Free Jelly Cooper: Alien by Lynne Thomas

disappearing into the main block.  Shouldering my way though the crowd, I grab her arm and yank her to one side as we narrowly miss being propelled into the assembly hall.
    “Agatha ,” I gasp, trying to catch my breath.  “I’ll explain later.  Right now, we have to go.  Trust me.”
    “But its –
    I don’t wait to hear what she’s got to say.  I can’t.  I snatch her hand and drag her down the hallway.  “We can sneak out the back and walk along the river bank,” I glance over my shoulder, pulling Agatha along behind me.  “The trees will give us some cover.”
    “ What ?”
    I yank her down the corridor and away from people.  Gathering speed, we swing around the corner and cannon straight into a skulking Rhiannon Miles.
    Arms and legs meshing, we fall to the floor in a tangled heap.  I land hard, Agatha’s elbow in my ribs and an anonymous knee embedded in my thigh.  I clamp my mouth shut and muffle a groan of agony. I can’t afford for anyone to discover us and find out that we’re on our way to hookie-ville.
    Agatha hauls herself up and kneels over me, violet eyes concerned. I lie on my back, the wind punched out of my lungs, the colour draining from my cheeks.  I close my eyes, feeling sick.
    “Shall I get help?”
    My eyes snap open and I shake my head, wincing as yet another part of my body spasms with pain. 
    “No way .”  I grunt through clenched teeth. “I’ll be fine.  I’m winded, that’s all.” 
    Agatha’s not convinced.  In typical Agatha style, she starts to chew her lip and glance around for help.   There’s nothing else for it; I’m going to have to get to my feet. Swallowing a groan, I push myself onto my elbows and into a half-hearted sitting position.
    “Give…us…a…hand, would you.”
    “YOU STUPID COW!”
    One minute Agatha is in front of me and the next she’s not.  I look up into a different face.  Rhiannon.
    In the kerfuffle, I forgot about her.  She glares down at me with fury and hatred.
    “What the hell is the matter with you two?  You do not run straight into somebody else and push them over unless there is something very, VERY, SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH YOU.  YOU MUST BE THE MOST STUPID –
    My head is splitting and all that screeching is not helping.  Rhiannon is having one ginormous hissy fit.  Her nostrils flare and she towers over us, chest heaving.
    “Stu pid, idiotic, brainless…FREAKS.”
    Oh God.  She’s screaming.  People will come.
    “You don’t belong here,” she screams on, “you don’t fit in.  You should just leave, the both of you, and take that other misfit with you.  Nobody would care.  No one would miss you – in fact, if I threw a party to celebrate, the whole school would show up.”
    Breathless, she stops ranting.  I’ve got to stop her before she gets her momentum back and starts to shout at me again.
    I force myself to sit up properly and look at Rhiannon’s face.  Her reaction is too fierce and too intense to be natural.  She’s losing it.  Interesting.
    “You two make me sick ,” Rhiannon spits, her voice shrill.  “The two of you with your stupid faces and your stupid –
    “Just shut the hell up and let me think .”
    The abrupt silence gives me time to focus.  Staring at Rhiannon, I concentrate hard. 
    Let’s see if any of this hocus-pocus stuff works.
    Right, moo face, I’m just going to have a go at reading your mind, so if you could stand perfectly still….
    Wow.  Within seconds, I feel somethin g.  As I look at the chipmunk, something reaches out from within me, like invisible tentacles.  I can’t see them, but I can feel them move.  My head feels thick, like when you get up in the morning after too much sleep.  Everything is muffled.  My ears pop and, bingo, Rhiannon’s thoughts are in my head.
    So, it really is that easy. 
    “Don’t you dare tell me to shut up.”
    The silence, however short, is enough for me to find what I need.  Grabbing Agatha’s hand, I pull