Amelia Dee and the Peacock Lamp by Odo Hirsch

Amelia. ‘Nothing.’
    ‘What?’ demanded Amelia again.
    ‘It’s just . . . he’s odd, Amelia. Admit it.’
    ‘He’s not odd.’
    ‘Of course he is. How many students does he have, not counting the Princess? Yet he sends people away. If that’s not odd, I don’t know what is.’
    ‘You have to admit,’ said Kevin, ‘it is odd.’
    ‘Mr Vishwanath doesn’t care about money,’ replied Amelia.
    ‘See?’ Eugenie threw up her hands. ‘What more proof do you need?’
    Amelia sucked on her straw. She knew that people said Mr Vishwanath was odd – when they weren’t saying even worse things. She wished she could stop them. But she knew Mr Vishwanath himself wouldn’t care. She could just imagine what he would say if she told him. It wouldn’t worry him, not even for a second. ‘It would be like a fly sitting on his hand,’ said Amelia.
    ‘What would?’ asked Eugenie.
    ‘If you told him you think he’s odd. He wouldn’t even notice it was there. And if he did notice, he would gently brush it away. He wouldn’t try to kill it, because it’s so unimportant it wouldn’t even be worth it. He’d just brush it away and not give it another moment’s thought.’
    ‘Amelia!’ exclaimed Eugenie. ‘That’s awful! We should always worry about what other people think of us! My mother says that’s the most important thing.’
    Kevin frowned. That explained quite a lot.
    ‘Does Mr Vishwanath really say that?’ asked Eugenie.
    ‘Yes,’ said Amelia. He would, if anyone asked him. In fact, Amelia was feeling quite pleased with herself for thinking of it. It was exactly the way Mr Vishwanath would put it.
    ‘You mustn’t listen to him, Amelia. You really mustn’t.’
    Amelia shrugged.
    ‘I’m serious!’
    ‘I know you are,’ said Amelia, and she exchanged a look with Kevin.
    They sipped their juices. Eugenie kept glancing longingly at Amelia’s and Kevin’s drinks, but whenever they noticed, she took a big, wincing sip of her cucumber juice, as if nothing could be more delicious.
    A couple came in and bought juices and sat down at a table. They kept holding each other’s hand and kissing. They hardly had time to drink their drinks because of all the kissing they were doing. Eugenie could barely take her eyes off them. Kevin and Amelia glanced at each other and grinned.
    ‘Come on, Eugenie,’ said Amelia eventually. ‘Let’s go.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Come on,’ said Kevin. ‘Haven’t you seen anyone kiss before?’
    Eugenie looked at him angrily. ‘I wasn’t watching them kiss.’
    ‘Well, I don’t know what else you were watching,’ said Amelia, ‘because that’s all they’ve been doing!’
    The couple heard and looked at them sharply.
    Amelia smiled, and walked out of the shop.
    ‘I wasn’t watching them kiss!’ said Eugenie again when they were outside.
    ‘Whatever,’ said Amelia.
    ‘I wasn’t!’
    ‘Why do you care so much even if you were?’ asked Kevin.
    Eugenie glared at him, then refused to answer.
    They headed home.
    ‘Well, I hope you’re happy,’ said Eugenie after a while. ‘You’ve ruined it, Amelia, absolutely ruined it for all of us.’
    Kevin rolled his eyes. ‘You’re not back on the Princess again, are you?’
    ‘If only you’d done what I told you.’
    ‘Eugenie,’ muttered Kevin, ‘let it go.’
    ‘Was it too hard for you to bring her a gift? Was that really too hard?’
    Amelia took a deep breath, trying to hold herself back. Even though Eugenie Edelstein was one of her two best friends, there were times when Eugenie was absolutely insufferable and Amelia wondered how she had ever ended up being friends with her at all. Like now. Moments like now made her wonder how you ever could become friends with anyone and not end up wanting to kill them.
    Amelia glanced at her. Eugenie glanced back, and put her nose in the air.
    ‘Well, I’m sorry!’ said Amelia. ‘You won’t get the chance to meet her, alright? So just live with it.’ And Amelia put