Friday barnes girl detec.., p.14
Friday Barnes, Girl Detective,
p.14
“Why?” asked Friday, as a feeling of dread sank down into her stomach.
“Because I’m arresting you,” said the police officer.
To be continued …
Will Friday be arrested and thrown in prison?
Will she and Melanie finish their chocolate cake first?
And will Friday ever admit she is madly in love with Ian Wainscott?
To find out what happens, read the second book in this series …
Coming August 2016.
Read on for a sneak peek!
Chapter
1
Wrongly Accused
Friday Barnes and her roommate, Melanie Pelly, were sitting in the dining hall at Highcrest Academy, enjoying second helpings of chocolate cake. For two people who had absolutely nothing in common, except their mutual dislike of all sports, Friday and Melanie could not be better friends. They were more than just BFFs; they had formed a symbiotic relationship. Melanie was very vague, so she relied on Friday for basic information like what day of the week it was, what class they were sitting in, and how to do quadratic equations. Whereas Friday was socially clueless, so she relied on Melanie for intuitive knowledge, like telling her when she was being so irritating that her teacher was about to have a brain aneurysm.
Friday had never expected to attend a fancy private boarding school. That was until she received a $50,000 reward for helping her uncle solve a bank robbery. Coming from a highly academic family (both her parents and all four of her siblings have PhDs in physics), Friday decided to invest the money in her education, which is how she came to be at Highcrest.
Since arriving at the elite preparatory school, Friday had gone from being an eleven-year-old scruffy social outcast to being a twelve-year-old brilliant private detective. She’d had to because Friday didn’t come from a wealthy family like the other students, so working as a private detective was her way of earning an allowance. Friday was still scruffy and socially outcast, but people were prepared to overlook that when they desperately needed her help.
And Friday didn’t just help her fellow students. Even the Headmaster called on Friday when he had a problem he couldn’t, or didn’t want to, handle himself.
On this particular occasion Friday and Melanie were at the end of a long day searching for a swamp yeti, capturing bird smugglers, and saving the school’s reputation, so Mrs. Marigold, the cook, felt they had earned an extra serving of dessert. But their calorie-induced bliss was about to be interrupted.
“Barnes,” snapped a voice from behind them.
Friday and Melanie turned around. The Headmaster was standing next to a uniformed police sergeant.
“What’s this?” asked Friday. “Am I getting some sort of citizenship award for everything I’ve done for the school?”
“No,” said the Headmaster soberly. “I’m afraid not.”
“Friday Barnes,” said the police officer, “I have to ask you to come with me.”
“Why?” asked Friday.
“Because I’m arresting you,” said the police sergeant. “You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say or do may be used in evidence. Do you understand?”
“Not really,” said Friday. “Not the situation anyway. But I do have a large vocabulary and as such have no trouble understanding the meaning of your words.”
The police sergeant had dealt with much more intimidating people than Friday resisting arrest, so he simply took the matter in hand. He pulled Friday’s chair back for her while she was still sitting on it, took her by the elbow, and guided her to her feet.
Friday was mortified. She didn’t have to look up to know that everyone in the room was staring at her. This would be yet another reason for all her rich classmates to snigger and laugh at her. There was nothing she could do. She was the most exciting spectacle in the dining room since Mrs. Marigold lost her temper with a vegetarian student-teacher and dumped a pudding on his head.
“If you’ll come with me,” said the police sergeant, although Friday could barely hear him through the rushing sound in her ears. People always marvel that holding a seashell to your ear replicates the sound of the sea, but in the seconds before you faint, the movement of blood rushing out of your brain replicates the sound of the sea, too.
Friday saw Melanie’s concerned expression; then something made her look across the room. Ian Wainscott, the most handsome boy in school (also the most infuriatingly smug boy in school) was entering through the back door. He was Friday’s nemesis/love-interest, no one was entirely sure which. In the past, she’d put his father in prison and he’d dressed up as a yeti and tried to scare her to death. Yet they seemed to be magnetically drawn to each other if for no other reason than to bicker.
Friday watched Ian’s face as he took in the scene. He seemed surprised for a moment. Then he caught Friday’s eye, and his face returned to its normal apathetic mask.
The police sergeant started pulling at Friday’s arm and the world seemed to return to normal speed. Her ears started to process sound again, just in time to hear the first murmurs of malicious gossip.
It was times like this when Friday wished she didn’t have a brain like a supercomputer. Having a photographic memory meant that the words, and the associated hurt, would be accessible in the long-term storage of her brain’s neural matrix forever.
“Typical scholarship kid, probably been stealing,” whispered Mirabella.
“Maybe she’s being arrested for wearing those brown cardigans,” said Trea. “She should get five to ten years for crimes against fashion.”
“Plus another ten for the green hat,” said Judith.
Now dozens of people sniggered. That was the last Friday heard as the dining room door flapped closed behind her.
A squad car with lights flashing was parked at the top of the school’s driveway.
“The Headmaster is going to hate that,” said Friday. “It’s a bad look for the school.”
“The Headmaster will be grateful I’m taking you off his hands after what y–wagh!” said the police sergeant as he was interrupted mid-lecture because he had fallen into a hole about one foot round and one foot deep.
“Ow, that hurt,” said the police sergeant, rubbing his knees.
“I wonder who put that there?” said Friday. She inspected the hole. It looked like it had been dug out by hand.
“This crazy school,” muttered the police sergeant. “There’s always something going on. Rich kids with their weird pranks or bitter teachers with their revenge plots. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”
Friday looked back at the main building. She had a lump in her throat and her eyes started to itch. She knew she wasn’t suffering from pollen allergies because it wouldn’t be spring for another six months.
Friday wasn’t terribly in touch with her emotions, but she was able to deduce that she was upset. Being forced from Highcrest Academy had affected her more than she would have imagined. The police sergeant was entirely right. Highcrest Academy was full of obnoxious children and strange teachers, but it had also become her home. She had friends … well, one friend. And she received three warm meals a day. So despite the Gothic architecture and the even more Gothic attitudes of the staff, this place had made her feel safe and needed—in a way her family home never had. As the squad car started to pull down the driveway, Friday hoped this would not be the last time she saw her school.
About the Author
R. A. Spratt is an award-winning author with sixteen years of experience writing comedy and children’s TV programs. Her Nanny Piggins series went into nine bestselling volumes in Australia. She lives in Bowral, Australia, with her husband and two daughters.
www.raspratt.com. Or sign up for email updates here.
ALSO BY R. A. SPRATT
The Adventures of Nanny Piggins
Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan
Nanny Piggins and the Runaway Lion
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Chapter 2: A Brilliant Deduction
Chapter 3: The Bank Vault
Chapter 4: How Friday Spent the $50,000
Chapter 5: A New Chapter
Chapter 6: Ow!
Chapter 7: The Nice Lady
Chapter 8: The Headmaster’s Office
Chapter 9: A Problem Solved
Chapter 10: Friday’s Roommate
Chapter 11: Bullying
Chapter 12: The Greek God
Chapter 13: The Swamp
Chapter 14: Fisticuffs
Chapter 15: The Stakeout
Chapter 16: The Sticky Substance
Chapter 17: The Case of the Missing Homework
Chapter 18: The Homework Is Found
Chapter 19: The Case of the A++
Chapter 20: Something Spooky
Chapter 21: The Plot Thickens
Chapter 22: More Screaming
Chapter 23: Back in the Headmaster’s Office
Chapter 24: The Plan
Chapter 25: The Great Escape
Chapter 26: The Reckoning
Chapter 27: In Conclusion
Teaser
About the Author
Also by R. A. Spratt
Copyright
Text copyright © 2014 by R. A. Spratt
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Phil Gosier
Published by Roaring Brook Press
Roaring Brook Press is a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
mackids.com
First published in Australia in 2014 by Penguin Random House Australia
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spratt, R. A.
Friday Barnes, girl detective / by R. A. Spratt; illustrations by Phil Gosier. — First edition.
pages cm
“First published in Australia in 2014 by Penguin Random House Australia.”
Summary: “A genius girl detective discovers her ultra exclusive boarding school is a hotbed of crime, from missing homework and stolen lemon tarts to a mysterious yeti haunting the school swamp”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-62672-297-2 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-62672-298-9 (e-book)
[1. Boarding schools—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Genius—Fiction. 4. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Gosier, Phil, 1971– illustrator. II. Title.
PZ7.S76826Fri 2016
[Fic]—dc23
2015005923
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First edition 2016
eISBN: 9781626722989
R. A. Spratt, Friday Barnes, Girl Detective
