Fire Island

By Jenni Francis

Fire Island - Courage is fire; bullying is Smoke.

Keri Walker is 12 years old and is in a bit of strife. She has been on the end of some bullying from The Gang of Five and she’s keen to make herself scarce when they are around. However, she can’t help but step in when she finds a much younger child being bullied.

The Gang of Five thinks she snitched on them. On a school camp, they start a serious campaign. The camp is on an island, and there are plenty of exciting activities to look forward to; yachting, confidence course and orienteering. Keri loves a challenge and she is keen to do well. In addition, if Keri stays out of trouble, her mother will allow her to visit her cousin in Sydney over the summer holiday. She is determined to stay out of trouble.

Unfortunately, the gang has a different agenda.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jenni Francis
• Release date: Sep 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9780473276744

Jenni Francis

Jenni Francis lives in New Zealand. She lives on five acres, with an orchard, sheep and a river. She has a cat named Tui, who is very greedy, and who doesn't love children. Which is a shame, as she has twelve grandchildren.Jenni has been writing for about 20 years, and loves to write children's stories. She has six books of the 'Keri' series published so far, and is writing book seven. The main character, Keri, finds herself in difficult situations. Her friends don't always agree with what she does, but they are always there for her in the end.She also has a book of short stories for boys. Not girls.

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© Copyright Jenni Francis 2014

Published by Jenni Francis 2014

P.O. Box 89

Matakana 0948

Auckland

New Zealand

http://www.jennifrancis.com/home.html

The moral right of the author is asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing from the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition as imposed on any purchaser.

ISBN: 978-0-473-27674-4

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Also By Jenni Francis

Losing William

Contents

Chapter 1 - Weasely Worm

Chapter 2 - To The Rescue

Chapter 3 - Danielle

Chapter 4 - Sparkling Water

Chapter 5 - Spiders and Snakes

Chapter 6 - Cave Dwellers

Chapter 7 - Boot Camp?

Chapter 8 - Heroes and Villains

Chapter 9 - Confidence Course

Chapter 10 - Just Joking

Chapter 11 - Ganging Up

Chapter 12 - Angela

Chapter 13 - Burma Trail

Chapter 14 - Another Warning

Chapter 15 - Hot and Cold

Chapter 16 - Treasure Hunt

Chapter 17 - Suspicions

Chapter 18 - Sailing into Trouble

Chapter 19 - Camp Fires

Chapter 20 - Regrets

Chapter 21 - Do-gooders

Chapter 22 - James Plays a Surprise

Chapter 23 - Message to Jess

About Jenni Francis

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‘Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke’

Benjamin Disraeli

For Hannah, who gave great encouragement.

And for Emily, who is next in line.

Chapter 1

Weasely Worm

The Year 5 girls screamed at each other.

Pass it here, pass it, pass it!

No, this way – Charmaine, here!

The ball sailed across their heads towards a little dark haired girl who was bouncing up and down at the side of the court.

Georgia! This way. She caught it, turned on one foot, and threw it towards the goal circle. The goal defense jumped too soon. The ball tipped her fingers and ricocheted out of court.

Around the side of the technical block at that moment, came The Gang of Five. Swaggering, slouching, eyes swiveling to see who was looking. Most of us were, warily.

Except for the girls on the court.

I watched in fascination as the ball’s arc began its downward movement towards them. Danielle had turned towards Rochelle. Rochelle was poking Danielle in the arm and she seemed to be angry about something. Nothing new there. Behind them Crystal, Kimi and Sheryl giggled about something.

Danielle’s mouth tightened and her brow wrinkled. She strode forward to get away from Rochelle, her frizzy blond hair bouncing. Then it happened.

The ball connected with Danielle’s head. She staggered sideways, lost her balance and fell onto the asphalt path. The newly laid path was covered in tiny stones.

The Gang ran towards her, but she was up in a second.

Who threw that? she screamed. Her tights had a huge tear down the side. She wiped her right hand with her left and I could see blood and a few scratches.

Who threw that? she screamed again. The little girls stood stock still, eyes wide and mouths open. No one said a word.

Who was it? You’d better tell me or you are all for it.

No-one looking at her would doubt it. The little girls began shuffling their feet. The goal defense stepped forward. She pointed to Georgia.

She threw it.

Georgia gasped. She turned to her teammate But you didn’t . . .

Danielle didn’t care who was at fault. Start running, kid! She yelled at Georgia. I’m not giving you another chance!

At this point, another person might have stepped in. Someone with more guts and nerve. Someone better than me. Instead, the weasely, lowly worm that was me slunk off in the middle of a crowd of kids going home. So I didn’t see what happened next.

That little girl was at least two years younger than I was. But, I’d been on the other end of The Gang of Five so many times. My nightmare from earlier in the year, Darlene, had left our school, but an even worse nightmare had taken her place. Actually, Danielle didn’t just take her place. She gathered the worst bullies in our year into her little gang, and terrorized everyone. I didn’t need another beating.

I stopped at Mum’s shop on the way home. She works at a pharmacy and sometimes I help after school.

Hi Keri, darling, she called out as I came in. How was your day?

What could I say? It was okay but a little kid got picked on by Danielle and I could have stopped it but I didn’t. Nope.

I shrugged.

Well, go on home and do some homework. We don’t need you tonight. See you later, love.

I grabbed a chocolate biscuit off the plate in the lunch room and started walking home.

If I had only waited a bit longer at the shop. Then I would not have been involved in what happened next. And while I would have felt bad about it, I could have said to myself that it had nothing to do with me. I would not have been in trouble. Camp would have been more fun, and my trip to Sydney would not have been in jeopardy.

But I wanted to watch a bit of television, so off I went.

Chapter 2

To The Rescue

At the end of the block of shops, there is an alleyway leading back to school. I was wiping chocolate off my fingers and onto my shorts as I reached it.

A small shape barreled out of the alley and smacked into me. A bag dropped to the ground.

Hey, watch it, I said. I picked up the bag and as I gave it to her, I saw that it was Georgia. Her face was streaked and dirty and she had a snotty nose, which she wiped on her sleeve.

What’s the matter? I asked.

She sniffed and sobbed, but before I could get a word out of her The Gang of Five emerged from the alley and surrounded us.

I want her! Danielle said. She needs a lesson taught her.

Leave her alone, Danielle, I pleaded. It wasn’t her fault.

Get out the way, you stupid cow. She’s getting a beating whether you’re in the way or not!

Danielle moved closer and the rest of the Gang closed in behind her. She grabbed the bag off me and chucked it on the ground. Then she reached behind me and pulled on Georgia’s jersey. Georgia shrieked.

That was enough. Scared or not, I was not going to let these bullies loose on this little girl. Something had finally snapped.

Leave her alone! I snarled. Leave her alone or you will be for it.

Rochelle squinted her beady eyes at me. What are you going to do?

First I’m going to scream so people can hear me, and then I’m going to tell them what you’ve been doing!

There were quite a few people walking by, and it might have worked. Rochelle took a quick look around. She jerked her head at the rest of them.

Come on, she said. We’ll deal with this one later.

Danielle was still spoiling for a fight. No way, I’m going to get my own back!

Rochelle looked daggers at her. It’s time to go, Danielle.

Danielle shrugged, and sloped off after her.

Don’t think this is the last of it! she warned.

As we watched them go, I gave a sigh of relief. Beside me, Georgia slid to the ground.

Hey, come on, they’ve gone. You don’t need to worry now.

But what about tomorrow? They’re always going to be there!

I’ll watch out for you.

You can’t be there all the time. They’ll still get me. Georgia was sobbing so hard she was getting hiccups.

Come on, I’ll walk you to your place. Where do you live?

It was in the opposite direction to my house, but not too far. As we got to the end of her street, she said, I’ll be alright now. Thank you for looking after me.

That’s okay. I’ll look out for you tomorrow if I can.

She nodded and started down her road. Then she called back, What is your name?

It’s Keri,

She