Read The Girl from Hard Times Hill for Free Online

there are reasons why it’s important you stay here. And I don’t think we should split up the family at the moment. So we’re all staying.’
    â€˜Oh, thank you, Nana,’ I gasped. I should have known she would understand. But she was looking very solemn and suddenly I felt uneasy, all over again.
    Nana said, ‘I had a conversation with Miss Bulmer recently, Megan.’
    â€˜Miss Bulmer?’ I couldn’t see what she had to do with it.
    â€˜Yes. She told me that you have a good chance of passing the Eleven Plus and going to grammar school.
If
, that is, you really knuckle down and work hard.’
    â€˜But – ’ I was confused. ‘What’s that got to do with Newcastle?’
    â€˜This isn’t a good time for you to make a move, with the Eleven Plus coming up. So your mum and dad have decided that the family should all stay together for the moment.’
    â€˜There will be other jobs,’ said Dad. I couldn’t tell if he was cross or not. Mum sniffed, though, when he said it, which made me feel she didn’t agree.
    â€˜Oh,’ I said. I almost added,
But I’m not going to pass the Eleven Plus and I’m definitely not going to the Grammar
, but I managed to stop myself in time.
    â€˜But Megan,’ Nana said, ‘you have to understand. Your parents do need their own home, and their own lives, and when they do make a move, you will have to go with them.’
    I said nothing.
    â€˜And the other thing is, we all expect you to work hard for this exam. Miss Bulmer told me that she spoke to you about it a few weeks ago, but she’s not convinced that you’re taking it seriously.’
    I blushed. I knew just how bad my work had been.
    â€˜So, you must
promise
us that you will do your very best in the exam.’
    I hesitated.
    â€˜Look at me, Megan,’ said Nana sternly. So I lifted my chin and looked straight into her dark brown eyes, and I promised.
    As I went back upstairs to bed, I reflected that I would have to work hard at school now. I couldn’t break a promise to Nana. I just couldn’t. Besides shewould know – she always did. You couldn’t lie to Nana.
    Still, maybe I wouldn’t pass the exam however hard I tried. Most people didn’t. And if by some fluke I did do well enough to go to Grammar – well, it would be worth it, to stay here. Pam would understand. After all, I would be able to see her a lot more than if we went to Newcastle.
    As for the bit about living with Mum and Dad eventually, I wasn’t going to worry too much about
that
. Maybe Dad would find a job right here. If he did, then even if we moved house, I’d be able to spend almost as much time at Nana’s as I did now. Anyway, that was months and months away, if it happened at all.

    After that, everything sort of got back to normal. Sort of – but not really. For one thing, Nana was firm that I had to come straight home from school and do my homework before I could go out to play. So if Pam and the rest were dawdling, or going round by the allotments or the railway bridge, then I couldn’t go with them.
    I got into the habit of walking back with Davy Levenson. We would talk about homework, and the books we were reading from the library. Davy had read a lot of my favourite books, and some others too:
Wind in the Willows
and
Swallows and Amazons
. He told me that he sometimes read them aloud to his father, which surprised me. Davy said that his father was always thinking about the terrible things that had happened in the War, and the whole family was always trying to find ways to cheer him up. It was one of the reasons that Davy didn’t play out much.
    I still liked to play out though, and I’d race through my homework so that I could meet Pam. It also meant I could avoid spending time with Mum and Dad. I was sure they blamed me for not being able to move to Newcastle. I reckoned that was why Dad had never