hey, listen to my text alert – it’s my big bro thinking he’s funny!’ Lois held the phone up, and we could hear Max
quack-quack-quack
ing.
    We all sniggered. Funny old Max.
    â€˜Can I have a look?’ I asked, and Lois handed me her phone. It was posh – nicer than mine by miles.
    â€˜Hey, birthday piccie of us two,’ I said. Lois put her head next to mine and we grinned. But when we looked at the picture, only Lois laughed. Because there just above us was Bex’s stupid face, sticking out her tongue  …  she’d totally photobombed us! I couldn’t even be in a photo by myself with Lois without Bex muscling in!
    â€˜Oh, let me take one of
me
and the birthday girl now,’ said Bex, reaching to snatch the phone.
    â€˜I haven’t finished looking yet,’ I said, turning away from her.
    Bex gave me a sharp look – we’d both totally given up pretending to be even a bit friends.
    â€˜Quiet please, Year Seven. Line up by the door.’ Cave Woman had arrived.
    I stuffed Lois’s phone into her bag, and we all scuffled in.
    Cave Woman had one of those pointless boy-girl seating plans. Lois was down the front next to pain-in-the-butt Kai Brown. I was at the back next to Toby G, who ground his teeth and sniffed all lesson. And – worse luck – Bex was right in front of me next to sweaty Aaron. English was such fun  … 
    But we were doing creative writing – my favourite. And we were supposed to be working quietly by ourselves. But Bex kept whispering to Aaron, and she was getting away with it too, because Cave Woman was actually quite deaf. Her cave-woman ears were probably too full of fur.
    Bex was showing off to Aaron. Her top hobby.
    â€˜I’m probs going to see a 15 film later,’ she said. ‘You know, that new one with Rupert Grint in it.’
    Her whisper was so loud I could hear every word, but Aaron wasn’t even listening – I could see his pen going across his page.
    â€˜I always get into 15s, easy  …  I just tell them my sister’s birthday and they believe me  … ’
    Fair play to her – she had a talent for ridiculous boasting.
    She twirled her hair round her pen. ‘Yeah, maybe I’ll ask Lois to come with me after school  … ’
    WHAT?!
    I wanted to see Lois after school! We always did something together on our birthdays. Bex could get lost! She was bang out of order  …  as usual.
    I shot a glance at Cave Woman. She was typing on her laptop, not looking my way.
    I sneaked my phone out of my bag.
    I would never do something like this usually – I was always too worried about getting in trouble. But this was an emergency!
    I held my phone under the table and wrote a speedy text to Lois, peeping up at Cave Woman at every other word. If she saw me, my life would be over. She would feed me to her pet tyrannosaurus.
    SEE YOU STR8 AFTER SCH, LO-LO? JUST U AND ME 4 B’DAY STUFF? OR A SWIM?xx
    I looked over at Lois before I sent it. She was head-down, working away, but I hoped she’d sneak a peek at her new phone before the end of the