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    Alice & Megan Forever
    Alice & Megan Forever
    Alice & Megan Forever
    Ebook180 pages2 hours

    Alice & Megan Forever

    By Judi Curtin, Woody Fox and Nicola Colton

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    About this ebook

    Secondary school's a whole new world!
    Alice and Megan are starting secondary school; with new subjects, new teachers and new friends, it's going to take a bit of getting used to. And when Megan meets Marcus, the class bad-boy who's always in trouble, but doesn't seem to care, things really start to get complicated.
    At least she has Home Ec class with Alice – the worst cook in the school – to look forward to, so school's not all bad!
    Alice's ill-fated Home Economics adventures will have readers in stitches.
    'Ireland's answer to Jacqueline Wilson. Perfectly written stories of friendship and growing up . . . these sweet stories are a joy.' Irish Independent
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe O'Brien Press
    Release dateMar 20, 2013
    ISBN9781847173775
    Alice & Megan Forever
    Author

    Judi Curtin

    Judi Curtin is the best-selling author of the ‘Alice and Megan’ series, the 'Eva' series and the 'Time After Time' series, about Beth and Molly, time-travelling best friends. Judi won the Children's Book of the Year (Senior) at the Irish Book Awards in 2017 for Stand By Me. Her 'Lily' series is set in Lissadell House, Sligo in the early twentieth century, while the 'Sally' series is set among the Irish emigrant community in New York of the same era. Sally in the City of Dreams was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards 2023

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      Book preview

      Alice & Megan Forever - Judi Curtin

      Chapter one

      Ifinished brushing my hair, and had a quick look in the mirror. I was straightening my tie when Mum looked around my bedroom door.

      She gave one of her long sighs.

      ‘Secondary school isn’t a fashion parade, you know, Megan,’ she said. ‘Remember, you’re going to school to learn.’

      ‘You don’t understand,’ I said.

      Mum folded her arms.

      ‘Try me,’ she said.

      I thought about ignoring her, but she was blocking the door, so there was no way I could escape.

      Now it was my turn to sigh.

      ‘It’s just … it’s just that it’s the first day … and the first day is the most important day of all. Everyone will be watching everyone else. I have to look my best. I have to look …’

      ‘… cool?’ said Mum.

      I nodded.

      ‘If people think I’m a loser on the first day, that will never, ever change, no matter what I do. They’ll still think I’m a loser in six years time when I leave the school. It would be a total disaster. My life would be ruined forever.’

      ‘That doesn’t sound very fair to me,’ said Mum.

      I picked up a clip Alice had lent me, and pinned back my hair.

      ‘It’s not fair,’ I said. ‘And that’s why I have to make sure that it doesn’t happen to me.’

      I pulled the clip out of my hair again, and threw it onto the bed.

      Nothing seemed right.

      Nothing seemed good enough.

      This was the most important day of my life and already I was sure that I was going to mess it up.

      Mum came over and hugged me.

      ‘You poor thing,’ she said.

      Then she went over to the bed and picked up the clip. She carefully twisted one side of my hair, and clipped it neatly into place.

      I looked in the mirror and smiled. A miracle had happened. Mum had made me look sort of nice.

      ‘Thanks, Mum,’ I said.

      She smiled back. ‘You’re welcome. Anything so long as you won’t end up being the school loser. Still, I wish you’d let me knit you a school jumper. It would have been much nicer than that shop-bought one. Now you’re going to look just like everyone else.’

      I sighed again.

      Didn’t she know that was the whole point?

      Didn’t she know that I had to look like everyone else?

      Didn’t she know that if I’d worn a hand-knitted jumper, I might as well have gone to school with the word ‘loser’ tattooed on my forehead?

      This wasn’t the time for a row, though.

      ‘The school is very strict,’ I said. ‘Everyone has to have the exact same jumper. Remember, I told you ages ago. It’s the rule.’

      ‘It’s a stupid rule, if you ask me,’ said Mum.

      (It wasn’t just a stupid rule – it was a stupid rule that I made up especially, as soon as Mum had started talking about hand-knitted jumpers. I was glad she hadn’t phoned up the school to complain. If she discovered the truth she would never, ever let me forget it. She’d probably try to knit me a school skirt as a punishment.)

      I pulled up the sleeve of my lovely, shop-bought school jumper, and looked at my watch, trying to give Mum a hint, but she didn’t seem to notice. She had that dreamy look on her face again.

      ‘Do you know, Megan, I can still remember my first day of secondary school?’ she said.

      ‘Did you bring your pet dinosaur?’ I asked grinning.

      Mum ignored me.

      ‘My mother made me a huge big bundle of cheese sandwiches and packaged them up in the bread wrapper.’

      ‘So you were a loser,’ I said. ‘I hope it doesn’t run in the family.’

      Mum smiled.

      ‘No actually, I wasn’t a loser. Everyone used bread wrappers for their sandwiches then. There were no fancy lunch-boxes in those days. I remember—’

      Just then the doorbell rang.

      ‘That’s Alice,’ I said. ‘Sorry, Mum, but I can’t keep her waiting.’

      I pushed past Mum and went to open the front door.

      Alice was standing there with a huge smile on her face.

      ‘Ready?’ she asked.

      I nodded. I was too excited to speak.

      My little sister Rosie appeared, still in her pyjamas.

      ‘You and Alice look nice,’ she said. ‘I wish I was going to very big school.’

      Suddenly I was a bit afraid of the day ahead. Maybe it would be nice to stay at home with Mum and Rosie.

      I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Mum beside me. She hugged me, and gave me a huge sloppy kiss on the cheek.

      ‘Have a lovely day,’ she said.

      I pulled away.

      ‘I will. Bye, Mum.’

      Then I raced down the path before she could embarrass me any more.

      ‘Bye, Sheila,’ called Alice as she raced after me.

      Mum gave one wave, and then closed the front door.

      I turned to Alice, wiping my cheek where Mum had kissed me.

      ‘Sorry about all that soppy stuff,’ I said. ‘That was soooooo embarrassing.’

      Alice shrugged.

      ‘I thought it was kind of sweet. My mum couldn’t see me off. She had to catch an early train to Dublin for a meeting.’

      Suddenly I felt sorry for moaning. Even though my mum is a total embarrassment, I’m glad she still lives with my dad. Alice’s parents don’t live together any more, and even though she’s kind of getting used to it, I know she’d love a happy family like mine.

      * * *

      We walked quickly and soon we were passing our old primary school. It wasn’t open yet. I gazed over the wall. It looked small and safe. Part of me was afraid of secondary school. Part of me wished that I could be back in my old school, where I’d know what to expect.

      I wondered if I could explain this to Alice.

      ‘Are you sorry we’re not going in there?’ I asked.

      Alice gave a big laugh.

      ‘No way,’ she said. ‘We’ve left all that behind us.’

      She hesitated.

      ‘You’re not sorry, are you?’

      Suddenly I felt a bit stupid, so I smiled as happily as I could.

      ‘No,’ I said. ‘Now hurry up, or we’ll be late.’

      * * *

      Soon we were at the gates of our new school. Our best friends, Grace and Louise, were waiting outside for us. We all hugged and jumped up and down a bit.

      ‘Who’s excited?’ asked Louise.

      We all shouted together.

      ‘I am!’

      I wasn’t really lying. I was excited. It’s just that I was afraid too.

      I gazed up at what was going to be my school for the next six years. It looked bigger and scarier than it had when I’d attended the open day with Mum and Dad.

      ‘Who’s a tiny, tiny bit afraid?’ said Alice suddenly.

      I could feel my face going red.

      Was Alice reading my mind again?

      Was she picking on me?

      Was she trying to make me look stupid in front of the others?

      Then Alice slowly put her hand up.

      ‘I’m a bit afraid,’ she said.

      ‘Me too,’ said Grace and Louise together.

      I smiled. Now I didn’t feel so bad.

      ‘Me too,’ I said.

      Then we all had one more hug, and walked quickly into our new school.

      Chapter two

      We walked through the huge front doors. I looked around. Everything seemed big and strange. There was a strong smell of polish, like someone had been cleaning the place especially for our arrival.

      On the wall in front of us was a big printed sign – ‘First Year Students This Way’. An arrow pointed to the right.

      Alice, Grace, Louise and I joined lots more nervous-looking first years as we all made our way down a long corridor.

      ‘Where’s everyone else?’ asked Alice.

      ‘It’s only first years today, remember?’ said Louise.

      I was glad of that. This place was scary enough as it was.

      Another arrow directed us into a big assembly hall. I saw a few boys and girls from my old school, and lots and lots of strangers. Some of the boys were trying to look tough. Most people were chatting nervously. Some stood alone, looking even more scared than I felt. One small, dark-haired girl looked like she was going to cry. I was soooooo glad I was with my friends.

      ‘I so hope we’re all in the same class,’ said Grace. ‘Do you think we might be?’

      I don’t know why Alice and Louise didn’t answer. I didn’t answer because this was the thing I’d been worrying about. This was the reason I hadn’t been able to sleep properly for the last few nights.

      At the open day we’d been told that boys’ and girls’ names were put into two hats, and classes were drawn at random, with equal amounts of girls and boys in each group. There were four classes. If I didn’t get into the same one as Alice, I didn’t know what I’d do. Alice said it didn’t matter. She said we’d still be best friends no matter what happened. I knew she was probably right, but if she was my best friend, I wanted her right next to me.

      I didn’t want to be stuck at the other end of the school with a big load of strangers. I wanted to be with Alice. I always wanted to be with Alice.

      But what could I do?

      It was all down to a draw that had already been made. Somewhere there were four lists of names that could ruin my life forever.

      * * *

      Just then the principal, Mrs Kingston, walked on to the stage, and everyone stopped talking. Mrs Kingston launched into a huge, long, boring speech about how we had to be the best we could be and stuff like that. I couldn’t concentrate though. All I could think of was the bundle of white paper that she held in her hand.

      After what felt like hundreds of years, Mrs Kingston stopped talking and held the sheets of paper in the air.

      Everyone stopped

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