Pete Johnson - The Ex-Files

But you'll help me get Nicole back?

He shook his head. This is definitely not a dating service In fact, really it's exactly the opposite. Our job is to help you put a relationship behind you which, believe me, can be one of the hardest things in the world especially when you're a teenager, going through it for the very first time. Yet not one single person seems to understand or be able to help. You're totally alone.

Until now, I interrupted, with the Ex-Files riding to your rescue. My tone was a shade mocking but actually I was becoming more and more intrigued by this whole set-up.

Pete Johnson has been a film extra, a film critic for Radio 1, an English teacher and a journalist. However, his dream was always to be a writer. At the age of ten, he wrote a fan letter to Dodie Smith, author of The Hundred and One Dalmatians, and they wrote to each other for many years. Dodie Smith was the first person to encourage him to be a writer.

He has written many books for children, as well as plays for the theatre and Radio 4, and is a popular visitor to schools and libraries.

petejohnsonauthor.com

Some other books by Pete Johnson

THE COOL BOFFIN

THE EX-FILES

FAKING IT

THE HERO GAME

I'D RATHER BE FAMOUS

TEN HOURS TO LIVE

For younger readers

PIRATE BROTHER

PUFFIN

PUFFIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published 2006

Copyright Pete Johnson, 2006

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-14-192726-8

This book is dedicated to the great unsung heroes and
heroines of the Children's Book World: the librarians

With grateful thanks and admiration

Contents

Today I cut up my best friend's favourite dress.

I can't even say I did it in a moment of crazed anguish. It was totally premeditated. I'd spent ages searching for the right pair of scissors I wanted the especially sharp ones.

I knew Andrea was away visiting her dad this afternoon, so here was my chance to get inside her bedroom. And it was dead easy. I told her mum I thought I'd lost a special earring there. My only worry was that she might stay and look for it with me (she's one of those very eager-to-please mums). But luckily the phone rang, leaving me to carry out my act of vengeance in peace.

I located the dress at once. Well, it was impossible to miss. The one Andrea had been all day choosing. The one she planned to wear to her birthday party on Saturday.

Hot, angry tears shot down my face as I cut it up.

Andrea and I have been best friends ever since I moved here last October. She's so self-confident and lively and always right in the centre of things exactly how I would like to be. You might even say I wasn't only her friend; I was her fan as well.

Our friendship really took off the day she had her belly button pierced. She was so nervous she wanted someone to go with her and I volunteered. I remember telling her to take lots of deep breaths and she quipped, I'm not having a baby, you know.

Andrea got into big trouble when her mum discovered what she'd done, but she and I became so close after that. Later she told me very personal stuff about her family that I'd never reveal to another person. We completely trusted each other. That's why I never, ever thought she'd betray me and in the very worst way possible.

I scattered the dress's remains all over the wardrobe. I wasn't just burying a dress; I was burying a friendship as well.

Suddenly I heard one of the stairs creak. The sound shot through me like a jolt of electricity. I leaped away from the wardrobe as if it had bitten me. I'd just managed to fling the scissors under the bed when a voice asked, Any luck?'

Andrea's mum was smiling sympathetically at me but was there a glimmer of suspicion in her eyes too?

I said, with an apologetic grin, Actually, I think I must have left the earring somewhere else.

Oh, I see, she said, but was still looking at me a trifle oddly. I thought suddenly, You know what Andrea's done to me, don't you? You know everything.

She said, Never mind, dear, I'm sure it'll turn up and I expect you're very glad to have broken up for the summer holidays, aren't you?

Oh yes, I started to reply. Then, from out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the wardrobe door was moving. It was as if invisible strings were slowly pulling it open again.

I sprang forward. But Andrea's mum was right beside me. I'm afraid that door has to be pushed very hard Oh! she cried out suddenly. She crouched down. Oh no, she yelped again, then turned to me, her whole face wobbling with shock.

I didn't stay to chat. In fact, I hurtled down the stairs and out of the house at a speed which would have amazed my PE teacher.

At home I gloated for a bit. When Andrea returns, what a shock she'l get. She'll realize at once that I know everything.

But my feeling of triumph didn't last very long. And afterwards I just felt more confused and lost than ever.

I still can't make any sense of what's happened. Ever since I got back from holiday on Monday it's as if I've plunged into some bizarre new life, where the most awful and totally weird things just keep happening.

And now I've started cutting up dresses well, one dress. I can honestly say that is something I would never have imagined myself doing. It seems so petty and downright nasty.

But Andrea deserved it. That phrase keeps jumping into my head. I wondered, suddenly, if she'll tell Luc what I've done. Yes, she's bound to do that; she'll be so indignant and upset, milking it for all the sympathy she can get. You won't believe what Bella's done! she'll cry. Only Luc will reply and I can practically hear him But that isn't like Bella at all. There'll be a little worried frown on his face, too.