Becky's Problem Pet

by Holly Webb

  Becky giggled, then turned back to Jack. “Please?” she asked hopefully, and Fran looked eager.

  “Sure, if you’re careful.” Jack was enjoying showing the rats off – even if he didn’t like them that much, and he had absolutely no idea whether Two was a cinnamon or a curry powder – they were his, and he liked people admiring them.

  He handed Godzilla to Robin, then opened the rats’ cage and carefully cupped his hands round One, lifted him out and passed him to Becky, who cradled him gently. Then he passed Two to Fran.

  “Be careful with her – she’s probably going to have her babies any day now.”

  Becky looked worriedly at Two – was it OK to pick her up if she was pregnant? Oh, well, it was too late now, and Two certainly didn’t seem to mind.

  “Babies? Really?” Fran gazed at Two who was sniffing her hands with interest, and showing signs of wanting to climb up her arm and investigate the rest of her. One was already sitting on Becky’s shoulder, and seemed to be very interested in her bunches.

  “Yeah, I’ve had them in the same cage since half-term when I got them, and rats are only pregnant for twenty days, so I don’t reckon it’ll be long.” He smirked, anticipating his little goldmine growing.

  Becky and Fran looked at Two again. She was beautiful, and she was also very slim. She didn’t look pregnant at all! They exchanged a thoughtful glance, and Becky retrieved One from where he was obviously considering abseiling down her back via her hair. She held him in one hand and tickled his tummy gently, which he seemed to love, and she and Fran exchanged another thoughtful look.

  Katie looked at her watch. “Sorry, you two. I think we ought to get back – we told Mum we wouldn’t be long. Thanks for showing them to us, Jack.”

  Becky looked disappointed. “None of the rest of you want a hold? They’re ever so tame. Jack must be playing with them loads.” She watched Jack carefully as she said this, and, as she’d expected, a slightly worried look passed over his face. She had a horrible feeling that he wasn’t handling One and Two much at all.

  Katie and Megan got as far as stroking the rats, but didn’t want to hold them – Megan explained that it wasn’t because she didn’t like them, she was just worried because they were so lively and wriggly. What if she dropped one, or held it too tight?

  Becky and Fran put One and Two back in the cage, and Jack did up the locks. Annabel and Saima eagerly led the way down the stairs, and said super-polite, relieved goodbyes to Jack’s mum, and Susie, who looked as though she was intending to make Jack’s life a misery for the rest of the week.

  Strangely, Becky and Fran seemed quite happy to leave as well – Katie had been expecting an argument when she’d suggested it was time to go. And why did Becky look as though she was trying not to laugh? Katie hurried them down the garden path at high speed – it was time to find out just what was going on!

  Chapter Five

  Becky and Fran just wouldn’t stop giggling, and it was driving the others mad.

  “What is it with you two?” Katie asked, standing with her hands on her hips in the middle of the pavement, and glaring at them in exasperation. “What’s so funny?”

  “Was there something wrong with those rats?” Megan wondered, intrigued.

  “No,” said Becky, then looked at Fran and cracked up all over again. This time she laughed so much she could hardly breathe, and she started making strange choking noises, and went bright scarlet.

  Annabel was mortified. “Becky, stop it! People are looking!” Normally she liked to be the centre of attention, but not because her identical triplet was doing an impression of a crazed beetroot. Unfortunately her pleas had no effect whatsoever on Becky, although she had at least stopped making the wheezing noises.

  “Let’s get home,” said Katie, shaking her head. “She needs a glass of water.”

  “Yes, and if she doesn’t shut up,” said Annabel, death-staring Becky, “I’ll be pouring it over her head! Get a grip, will you?” She gripped her sister’s arm and started to march her in the direction of home, while the others trailed behind, infected by Becky and Fran’s giggles, even though they had no idea why they were laughing.

  By the time they got into their road Becky seemed to have recovered, apart from subdued giggles every time she looked at Fran. But they were still refusing to say why they were being so mad.

  “When we get home,” sniggered Becky. “We’ll show you, I promise.”

  The triplets rushed their friends through polite hellos to Mrs Ryan, and stuffed biscuits and drinks into their hands, then they all galloped upstairs to their room, and Annabel and Katie installed Becky on her bed and ordered her to talk – now.

  Becky looked round, patted the bed beside her to invite Fran to sit too, and then groped around on the floor beside the bed for some stuff she’d printed off from the net.

  “Becky!” wailed Annabel. “Stop messing about and tell us!”

  “I am!” Becky protested. “No, seriously, I need these to make you understand. It would be easier with my Practical Pets magazine, but Miss Fraser’s still got that, so this’ll have to do.”

  “There! Look!” squeaked Fran, pointing at one of the pages.

  “Oooh, yes.” Becky checked that everyone was looking suitably desperate, and smiled. “OK. You know that Jack’s big plan is to breed baby rats, right?”

  “Yes, of course we do! That’s only what you’ve been having hysterics about since yesterday lunch!” snapped Annabel.

  Everybody in the room gave her surprised looks, and she went pink. “Sorry! I just really want to know what’s going on!” Annabel was fairly terrible at keeping secrets herself, and she absolutely hated it when she felt that someone wasn’t telling her something.

  “Well basically, Fran and I were laughing because there’s no way that Jack’s plan is ever going to work. There aren’t going to be any babies.”

  Katie looked confused. “Why not? He’s got two rats.”

  Becky grinned. “He certainly has.”

  Katie wasn’t looking any less confused by this answer, until suddenly her face cleared, and a delighted sparkle came into her eyes. “Oh, you don’t mean. . .”

  “Oh yes,” chorused Becky and Fran, beaming.

  “What?” yelped Annabel. “Somebody tell me!”

  “Look.” Becky waved her sheets of paper at Annabel, Saima and Megan, and they peered over. “You see these diagrams? That’s how you tell if you’ve got a male rat or a female rat. They had the same sort of thing in the magazine, only with photos so it was a lot easier to tell. Jack was going on about how Two was going to have the babies soon, but she didn’t look pregnant. She was really skinny for a rat actually, I don’t think he’s feeding them right—”

  “Becky!”

  “OK, OK! So when Fran and I got to hold Jack’s rats I looked at them both to check. . . Two’s a girl all right – but so is One.”

  “He’s got two girl rats?” Megan said slowly.

  “Uh-huh. So I’d say the chances of him breeding any snake snacks are pretty low.”

  The giggles that had been affecting Becky and Fran ever since they left Jack’s house now spread to everybody, and it was a good while before they all recovered.

  Finally Becky took a deep, calming breath, and reached under her bed for a packet of jellybeans she’d been saving for a special occasion. This was definitely it. She handed them round, and soon everyone was too occupied with chewing for more than a few quiet sniggers.

  “Wow.” Annabel shook her head. “How could he be that stupid?”

  Becky grinned at her. “Like you would have known!”

  “Yeah, but I’m not trying to make millions out of rat-breeding – thank goodness. That’s such a boy thing to do, it really is.”

  Katie raised her eyebrows. “Excuse me, what’s Josh Matthews?”

  Annabel looked patien
t, as though Katie was being deeply stupid. Then she exchanged an annoying little smile with Saima – a sort of “never mind she’ll grow out of it one day” look, a look that it was a good thing Katie missed due to searching for the last orange jellybean.

  “Josh Matthews is a very gorgeous boy, Katie – and just because I like him it doesn’t mean I don’t know that most boys are complete idiots.”

  Katie just shrugged, as though she thought Annabel was crazy, and she simply couldn’t be bothered to think through her mad logic – which was pretty much the case. She turned back to Becky. “How come Jack thinks he’s got a boy and a girl? Didn’t someone tell him when he got them?”

  Becky shook her head. “He got them off a friend’s brother. Maybe he didn’t know either – or maybe he was just having a laugh, telling Jack they were a pair. He probably thought it was really funny.”

  The jellybean-eating session was interrupted by Mrs Ryan shouting up the stairs. “Megan! Your mum’s here!”

  “Oh, why does she always have to be on time for everything?” moaned Megan, heaving herself off Katie’s bed. “See you tomorrow, everybody.”

  Saima’s dad arrived just as Megan and her mum were heading down the garden path, so when the triplets went back upstairs after saying goodbye it was just them and Fran – the triplets were going to walk her back, as she lived really close.

  Becky lay down on her bed facing the others, and put her chin in her hands. “I’ve just thought of something,” she said worriedly. “I’d only been able to think about how funny this all was before, but what’s going to happen now?”

  “What do you mean?” Fran asked, a confused look on her face. “Nothing’s going to happen! That’s why it’s so funny!”

  Katie made a face. “Oh, yeah, I see what you’re getting at, Becky. How long is Jack going to wait for his baby rats to turn up?”

  “And what’s he going to do if they don’t?” Becky stuck her thumbnail in her mouth and nibbled it worriedly!

  “Becky, don’t do that,” snapped Annabel, and Becky guiltily whipped her hand from her mouth – Annabel could sound very like their mum at times – and then looked crossly at her sister.

  “It’s my nail, why can’t I chew it? I’m worried!”

  “Oh fine, just don’t blame me next time you want to paint your nails and they look disgusting.”

  Becky gave Annabel a “you’re so weird” look, stuck her thumbnail back in her mouth and spoke round it.

  “I don’t know how long Jack’s going to wait – I mean, he’s doing this because he thinks it’s going to be easy money.”

  Fran had sobered up. “You’re right. And I don’t think he’s looking after them properly either. They’re too thin, and that cage wasn’t very clean. It’s not fair – they were so friendly and gorgeous!”

  Annabel made a kind of snorting noise, and then withered slightly under a combined glare from Fran and Becky.

  “What we’re trying to say is, they’re really lovely tame rats now, but if he doesn’t handle them and play with them every day they’ll stop being so friendly,” Fran explained.

  “Mmm, it won’t take long for them to go all wild again. The next time he wants to show them off to someone, they might bite him. If that happens, he’ll probably just go into a sulk, give up on the whole thing and give One and Two straight to the exotic pet shop.” Becky kicked her feet into the bed frustratedly.

  Katie tried to cheer them up. “He might not. I mean, he looks after his lizard really well, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes but he loves that lizard, and he couldn’t really care less about the rats – that’s the problem, he’s got no time for looking after them, he’d rather play with Godzilla.” Becky sighed miserably. It was so unfair! Some boy’s cruel joke on Jack – and now the rats were paying for it.

  Fran looked at her watch. “I’m sorry, I need to get back soon – Dad’ll have a go at me about my homework if I don’t. Is that OK?”

  “Course.” Becky rolled off the bed, and Katie and Annabel got up too.

  They wandered down the stairs and grabbed their coats. “We’re taking Fran home, Mum,” called Becky.

  “Back in ten minutes,” added Katie.

  “OK, well, tea’ll be ready soon, so make sure it is ten minutes,” came the answer from the kitchen.

  All the way to Fran’s house, she and Becky worried about One and Two, until Katie and Annabel were sick to death of hearing how gorgeous they were, and how much Jack didn’t deserve them.

  And on the walk back, Becky was totally silent – she had a horrible feeling she was going to have to confront Jack again. . .

  Chapter Six

  Becky went to school on Thursday knowing that she couldn’t simply march up to Jack and tell him that he wasn’t looking after his rats properly. For a start, he wouldn’t care! That was the whole problem. She needed a plan – when she went to talk to him the day before, she’d worked up her courage just enough to get her across the classroom, but she hadn’t actually thought about what she was going to say when she got there. Today, she needed to say something that might actually make him listen. She just had no idea what that was.

  The triplets and their friends were chatting while they waited for Miss Fraser to come and take the register. Becky was stroking her cheek with the end of one of her bunches, and thoughtfully looking sideways at Jack and his friends, while listening with half an ear to the conversation going on around her. Saima and Annabel still had the magazine that they’d been looking at on Tuesday, and they’d gone back to the article on how to make boys like you.

  “‘Be nice to them’?” Katie sounded disbelieving. “Well, that’s an amazing idea – if you’re nice to boys they might like you – wow!”

  “It’s not just being nice,” said Annabel patiently. “It’s flattery. It’s different. Being interested in stuff they’re interested in, getting them to talk about it. Not that it’s going to be much use,” she added moodily. “Apparently Josh asked out that girl Julianne in Year Eight with the dark red hair.” She caught Katie’s smirk and added crossly, “And we know you think it’s all stupid so you needn’t bother saying so.”

  Saima was reading the article again. “This bit in the bubble says not to forget it can be a good way to make boys do what you want, as well,” she said thoughtfully. “Like flattering them to make them think something’s their idea, I suppose.”

  Becky was still staring sideways, but about thirty seconds after Saima’s comment, she processed what she’d actually said and turned back, her eyes wide open and hopeful. “Oooh, Saima, please can I have a look?”

  Everyone looked at her, amazed, and eventually Annabel came out with what they were all thinking:

  “Why?”

  Becky blushed. “Well, not in a boyfriend kind of way, but I was just thinking it might help me get Jack to look after his rats better. I don’t know, maybe I could convince him he wants to, somehow?”

  “We might have known,” sighed Annabel. “It was too much to hope that you might be interested in my magazine for anything normal like making a boy like you. No, of course, you want help with a rat.”

  Becky smiled sweetly at her. “Two rats, actually. Just give me the magazine, Bel.” And she tweaked it out from under Annabel and Saima’s noses, and stared at the article very carefully with her chin in her hands, to hide that she was still rather pink. . .

  Fran looked over her shoulder. “Do you think you can actually convince Jack that he wants to look after them properly?” She sounded rather disbelieving.

  Becky shrugged. “It’s the best idea I’ve had so far. I’m not quite sure how to do it, but it’s got to be better than yelling at him, don’t you think?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. . .” Katie grinned.

  “I don’t do yelling as well as you,” retorted Becky. “You got the bossy bit of me, we all know that – it
isn’t fair.”

  Fran was looking thoughtful. “Actually, it might not be such a bad idea, you know. When we went to see the rats yesterday and you said how tame they were, and he must be handling them loads—”

  “But he isn’t,” Becky interrupted. “He looked all embarrassed, I was watching him –that’s why I said it, to see what he did.”

  “I know! But, don’t you see, he didn’t go, ‘Oh no, I never let them out of the cage’, did he? He just kind of let it go. He didn’t say anything.”

  Katie nodded. “She’s right, Becky. He didn’t want to admit he wasn’t looking after them properly in front of us all. Maybe you can shame him into looking after them. It won’t be easy, though.”

  Annabel looked over at Jack. “So you’re going to try and charm him into doing what you want?”

  Becky blushed again. “Suppose so.”

  “Excellent! Can we watch?” Annabel gave her sister a teasing smile.

  “No way. You’ll just try and make me laugh, I know you will. You’re staying well out of it.”

  “Awww. That’s not fair, it was my magazine that gave you the idea.”

  “No. I’m not going to do it now anyway, I need to think about it. And I can’t exactly walk up to him and start trying out tricks from magazines with all of you watching, that’ll make it really obvious.”

  And she sounded so definite that Annabel had to be content with that.

  As it turned out, Becky got the ideal opportunity in science that afternoon. They were supposed to be doing some weird experiment that involved boiling water and putting it in beakers wrapped up in fleecy stuff. Somehow this was meant to tell you something about penguins in the Antarctic keeping themselves warm.

  Normally penguins would have made Becky much more interested in whatever they were doing – she loved them. But today she was more interested in Jack and Robin being at the next Bunsen burner. All they had to do for the experiment was record the temperature of the water every minute, so she had plenty of time for chatting as long as she was careful. Mrs Stafford, their science teacher, was quite nice, and as long as they were quiet when she was talking she didn’t mind a bit of noise.