Ms Diamond went to the board and underlined the words Help and Others.
‘This challenge is about sharing,’ she said. ‘And that doesn’t just mean money. Sharing your time and your energy is another way to help others. You could all get a lot more than you think out of this challenge, if you try.’
Everyone went quiet for a moment, thinking about what Ms Diamond had said. Then Matt grinned.
‘I bet the Angels end up spending all the money they raise at the Devils’ kissing booth!’ Then he screwed up his eyes and made kissy noises.
Quickly, while he still had his eyes closed, Chloe grabbed her lipgloss stick out of her pencil case and swooshed it around Matt’s mouth.
‘Er – gross!’ spluttered Matt.
‘Ooh, your lips are all lovely and sparkly now!’ said Chloe, smiling brightly.
‘Maybe you should join the Devils’ kissing booth,’ Matt said, rubbing his mouth. ‘I hope you do. I’ll save an extra squishy tomato just for chucking at you!’
‘All right, everyone!’ said Ms Diamond over the laughter. ‘Back to work.’
When Ms Diamond turned towards the blackboard, Annabelle leant across the aisle.
‘That was totally cool!’ she whispered to Chloe. ‘And you know what? I reckon you’ll do a great job as the leader of this challenge!’
Chloe smiled gratefully. ‘Thanks,’ she said. It was nice of Annabelle to say that. Especially as she didn’t get to lead a challenge.
Then suddenly, something Ms Diamond had said came back to her. ‘This challenge is all about sharing.’
Chloe had an idea. She leant back across the aisle. ‘Hey, Annabelle,’ she whispered. ‘Can I call you after school? I’ve got something really important to talk to you about.’
‘Sure!’ said Annabelle. ‘What is it?’
‘I’ll tell you on the phone later,’ said Chloe mysteriously.
Chloe didn’t get to talk to Dani about Lucy that afternoon, because Dani wasn’t on the bus. She had to go to a Zebras’ meeting at Sally’s house.
When Chloe got home she grabbed the phone and rushed to her room. She wanted to call Annabelle before her sister Ashley got home. Ashley hogged the phone for hours every night!
But when Chloe got to her room she hesitated. She knew she should make the call right away. But she was still in her school uniform and she always liked to get changed as soon as she got home.
I’ll change really quickly, she decided, opening a drawer and grabbing her favourite T-shirt. Then she pulled on a pair of leggings and threw a mini-skirt on over the top. Getting dressed with a broken arm had been difficult at first. But Chloe was getting good at it now.
Much better! thought Chloe, doing a little spin. Nice fresh clothes always made her feel better. It was like peeling off the old day and starting again.
The front door slammed. Ashley! Quickly, Chloe grabbed the phone and started dialling. It wasn’t long before she heard a yell from the lounge room.
‘Hey! Who’s on the phone?’
‘I am, sister!’ called Chloe sweetly. ‘And I might be a while. I’ve got some calls to make.’
‘So, what’s the big important thing you want to talk to me about?’ Annabelle asked, as soon as she picked up the phone.
‘It’s about leading this challenge,’ started Chloe.
‘Oh no!’ groaned Annabelle. ‘You’re not going to try to get out of it, are you?’
‘No, it’s not that,’ said Chloe quickly. ‘It’s just that I realised today how much work there is to do. There’s all the cleaning stuff to organise, for one thing. Plus we’ll have to make posters and put them up around the place, so people know the dog wash is on.’
Chloe flopped onto her bed as she continued. ‘So, I was thinking it’d be good to share the leadership of this challenge.’
‘You mean with Lucy?’ said Annabelle, sounding doubtful. ‘I don’t know if she’ll want to.’
‘No, with you!’ laughed Chloe. ‘We could be joint leaders.’
‘Really?’ said Annabelle, sounding excited. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course I’m sure!’ replied Chloe. ‘In fact, you’d be helping me out. There’s no way I can get this all organised by Saturday on my own.’
‘Well then, I’d love to be joint leader!’ said Annabelle, happily.
Chloe felt nice and warm inside, like she’d just had a hot chocolate. Ms Diamond was right. This sharing thing did make you feel good!
‘So … what do we need to discuss, joint leader?’ asked Annabelle.
Holding the phone between her head and her shoulder, Chloe grabbed her diary and looked at the list she’d written. ‘Firstly, posters,’ she said. ‘We need to make sure lots of people know to bring their dogs on Saturday.’
‘Soph and I can take care of that,’ said Annabelle.
‘Great!’ said Chloe, putting a big tick next to posters on her list. ‘We also need towels, shampoo and a big wash tub.’
‘Well, my mum buys shampoo in huge containers, so I can bring that. And Bonnie will have heaps of towels,’ said Annabelle, confidently. ‘Her brothers play football and they go through heaps of those things. I’ll give her a call tonight, if you like.’
‘OK,’ said Chloe, putting another tick on her list. Having a joint leader definitely made things much easier! ‘What about a wash tub and bucket? We can’t use a hose because of water restrictions.’
Annabelle thought for a moment. Then she said, ‘Well, actually, I did hear one of the Angels mention that they had a wash tub.’
‘Cool! Who?’ said Chloe.
‘Lucy,’ said Annabelle.
Lucy. Chloe had almost forgotten about what had happened that morning. So many other things had come along to distract her! But when Annabelle said Lucy’s name, it all came flooding back.
‘Lucy’s actually really nice, you know,’ said Annabelle softly.
‘I know she is,’ sighed Chloe. ‘But I’m not sure how to make up with her. Maybe I should make her a card or something? Or give her a present?’
‘Umm … why don’t you just talk to her?’ suggested Annabelle.
‘I guess I could,’ said Chloe doubtfully.
After Annabelle had hung up Chloe lay on her bed, thinking. Annabelle’s right. I should just talk to Lucy, she thought. But there was one big problem with that. Chloe had no idea what to say to her.
For the rest of the week Chloe avoided Lucy as much as possible. It wasn’t always easy to do, especially as they were all working together on the challenge. Whenever she needed Lucy to do something she got Annabelle to ask her.
On Thursday, Sophie brought the finished posters to school. She’d drawn a picture of a cute dog with a whole lot of bubbles on its head. Underneath, Annabelle had written the time, place and cost for the dog wash.
‘Wow, these posters are so cute!’ said Chloe. ‘I’ll put some of them up around school today.’
‘But your arm is still in that cast,’ Annabelle pointed out. ‘Maybe Lucy could help you?’
‘Um, well maybe you should help me, Belle,’ said Chloe hastily. ‘I’ve got some leader things to talk to you about.’ It wasn’t true. But Chloe wasn’t ready to talk with Lucy yet! And judging by Lucy’s face, she was quite happy not to help Chloe, too.
Annabelle rolled her eyes. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’ll help.’
‘When are you going to talk to Lucy?’ asked Annabelle as they stuck the posters up at lunchtime. ‘You can’t keep avoiding her forever.’
‘I’m still working out how to make it up to her,’ said Chloe. ‘Maybe I could show her some dance moves to use in the performance. Would she like that?’
Annabelle shook her head. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ she said. ‘She might think you’re trying to take over.’
Chloe could see what Annabelle meant. ‘Well, how about I give her one of my favourite tops? Like the white one with the unicorn on it.’
Annabelle shrugged. ‘Maybe,’ she said. ‘But whateve
r you decide to do, you’d better do it soon! The dog wash could be a total disaster if you guys aren’t speaking. I mean, anything could happen!’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Chloe, sounding more confident than she felt. ‘Everything will be sorted out by then.’
But by Saturday morning Chloe still hadn’t made up with Lucy. She had tried, though. On Friday, she’d seen Lucy sorting through old towels for the dog wash with Bonnie.
She went over to talk to them, but as she got closer, Chloe had gotten nervous. What if Lucy was still really angry and upset with her?
I might say something else dumb! Chloe had thought. That would be bad. She and Lucy might end up having an even worse fight! It’s probably better if I don’t say anything at all, Chloe had decided.
So as Chloe’s mum drove her to the school oval on Saturday morning, Chloe had two different feelings inside her. She was excited because finally it was Help Others Day. But she was also a bit nervous. How was she going to get through the whole day avoiding Lucy?
‘Here we are!’ said Chloe’s mum, pulling up. Chloe looked out at the oval. It was weird to see so many people there on a Saturday. All the teachers were there, including Mrs Clarke, the principal!
‘Bye, Mum!’ said Chloe, jumping out of the car. She hurried across to the oval. Dani and the other Zebras were near the car park, unloading tray after tray of lamingtons for their stall.
Chloe could see Maddy’s mum over in the far corner, helping the Thunderbolts unload bags of bread from the car boot for their sausage sizzle.
On the other side, the Devils were busily putting up a big, stripy tent. On the top fluttered a flag with a big pair of red lips painted on it. Out the front was a sign.
I can’t believe they’re actually going through with it! giggled Chloe to herself. I hope they’ve brought lots of tomatoes along!
Just then Chloe heard familiar voices. The other Angels were here! Chloe ran over to join the gang. They were already hard at work. Annabelle had spread out a big tarpaulin. Lucy’s old wash tub was sitting on top and a big pile of towels and scrubbing brushes were lined up beside it. Stuck into the ground was a big sign.
Chloe forgot to be nervous and just felt excited instead. Looking around she could tell the others felt the same way.
‘This is going to be awesome,’ said Lola. ‘Those Devils haven’t got a chance of beating us!’
‘Thanks for setting up, guys,’ said Chloe. The Angels really were an excellent team! ‘Now all we need to decide is who does which jobs.’
‘Can I be one of the washers?’ said Bonnie, waving her hand in the air. ‘Please, pleeeeease, pleasepleasepleaseplease!’
‘Yeah, me too!’ said Sophie.
‘Sure,’ said Chloe. She would’ve liked to be a washer too. But she couldn’t get her cast wet.
‘I’ll look after the cash box,’ said Annabelle. ‘And Lola, you can be on brushing.’
‘What should I do then?’ said Chloe. For a horrible moment she thought she was going to have nothing to do.
‘How about you do drying,’ suggested Annabelle. ‘Lucy can help,’ she added, flinging some towels over.
‘I don’t –’ said Chloe. Then she stopped. She had been about to say that she didn’t want to work with Lucy because they’d end up having a fight.
‘What?’ Lucy was frowning at Chloe. It was like she was waiting for her to say something mean.
You made an Angels promise, Chloe reminded herself. Then she made herself smile brightly. ‘I don’t … see why not!’ she said.
Just as the Angels finished filling the wash tub with warm, soapy water, two girls came over. Behind them trotted two very muddy puppies.
‘Our first customers,’ said Bonnie, excited.
‘Hi,’ said the older girl, smiling and pushing her hair behind her ear. ‘I’m Faith, and this is my sister Holly. We’ve brought our dogs for a wash.’
Chloe knelt down and the puppies started licking her. ‘They are so cute!’ she laughed. ‘What are they called?’
‘Leo and Noodle,’ said Holly. ‘But we should warn you, they are really wriggly puppies.’
Holly was right. The moment the puppies landed in the water they started wriggling like crazy. Soapy bubbles flew everywhere!
‘Hey, keep still you two,’ laughed Sophie, trying to lather them up.
Eventually the puppies were washed, brushed and handed on to Lucy and Chloe for drying. It was just in time too, because two more customers had arrived. One was a girl with a very cute Scottie dog. And the other girl had a sweet little sausage dog.
Chloe noticed something glinting on both of the girls’ ankles. It seemed to be some kind of chain with two ‘s’ shapes on it.
‘Oh hi, Tamsin!’ said Sophie, waving at one of the girls. ‘How’s everything going at your new school?’
‘Hi, Sophie!’ replied Tamsin. ‘School is great!’ Then she pointed to the other girl. ‘This is one of my new friends, Ivy.’
The sausage dog barked, like it wanted to be introduced too. ‘And her dog, Rolf!’ laughed Tamsin. ‘Sorry, Rolf.’
‘Tamsin used to go to my old school,’ Sophie explained to the Angels. ‘But then we both moved to new schools.’
‘Ivy and I saw the dog wash posters,’ said Tamsin. ‘So we thought we’d come and get Rolf and Trixie washed.’
‘Rolf has a very dirty tummy because it’s so close to the ground!’ laughed Ivy.
‘That’s OK,’ said Bonnie, giving him a tickle. ‘Tummies are our speciality!’
Suddenly, things had become really busy. And soon they got even busier. It seemed like the entire neighbourhood had come to have their dogs washed!
The Angels all had to work very hard, washing and drying the dogs. It was so busy that Chloe and Lucy worked side by side, not having a chance to talk.
I hope it stays really busy, thought Chloe. Because we’ll raise heaps of money … and also because then I won’t have to talk to Lucy!
Later in the afternoon, a girl came up leading a very shaggy-looking dog. She had dark hair and a cheeky expression.
‘Hi, Ching Ching!’ said Bonnie, looking up. ‘Her brothers play football with my brothers,’ she explained to the others. Then she turned back to Ching Ching. ‘I didn’t know you guys had a dog,’ she said. ‘I thought your mum was allergic to them.’
Ching Ching grinned and Chloe found herself grinning too. She had such a great smile!
‘We don’t have a dog … well, not yet!’ said Ching Ching. ‘I found this one wandering around our street. I’m supposed to be dropping him off at the Lost Dogs’ Home. But maybe if you guys wash him really well, Mum will let me keep him.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Bonnie. ‘We’ll get him spotless in no time!’
‘I thought I’d call him Scruffy,’ said Ching Ching. ‘What do you think?’
Suddenly, someone called out, ‘Come on, Ching Ching!’
‘Sorry, I said I’d meet my friend Olivia at the Dogaroos’ stall,’ she explained. ‘They’re doing a trash-and-treasure sale, and we’re going to find some treasure in all of that trash!’
She gave Scruffy a pat. ‘See you, Scruffball. I’ll be back a little later,’ she said, and ran off.
Bonnie and Sophie started working on Scruffy straight away. It seemed to take forever to wash him. He was the dirtiest dog they’d had all day!
Finally, Bonnie led him over to Chloe to be dried.
Chloe looked at Scruffy. So far all the dogs they’d dried had been fairly small. Without even talking about it, she and Lucy had taken it in turns to dry each one off. But Scruffy was a really big dog. There was no way either she or Lucy could dry him on their own.
Lucy must have been thinking the same thing. ‘We’re going to have to dry him together,’ she said.
Chloe nodded. ‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘How about you hold him while I dry?’
Lucy shrugged. ‘OK,’ she said.
Chloe started rubbing Scruffy’s fur. The problem was there was ju
st so much of Scruffy to dry! His long, curly coat seemed to be full of water. Chloe found it hard work, especially as she only had the use of one arm. And to make things worse, Lucy didn’t seem to be holding Scruffy very tightly.
‘Hold him tighter,’ Chloe instructed Lucy. I bet she’s not holding him properly on purpose, she thought, starting to feel annoyed.
‘I’m holding him as tight as I can!’ said Lucy. ‘Can’t you dry faster?’
Then suddenly, Scruffy broke free of Lucy’s grasp.
‘Quick! Grab him!’ shouted Chloe. But it was too late! Scruffy had taken off across the oval.
Chloe and Lucy looked at each other. Without saying a word, they took off after Scruffy. As fast as they could, they chased after the dripping wet dog. Then, just as Lucy was reaching out to grab him, she tripped and fell!
Chloe ran over to where Lucy had fallen. ‘Are you OK?’ she said, stretching out her good arm to help Lucy up.
Lucy hesitated for a moment. Then she took Chloe’s arm and pulled herself up. Lucy looked a bit wobbly on her feet. ‘My ankle hurts a bit. I think I might have sprained it,’ said Lucy.
‘Let’s sit down then,’ suggested Chloe. ‘It might feel better after a rest.’
‘Don’t you think we should keep looking for Scruffy?’ Lucy asked.
Chloe shrugged and said, ‘I’ll just wait here with you to check you’re OK.’
Lucy gave her a small smile, but she looked surprised. It was like she didn’t think Chloe could be nice.
‘Thanks, Chloe,’ Lucy said.
Chloe looked at Lucy. Suddenly she felt nervous again. I should try to make up with her, she thought.
‘Lucy, I …’ Chloe started.
Lucy looked at her curiously. ‘What?’ she said.
Chloe paused, trying to think of the perfect thing to say. The thing that would make Lucy forgive her. And then, all of a sudden, some words just popped out of her mouth.
Angels Page 9
