Free Bad by Helen Chapman Page B

gang were back!
    Becca looked up. There was something mean in Shark’s eyes and she didn’t feel safe. Becca stood up and Shark stared at her. Her bones felt like jelly. Becca hated bullies but she knew she shouldn’t show Shark she was scared.
    â€˜Zeke’s gone home’ she said.
    â€˜Is he coming back for this?’ asked Shark, kicking the hat and making the money inside it jingle.
    â€˜No,’ said Becca. She was still acting like she wasn’t scared, but inside she was shaking.
    Shark grabbed the sweets from the hat and tossed them to his gang. Then he snatched Mr Potatoman from Becca, bit its face off and spat out the bits. Becca was upset. ‘What kind of person eats a raw potato with a cute face drawn on it?’ she thought.
    â€˜You know what, lads? We should try begging. It’s easy money, and you even get sweets,’ Shark said.
    Becca stopped being afraid and decided to stand up for herself.
    â€˜We didn’t get that money by begging,’ she said. ‘We worked for it. People put money in the hat because they liked our music and dancing.’
    â€˜Nah, they’ve got it all wrong,’ said Shark. ‘You don’t put money
in.
You take it
out.’
    Shark grabbed the money and stuffed it into his pockets. ‘And sometimes you take the hat as well!’ He flipped the hat on to his head and his gang started sniggering.
    Becca didn’t know what to do. If she stood up to Shark she might get their money back. She tried to grab the money from his pocket but Shark pushed her away. ‘Get out of here,’ he said, ‘and give me that thing before you go.’ He reached towards her flute case.
    Becca held on to the flute case tightly. The flute had been a present from her dad. It had taken him over a year to save up the money for it. There was no way she was giving it up without a fight.
    Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Zeke. Becca gasped in shock. What was Zeke doing here? Zeke did a back flip, pushed off the wall behind him with one foot and bounced into Shark. They both fell to the ground heavily. Zeke got to his feet first. He shouted to Becca: ‘Run!’
    Becca turned into a crowded side street which was full of market stalls. Zeke caught up with her.
    â€˜We’ve got to lose them,’ said Zeke. Becca was red faced and gasping for breath, so she nodded, yes. There was a brick wall at the end of a street. When they reached the wall, Zeke threw their gear over the top. Then he cupped his hands for Becca to climb up. She stepped on his hands, pulled herself up and over the wall and landed on the other side. Zeke hauled himself up the wall, then jumped down next to her.
    Zeke heard Shark and his gang run up to the brick wall and stop. He and Becca ran through the dark streets until they got back to the Tube station.
    â€˜I think we’ve lost them,’ gasped Becca. They only relaxed once they were safely inside the train, with no sign of Shark and his gang.
    â€˜I’m all sweaty,’ said Zeke, ‘and my heart is thumping.’ He unzipped his backpack and looked at their money. ‘We did really well. I think we’ve got about …’
    Becca stopped him. ‘I don’t want to know,’ she said. ‘It’s my fault that Shark got away with all that money. I messed up so badly.’
    â€˜No, you didn’t,’ said Zeke. ‘I didn’t leave much money in the hat. I just made it look like I did. Shark only got about ten pounds.’
    Becca cheered up. ‘That’s good,’ she said. ‘So how much did we get?’
    â€˜There’s about a hundred pounds in here,’ Zeke said. ‘That’s enough for one of us to go on the camping trip.’
    â€˜You or me?’ asked Becca.
    â€˜We’ll have to toss a coin, I guess,’ said Zeke. ‘But it’s going to be bad news for one of us.’

At school on Monday, Natalie from the