Page 12 - Book 8 Matty Hedgehog and the Paper Chase

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Matty Hedgehog and the Paper Chase
Paris lowered one ear and opened her mouth to protest, but after glancing at her grandma’s expression thought better of it and said:
‘I’d just set the table with our breakfast things and we were laughing about Matty Hedgehog and Jackson Squirrel having races in our go-karts next week. Dad came in and told us that he’d written to a friend called Velvet, who lives on the coast, inviting her to come and stay with us.
‘I asked why he’d done that, because we don’t have a spare bedroom. Then he said that we were unkind and selfish and Jess asked him if he still loved Mum. He was cross.’
The young rabbit had tears in her eyes and lowered her face to fiddle with her school tie. Tilly raised her eyebrows.
‘Hmm – I see. What do you have to say, Jess?’ she asked, turning to Paris’s sister.
‘He said that we have to be polite and behave ourselves when we meet her. We don’t know anything about her. She could be anybody. And how does he know her? She’s not a relative, so why should she come here to stay? He hasn’t taken any flowers to Mum’s grave for ages.’
Tilly looked at the two younger sisters, Isla and Chloe.
‘And what about you, Chloe?’
The little rabbit placed her elbows on the table, twitched her nose and looked across at Paris. ‘I like her because she sent this to me on my birthday.’ The little rabbit held up her wrist to show Tilly a ruffled pink bracelet.
‘Creep’ said Paris under her breath, ignoring Tilly’s stare.