Free The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty

Blue Danish open because I believed my buddy, Finnegan Blonde, was behind me. However, when I turned back, he was actually at the register, buying an extra takeaway coffee. Realising my error, I let the door swing closed.
    Another thing: After school, I joined the Castle Hill Gym to take kickboxing classes. This was in accordance with my buddy’s challenge. The classes are on Tuesday afternoons, at the same time as my piano lessons. I am therefore unable to attend. I might try a hip-hop class instead.

    The Dream Diary of Bindy Mackenzie
Wednesday, 11.45 pm
    Just got home from ‘babysitting’ for Eleanora, and fell asleep at my desk. I dreamed I was wading, barefoot, knee-deep, through inky black mud. It was one of those dreams without much light—perhaps a lantern hovered at mychin, otherwise grim darkness. I tried not to mind the slow, warm ooze of the mud between my toes, but when it curled around my shins it seemed malevolent. And then I panicked as my foot landed on something coiled and hard. Just a root, I thought, but my ankle brushed against skin. Just a corpse, I thought, and woke with a clamp around my chest.

    Night Time Musings of Bindy Mackenzie
Thursday, 1.00 am
    Still can’t sleep. My mind has wandered far from images of inky black mud. I am thinking, instead, of open doors.
    Often I hold a door open because I think someone is behind me, and then I discover they are actually a long way back. There was the incident with Finnegan, but also, at Kmart the other day, I held a door for my supervisor, who has a knee-brace and walks with a cane. It took light years for her to limp over, even though she tried to hurry so as not to hold me up. ‘Thanks,’ she panted, but I heard something other than thanks in her voice.
    I therefore believe that I am not very good at:
judging distances

    Further Night Time Musings of Bindy Mackenzie
Thursday, 2.00 am
    I have stomach cramps.
    I wonder if training in archery or firearms might help to improve my ability to:
judge distances

    Further Extended Night Time Musings of Bindy Mackenzie
Thursday, 3.00 am
    At least, there is this: today I revealed the poisonous souls of two more people.

    Second Further Extended Night Time Musings of Bindy Mackenzie
Thursday, 3.05 am
    Wait, no, it was not today, it was yesterday! Now it is the next day. It’s early the next day, of course, but it is the next day. The Thurs-day. The Thor’s day. Thor is the Norse god of thunder and so am I, I just realised, the god of thunder, the goddess of storms, for I know how to bluster and I know
    Oh, what am I talking about.
    Let me say this. I treated my symptoms of anti-climax by doubling my efforts. It was like getting two planes on the runway instead of just one, or twice as many engines, or twice as many flight attendants, oh, what I am talking about.
    Anyway, two poisonous souls instead of one. And I spoke their souls to their faces instead of just writing them down.
    I felt a shadow of guilt as I did this and here is why: there is a difference between poisonous and venomous.
    A poisonous animal is one that has toxins inside it. It doesn’t attack you, but let’s say you eat it? You die (or you get sick).
    But a venomous animal has something like fangs which it uses to attack you—to inject you with its venom. You don’t have to eat it, you just have to get in its way.
    Briony, Elizabeth and Sergio are merely poisonous. They don’t mean to do harm, they’re like a sea-cucumber or butterfly. Their poison is really a defence against predators. They are not so culpable as the venomous ones: Toby and Emily and Astrid.
    And so I felt the shadow of guilt when I turned on Briony and Elizabeth today, and yet I wonder now: why feel guilty? Remember what Briony wrote on my Name Game? I believe she has just the right mix of stupidity and manners to write something as nasty as this:
    You can’t help who you are, Bindy, and maybe you will change this