Jodie's Secret at Crater Cove: Book 2

By Diane Fagan

Twelve-year-old Jodie Jackson lives with her father above their boatshed in Serpentine Bay in Sydney. Jodie and her best friend Sarah are targeted at school by a bully. Jodie stands up to her but Sarah suffers from anxiety because of it. Jodie suggests that Sarah tell her parents about her worries.

Jodie misses her mother who h

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publicious Book Publishing
• Release date: Jul 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9780645154016

Diane Fagan

Diane Fagan was born on the northern prairies in Canada-far from the ocean. When she came to Australia, she found a new passion for sailing. After retiring from teaching, she concentrated on writing short stories for children and adults.Jodie's Challenge at Kingfisher Bay is her fourth novel, following Jodie's seriesDiane lives in Sydney, Australia.

Book preview

Chapter One

‘You can’t get me, Sarah!’ Jodie shouted over her shoulder. She charged around the school lockers, her shoes clomping on the cement floor, and her ponytail flying behind her. Rounding the corner, she almost crashed into Mrs Benito, who was standing right in front of her.

‘Oops.’ Jodie pulled up quickly.

‘Jodie Jackson! No running allowed!’ said the science teacher. ‘And what have you done to your uniform?’ She peered at Jodie’s dress. ‘You’re not allowed to pin your hem; it has to be neatly stitched.’ Her gaze moved down to Jodie’s shoes. ‘Look at your school shoes! They must be polished!’

Jodie looked down at her feet. The toes of her shoes were scuffed and there was a blob of white paint on the top. Luckily, Mrs Benito hadn’t noticed one brown and one black shoelace.

‘Um, sorry, Mrs Benito.’ She stepped backwards, turned and walked away, her face red.

A group of Year Nine girls standing at the tuck shop watched her and laughed.

Sarah walked up to Jodie and grabbed her hand, pulling her along. ‘Come on. Don’t take any notice of them.’ The two girls walked down to the lawn and sat on a bench.

‘How come it’s always me that gets into trouble?’ grumbled Jodie.

Sarah laughed. ‘You just can’t help yourself. Mrs Benito always stands right there to do a uniform check!’

Jodie sighed. ‘Lots of girls run around the school and never get caught. They never get busted for wearing red ribbons in their hair instead of black. And did you see Marna’s uniform? It’s waaaay above her knees, but all she has to do is bat her eyelashes and pretend she’s sorry, and she gets away with it.’

Sarah punched her arm. ‘You’re just so noticeable, Jodie!’

‘You never get into trouble!’ said Jodie.

‘My parents would kill me if I did,’ Sarah said. ‘I have nightmares sometimes, just thinking about it.’

‘You can’t be perfect all the time!’ said Jodie laughing, then she saw that Sarah wasn’t smiling.

‘I sometimes wake up with my heart pounding,’ Sarah confessed. ‘I know it’s silly, but...,- well it feels as though I can’t breathe!’

‘That’s awful!’ Jodie stared at the grass, wondering what to say.

She glanced over at Sarah and grabbed her arm. ‘Don’t you know it’s bad to bite your nails? All those hard, dirty bits of calcium sitting in your stomach!’

Sarah slid her hand under her leg. ‘Bad habit of mine. I know I shouldn’t.’ She shook her head. ‘My parents are always after me for it.’

‘Paint that yucky stuff on them!’ said Jodie. ‘It worked for me.’

The bell rang and the girls got up and walked back to their lockers to put away their lunch.

‘Have you seen the notice board today?’ asked Alice whose locker was on the opposite side to Jodie’s.

‘No.’ Jodie fiddled with her combination lock and held her breath, waiting for the inevitable nasty comment.

‘There’s a Mother-Daughter lunch in three weeks,’ said Alice. She turned and stared at Jodie. ‘So...who are you going to take?’

For the second time that morning Jodie felt her face grow hot and her heart started to hammer under her uniform.

She stuck her head in her locker and busily sorted through her books, then slammed the door shut and turned to Alice, ‘I’ve got lots of people I can ask,’ she said as she walked away.

Sarah ran after her. ‘What a cow that Alice is,’ she said, catching up and grabbing Jodie’s arm. ‘She couldn’t wait to mention the lunch to you! Her mother probably won’t even make it. She’ll be getting her hair done or having a manicure!’

Jodie nodded and tried to smile, but her heart felt like lead.

‘It’s not only for mothers you know,’ continued Sarah. ‘You can bring a mother figure! Like an aunt or sister, a cousin or a friend of the family.’

Jodie made a face. ‘It’s not the same, is it?’

‘What about your Nan? She’d love to come!’ said Sarah.

Jodie nodded. ‘I guess.’

‘I bet there’ll be other grandmothers there! Lots of mums have to work and travel and stuff like that!’

‘Yeah,’ said Jodie, smoothing back a strand of hair and tucking it behind her ear.

She wished she could have a nice normal family like Sarah’s. A mum and a dad, brother, cousins, aunts and uncles. There was just Jodie and her dad now.

He and Mum had always told her how happy they were when she was born, after thinking that they would never have any children. They had got married when they were both pretty old.

When Jodie was in Year Six, her mum became sick, and then had recovered, and it all seemed that she was fine. Then a few months later, she got sick again, and this time, Jodie had to say goodbye to her in the hospital. It was such an awful time, with the funeral, and her dad not communicating, and Jodie hurt so badly.

Her grandmother told her that her mum was in another lovely place but Jodie had still wondered about her. Where was she? Was she all right? Was she happy?

One night her mother appeared to her in her bedroom, and took her to Heaven World, and Jodie saw how beautiful and happy a place it was, and she knew her mother was fine, and hadn’t gone away forever, and that she watched over her.

It helped, knowing she was still around, but sometimes, Jodie wished she could see her, and feel her arms around her. The Mother-Daughter lunch just wasn’t the same if it wasn’t with your mum.

Chapter Two

Jodie got off the bus that afternoon and walked down the hill to the boatshed, where she and her father lived. They had a flat upstairs, with two bedrooms, and a kitchen and living area, and underneath was the office and the workshop, where her dad, and Steve, his assistant, did repairs and maintenance on the boats out in the bay. Her father had taken the business over from his father, and last year, she and her parents had moved in when Grampa couldn’t manage it anymore.

Her bedroom was in the attic, tucked up under the eaves, and the window beside her bed looked out to the boats anchored in the bay. Jodie loved being part of the world of boats and everything to do with living on the water; -waves lapping, sea birds calling, the salty smell of the ocean, and at night, the gentle sound of the boat’s rigging, tapping on the masts. It felt so peaceful and safe, like being a butterfly, wrapped in a silky cocoon.

She walked inside her house and opened the doors that led out to the balcony, off the living room. ‘Hi, Dad,’ she called, as she leaned over the railing.

He was standing on the wharf and looked up. ‘Hi,

darling, how was your day?’

‘Good.’

‘I’ve got some office work to do,’ he called up to her. ‘I’ll be up in an hour or so.’

She went into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit on the counter and noticed the spotless counters and clean floor. Mrs Fitzroy must have tidied the place. She came every Tuesday to clean and do the grocery shopping. Dad had asked her to do some cooking so they could have meals in the freezer, and she did the washing, and even mended their clothes. Jodie was so glad she didn’t have to cook and shop any more. She could just pull a frozen meal out now, instead of trying to think up something for dinner as she had to just after her mum died.

Jodie and her dad had tried to carry on with shopping and cooking, but it hadn’t worked out. Their lives had gotten in a bit of muddle, with her dad working so hard and Jodie trying to fill in for her mother.

She remembered that disastrous sail from Rodd Island, when she capsized in the storm, and had to swim to shore with Rusty, Steve’s dog. Her dad had rescued them, and then they had talked about how much they missed Mum and how her dad was bottling up his sadness