Free Finding Cassie Crazy by Jaclyn Moriarty Page A

Okay, I’m letting you know. That letter pissed me off. You were making these assumptionsabout me and imagining you knew me, and the fact is, Seb, you don’t.
    And come on. Giving me a lecture because the alarm didn’t go off ? You wanted to get out of an exam or something, Seb. I’m not a moron. Why didn’t you just skip school for the afternoon? Or actually do the exam?
    Last year, when my friend Cass came back to school after her father died, we had exams, and Cass is not the exam type to begin with. And she couldn’t walk down a corridor without people spinning out of her way because they were afraid to look her in the eye.
    Do you think she went around shouting at people about not being team players? And trying to get out of exams?
    No. She just stared straight ahead and wrote the exams.
    Except for the Science exam, because Em and I decided she needed a break that day and took her to the movies.
    You could learn some lessons in strength of character from Cass.
    Best wishes
    Lydia
    PS Here is your challenge:
1.
At 1 pm tomorrow go to the refrigerator section of the Harvey Norman store in Castle Towers.
2.
You will see a huge cardboard polar bear carrying a sign that says: ‘THIS WEEK ONLY! POLAR BEAR%FRIDGES—GET THEM WHILE THEY’RE COLD!’
3.
By 2 pm the huge cardboard polar bear must be standing outside the World of Pets Pet Shop. The signshould say: ‘THIS WEEK ONLY! POLAR BEARS—GET THEM WHILE THEY’RE COLD!’
4.
Send me a photo of this.

    Lydia
    The polar bear challenge?
    Easy.
    Seb

    To: LYDIA JAACKSON-OBERMAN
SPECIAL COVERT OPERATION REPORT
Agent:
Seb Mantegna
Aka:
AKA *
Special No.:
101010101010010101
    SPECIAL PASSWORD: Sultana Bran with banana, thanks Mum
    EXPERIENCE: Task Force Operations in Indonesia, Korea, Russia, Iraq; local training in Baulkham Hills and Glenhaven
    SPECIAL MENTION: Instrumental in ending the Cold War; knocked over the Berlin Wall etc
    PRO: Black belt in tae kwon do; kick-arse soccer player; knows how to makeup baby’s bottle with correct amount of formula; knows how to make baby smile by tickling baby’s little chin with feather
    CON: Memory sucks so will sometimes say something in a letter and forget to throw letter away and start again
    OPERATION: Operation Polar Bear
    Assigned by Agent Lydia
    RESULT: Successfully completed (see photograph attachment)
    FIELD NOTES: Agent Mantegna wants to say sorry to Agent Lydia for letter where forgot to start again after sledging Lydia unfairly when Operation Alarm was successfully completed by Agent Lydia. See Con above.

    Dear Seb
    Okay, I forgive you. I always forgive people when they say sorry.
    That was a pretty cool operation you did. I take my hat off to you and bow down to the ground but get those shoes away from me. I’m not kissing those shoes. You hear me? Are you kidding? GET THEM AWAY FROM ME! GET YOUR STINKING SHOES AWAY FROM ME!!
    Sorry, I’m kind of tired. It’s after midnight.
    Are you really a black belt in tae kwon do?
    I hope you’re not trying to impress me with those baby-related talents: I don’t think it’s anything special in a guy to know how to take care of kids. All guys should know that, especially if your mum recently had a new baby.
    Plus, is it safe to touch a baby with a feather? Where did you get the feather from? Is the feather attached to a bird? What sort of bird? Is it a parrot?
    THE PARROT’S CLAWS COULD HURT THE BABY, SEBASTIAN. YOU IDIOT.
    It’s twenty to one and I keep looking up from the computer to the window and seeing my own face which isa shock. Especially when I catch a smile on my face meaning I think I’m being funny.
    But when I look past my own face I can see our back lawn with such gentle moonlight on it: so gentle, it’s like it’s afraid of touching.
    By the way, I don’t think you have to be rich to have a frosted-glass breakfast pyramid. It’s not really a pyramid either, it’s