Abbey Spells Trouble Read online

  Abbey Spells Trouble

  published in 2013 by

  Chirpy Bird, an imprint of Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.

  eISBN 9781743580349

  Text and design copyright © 2013 Hardie Grant Egmont

  Illustration copyright © 2013 Forever Clover Pty Ltd

  With thanks to Niki Horin.

  Illustrations by Elizabeth Botté

  Design by Julie Thompson

  Text design and typesetting by Ektavo

  Forever Clover is a registered trademark of Forever Clover Pty Ltd.

  www.foreverclover.com.au

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Abbey released her bike’s brakes. She was riding into the quarry so fast that it felt like she was flying.

  ‘Whee!’ she squealed, as her blonde plait blew out behind her.

  Abbey pedalled hard, past the quarry’s high walls creeping with vines.

  At the clubhouse, Abbey braked hard and leapt off her bike.

  ‘Just a few more days of school and the summer holidays will be here!’ she announced, bursting through the door. She did a wild dance to celebrate, bouncing around the clubhouse.

  Inside, the five girls laughed. Abbey could be really funny when she was excited. But she could be really clumsy, too!

  ‘Watch out!’ Kate called, as Abbey accidentally kicked the pile of schoolbags near the door. They tumbled with a crash, and books went sliding across the stone floor.

  ‘Thanks, Abbey,’ laughed Emma. She picked up the maths book that had landed at her feet. ‘I wanted to check one of my answers from the test today anyway.’

  Abbey flopped down onto a beanbag. She hated tests. ‘That maths test was so hard,’ she groaned.

  ‘I know,’ agreed Matilda. ‘I wish we could’ve had a horse-riding test instead.’

  Abbey grinned at Matilda. She knew her best friend would do brilliantly at a horse-riding test. Matilda was a great rider.

  But Abbey didn’t want to talk about any kind of tests anymore. ‘So what are we going to do in the holidays?’ she asked, slyly changing the subject.

  ‘What about decorating the clubhouse?’ Emma suggested. ‘We could stencil green clovers on the door!’

  ‘Four-leaf clovers, I hope,’ Matilda said, and all the girls laughed.

  Abbey remembered the summer’s day when they’d first come to the quarry. It was an old stone mine that had been abandoned. Now it was overgrown, and the girls had found a four-leaf clover there.

  A clover with four leaves is rare, and finding one made the girls feel lucky. The friends decided to wear a four-leaf clover charm as a symbol of their friendship. After all, best friends are like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.

  The girls often joked about who saw the four-leaf clover first. But Abbey was positive that it was her.

  Soon after, the girls had found an old miners’ shed that had been carved into the quarry wall. It was hidden behind trees and overgrown bushes.

  Kate, Abbey, Matilda, Emma, Maddie and Olivia were the only people who knew it was there. It became their very own secret clubhouse.

  Abbey loved Emma’s idea of stencilling clovers onto the clubhouse door. ‘If you make the stencils tonight,’ she said, ‘we could paint them tomorrow after school!’

  ‘I would, but I have to study,’ Emma said. ‘We’ve got that spelling test on Friday, remember?’

  Abbey had forgotten about the test, and she wasn’t happy to be reminded.

  Spelling is even harder than maths, she thought grumpily, pulling on the chain of her dog-tag necklace.

  She knew she needed to study for the test, but even thinking about it made her feel worried. If only there was a way to make studying fun, she thought.

  Then Kate looked at her watch. ‘Mum’s picking me up soon. Who wants a lift?’

  Olivia, Maddie, Emma and Kate grabbed their bags and rushed to the door.

  ‘We might stay a little longer,’ Matilda told Kate, and waved goodbye.

  Their friends’ chatter faded as they climbed the path back up to the road. Abbey stayed silent, playing with her dog-tag necklace.

  ‘Hey, Abbey,’ Matilda said thoughtfully. ‘Why don’t we study for the spelling test together? It might be more fun that way.’

  Abbey stopped twisting her necklace and looked at her friend. How did Matilda always know what was bothering her?

  ‘That would be great,’ Abbey said, relieved. ‘Let’s do it!’

  ‘S-H-I-N-E,’ Abbey spelled out. ‘Shine.’

  ‘Yes!’ Matilda cheered, and searched her wordlist for another word.

  Abbey had spelled ten words so far, and only got four wrong. She was doing OK!

  ‘Forty words to go,’ Matilda said. ‘Then you can test me!’

  ‘Forty?’ Abbey gasped. ‘But aren’t we only being tested on twenty words?’

  ‘Miss Michaels said we’ll be tested on twenty words from this list,’ Matilda said, waving the wordlist. ‘But there are fifty on it, and we have to learn them all.’

  Abbey groaned. ‘All fifty?’

  ‘You’ll do great,’ Matilda told her.

  Abbey put her head in her hands. ‘I wish we just knew which words would be on the test. I’m really bad at spelling.’

  ‘You’re not bad at spelling, silly,’ said Matilda. ‘But studying will make it easier for you. Now, spell might for me. As in, Dad might let us camp in the old paddock these holidays.’

  ‘Really?’ said Abbey, interested. She loved camping with Matilda. But then she made herself focus on spelling. ‘Might. M-I-T-E.’

  ‘It’s spelt M-I-G-H-T,’ Matilda corrected.

  ‘Why is there a G and an H?’ Abbey grumbled. ‘It doesn’t need them!’

  Abbey got the next three words wrong and it made her annoyed. Spelling was too hard! She was done with studying for now.

  ‘I’d better go,’ Abbey said, standing up. ‘I don’t want to be late for dinner again.’

  The girls closed up the clubhouse. Abbey walked her bike as they headed up the quarry path to Matilda’s farm.

  At Matilda’s gate, Abbey said goodbye and strapped on her bike helmet. As she pedalled off, she thought about how lucky she was to have a bestie like Matilda.

  Matilda had really helped her with spelling, and it was more fun than studying on her own. Still, Abbey was happy that studying was over for the day. Hooray!

  As Abbey dropped her bike on the front lawn, something crashed into her shins.

  ‘Moby!’ she shouted, scooping him up. The black puppy’s curly tail wagged so fast that it was blurry.

  ‘Hey Abbey, guess what?’ her brother Archie called from the porch. ‘I got Moby to sit before!’

  ‘Cool!’ Abbey said, going inside with Moby snuggled in her arms.

  ‘Hi, darling,’ her mum said, giving Moby a tickle. ‘How was the maths test today?’

  ‘Not bad,’ Abbey lied. She knew her mum would want to hear all about it, so she slipped out the back door with Moby.

  ‘Come on, Archie,’ Abbey called in
side. ‘Let’s do some more puppy training before dinner.’

  The next morning at school, Abbey kept daydreaming in class. She wished she could be outside, running or riding her bike.

  At the front of the classroom, Miss Michaels told everyone to turn their books to page twelve.

  Abbey tried to follow along in her book, but she couldn’t concentrate. Her eyes travelled across to the clock on the wall.

  There were five more minutes until lunch. Four minutes, three, two, one …

  Abbey snatched up her things just as the bell rang. She was first to the door.

  ‘Don’t forget to collect your homework books from my desk,’ Miss Michaels called out to the class.

  Abbey whirled around. Everyone else was already at the teacher’s desk, picking up their homework books.

  Abbey tapped her foot impatiently. Her tummy rumbled as she watched her friends walk out ahead of her.

  When Abbey reached the desk, her book was the only one left. She grabbed it and ran out into the playground.

  After lunch, it was time for PE. Today, they were running relays, which Abbey loved.

  Mr Wilkins put them into teams. Abbey would be running last. Then he yelled, ‘Go!’ and the first runners took off.

  Abbey started warming up at the start line, preparing for her dash. Then someone started stretching right next to her. It was Simon Shearer.

  Simon was Abbey’s running rival. He was the best runner out of all the boys.

  The first lot of runners had finished, and now the runners on the other side were running with the batons. Abbey bounced on her toes, waiting for the baton to get to her.

  Then suddenly the cool metal was in her hand, and Abbey took off. She ran as fast as she could.

  She quickly passed everyone except Simon, who was way out in front.

  The finish line was up ahead, and Abbey was ready for it. She pumped her arms hard and focused on steady breaths. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

  Her legs felt like springs bouncing across the ground. They carried her faster and faster, past Simon.

  Abbey heard Simon’s breathing right behind her. She powered into a lightning-fast sprint and crossed the finish line first. Abbey’s face broke into a huge smile. She felt amazing!

  On the drive home after school, Abbey told Archie and her mum all about the run.

  ‘I beat Simon Shearer! He’s the fastest boy in our grade, and I beat him!’ Abbey chattered away excitedly.

  Abbey felt on top of the world. As she climbed out of the car, she remembered the spelling test on Friday. But not even that could affect her happy mood.

  Abbey decided that she would do her very best at that, too. Studying definitely wasn’t her favourite thing, but if she did a little bit every day, she might do well. And that would be so cool!

  In her bedroom, Abbey started looking through her schoolbag for the wordlist. She noticed a strange envelope sticking out of her homework book, so she picked it up. Then she stared in horror at the words on the envelope.

  TERM FOUR SPELLING TEST

  Somehow, Abbey had stolen Friday’s spelling test from her teacher!

  Abbey stared at the envelope. When her mum called her for dinner, she threw it on the bed like a hot potato and ran out the door. She wanted to get as far away from it as she could!

  During dinner, Abbey pushed her food around the plate.

  ‘You’re quiet tonight,’ her dad said.

  ‘You must be exhausted after your relay win, Abbey,’ her mum said, smiling.

  Abbey nodded and bit into a roast potato. She didn’t trust herself to speak. Her mind was whirling.

  Maybe it was a good thing that she’d accidentally stolen the test. Maybe she should sneak a peek, just to see which words were going to be on it.

  That wouldn’t be cheating, right? After all, she’d still have to learn how to spell the words. It would just be a bit easier this way.

  Abbey’s head was spinning with these thoughts when the phone rang. It was Matilda.

  ‘I’ll take it to my room,’ Abbey said, grabbing the phone from her mum.

  She shut her bedroom door and put the phone to her ear. Matilda started chatting away but Abbey wasn’t listening. She was trying to decide whether to tell Matilda about the test or not.

  ‘Let’s go to the clubhouse after school tomorrow,’ Matilda was saying. ‘We could study some more for the spelling test.’

  The mention of the spelling test made Abbey’s tummy do somersaults.

  ‘Um, sure,’ she said, biting her lip.

  ‘OK, I gotta go!’ Matilda said. ‘See you tomorrow!’

  Abbey sank onto her bed and stared at the phone. She felt guilty for not telling Matilda about the test. And she felt even worse for thinking about looking at the test. That would definitely be cheating – no doubt about it.

  She twisted her necklace between her fingers. Although … she didn’t even know for sure that the test was in the envelope.

  Maybe I should just check, Abbey thought, her hands trembling.

  She was just turning over the envelope when there was a tap at her bedroom door. She quickly slid it under her pillow, feeling even guiltier. Then she cracked the door open to see who was there.

  Moby darted through her legs and scrambled onto the bed. He circled around and curled himself into a ball.

  ‘Oh, Moby. What should I do about the spelling test?’ Abbey whispered, snuggling her face into his furry neck. ‘I can’t keep it, can I?’

  As soon as she said it out loud, Abbey knew exactly what she had to do. First thing tomorrow, she’d give the test back to Miss Michaels. No looking, no cheating. Then everything would be OK.

  Abbey felt better already. She cleaned up the mess on her floor and got ready for bed. Soon, she was dreaming of winning the relay race at the sports carnival.

  As soon as she got to school the next day, Abbey raced down the busy corridor. She had to speak to Miss Michaels before she did anything else.

  ‘Miss Michaels!’ Abbey called out.

  Her teacher turned around, smiling. She was standing in the corridor with two boys from Abbey’s class. ‘Hi, Abbey. What is it?’

  ‘Er …’ Abbey said. She couldn’t give back the test with the boys standing there. They’d tell everyone she was a cheater!

  ‘I just wanted to say good morning, Miss Michaels,’ Abbey said, and carried on walking down the corridor.

  Abbey tried not to panic. She would just have to find another time in the day to give the test back. A time when Miss Michaels was alone.

  All morning, the envelope sat in Abbey’s workbook, ready for her to give back to Miss Michaels. But the right time never seemed to come.

  Feelings of guilt kept tumbling around inside Abbey. They made her tummy hurt.

  Abbey had no idea how the spelling test had ended up in her bag. But what if Miss Michaels didn’t believe her? She might think that Abbey had taken it on purpose! That she was a thief and a cheater!

  Abbey shrank down in her seat. She hated getting into trouble – especially when she hadn’t done anything wrong.

  It was the last class of the day and Abbey still hadn’t given the test back. The class was revising for tomorrow’s spelling test. Miss Michaels was calling up students to spell out words on the board.

  All the worrying had made Abbey’s head foggy. She didn’t think she could say a word, let alone spell one.

  She made herself copy down all of the words on the board. If she looked like she was working hard, Miss Michaels might not call on her to spell.

  Luckily, it worked. The bell rang and Abbey was ready with the envelope in her hand. Miss Michaels walked to the door.

  ‘Miss Michaels!’ Abbey shouted, but her teacher didn’t hear her.

  ‘Let’s go, Abbey!’ Matilda said. ‘My dad’s picking us up at the gate.’

  Abbey ran over and looked down the busy corridor, but her teacher was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘We’re studying at the clubhouse now, rem
ember?’ Matilda was saying. ‘Come on!’

  Abbey sighed, feeling sick all over again. There was nothing for her to do but follow Matilda.

  As soon as they were inside the clubhouse, Matilda started testing Abbey on her spelling. But Abbey’s head was hazy, and she kept making silly mistakes.

  After she got six words wrong in a row, her eyes filled with tears.

  Matilda looked worried. ‘Is something wrong, Abbey?’ she asked. ‘You know these words. What’s going on?’

  Abbey sighed deeply. A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.

  ‘Abbey, what’s wrong?’ Matilda said. ‘You have to tell me. It’s the number one bestie rule!’

  Abbey held her head in her hands. Then, all at once, her secret spilled out.

  ‘I accidentally stole Friday’s spelling test,’ she blurted. ‘But I don’t know how. And I’ve been trying all day to give it back to Miss Michaels, but I couldn’t!’

  ‘Did you look at the test?’ Matilda asked.

  ‘Of course not!’ Abbey said, feeling hurt. Then she sighed. ‘Well – I did think about it. But I didn’t, because that would be wrong and I’d feel too awful. Look, the envelope’s still sealed and everything.’

  ‘Abbey, you have to give back that test,’ Matilda said. ‘Tomorrow! Before school.’

  ‘But I’ve had it for a whole day now!’ Abbey groaned. ‘And Miss Michaels knows I’m no good at spelling. She’ll think I stole it and cheated by looking.’

  ‘Miss Michaels won’t think that. Not if you tell her everything,’ Matilda said gently. Then she took Abbey’s hand. ‘I’ll come with you when you tell her.’

  ‘Really?’ Abbey asked, looking up.

  ‘Of course,’ Matilda said with a smile. ‘It’s the number two bestie rule.’

  Late that night, Abbey sat at the kitchen bench, her head in her hands.

  ‘Abbey!’ her mum said, turning on the kitchen light. ‘What are you still doing up? You’ve got school tomorrow.’