Free Five Things They Never Told Me by Rebecca Westcott Page B

to a halt. There is somebody here. In MY hideaway. I haven’t spotted a single person here all summer but now I can see somebody crouched down in the long grass by the stream. I stand still, unsure whether to turn and run before I’m spotted or march over there and tell them to get lost.
    Before I can make up my mind, the figure stands up and looks straight at me.
    ‘Hey!’ he calls. ‘Come and see this!’
    He crouches back down in the grass and I walk forward slowly, staring at him in disbelief.
It’s him again
. The gorgeous, scruffy-haired boy. The
one that raced in to rescue Martha the other day. Why is he HERE, in my secret place? Maybe he’s come to have a go at me about leaving Martha all alone. I make a pathetic attempt to smooth my hair down as I get closer to him and wish that I wasn’t wearing my old jeans and a ratty T-shirt.
    He looks up as I get close.
    ‘Look! It’s so cool!’
    I look where he’s pointing and my first instinct is to recoil in horror. It is not cool. It is disgusting. There, right next to gorgeous boy, is the ugliest, wartiest frog that I have ever seen. Not to mention the biggest.
    ‘I haven’t seen one this size before,’ he says, sounding excited. I sigh, feeling disappointed. There’s always something to spoil it. He might look stunning and seem kind of friendly – but he’s obviously a total weirdo.
    ‘Er – no,’ I say. ‘Me neither. But then again, I don’t exactly go out of my way to look for frogs.’
    ‘It’s not a frog!’ he says, laughing and standing up. ‘It’s a toad.’
    ‘Oh – I’m so sorry. My bad. Frog – toad. Whatever.’
    I’m aware that I’m not being very friendly but I’m seriously put out that someone else has
intruded into my personal space – even if he is really good-looking. Plus I’m getting ready to defend myself if he starts blaming me for Martha’s fall.
    ‘I’m Lucas,’ says Frog Boy. ‘We go to the same school, don’t we? You’re about to start Year Nine, right?’
    He holds out his hand and it takes me a moment to realize that he wants us to shake hands. I hesitate – if he’s been touching that frog then I have no intention of getting slime on me and anyway, who shakes hands in this day and age?
    ‘It’s OK,’ he tells me. ‘I haven’t got
toady
hands.’ And then he grins at me and I find myself putting my hand in his – this strange, mind-reading, gorgeous Frog Boy.
    ‘You must be Erin,’ he says and I feel my insides lurch. Maybe he is actually psychic. I really hope he didn’t read my mind when I was thinking mean thoughts about him.
    ‘Yeah,’ I say. I am not behaving like a particularly sophisticated young lady right now but thankfully, Frog Boy either hasn’t noticed or doesn’t care.
    ‘My grandad told me about you,’ he says and we start walking through the grass towards the bench that I spent hours clearing. ‘I’ve been
looking out for you for a while – I mean, Grandad’s great and everything but when him and Mum start rambling on about the old times I do get a bit bored. I thought I’d tracked you down the other day but then we had to deal with Martha falling out of her chair. By the way, sorry if I sounded bossy – it’s just that you looked so freaked-out and I knew we needed to get some help! And today I stumbled upon this place – I guess I’ve found your hidden lair!’
    ‘I guess so,’ I mutter weakly.
    ‘You come here every day, right?’ continues Frog Boy. I nod – he seems to have stolen my voice. ‘Cool! Mum wants to visit Grandad loads over the next few weeks because she’s taken some time off work. We can hang out.’
    We’ve reached the seat and for the first time in the last few minutes, Frog Boy seems unsure of himself. ‘I mean, only if you want to. I don’t want to invade your space or anything.’
    I look at him, my brain trying to think straight. I don’t know why, but I just can’t seem to say the right thing to this boy and, even with his