Dani’s Diary

by Narinder Dhami

  ‘No, she hasn’t!’ Milly spoke up quickly before I could think of a single thing to say. ‘We’re not friends. I don’t like her.’

  I stole a glance at Milly then. The expression on her face was perfect. She looked as if she disliked me intensely (I told you she was a good liar).

  ‘I was talking to one of my friends in the garden about the ghost,’ Milly went on. ‘Asha was out there playing with Hardeep, and she must have overheard me.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘Serves her right for listening.’

  Oh, thank you, Milly!

  ‘But why did you get out of bed, Asha?’ said Dad, still looking suspicious. ‘You must have seen something, or why did you scream?’

  ‘I heard footsteps,’ I said reluctantly. ‘And then I looked out and saw someone—’

  ‘It was me,’ Milly said immediately. ‘I’d been outside.’

  ‘Well, that explains everything,’ said Mr Lawrence with a huge yawn. ‘Now how about we all get back to bed?’

  ‘What’s that?’ Hardeep was peering down the hall.

  My heart missed a beat at the look on his face. Was it the White Lady? But it wasn’t. It was a thin cloud of grey smoke curling out from the kitchen doorway.

  ‘Fire!’ Mr Lawrence bellowed. He raced off, with Mr Chaudhary and Dad behind him. Mrs Lawrence, Milly, Hardeep and I followed. As we did so, I caught the expression on Milly’s face. She looked worried.

  The kitchen was full of smoke. As Dad flung open windows, coughing, Mr Chaudhary began flapping a towel around and Mr Lawrence turned off the cooker.

  ‘Someone put the grill on and didn’t turn it off,’ Mr Lawrence explained, coughing and spluttering. ‘The grease in the pan got too hot and started to smoke.’

  Dad frowned. ‘Who put the grill on in the middle of the night?’ he demanded.

  I had a horrible feeling I knew what was coming. And I was right.

  ‘It was me,’ Milly said defiantly. ‘I wanted to make some toast. I was hungry. Then I forgot about it when Asha screamed.’

  ‘Well!’ Dad could barely speak, he was so angry. ‘Just look at all the trouble you’ve caused! First you frighten Asha, and then you nearly burn the house down! If you were my daughter—’

  ‘Well, she isn’t!’ Mr Chaudhary interrupted him angrily. He pushed Milly behind him as if to shield her from Dad. ‘And don’t speak to me or my family in that manner ever again.’

  ‘Why do you allow your daughter to run wild?’ demanded Dad. I tried to get a look at Milly’s face to see if she was upset, but she was half hidden behind her father. ‘She’s a bad influence in this house! She needs a firm hand—’

  ‘Guys!’ Mr Lawrence raised his voice. ‘Look, let’s leave it. We should all get back to bed right away.’

  Without another word Mr Chaudhary, looking very tired all of a sudden, led Milly out of the room. Mr and Mrs Lawrence went back downstairs and Hardeep and I followed Dad along the landing. He was still muttering furiously to himself.

  ‘Why is that girl allowed to wander around the house in the middle of the night, disturbing people? And making toast at four a.m.! I never heard of anything so stupid. Where did she get the matches from to light the grill? Have her parents no sense of responsibility?’

  I felt wretched as I climbed silently into bed. It was my fault Milly had got into trouble again. But I was feeling just a little bit sorry for myself too. I’d promised Dad that I’d do well at school and study hard and go to university. But I had suddenly realized that I had no idea what Milly was like at school. What if she got into serious trouble and I was involved too, because I was her friend? Would she laugh at me for studying and tease me for wanting to go to university?

  Suddenly going to Coppergate Secondary Modern didn’t seem like quite such an exciting adventure after all.

  Chapter Five

  April 2006

  LALITA WAS SUPPOSED to look after me on my first day at Coppergate. I would rather have been looked after by a bunch of man-eating sharks, but of course, dear little Lalita had no intention of looking after me. She waited next to me at the playground gates until Mum and Ravi had driven off, and then she walked away without a word.

  I scuttled over to stand in a corner of the huge playground, feeling like all new kids feel on their first day. I was trying to look all cool and I don’t care-ish. But I was really miserable, anxious and wishing I was somewhere else. I might as well have been wearing a sign saying I’M NEW, PLEASE BULLY ME. My blue and brown uniform (how horrible is that?) was stiff and uncomfortable, and even the school buildings looked scary. Coppergate was an enormous, very modern school with hundreds of large plate-glass windows which looked like eyes, lots of eyes, all staring back at me …

  OK, so I was getting a bit stressed out. Mum had told me that there were eighteen hundred pupils at the school and I didn’t know a single one of them. Except for Lalita. No wonder I was depressed.

  As I stood there fretting, I gradually became aware that there was a group of girls standing a little way off, staring and pointing at me. I tried to glance over without them realizing I was looking at them, which kind of made me look as if I was cross-eyed. Lalita was in the middle of the group. She nodded at me, said something, and all the others started howling with laughter, that fake, loud kind that gangs of girls do when they’re being nasty about someone.

  I ground my teeth together in fury. Maybe Lalita was telling them how she got me into trouble a few days ago when I thought she’d run away. Things had just about got back to normal – well, I mean normal for us. Ravi had forgiven me, but Lalita never lost the chance to tease me about it whenever he and Mum weren’t around. She was still getting those mysterious phone calls, though, and I was determined to find out if they were from someone – a boy – at school. I was going to make her pay for what she’d done to me (sorry, I sound like a cheesy villain in a James Bond movie, but you know what I mean).

  More loud girlie laughter.

  ‘Oh, Lalita, you’re so evil!’ one of them trilled.

  I fought the urge to glare at them and turned my back. I could see through the playground gates and across the road, where Nan said the old school, Coppergate Secondary Modern, used to stand. There was nothing left of it now, and houses were being built on the site. I frowned. It was so strange to think of Nan, my age, being here all those years ago. I’d never read any book which gripped me as much as Nan’s diary, and I could hardly wait to find out what happened next between her and Milly. I’d just got to the part where Nan was about to start at Coppergate. I hoped she’d had a better first day than I’d had so far …

  An electric bell rang deafeningly inside the school, making me jump. I glanced over at Lalita. She was supposed to escort me to our classroom, but from the speed at which she was crossing the playground, her friends behind her, I guessed she was going to leave me high and dry without a clue where to go.

  ‘Oh no you don’t!’ I muttered.

  Clutching my bag tightly, I shot off after her. Everyone else was heading the same way, and I had to push and shove through the crowds to keep Lalita in sight.

  ‘Hey! Watch where you’re going!’

  ‘Stop pushing!’

  ‘Ow! Do you know you just stuck your elbow in my eye?!’

  Leaving a trail of minor injuries and chaos behind me, I charged inside the school. Luckily Lalita had a bright red canvas bag slung over her shoulder, and I could just about see it bobbing in front of me as she wove her way through the other pupils at the speed of a Formula One driver.

  Then I lost her. I skidded to a halt, groaning with frustration – but wait! There was the red bag again! I had just caught a glimpse of it whizzing into a classroom at the end of the corridor!

  ‘Got you!’ I gasped. I flew down the corridor and came to a triumphant stop in the open doorway of the classroom.

  Immediately about thirty-two people stopped talking and thirty-two pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. I flushed bright red – well, I was already red from anger, an
d from running, so I was probably an interesting shade of dark purple by then.

  Somebody laughed, and a few other people joined in.

  ‘There’s a really funny smell in here,’ said one girl loudly. ‘It’s disgusting!’

  I glanced over at her. She was one of those glossy, expensive-looking girls with perfect hair, make-up and nails. Although she was Indian, she had very green eyes.

  ‘Ooh, I know, Celina!’ said one of her friends, who was blonde and fluffy and girlie and looked like she could do with a good meal inside her. ‘Isn’t it awful the way some people just don’t look after themselves?’

  More people were laughing now. Puzzled, I looked around the room and saw Lalita. She was smirking widely, and that made me go cold inside. What had she been saying about me?

  ‘Hello? Excuse me?’

  I gradually became aware that there was someone – a man, probably a teacher – behind me. I spun round awkwardly and stepped on his foot.

  ‘Ow!’

  ‘Sorry,’ I muttered, feeling close to tears as there was more laughter.

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’ The man, who looked more like a male model than a teacher, smiled at me. ‘You must be Danjit. Welcome to Coppergate.’

  I realized that this was my form teacher, Mr Arora. Keeping my head bent, I shuffled into the classroom behind him, hoping I would soon wake up and discover that this was all a bad dream.

  ‘There’s a seat for you at Lalita’s table, Danjit,’ said Mr Arora as he opened the register. ‘I’m sure you’d like to sit with someone you already know.’

  No, I wouldn’t. I’d rather sit in a bath full of poisonous snakes.

  ‘Thank you,’ I mumbled.

  Miserably I trekked my way across the classroom to Lalita. It seemed like miles. Lalita and three of her friends sat watching me with unfriendly eyes.

  I sat down.

  ‘How far do you think they can jump?’ asked the ginger-haired girl who was sitting next to Lalita. All four girls sniggered.

  ‘Oh, miles and miles, Vicky,’ Lalita replied airily. ‘It’s a well-known fact. Just keep your eyes open, girls.’

  I couldn’t help staring at them. I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. But, from the way they were smirking, I just knew it was something to do with me.

  ‘Maybe we should borrow some disinfectant from the cleaners,’ suggested one of the others, a girl in a hijab. They all started giggling.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ I whispered furiously. I know I should have kept quiet, but they were driving me seriously crazy.

  ‘Silence please,’ Mr Arora said sharply. ‘I’m just about to take the register.’

  I huddled down in my seat, trying to make myself as small as possible, not looking at Lalita and her friends. I had to fight to stop the tears welling up. This was my school now. I was stuck here, and already I hated it …

  By the time assembly was over, I had made plans in my head to either run away, get rid of Lalita or burn down Coppergate School. None of those was really something I could ever see happening. My back-up plan was to talk to Mum, tell her how miserable I was and try to persuade her to let me return to Oakfields. I didn’t fancy my chances.

  Outside the classroom, in the corridor, were rows of lockers. Mr Arora had told me which one was mine and given me a key. Everyone else was milling around there, chatting and collecting their books for the first lesson. I couldn’t mill around and chat because I didn’t know anybody and I didn’t have any books yet, so I just stood there awkwardly, rooting in my bag and pretending I was putting something in my locker.

  I opened the door. Then my heart almost jumped out of my chest. My locker wasn’t empty. A piece of white paper had been slotted through the gap between the hinges.

  I told myself not to be stupid. It had probably been left behind by the person who’d used the locker last. On the other hand, it might be some sort of trap. A Lalita trap …

  I glanced around cautiously. The bell for first lesson had just rung, and people were hurrying off in various directions. I waited till the crowd around me had cleared a bit, and then I reached into my locker and lifted the piece of paper up by one corner. I handled it as carefully as if it was an unexploded bomb (knowing Lalita, anything was possible).

  My eyes almost fell out of my head as I stared at what was in front of me. It was a card. There were large gold letters on the front – WELCOME TO COPPERGATE, DANJIT! Underneath was a sticker of a fluffy amber-coloured cat which looked a bit like Tabitha. My hands shaking, I opened the card up. There was nothing written inside.

  ‘Oh!’ I really could not believe that someone, whoever it was, was actually being kind to me. I stood there for a moment or two, trying not to cry, until I gradually realized that I was the only person left in the corridor. Slipping the card carefully into my bag, I hurried off.

  Luckily my first class, which was English, was just round the corner. I love English and it’s one of my best subjects, so I’d been told I’d be in the top set. Lalita wasn’t, ha ha! I was really hoping we wouldn’t have many classes together.

  Although I was a bit late, the teacher hadn’t arrived yet, so I joined the queue outside the classroom. In front of me were two girls and a boy from Mr Arora’s class, and they were chatting away to each other, laughing and joking. One of the girls, so beautiful I couldn’t stop staring at her, was holding a pile of folders in her arms. The folder on top, a bright pink one, had a sticker of a cat in the corner, exactly the same as the sticker on my welcome card. I stared at it. Was this the person who’d sent me the card? She didn’t know me. So why would she do that?

  I glanced up to find the other girl smiling at me.

  ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘You OK?’

  I nodded, too tongue-tied to speak but managing to smile back at her.

  ‘I only started at Coppergate myself about six months ago,’ she went on. ‘I’m Sunita. This is Zara and this is Henry.’

  The beautiful girl and the fair-haired boy both grinned at me.

  ‘Why don’t you sit with us in class, Danjit?’ Henry suggested. ‘There’s a spare place next to Sunita.’

  ‘Yes, that’s the awkward thing about being a group of three,’ Zara said grumpily, tossing back her dark curls. ‘One person’s always left out. I did warn Henry and Sunita about this before, but did they listen? No, they did not.’

  I stared at Zara in amazement, not quite sure how to take this, but Sunita and Henry were both laughing.

  ‘Don’t take any notice of Zara, Danjit,’ said Sunita. ‘She loves to moan.’

  ‘I’d really like to sit with you,’ I said, trying not to sound too eager. ‘And everyone calls me Dani.’

  ‘Hi, Dani!’ said Henry and Sunita together, as the teacher arrived.

  Zara was staring at my bag. I glanced down and saw the welcome card sticking up out of the side pocket.

  ‘Someone left this in my locker,’ I said quickly, pulling it out. ‘I don’t know who though. It isn’t signed.’

  Zara, Henry and Sunita glanced at each other.

  ‘We’d better warn you,’ said Sunita casually, ‘that doing secret good deeds is quite a big thing at Coppergate.’

  I was puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Oh, just giving a helping hand when it’s needed,’ explained Henry. ‘Tidying lockers, leaving little surprise gifts, helping out teachers and other kids.’

  ‘In secret?’ I was intrigued. I’d never heard of anything like this before, and my very low opinion of Coppergate rose just a little.

  Zara nodded as we began filing into class. ‘That’s what makes it special.’

  Henry and Sunita seemed to find this very amusing for some reason. Zara glared at them, but I could see she didn’t really mean it.

  ‘If you two are going to be so childish, you can sit together and I’ll sit with Dani.’ She linked arms with me and pulled me across the classroom. I followed; I didn’t dare do anything else! But already I was starting to fe
el better just because someone was bothering to talk to me …

  I was thrilled to find that I was in the same sets as Zara, Henry and Sunita for almost all my lessons, although I didn’t want to seem too desperate to make friends. After all, I didn’t know them very well yet, and they didn’t know me. Maybe we really could be friends, but at the moment I knew they were just being kind. So when the bell for break time sounded, I pretended to take ages packing my books away into my bag so that if they wanted to leave without me and go off on their own, they could. When I finally looked up, everyone else had gone, and Sunita, Zara and Henry were standing patiently in the classroom doorway.

  ‘Are you coming, Dani?’ asked Sunita.

  I could feel myself light up with joy. ‘Yes, please!’ I said. ‘Er – I mean, yes, if you don’t mind, thank you very much.’ I didn’t know what I was saying.

  ‘You’re going to have to be a bit quicker in future,’ Zara said with a frown. ‘We’ve wasted half of break time standing here waiting for you!’

  ‘I’m very grateful,’ I said solemnly. I’d already realized that Zara’s bark was worse than her bite. Henry and Sunita giggled and I grinned at them.

  I was feeling quite happy when we went outside into the pale April sunshine, but that only lasted until I saw Lalita and her friends once more. They started all that routine again, laughing and pointing and holding their noses. My face dropped immediately.

  ‘So,’ Zara said instantly, ‘I take it you and Lalita don’t get on.’ It seemed like the whole class already knew about me, Lalita and our parents. Lalita had obviously been complaining to anyone who would listen.

  ‘Is it that obvious?’ I sighed.

  ‘Oh, it’s obvious, believe me,’ replied Zara.

  ‘It must be hard, suddenly having a stepsister exactly the same age,’ said Sunita sympathetically. ‘My real brother and sister drive me crazy, and they’re seven years younger than me!’

  We found a patch of dry grass and sat down.

  ‘She’s just so – so’ – I struggled to find the words to sum Lalita up – ‘awkward. Annoying. Irritating. Sulky.’ Once I’d started I couldn’t stop. ‘Do you lot like her?’