Billy Wizard (6 page)

“Maybe I ought to change
you
into something!” Billy lifted up his hands and pointed his fingers at Joe.

“No!” shouted Joe. “Don’t be stupid!”

He dived out of the way, hurling himself onto the tarmac of the playground, with his hands over his head. When he looked up Billy was gone
and
Neil was standing over him.

“I suppose this must be one of those really cool games you used to play at your old school,” said Neil with a chuckle, and walked off.

Joe got up and dusted himself down.

He did his best to avoid Billy for the rest of the day, but although he avoided talking to him and standing near him, he found it impossible to avoid looking at him.

Joe watched Billy’s every move. He looked like all the other children, except that he seemed more miserable most of the time. But nobody would ever have suspected that he was anything other than an ordinary boy.

Joe couldn’t wait for the end of the school day, but when he walked over to the waiting parents, he got a
shock
. His mother was chatting and laughing with Billy’s so-called mother, who, Joe now realized, must really be some kind of terrible witch, just like Billy had said.

“Hello, Joe,” said his mum. “How was your day?”

“Er … hi, Mum …” said Joe, looking sideways at Billy’s “mother”.

“Are you OK?” asked his mum.

Joe didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to see if he could see any sign of the witch beneath the disguise.

“Joe?” said his mother. “Are you all right?”

“What? Me?” said Joe finally. “Yeah … I’m all right …”

“Well, I’ve got a little surprise for you,” she said. “Billy’s mother has said you can go back with Billy for a while.” Joe stared open-mouthed. “I’ll
pick
you up about five thirty.”

“No!”

“Joe?” said his mother. “What’s the matter?”

“No! I can’t!” said Joe, backing away. Joe’s mother looked at Billy’s mother. Billy’s mother looked at Joe’s mother. They both shrugged.

“I’m so sorry,” said Joe’s mother.

“Joe is behaving very oddly.”

“Oh that’s all right,” said Billy’s mother. “Billy behaves oddly all the time. I’m used to it.”

Billy suddenly appeared.

“Why are you always the last to come out?” said his mother.

“Don’t know,” said Billy.

“Well,” said Joe’s mother. “Maybe another time. Thanks for the offer anyway.”

“What was all that about?” she asked, when she and Joe had walked to the end of the street. “That was very rude. Have you and Billy had some sort of fight?”

“No,” said Joe. “Not really. It’s complicated.”

“Try and explain it to me,” said his mum. “I’m quite clever when I want
to
be.” She smiled at him.

Joe opened his mouth to begin, but could not think what to say. “You’d never believe me,” he said. “
I
wouldn’t believe me,” he said. “And I
am
me.”

His mother raised one eyebrow. “I see,” she said, shaking her head.

Joe could not settle when he got home. He couldn’t even concentrate on his favourite TV programme, so he went up to his room and flopped down on the bed. He picked up the book his gran had given him. He looked at the picture of the wizard again: although the wizard had a long white beard, there was something about the eyes that really did look like Billy.

Chapter 6

New Friends

“
DO YOU KNOW
what happened to Rick yesterday?” said Neil at break time the next morning.

“Well … yeah,” said Joe, a little relieved to be able to share it with someone. “I didn’t think anybody knew—”

“Everybody knows,” said Neil. “Good riddance too.”

“I know you didn’t like him,” said Joe, “but I’m not sure he deserved to be … you know …”

“He deserved a lot worse than
that
, if you ask me.”

“A lot worse?” said Joe, amazed at how calmly Neil was taking it.

“Doesn’t strike me as so bad.”

“Not so bad?” said Joe. “Are you kidding?”

“Look,” said Neil. “He was horrible. He was a bully and he liked hurting people. He got off lightly.”

“You call being turned into a
mouse
getting off lightly?”

Neil stared at him. “Being turned into a what?”

“A mouse,” said Joe.

Neil stared at him again. “Er … what are you talking about?”

“Rick,” said Joe. “I’m talking about Rick.”

“Rick has been taken out of our school by his mum and dad,” said Neil. “They’ve been thinking of doing it for ages, but when he threw the firework yesterday and bunked off, that was the last straw.”

“Firework?” said Joe in a daze. “Bunked off?”

“Are you all right?” asked Neil. “Rick’s been sent to a private school by his parents. It’s some tough place where they reckon he’ll be knocked into shape. Serves him right.”

“What’s this about a firework?” said Joe.

“What is the matter with you?” said Neil. “You must be the only one in the school who doesn’t know. Rick threw a banger at playtime. Didn’t you hear the bang? Then he climbed over the fence and ran off.”

“But what about the mouse?” asked Joe.

“What mouse? Oh – you mean Little Danny, Molly Mason’s pet mouse? She brought it into school to show everyone and it escaped. But what’s that got to do with—?”

But Joe was gone.

Joe found Billy on his own in the quiet area of the playground.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” said Billy without looking up from his feet.

“Sorry,” said Joe. “You know, about yesterday and that.”

“That’s OK,” said Billy.

“Rick’s been sent to another school.”

“Good,” said Billy. He looked up at Joe. “Thanks for standing up to him for me.”

“That’s all right,” said Joe, sitting down next to Billy. “I should have done it before, with you being my friend and that.”

“Yeah?” said Billy.

“Definitely,” said Joe.

“I’m not really a wizard, you know,” said Billy.

“Yeah,” said Joe. “I know.”

“I wish I was.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

They sat in silence for a minute or two.

“It’s not nice calling your mum a witch though, is it?” said Joe. “She seems really nice.”

“She is,” said Billy. “I don’t know
why
I do it.” He sounded as though he was about to cry. “I don’t mean to do it,” he explained. “I got picked on by these older children at my last school and I started to make things up and pretend that I could get back at them. Once I pretended I was an alien from another planet who was in disguise and another time that I had super powers. I made all kinds of stuff up.”

“Like being a wizard?” asked Joe.

Billy nodded. “Mum says I’ve got an over-active imagination. That’s why she moved me to this school – because I told so many lies at my last one. Children called me names and I just got picked on even more. Now I’ve done the same thing here.” He began to sob.

“Only to me and Rick,” said Joe,
putting
his arm round Billy’s shoulder. “I don’t mind and Rick’s gone.”

Billy smiled weakly. “What about Neil?”

“What about me?” asked Neil, wandering over at just that moment.

“Do you care that Billy’s been saying he’s a wizard?” said Joe.

“Not really,” said Neil, sitting down next to them. “It is a bit crazy though.”

“He’s not going to do it any more,” said Joe. “Are you, Billy?”

“No,” said Billy, smiling.

“People picked on him at his last school,” explained Joe.

“Well, the only person who was ever going to pick on you here was Rick and he’s history,” said Neil.

“Yeah,” said Joe. “There was someone like him at my last school.
This
boy called Carl.”

“At least you stood up to him,” said Neil. “No one ever stood up to Rick before. You’ll be famous.”

“I will?”

“He kicked that ball straight at you, on purpose,” said Billy. “You know, when you caught it.”

“Why didn’t you say?” said Joe. “I hate football.”

Billy and Neil laughed.

“You’d have hated it even more after a game with Rick,” said Neil. “The last boy they persuaded to be in goal for them ended up with a black eye when he tried to stop Rick scoring.”

Just then Joe noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A little white mouse had
appeared
between his feet, sniffing the air nervously. Billy and Neil followed his gaze downwards.

“Little Danny!” said all three of them together.

Joe bent down slowly and gently picked up the mouse in his cupped hands. “It looks frightened,” he said.

“Well, so would you be if you were brought to a weird place where you didn’t know anybody,” said Neil.

“Yeah,” said Joe. “I suppose so. Come on, let’s take him back to Molly.”