Free Term-Time Trouble by Titania Woods Page B

may go now, my dear. Thank you again for coming to me.’
    Later that afternoon, Twink and Bimi flew through the bright summer sunshine, enjoying the tickle of wildflowers against their wings as they skimmed low across the grass. ‘Oh, it’s all worked out so well!’ Bimi turned a joyful flip in the air. ‘You must be so pleased, Twink.’
    Twink grinned sheepishly. ‘Yes, but you were right, you know – I should have gone to Miss Shimmery sooner.’
    The two friends landed in a sunny glade. Bimi leaned against a dandelion stalk, tipping her blue hair back. ‘Well, I still think you did a good job.’ Suddenly she laughed. ‘But you’d better not tell Sooze that you had a chance to get rid of Mariella and didn’t take it. She’d never speak to you again!’
    .

    .
    Twink grinned at the thought, and then her smile turned wistful. She knew that something had shifted now between her and Sooze. Was she still Sooze’s Opposite? Part of her hoped so . . . and part of her knew it was time to stop being Sooze’s Opposite, and to just be herself.
    â€˜It’s amazing about Mariella, isn’t it?’ said Bimi.
    Twink nodded. The pointy-faced fairy had been meekly quiet all day, obviously shaken by the events of the night before. And she had gone to each fairy in the branch in turn, apologising for her past behaviour.
    â€˜Maybe she’ll really change this time,’ said Twink.
    â€˜Maybe,’ said Bimi. ‘It can’t be easy for her to have apologised, anyway. I’ve never liked her, but you have to admire her for that!’
    The two friends sat in companionable silence, stretching their wings in the sunshine. Twink watched a striped bumblebee bob past, buzzing industriously from flower to flower. It reminded her of herself, trying so hard to be a good Branch Leader. But maybe she hadn’t done so badly with it after all, in the end.
    â€˜You know what?’ she said suddenly. ‘I’m really looking forward to our next Sparkle Art class.’
    â€˜Why’s that?’ asked Bimi.
    Twink smiled. ‘Oh, I don’t know. I just have a feeling that my next self-portrait might come out a bit differently!’
    c
    The End

.
    Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney
    First published in Great Britain in 2008 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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    Text copyright © Lee Weatherly 2008
    Illustrations copyright © Smiljana Coh 2008
    The moral right of the author has been asserted
    This electronic edition published in August 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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    ISBN 978 1 4088 1348 5
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