The Honey Bees

Sally Rippin

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Billie B Brown has two big eyes, two shaky knees and one best friend by her side. Do you know what the B in Billie B Brown stands for?

Bees!

Buzzing, zooming, stinging bees!

Billie and Jack hide under the table. Other kids are hiding too. Do you know what they are hiding from? That’s right. Three buzzing bees are flying around the classroom.

Sam jumps up onto a desk. ‘I’ll kill them!’ he shouts. He picks up a book and tries to hit a bee.

‘No, stop!’ comes a loud voice.

Billie peeks out from under the desk. In the doorway stands the new girl, Sara.

Sara has only been in Billie’s class for two days. She has moved here from the country.

‘Don’t hurt them!’ Sara shouts again.

Billie frowns and looks up at Sara. ‘But they will sting us!’ Billie says.

‘No, they won’t,’ Sara says. ‘Not if you leave them alone.’ She walks over to the classroom window. She opens it wide. Soon the bees fly outside. Right past Sara’s nose!

Billie crawls out from under the desk. ‘Wow, you are brave,’ she says to Sara.

Sam climbs down from the desk. He is annoyed he didn’t get to be the hero today. Everyone stands around the new girl.

‘Bees aren’t scary,’ Sara says. ‘We had bees on our farm. Bees are good.’

‘Sara is right,’ says Ms Walton. Everyone looks up as their teacher comes into the classroom. ‘We need to protect our bees.’

‘What’s so special about bees?’ Jack grumbles.

He is the only one left hiding under the desk. He climbs out to stand next to Billie.

Ms Walton smiles. ‘Good question,’ she says. ‘This week we will talk about ways to look after our planet. Who would like to find out why bees are so important?’

Billie shoots up her hand. ‘Me!’ she says. She smiles at the new girl. ‘And can Sara be my partner?’

Sara smiles and her cheeks turn pink.

Jack’s cheeks turn pink too. But he is not smiling!

‘Oh, and Jack of course!’ Billie giggles.

Billie usually picks Jack as her partner. But Jack doesn’t know anything about bees.

When school is finished, Billie and Jack run to the gate. Billie’s dad is waiting to walk them home. ‘Dad, Dad!’ shouts Billie.

‘Our class is doing projects on saving the planet. The new girl is in our group. Can she come over?’

Billie looks around the yard for Sara.

‘There she is,’ Billie says. ‘We had bees in our classroom and she wasn’t even scared!’

‘Sure!’ says Billie’s dad. ‘I’ll go ask her mum. How are you, Jack?’ He messes up Jack’s hair.

Jack shrugs and smooths his hair down again.

Billie’s dad asks Sara’s mum if Sara can come for a play.

‘That would be lovely,’ Sara’s mum says. ‘I’ll pick her up just before dinner.’

Sara walks home with Billie and Jack. Billie talks the whole way.

Sara talks a lot too. She tells Billie all about living on a farm. It sounds so exciting!

‘Wow!’ Billie says. ‘Sara had her own horse! How cool is that, Jack?’

‘Pretty cool, I guess,’ Jack says. But he doesn’t look at them.

When they get home, Jack keeps walking towards his house. Jack lives next door.

‘Hey, Jack!’ Billie says. ‘We have to work on our project!’

‘I’ll do it later,’ Jack says, sounding grumpy. ‘I’m a bit tired today.’

‘Is he OK?’ Sara asks.

Billie shrugs. ‘Don’t worry,’ she tells Sara. ‘He’s just shy sometimes.’

But Billie knows something is not right. She and Jack have been friends for a long time. And no-one knows Jack as well as Billie!

One part of her wants to go see if he’s OK. The other part of her is excited to work on a project with Sara.

Billie decides she will find a way to cheer him up later.

Billie and Sara sit at the computer. They find out lots of things they can do to look after their planet.

Billie writes down ‘R, R, R.’

Billie’s mum walks over with baby Noah on her hip. ‘What does that stand for?’ she says.

‘Reduce, re-use, recycle,’ Billie says. ‘We have to buy less stuff, Mum!’

‘That’s true,’ Billie’s mum says.

‘We recycle what we can. But we can all do better.’

‘On our farm, we grew vegetables,’ Sara says. ‘And had compost bins for our scraps. We kept honey bees, and chickens for eggs.’

‘We grow vegetables,’ says Billie. ‘And we have chickens, too. Hey, Mum! We should get honey bees!’

‘Oh, I don’t know …’ says her mum. But she isn’t really listening anymore. Noah is getting restless. He wants to play on the computer too!

‘But the bees are dying,’ says Billie. ‘Sara and I watched a video about it on the internet. If all the bees die there will be no more food! Bees pollinate the flowers so they can grow into fruit and vegetables. We have to save them, Mum! We need to get a beehive!’

‘We are as busy as bees here already, Billie,’ her mum says. She jiggles Noah up and down to stop him crying. Then she leaves to give him his dinner.

‘Mum obviously doesn’t care about saving the planet,’ Billie huffs. ‘I know! The school should get a beehive.’

‘Good idea!’ says Sara. ‘My dad can help. He knows how to look after bees.’

‘This is the best idea ever,’ Billie says. ‘Let’s go next door and tell Jack.’

Billie and Sara run out to the backyard. They climb into Jack’s garden.

‘Jack! Jack!’ Billie yells.

Jack comes to the back door.

‘Sara and I have the best idea for Ms Walton,’ Billie says.

‘We should get a beehive at school!’

Jack frowns. His face turns very red. ‘That’s a stupid idea!’ he says. ‘We don’t need bees at school.’

‘We need to save the bees, Jack!’ Billie says. ‘Why are you so scared of bees anyway? Sara says they won’t hurt you.’

‘Bees are horrible!’ Jack yells. ‘And I’m not scared of them, OK? I don’t want to be in your group anyway!’ He runs back into his house.

‘What’s up with him?’ Sara says.

‘I have no idea,’ Billie says. ‘But he doesn’t have to be so rude.’

‘Come on,’ says Sara. She puts her arm around Billie’s shoulder. ‘My mum will be here soon.’

They walk back to Billie’s house. Billie feels her tummy bubble with anger. What is going on with Jack? she thinks.

Can you guess?

That night, Billie’s dad tucks her into bed. Billie tells him how rude Jack was. ‘I don’t know if I can be friends with him anymore,’ she says, frowning.

‘Oh, Billie,’ her dad says. ‘Jack is allergic to bees. He was stung once when he was little. He had to spend three days in hospital. No wonder he’s scared of them.’

‘Oh no! Poor Jack!’ Billie says. She sits up suddenly.

‘But why didn’t he just tell me? I’m his best friend!’

‘Well, maybe he didn’t feel like your best friend today?’ Billie’s dad says. ‘After all, you seemed very busy with the new girl. Maybe Jack isn’t just scared of bees. Maybe he’s scared you don’t want to be his friend anymore?’

‘Oh dear,’ says Billie. ‘You’re right. I haven’t been a good friend today. I didn’t even notice how scared he was. Maybe he won’t want to be my friend anymore?’

Billie’s dad kisses her forehead. ‘Don’t worry, Billie,’ he says. ‘You’ll find a way to make things right.You always do.’

Billie lies in the dark and worries. Worries always feel much bigger in the dark. But Billie B Brown is lots of things. She is brave. She is brilliant. She is bold. Billie B Brown may not know how to save the planet yet. But she does know how to save a friendship.

The next morning, Billie quickly gets dressed for school. She runs out into the garden.

You know where she is going, don’t you?

‘Jack! Jack!’ Billie calls.

Jack opens the door.

He is still in his pyjamas. ‘I’m not going to school today,’ he says in a grumpy voice. ‘I don’t feel well.’

‘Oh, Jack,’ Billie says. She gives him a big hug. ‘You should have told me you were allergic to bees. I would be scared of bees too if I was allergic to them.’

Jack looks surprised. ‘Really?’ he says. ‘But you’re not scared of anything, Billie!’

Billie smiles. ‘That’s not true,’ she says.

‘Last night I was scared you didn’t want to be my friend anymore.’

Jack laughs. ‘That’s funny,’ he says. ‘I was scared you didn’t want to be my friend anymore! Because I’m not as brave as Sara.’

‘That’s just silly,’ Billie grins. ‘You’ll always be my best friend.

Now get dressed,’ she says. ‘We need you to help us with our project!’

‘But don’t you want to put a beehive in the school?’ Jack says, nervously.

‘Nah,’ shrugs Billie. ‘I reckon compost is a much better idea. And we can use it to plant flowers for the bees. No-one is allergic to compost!’

For Remy

The Honey Bees

published in 2020 by

Hardie Grant Egmont

Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

Richmond,Victoria 3121, Australia

www.hardiegrantegmont.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

Design and typesetting by Stephanie Spartels

eISBN 9781743586945

We welcome feedback from our readers. All our ebooks are edited and proofread vigorously, but we know that mistakes sometimes get through. If you spot any errors, please email [email protected] so that we can fix them for your fellow ebook readers.

The Honey Bees

You've reached the end