Read Keep the Faith for Free Online Page B

friends?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘What if I’m really good between now and my birthday?’
    ‘I’m not going to give in on this one, Faith. You’re not having a birthday party.’
    I drooped.
    ‘I tell you what, if you are angelic between now and the summer holidays, maybe you’ll be allowed a small gathering. That means good reports from school and keeping your room
tidy.’
    So no party for me.
    I wonder how many people I could fit in the shed.
THURSDAY 12TH JANUARY
    Finn has finally got in touch. I was all happy when his name came up on my phone because I assumed he wanted to meet up, but no; instead, he sent me a picture of a monkey.
No message. Just a monkey in a baseball cap.
    I’ve checked all my magazines and none of them have any suggestions as to what this means. I was expecting another date. I got a monkey.
    It’s nice that he’s keeping in touch, but seriously. A monkey.
LATER
    A pigging monkey.
LATER STILL
    I hate monkeys.
FRIDAY 13TH JANUARY
    On the way to school I asked Megs if Cameron ever sends her random pictures of animals wearing hats.
    She shook her head. ‘No, but he does keep me up to date on any important football player transfers.’
    ‘And you like that?’
    ‘Well, I’m glad that he’s sharing his big news with me.’
    ‘I’m really not sure that I can muster enthusiasm for anyone’s monkey news.’
    ‘It’s just a friendly text. Think of it as like a smiley face.’
    ‘I suppose the monkey was grinning in a toothy, creepy, I’m-going-to-eat-your-face sort of way.’
    Megs shook her head at me. ‘You’re the only person I know that doesn’t like cute pictures of animals.’
    ‘There you go, Megs, you’ve finally proved my theory that I am the sole sane voice in your nutty existence.’
    Anyway, I can deal with a few chimps if another date is on its way.
    When I got to registration, the first thing Lily said was, ‘It’s Friday the thirteenth.’
    Mrs Webber said, ‘That’s superstitious nonsense.’
    ‘A lot of bad things have happened on Friday the thirteenth,’ Lily said and she glanced up at the ceiling as if she was expecting lightning to strike. ‘It’s a day when
evil forces abound and there’s wickedness in the air.’
    Mrs Webber looked at Lily. ‘Just another day at Westfield High then.’
    At lunchtime Icky came up to me in the canteen. ‘I had a really good chat with Finn last night. He’s so friendly, isn’t he? He couldn’t stop hugging me.’
    Obviously, I was wondering what on earth Finn was doing in the same place as Icky, but I was determined not to get upset. Icky thinks that if a boy sneezes in her direction it’s a
declaration of love. So I just said, ‘It’s nice he took pity on you. When we were on one of our dates, he did say he was thinking about doing some charity work.’
    ‘Yeah, right, like you two went on a date!’
    ‘They did,’ Megs said. ‘They’ve been on loads.’
    ‘Next time he’s cuddling up to me, I’ll ask him about that.’
    And she smarmed off.
    My mum always says that you should just let nasty people get it out of their system and not get into a slanging match.
    Where’s the fun in that?
    So I shouted after her, ‘Vicky! Today is Friday the thirteenth!’
    She turned back to give me a withering look. ‘I know what the date is.’
    ‘Really? I just assumed that you’d got it confused with Halloween since you’re wearing that terrifying mask.’
    I had the double satisfaction of Icky going purple and most of the canteen falling about laughing.
    The rest of the day was filled with that annoying education stuff. I forget what they were cramming our heads with today.
    Just before the bell went for home time, I said to Lily, ‘Nothing Friday the thirteenthish happened in the end, did it?’
    Lily pulled her spooky face and, just at that moment, Angharad flung herself off the desk behind Lily and jumped on her back.
    Lily went, ‘
Ah! Ah! Ahhhhh!
What the hell, Angharad? I thought you were an evil