Free Lily Alone by Jacqueline Wilson Page A

and a great hole in the plaster where he’d bashed into it trying to skateboard. Bliss hadn’t made any marks, but there were lots of discoloured patches on the pale carpet where Pixie had peed, just like a little puppy marking her territory.
    I gave the door another pull and set off down the balcony.
    â€˜Come on, you lot,’ I said.
    I put my finger to my lips as we passed Old Kath’s flat. We all went on tiptoe – but Kath’s got these great bat ears that are always flap-flap-flapping. There was a tap from inside her kitchen window. I pretended not to hear and pushed everyone past, but Kath was at her front door while I was still trudging for the lift.
    â€˜Hey, you kids,’ she yelled, and she caught hold of Pixie. She moved quicker than a rattlesnake for all she’d got a zimmer frame.
    Pixie gave a little squeal. Old Kath kept hold of her firmly with her gnarled old fingers and made ridiculous coochy-coo noises as if Pixie was a little baby instead of a person.
    â€˜How’s my little angel then?’ said Old Kath.
    â€˜She’s fine. The lift’s here. Come on, Pixie,’ I said urgently.
    â€˜Where are you going?’ Old Kath asked, still with Pixie in her clutches.
    â€˜We’re going to the adventure playground and I’m going to be boss of the whole den,’ said Baxter. ‘I’ll shoot anyone who comes near,’ he said, turning his arms into a machine gun and making mad ack-ack-ack noises.
    â€˜That’s not very nice,’ said Old Kath, because he was clearly aiming straight at her. ‘Why aren’t you kids in school? It is monday, isn’t it, girlie?’ she said to Bliss.
    Bliss looked agonized and said nothing.
    â€˜Yeah, it’s Monday, but we’ve got an Inset day off school so the teachers can have a staff meeting,’ I gabbled.
    â€˜Honestly! They never had that sort of thing when I was at school,’ said Old Kath. She looked up the balcony towards our front door. ‘Where’s your mum, then?’
    â€˜Oh, she’s just gone down the stairs. She doesn’t like to use the lift because it’s so smelly,’ I lied.
    â€˜Yes, it’s them wretched lads. They pee there on purpose,’ said Old Kath. She glared at Baxter. ‘Don’t let me catch you weeing in the lift, young man.’
    â€˜No, I’ll wee on you instead,’ said Baxter.
    Old Kath gasped. I grabbed Baxter and shook him hard.
    â€˜Oh, wait till I tell your mum on you!’ said Old Kath. She clutched her zimmer frame and hobbled to the edge of the balcony.
    â€˜Where is she, then?’ she said, peering down.
    â€˜Oh, maybe she’s gone to buy some cigarettes. We’ll catch up with her. Say sorry, Baxter, and come on .’
    I pinched his arm really hard so that he blurted out a mumble that could have been sorry. Then I picked up Pixie and made a run for the lift, Bliss leaping after me, terrified of being left behind. We were in the lift before Old Kath could stop us.
    â€˜You hurt me, you mean pig,’ Baxter whined, examining the red mark on his arm.
    â€˜Yeah, well, I meant to hurt you. All of you, I told you to keep quiet going past Old Kath’s. She’ll still be squawking about telling Mum when we come back. She might even come stomping along to our flat, and then what are we going to do?’
    â€˜Tell her to bog off,’ said Baxter.
    â€˜Stop that silly talk right this minute, Baxter,’ I said, putting my face up close to his. ‘If she finds out Mum’s gone she’ll tell someone. Maybe she’ll even go down the council office and send a social worker to see us.’
    â€˜Well, we’ll tell them to bog off,’ said Baxter, laughing stupidly.
    â€˜Yes, and then they’ll lock us all up in a children’s home,’ I said, as we clattered out of the lift. ‘ Separate ones. And you’ll probably end up in a special strict one