For everyone at Birch Copse Primary School
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
About Holly Webb
Copyright
“Take off your trainers!” Mum yelped as Darcy and Will reached the back door.
“Sorry, Mum.” Darcy kicked off her trainers and held on to Will’s arm so he could do the same. Even though it was the beginning of the summer holidays, the weather wasn’t very summery.
“The garden’s really wet and it’s all muddy in front of the football goal…”
“I can see that. Will looks like he’s been rolling in it.”
“I was the goalkeeper!” Will said enthusiastically.
Dad came into the kitchen and stared at Darcy and Will. “Wow. What happened to you two?”
“We were playing football.” Darcy frowned. “You’re home early.”
“That’s why I called you in,” said Mum. She had an ‘I’ve got a secret’ face on, Darcy thought. “You’d better go and get changed. And Will, I think you probably need a shower. We’re going on a trip, somewhere really exciting, but it’s a surprise.”
“I’m here so I can come too,” Dad added. “I wish I’d been here earlier, then I could have joined in your football game. I’m nearly as good a goalie as Will!”
“Nobody is better than me,” Will said smugly. “I saved almost all of Darcy’s shots.”
Darcy made a face over the top of Will’s head to say that he hadn’t really and Mum smiled. Will was actually very good for someone who was only six. He was tall too – not that much shorter than Darcy, and she was three years older.
“Go and get changed, Darcy,” said Mum. “And don’t worry, there’s no need to dress up. Shorts and a T-shirt are fine.”
“Come on, Will, I’ll turn the shower on for you,” Dad suggested.
Darcy could hear Will trying to quiz Dad as they went upstairs. “Where are we going? Will there be pizza? Can I wear my Batman outfit?” She was curious too. They did sometimes go on surprise days out in the summer holidays – the best one had been to the seaside, with fish and chips on the beach – but that was usually for the whole day, not in the middle of the afternoon.
She hurried into her bedroom and changed out of her muddy tracksuit bottoms and football shirt. Luckily Mum had put her hair in Dutch plaits that morning and it still looked OK, even after playing football. She just had to scrub away the mud from under her fingernails.
Will was back downstairs soon after, looking very clean and a bit damp.
“Where are we going?” he kept asking as Mum and Dad hurried them out to the car.
“Shh,” Darcy whispered. “It’s a surprise. Surprises are good. Don’t spoil it.”
“I want to know,” her little brother muttered crossly. “I don’t like surprises.”
“Five minutes,” Dad promised from the driver’s seat.
Darcy and Will peered eagerly out of the car windows, trying to think where they might be going – Darcy thought they were quite close to where her friend Emma lived. Then a few minutes later Dad pulled up outside a long low building.
Darcy read the sign outside: Haven Animal Rescue. She unclipped her seat belt and reached over to grab Dad’s shoulder. “Are we … do you mean … are we really—” She swallowed hard and started again.
“Are we going to get a cat?”
“A cat!” Will squeaked.
Darcy had been trying to persuade her parents to get a pet for ages. She hadn’t been sure whether they should get a cat or a dog.
Emma had a dog and she kept telling Darcy about all the naughty things he had done. Buster had eaten two of Emma’s lunch boxes (not what was inside them, the actual box!) and her favourite flip-flops. Emma still loved him loads, but he was a menace.
Darcy and Will’s gran loved cats and she had two beautiful ones. When they went to see Gran, if Darcy was very lucky, Pippin or Smudge might get on her knee. Darcy loved it when they sat there and let her stroke them. It would be amazing to have a cat to make a fuss of all the time. A cat of their own might even decide to sleep on Darcy’s bed.
Mum loved cats too, but Dad wasn’t so keen – he said they would need a lot of looking after.
“I thought you’d said no!” Darcy wrapped her arms round Dad’s neck and hugged him.
“Well, I realized it’s Mum who’s at home most of the time,” Dad pointed out. “She’ll end up looking after it, so she should be the one to make the decision.”
Dad was right, Darcy thought. Her mum worked from home in a little office under their stairs.
“But we’ll help,” she said eagerly. “We can feed the cat. And I can vacuum up the fur.” Cat hair all over the carpets had been one of the things Dad was concerned about. “I like vacuuming,” she assured him.
“Can we go and see the cat now?” Will begged and Dad laughed and opened the car door.
“Come on then!”
“We made an appointment to see a litter of kittens,” Mum explained as they went into the building. “There are four of them, and they’re old enough to be rehomed now. When you went round to Gran’s the other day, a lady from the shelter came to check the house to make sure we weren’t too close to any busy roads or anything like that. They rang me yesterday to say we can definitely have a kitten! But –” she gave Darcy and Will a serious look – “they only rehome pets to people who have older children, because you need to be sensible to be around a cat or a dog. So you must show them how sensible you can be. No arguing!”
Will’s eyes widened and he nodded seriously.
“We’ll be good,” Darcy promised. She and Will had got into a fight at Gran’s house once, because Will wouldn’t stop tickling her. She’d been really cross and yelled at him, and Pippin had run away and hidden under Gran’s bed. It was ages until she would come out and Darcy had felt so guilty. She couldn’t help arguing with Will sometimes, but she definitely didn’t want to upset a kitten.
“Hi, I’m Lucy Adams.” Mum smiled at the woman behind the reception desk. “We’re here to see some kittens.”
“That’s right, we’re expecting you. Wait here for a minute and Jesse will come and collect you – he’s one of our staff. We have a meeting room where you can get to know the kittens before you choose.”
Choose! Darcy looked around the reception area at the photos of cats and dogs on the walls. They were beautiful and all of them were staring hopefully out of the picture, as if begging to be taken home.
How were they going to choose which kitten should be theirs?
A young man in a green fleece with the Haven logo came in and grinned at Darcy and Will. “Hi – you’re here to meet the kittens?”
“That’s right.” Mum squeezed Darcy’s hand. “We’re really excited.”
“Great. They’re in our meeting room down here.” Jesse led them along a corridor lined with more gorgeous photos and opened a door. “It’s OK, they’re shut in,” he explained as Dad peered in, looking a bit worried. “They aren’t going to make a run for it.”
“Oh, look…” Mum said softly as she went in. “Aren’t they sweet, Darcy?”
But Darcy didn’t say anything. She was too busy watching. Jesse was unlatching a wire crate and three tiny kittens were starting to nose curiously at the door. They climbed and wriggled and stomped all over each other, trying to get out and see what was going on.
“Look at the ginger one!” Will gasped as a ginger kitten launched itself over the top of two tabbies, bouncing on to the floor. It sniffed nosily at Dad’s trainers and then batted one paw at the dangling laces.