Butterfly Beach Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Butterfly Beach

  Extract from Pea’s Book of Best Friends

  Visit Jacqueline’s Fantastic Website!

  World Book Day 2017

  About the Author

  Copyright

  About the Book

  Selma can’t wait to go on holiday with her best friend forever, Tina. But a holiday with Tina means a holiday with her triplet sisters, too – and it’s not long before Selma feels like the odd one out. Can their shared love of butterflies bring Selma and Tina together again?

  A brilliant brand-new story from one of Britain’s bestselling and most-loved children’s authors, Jacqueline Wilson.

  This book has been specially written and published to celebrate 20 years of World Book Day. For further information, visit

  www.worldbookday.com

  World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is made possible by generous sponsorship from National Book Tokens, participating publishers, authors, illustrators and booksellers. Booksellers who accept the £1* World Book Day Book Token bear the full cost of redeeming it.

  World Book Day, World Book Night and Quick Reads are annual initiatives designed to encourage everyone in the UK and Ireland – whatever your age – to read more and discover the joy of books and reading for pleasure.

  World Book Night is a celebration of books and reading for adults and teens on 23 April, which sees book gifting and celebrations in thousands of communities around the country:

  www.worldbooknight.org

  Quick Reads provides brilliant short new books by bestselling authors to engage adults in reading:

  www.quickreads.org.uk

  *€1.50 in Ireland

  I’M SELMA JOHNSON. If you go to my school you’ll have heard of me. I was the worst girl in the whole of the Infants. I got suspended three times, even though I was just a little kid.

  I was even worse when I went up into Year Three. Everyone was scared of me, even the really big tough boys in Year Six. Well, Year Five. OK, they might have been in Year Four, but they were still really horrible to everyone else. I showed them, though. I was a champion fighter – biff, bang, wallop – using my fists.

  I said all sorts of stuff too. Sometimes I didn’t even need to say anything, I just looked, frowning so that my eyebrows almost met and my eyes went all squinty and mean. My look was famous. Even the teachers shuddered when I gave them my look. Except Miss Lovejoy. She’s famous for being a fierce old bag, almost as fierce as me.

  Only I’m not fierce any more. I’m not mean or mouthy and I don’t even nick stuff. I haven’t been in a fight for ages and ages. It’s all because of Tina. You know, Tina Maynard. Do you know her too? She’s one of the triplets. They’re identical, Phil and Maddie and Tina. Three sisters with short fair hair and big blue eyes. To be absolutely truthful, I still sometimes get Phil and Maddie muddled up.

  I always know which one’s Tina. So does everyone. It’s easy-peasy picking her out because she’s half the size of her sisters. Well, maybe a bit more than half. But she only comes up to their shoulders, honest. It’s because she was born with a funny heart and she was very ill when she was small. Smaller than she is now, I mean. She’s still a little squirt. She’s by far the littlest in our class. I’m the biggest.

  I think I liked her right from the start, when Miss Lovejoy made us sit together right at the front of the class. Maybe I just envied her. She was the sort of girl I’d always secretly wanted to be. Little, cute, pretty. Everyone liked her and made a fuss of her, especially her sisters. When their mum picked the triplets up from school at the end of the day, she always smiled at them and asked them all sorts of stuff. She often picked Tina up and gave her a special hug, as if she was still a little baby. It made me feel all hot and aching and envious.

  So I started being mean to her. It was easy-peasy because she was such a little wuss. I kicked her under the table and jogged her arm when she was drawing. She was soooo good at drawing, whereas I can’t draw for toffee. Once I scribbled all over her special butterfly picture. It felt good when I was doing it, but then, seeing the black scrubby mess on the page and knowing I’d ruined it, I felt sick.

  I couldn’t stop being mean to her, though. I liked seeing her funny little face screw up because she was trying not to cry. It meant I was top dog – big, powerful, menacing Selma. She was just silly little squirt Tina, and I could always get the better of her.

  One day Tina brought this teeny little china dolly into school in secret, and I snatched it off her and pretended I’d flushed it down the toilet. I was going to, but that would have been too mean. And I wanted the dolly for myself. My horrible little brother Sam had just got hold of my old Princess Elsa doll and stamped on her. I asked Mum for another one, but she said I was too old for flipping dolls and to quit bothering her because I was doing her head in.

  I loved Tina’s little china dolly. I could keep her tucked safe in my hand so Sam couldn’t see her. I’d go to sleep holding her, though sometimes I lay awake worrying that Tina didn’t have anything to hold any more.

  But she’s my dolly now. Tina said I could have her – because we’re not worst enemies any more, we’re best friends! Our teacher, Miss Lovejoy, picked us to make a butterfly garden out of an old patch of earth at the end of the playground. I did nearly all of it myself, digging and digging and digging.

  Tina knew which flowers we needed, and we planted them all, and by the time school broke up the butterflies had started coming. Not heaps and heaps – Miss Lovejoy says it will take time – but we’ve seen some cabbage whites and a brimstone and quite a few red admirals. They’re all types of butterfly. Tina’s drawn a picture of each one in this Butterfly Diary we’re keeping.

  Miss Lovejoy has given us special permission to come into school during the holidays so we can look out for more butterflies in our garden. Not the whole class. Not even Phil and Maddie. Just Tina and me. Like I said, we’re best friends now.

  I’ve never actually had a proper best friend before. I’ve sometimes made kids say they were my friends, but that’s just because they knew I’d wallop them if they didn’t. But Tina is a real friend, truly. I’ve been to tea at her house heaps. She’s been to my flat too. Once. I didn’t really like it, particularly when my stepdad, Jason, started having a go at me in front of her. Tina’s sooo lucky having a proper dad who never gets ratty with her. He’s ever so kind and funny. I’ve met her mum too, and she’s OK, sort of, but her dad is magic. I once called him Dad by mistake, and then blushed and said sorry, but he laughed and said I could call him Dad any time. I don’t see my real dad. I’m supposed to call Jason Dad but I’d never, ever do that. I can’t stick him, and he can’t stick me. I love my mum, but sometimes I can’t help wish-wish-wishing I was part of Tina’s family.

  But guess what! I’m going on holiday with them. I am, truly – this Saturday. Tomorrow! We’re going to the seaside, staying in a caravan! Tina’s dad invited me.

  I’d been dreading Tina going away on holiday.

  ‘Cheer up, chickie!’ Tina’s dad said to me when I was round at their house for tea yesterday. ‘Why are you looking all mopey?’

  ‘Because I’m going to miss Tina so,’ I said.

  ‘And I’ll miss you too, Selma!’ said Tina, giving me a hug.

  ‘But you’ve still got Phil and Maddie to play with. I haven’t got anyone,’ I moaned.

  ‘You’ve got Sam,’ said Tina’s mum, though she didn’t sound convinced.

  She once invited my mum round to tea, so Sam and my baby brother, Joel, had to come too. Joel was OK. He just slept, even though he had a stinky nappy. But Sam kept switching their telly on and off, on and off, un
til the batteries stopped working. Tina’s mum found him a picture book to look at but he ripped out all the pages. Then, when he went upstairs for a wee, he discovered the triplets’ hamsters Nibbles and Speedy and Cheesepuff, and he scooped them out of their cage for a cuddle. They ran off, and it took hours to find them again.

  I rolled my eyes at the very thought of playing with Sam.

  ‘Tell you what!’ Tina’s dad said suddenly. ‘Why don’t you come on holiday with us?’

  They all looked startled, especially Tina’s mum.

  ‘Well, that’s a lovely idea,’ she said, ‘but it’s far too last minute. We’re going on Saturday. We can’t get it all sorted out in two days.’

  ‘What’s the problem? There’s a bunk going spare in the kids’ room in the caravan. There’ll be room in the minivan. Sorted! It’ll be fun, won’t it?’

  ‘Oh yes!’ said Tina, and she gave her dad a hug, and then me a hug, and then went whirling around the room doing a happy dance.

  Tina’s mum didn’t look very happy about the idea. Phil and Maddie seemed a bit put out too.

  ‘Well, if Tina’s having Selma, can my friend Neera come?’ Phil asked.

  ‘And I want my friend Harry,’ said Maddie. ‘It’s only fair if Tina gets to have her friend.’

  ‘Not this time, girls. You know we’ve only got one spare bunk bed,’ said Dad.

  ‘And it’s Selma’s!’ Tina cried, and she seized my hands and made me join in her crazy dance. ‘I’m so happy, happy, happy!’ she sang.

  I was so happy, happy, happy too. I couldn’t wait to tell Mum. Tina’s dad drove me home and came in with me to make sure it was all right.

  ‘I’m going on holiday with Tina and her family!’ I yelled the minute I got in the front door.

  ‘Is that OK with you?’ Tina’s dad asked Mum. ‘I know it’s short notice, but it just suddenly seemed a good plan, and the kids are over the moon about it.’

  Mum and Jason were watching some comedy quiz show on the telly, while Sam sat on the floor in just a T-shirt, gnawing on a soggy pizza crust, and Joel lay on a cushion, sucking on his bottle.

  ‘That’s nice,’ Mum said absent-mindedly, watching the screen.

  ‘Where you going then?’ Jason asked.

  ‘Bracing Beach in Norfolk. We’ve hired the same caravan as last year,’ said Tina’s dad.

  ‘So you’ll be packing your macs and wellies then,’ said Jason, sneering. ‘We’re going to Paris, taking the kids to Disneyland.’

  ‘Yay!’ Sam yelled. ‘Disneyland!’

  ‘You never mentioned it before!’ I said.

  ‘Keeping it a surprise, wasn’t I?’ Jason said. ‘We’re off this Saturday, as a matter of fact.’

  I looked at him, sure that he was bluffing. We never, ever went on holiday. I looked at Mum. She looked amazed, as if this trip was news to her too.

  ‘Oh well, I’ve always wanted to go to Disneyland myself,’ she said.

  So had I! Oh, so much!

  ‘It’s a shame Selma can’t go off to this beach place, wherever it is,’ said Jason. ‘Unless you’d sooner stay in a little caravan on the coast, Selma … It’s up to you. Disneyland, and all the rides and parades and fireworks – or the caravan?’

  I shuffled from one foot to the other. He was bluffing. He’d been moaning on about being skint only that morning. He was just winding me up so I’d miss out on going on holiday with Tina.

  I thought about it. Suppose they really were going to Disneyland … Who did I like best? Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck and Pluto and all those fairy princesses – or Tina? To be honest, it was a bit of a struggle deciding. But Mickey Mouse and his pals weren’t real friends. Tina was my best friend ever, my first and only best friend.

  ‘I’d sooner go on holiday with Tina in the caravan,’ I said.

  Jason’s face! I felt a real thrill then.

  Tina’s dad looked worried. ‘Oh, Selma, you can’t miss out on a chance of going to Disneyland,’ he said.

  ‘Well, she just has,’ said Jason curtly. ‘So be it.’

  He didn’t speak to me after that – not on Thursday evening or on Friday morning. As if I cared! Mum was mad at me too, saying I’d hurt his feelings and I was nasty and ungrateful, and anyway, they’d have a much better time without me at Disneyland.

  I did care that she said that. She came and found me crying in my room.

  ‘Serves you right,’ she said, but she must have felt sorry, because while Jason was seeing his mates at the Albert on Friday lunch time, Mum slipped down to the shops. She came back with two parcels – a big one from Primark with a new T-shirt and pair of shorts and swimming costume for me, and a little one from BlingPhone.

  I opened this one with trembling fingers. It was a pink mobile phone covered in sparkly pink gems.

  ‘Oh, Mum!’ I said.

  I’d been wanting my own mobile for ages and ages, but she always said I should quit nagging her and I wasn’t old enough anyway.

  ‘Is it really mine?’ I whispered.

  ‘Of course it’s yours. It’s got twenty quid on it too. You can take holiday selfies, eh? I bet them triplets haven’t got mobiles,’ said Mum.

  ‘But I thought Jason said we were skint,’ I said.

  ‘Well, it’s what credit cards are for, isn’t it?’ said Mum. ‘Are you pleased?’

  ‘You bet,’ I said, and I gave her a hug.

  For a minute I wished I wasn’t going away with Tina after all. I wanted to stick with Mum and be part of my own family, especially if we were going to Disneyland – though I didn’t think that was likely. When Mum asked Jason about it straight out, he’d told her to shut up about it.

  They certainly didn’t get up early on Saturday morning to drive anywhere. They hadn’t even done any packing. I’d packed my bag. I didn’t have a proper case, but I stowed everything neatly in a checked plastic bag. I wrapped the baby doll Tina had given me in one of my socks and shoved her right down to the bottom. I wore my new T-shirt and shorts and put my sparkly pink mobile in my pocket.

  Tina’s dad said they’d pick me up at nine o’clock. I was ready and waiting at seven. Sam woke up too, and I made us bowls of cornflakes. I let him sprinkle on extra sugar – I even felt fond of him in a weird kind of way.

  ‘Do you think you’re really going to Disneyland?’ I asked him.

  ‘Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland,’ he said, stirring his cornflakes round and round. He didn’t know either.

  I was worried that, if they really were going, they might miss their plane or train. I wanted to go and wake Mum, but I hated going into her bedroom because it was Jason’s room too. I made Sam go instead because he can get away with murder.

  He didn’t come back for a while.

  ‘I had a big cuddle with Mum and Dad,’ he said when he emerged at last.

  ‘Baby!’ I said scornfully, though I wished I was little and cute enough for cuddles too. ‘So did you ask Jason about Disneyland?’

  ‘Disneyland, Disneyland—’

  ‘OK, don’t start that again! Are you going?’ I interrupted.

  ‘Dad just said, “Pipe down, son – you’ll wake Joel and he was bawling half the night and I need a kip,”’ said Sam.

  So they almost definitely weren’t going. Jason was a big fat liar. But I was going on holiday. I waited and waited, peering down out of the window, on the lookout for Tina’s dad’s van. At long last, at ten past nine, it drove up in front of Turner block.

  ‘Here they are! I’m off!’ I shouted, grabbing my bag.

  ‘Wait a tick, lovey!’ Mum shuffled out of the bedroom in her nightie, her hair all over the place. ‘Give us a hug.’ She lowered her voice. ‘You got your phone? You do realize what a lucky girl you are!’

  ‘You bet I do, Mum,’ I said.

  I got a hug from her. I even got a hug from Sam. If you think I got a hug from Jason, you must be barking mad.

  I ran all the way down the stairs. I hate going in that smelly lift and I
couldn’t risk one of the gang boys nicking my new pink mobile for a girlfriend. I was so out of breath when I got to the van, I couldn’t even say hello, but I bobbed up and down excitedly instead.

  ‘Hey, Selma! All set? Hop in the back with the girls,’ said Tina’s dad. ‘I’ll pop your bag in the boot for you.’

  Phil and Maddie sat together. I got to sit with Tina. She grinned at me, giving my hand a big squeeze.

  ‘Guess what!’ I said as soon as I could speak. ‘I’ve got a mobile!’ I produced it proudly from my shorts pocket.

  ‘Oh, wow!’ said Tina.

  ‘Mum, Selma’s got her own mobile!’ said Phil.

  ‘Why aren’t we allowed mobiles yet?’ Maddie asked.

  ‘Because I don’t think you’re old enough,’ said Tina’s mum stiffly.

  ‘Mum, just look at Selma’s mobile! It’s all pink and sparkly!’ said Tina.

  ‘Very pretty,’ said Tina’s mum, but she sounded as if she meant the exact opposite. Perhaps she was jealous. She had a very ordinary metal phone that wasn’t even top of the range.

  ‘Come here, Tina,’ I said, putting my arm round her and holding out my right hand, getting my phone at the right angle. ‘Smile!’

  Tina grinned and I clicked, and there was my very first selfie! I took lots and lots on the journey. We smiled and smiled, and then we pulled silly faces and shrieked with laughter when we saw the photos.

  ‘Can I have a turn taking one?’ Tina begged.

  I wanted to take all the photos myself – it was my mobile, after all – but Tina was my best friend for ever.

  ‘OK,’ I said light-heartedly, and handed my phone over.

  Tina wasn’t anywhere near as good at taking photos as me. For a start her arm wasn’t long enough for selfies, not if she wanted to include me in them too. And she was so excited she couldn’t keep her hand still, so we came out all weird and blurry. But I didn’t complain. You shouldn’t boss your best friend around all the time, even though you might want to.