Free Keep the Faith by Candy Harper

on his back in the kids’ sandpit. For a second, I thought he’d knocked himself out, but then he lifted a wobbly arm and gave us a thumbs up.
    Good grief. I wish he’d wear a helmet.
    All the time.
    The rest of the boys appeared through the trees and gave Westy a round of applause. While I was gawping, Ang said to me, ‘Can I have my head back?’ which made me sit down sharpish
and hope that everybody’s eyes had been firmly on Westy and that no one had noticed me airing my knicker region.
    The lads came over, tripping each other up and insulting each other’s intelligence, looks and sporting ability. Westy ploughed through them on his scooter. He shook sand out of his hair
like a dog and said, ‘Nice pants, Faith.’
    I might have to rethink my dislike of trousers.
    We sat about chatting for a while and I explained my brilliant idea for the debating club.
    ‘Sounds like English lessons,’ Cam said.
    ‘Sounds like a chance for me to make everyone else feel inferior with my razor-sharp wit,’ Ethan said. ‘You can count me in. As long as it’s not on Mondays because
I’m usually in detention.’ He rubbed his hands together. ‘Making whichever teacher put me there feel inferior with my razor-sharp wit.’
    ‘I’m definitely coming, Faith,’ Westy said. ‘I’m not good at writing stuff down, but I’m really good at talking. And if anyone gets out of hand and starts
fighting I can be security.’
    I beamed. Apart from Cam, they seemed very enthusiastic.
    ‘What about you, Elliot?’ Megs asked, shooting Angharad a look. ‘If we get a debating club set up, will you come?’
    Elliot froze. ‘Um . . . I mean . . . I don’t really like getting up in front of people and doing stuff.’
    ‘It’s only a bit of talking,’ I said.
    Lily gave me a shove. ‘Faith would find it harder to shut up for five minutes. Don’t worry, Elliot, Angharad’s a bit nervous too, aren’t you, Ang? But we all know
you’re both really clever. You should give it a go. Doesn’t matter if you’re not as gobby as this lot.’
    Angharad and Elliot exchanged a look. I think they were sympathising with each other, but I can’t be sure as it’s impossible for me to put myself in the place of a quiet person. Even
though I’m pretty sure Miss Ramsbottom and my granny would really like to put a quiet person in place of me.
    Anyway, hopefully the whole gang will be getting involved in my debating club. Although, I might have to get Megs to work on Cam. I don’t mind if she snogs him or wallops him, as long as
she gets him there.
    It was getting pretty chilly sitting about on the benches, so Westy suggested that we play a game to warm ourselves up.
    ‘What about Colour Run?’ he said.
    Ethan started laughing. ‘We got banned from playing that.’
    ‘What’s Colour Run?’ I asked. ‘And why were you banned from playing it?’
    ‘We used to play it at primary school with Mr Sachs, didn’t we, Westy? He’d call out a colour and we had to run and touch something of that colour. Last person to find
something was out.’
    Westy snorted with laughter.
    ‘What? What happened?’ Megs asked.
    Ethan smirked. ‘One time we were playing and Mr Sachs called out, “Orange!”’
    Ethan loves to string a story out so I said, ‘Yes? And? Come on!’
    ‘The only orange thing in the room was his tracksuit . . .’
    Angharad’s little eyes stretched wide.
    ‘. . . He might have been all right if it hadn’t been Westy that got to him first.’
    Westy gave Ethan a shove. ‘It wasn’t me that broke his leg!’
    ‘No,’ said Ethan. ‘It was the thirty other kids who piled in on top of you.’
    We had a go at Colour Run for a while. Even though I don’t generally approve of being made to run about, it was quite good fun. I don’t know why, but we all seemed to enjoy dashing
about like a load of little kids. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that the game provided the opportunity to keep crashing into the