The Lilac House

See that house up there on the mountain? It’s going to be mine one day,’ Mandy said to her friends Jill and Rosie as the three of them sat on the wall at the edge of the school playground.

The school was surrounded by hills and, on the highest, facing west, stood a lilac house in the midst of forestry. Mandy would often gaze up at it and wonder if it would ever be possible to make a trip there.

‘No, it’s not. It’s going to be mine!’ An all-too familiar and unwelcome voice burst in and Mandy looked up to see the freckled and curly-haired Alan Short.

‘Alan Short enjoyed baiting Mandy, but what had she ever done to him?’

Alan Short enjoyed baiting Mandy, but what had she ever done to him? Anything she said he would contradict. Sometimes, on the way home from school, he’d try to trip her up or pull her