by Alex Bell
I frowned. “I’m not there yet…”
“What are we meant to answer though?” She pulled her glasses off. “I mean what do they want us to say? Look at these.” She shoved her form at me.
Answer Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree to the following questions:
• Success is based on survival of the fittest; I don’t care about the losers
• I find myself in the same kinds of trouble, time after time
• For me, what’s right is whatever I can get away with
• In today’s world, I feel justified in doing anything I can get away with to succeed
• I am often bored
• Before I do anything, I carefully consider the possible consequences
I pointed to the question at the bottom of the page. “That’s easy – we have to agree, right? Show that we’re going to think things through, not rush into dangerous situations.”
“Carmen would have to lie then.” Lizzie ducked as Carmen threw a pillow at her head. “Seriously though – I don’t know what they want.” She looked at Will. “What do you think? Should we tell the truth?”
Will folded his arms. “You’re asking me if I think you should manipulate the system?” He grinned his Will-grin, a half-sardonic twist of the mouth.
I looked at my form. “You’re really OK with cheating, Lizzie?”
“For a million pounds, are you kidding?” she cried.
I shook my head. “There are two hundred questions here. It’s designed to trip us up if we’re lying. And you don’t know what they’re really looking for in applicants – I think we need to answer honestly, like it says.”
Will nodded. “Ben’s right.”
“You want to be honest?” Lizzie’s eyes were round. “You – Will Harper? You only tell the truth when you can’t be bothered to make up a decent fiction.” She turned to Carmen, who flicked her pink-tipped hair over one shoulder. “Carmen?”
“It’ll be easier to do it as myself, tía. More fun.”
“I agree,” Grady tossed his pen in the air but fumbled the catch.
“Of course you do,” Lizzie muttered. “Fine. But I’m going to blame you guys if we get rejected before we even reach the lottery.”
STRIPES PUBLISHING
An imprint of Little Tiger Press
1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2017.
Text copyright © Alex Bell, 2017
Extract from Frozen Charlotte © Alex Bell, 2014
Extract from Savage Island © Bryony Pearce, 2017
Cover copyright © Stripes Publishing Ltd, 2017
eISBN: 978-1-84715-870-3
The right of Alex Bell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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