BooksBarbecue
Back The Lollipop Shoes
Chapters (96)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Book
  3. The Lollipop Shoes
  4. Dedication
  5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  6. PART ONE
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. PART TWO
  13. 1
  14. 2
  15. 3
  16. 4
  17. 5
  18. 6
  19. 7
  20. 8
  21. PART THREE
  22. 1
  23. 2
  24. 3
  25. 4
  26. 5
  27. 6
  28. PART FOUR
  29. 1
  30. 2
  31. 3
  32. 4
  33. 5
  34. 6
  35. 7
  36. 8
  37. 9
  38. PART FIVE
  39. 1
  40. 2
  41. 3
  42. 4
  43. 5
  44. 6
  45. 7
  46. 8
  47. 9
  48. 10
  49. 11
  50. 12
  51. PART SIX
  52. 1
  53. 2
  54. 3
  55. 4
  56. 5
  57. 6
  58. 7
  59. 8
  60. 9
  61. 10
  62. 11
  63. 12
  64. PART SEVEN
  65. 1
  66. 2
  67. 3
  68. 4
  69. 5
  70. 6
  71. 7
  72. 8
  73. 9
  74. PART EIGHT
  75. 1
  76. 2
  77. 3
  78. 4
  79. 5
  80. 6
  81. 7
  82. 8
  83. 9
  84. 10
  85. 11
  86. 12
  87. 13
  88. 14
  89. 15
  90. 16
  91. 17
  92. 18
  93. 19
  94. Epilogue
  95. About the Author
  96. Also by Joanne Harris

Wouldn’t you, if you had the chance?

Wouldn’t you?

Of course you would.

3

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Wednesday, 12th December

WELL, THAT’S MORE than a week of lessons so far, and already she says she can see a change. I’ve been learning more of the Mexican stuff – names and stories and symbols and signs. Now I know how to raise the wind with Ehecatl, the Changing One; and how to invoke Tlaloc, for rain, and even how to call down the Hurakan to bring revenge on my enemies.

Not that I’m thinking of revenge. Chantal and Co. have been out of school ever since that day at the bus stop. Apparently they’ve all got it now. Some kind of ringworm, Monsieur Gestin says, but anyway, they have to stay at home until it gets better, in case they infect anyone else. You’d be amazed at the difference it makes to a class of thirty kids when the four nastiest people are away. But without Suzanne, Chantal, Sandrine and Danielle, it’s actually nice to be at school. No one’s It; no one laughs at Mathilde for being fat, and Claude actually answered a question in maths today without stuttering.

Today, in fact, I’ve been working on Claude. He’s really nice when you get to know him, although he stammers so badly most of the time that he hardly ever talks to anyone. But I managed to slip a piece of paper marked with a symbol into his pocket – One Jaguar, for bravery – and it might just be that the others are away, but already I think I can see a difference.

He’s more relaxed now; he sits up instead of slouching and although his stammer hasn’t actually gone, it didn’t sound too bad today. Sometimes it gets so bad that his words jam up completely and he goes red in the face and almost cries – and everyone’s embarrassed for him – even the teacher – and can’t look (except for Chantal and Co., of course), but today he talked more than he ever does normally, and that didn’t happen, not even once.

I talked to Mathilde as well today. She’s very shy, and she doesn’t talk much; wears big black sweaters to hide her shape; tries to be invisible, hoping that people will leave her alone. They never do; and she moves around with her head down, as if she’s afraid to catch someone’s eye, and it makes her look tubby and awkward and sad, so that no one sees that she’s got great skin – unlike Chantal, who’s getting spots – and her hair is really thick and beautiful, and with the right attitude, she could be, too—

‘You should try it,’ I told her. ‘Surprise yourself.’

‘Try what?’ said Mathilde, as if to say: why are you wasting your time on me?