c6e3324c4f84f7e6ed71c7cdde754b42

“So have you let Silky out of the dining room yet?” Isla asked as they walked back home on Friday afternoon. She’d tried not to talk about the cats all day but she was desperate to know what was happening.

Hailey made a face.“Yes. Mum was working from home yesterday, so she decided it was time.”

Isla waited and eventually Hailey added,“Silky’s still really scared of Pickle, though.”

“Poor kitten.” Isla sighed.

“It’ll get better,” Hailey said firmly. “They’ll settle down and one of these days we’ll laugh about how they used to fight.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_15]

“How’s Pickle doing?”

“He keeps lurking about and glaring at Silky until we shoo him away. He’s jumped out at her a couple of times, so she just keeps hiding behind the sofa. She tried to climb the curtains to get away from him this morning. Mum wasn’t very happy about that.”

Then Hailey brightened up.“But guess what? She slept on my bed last night! She was so cute, all curled up.”

“Oh!” Isla felt a tight squeeze of jealousy inside her. Just like she’d imagined… Then she frowned. “But I thought Pickle always slept on your bed?”

“Not always,” Hailey said defensively. “He often sleeps with Max. And with Mum and Dad sometimes.”

Isla nodded. She didn’t want to fall out with Hailey. They hardly ever argued. They’d been best friends since they went to the same nursery. Mum had been worried about Isla starting nursery because she thought Isla would find it hard to cope with only one arm, and that the other children might tease her.

When they’d sat down for a drink of water on that first day, Hailey had looked at Isla’s water bottle and said, “Can you open that by yourself?” And Isla had nodded. After that, Hailey never said anything about Isla’s arm again and they were just friends.

“Maybe when it’s the summer holidays you can help cheer Pickle up and get him used to Silky,” she suggested. “There’s only a couple more weeks of school.”

Hailey brightened up.“Two more weeks!”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_4]

Silky blinked and yawned and curled herself tighter into the warm space behind Hailey’s knees. It had been raining and the night was chilly for July. The bed was so cosy, even if Hailey did wriggle about. Half asleep, Silky kneaded her paws in and out, almost remembering curling up with her mother. It felt so long ago.

A faint noise out on the landing jolted her wide awake again. Her ears pricked up and her heart began to race. Was it the other cat? She had avoided him for most of the day– he’d been outside a lot and then she had followed Hailey’s mum around. The people in the house always grabbed the other cat, or sometimes picked her up to get her out of his way, so she felt safer if she stayed with them.

Silky started to stand up, ready to jump away and hide if he came closer, but Pickle was faster than she was. He surged across the room in the shadows and leaped up on to the bed. Then he smacked hard at the kitten’s nose with one huge paw, hissing all the while.

The duvet moved underneath Silky, knocking her off balance as Hailey sat up in shock.

“What’s happening? Pickle? Hey!”

Silky staggered backwards, her fur on end, squeaking with fright. She’d been sleeping, that was all! Why was the big cat attacking her?

Pickle smacked her again, this time with his claws out, and Silky felt them scrape across her nose. She flattened her fragile ears back and fluffed up all over, trying to look bigger. Trying to look at least a tiny bit scary.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_16]

“Pickle, no!” Hailey yelled. “Leave her alone. Bad cat!” She leaned over, picking Silky up and cuddling her close, pressed up against her nightie.

“Hailey, it’s the middle of the night – what are you doing?” Hailey’s dad stomped sleepily into her bedroom and flicked on the light. “Oh – it’s those cats. I should have known. Right, give me the kitten. She can go back in the dining room, since her bed’s still there.”

Silky squeaked again, blinking in the light as Hailey’s dad grabbed her and marched downstairs. He put her down in her bed quite gently but he shut the door with a bang. The little tabby kitten sat there, wide-eyed and shivering, for a long time.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_17]

“We’re going to splash you!” Isla yelled, and Sienna and Chloe squealed with delight. It was the first really hot day of the holidays and Hailey’s mum had let her invite Isla round to play in their big paddling pool. Then she’d seen Chloe and Sienna looking envious and invited them too, and Isla’s mum for a coffee. Hailey and Isla had been chasing the little ones with water pistols and then gone on to plastic bottles out of the recycling bin, since they held more water. There were puddles all over the grass.

“I think you should all stop and have an ice lolly,” said Hailey’s mum, coming out with a box. “It’s so hot! You look like you need a sit-down. And then probably more sun cream.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_18]