Buried Alive! by Jacqueline Wilson

he’s not wanted,’ said Kelly, climbing again.
    â€˜
I
want Biscuits around,’ I said.
    â€˜Well
I
don’t,’ said Kelly, as if that settled it. ‘Come on, Tim, let’s get to the top.’
    She hauled me up and up and up. It was getting uncomfortably high.
    â€˜Hang on. Look, here’s a little rockpool. What’s this blobby red thing? I think it’s a sea anemone.’
    â€˜Mmm,’ said Kelly, clearly not interested. She pulled at a few mussels clinging to the rock.
    â€˜Don’t dislodge them!’
    â€˜Are they oysters?’ Kelly asked. ‘I could do with a pearl toring the changes with my diamond.’
    â€˜Oysters!’ I said, sighing. ‘Oysters are
completely
different, and they’re way down on the sea bed. You have to dive for them.’
    â€˜Theresa can dive for them then,’ said Kelly, getting her old troll doll out of the pocket of her sweatshirt.
    I wished my Walter Bear was little enough to fit in a pocket. Kelly and Biscuits were so lucky to have mascots so discreetly small. I’d need a pocket the size of a shopping bag to accommodate Walter.
    Kelly ripped Theresa’s dress off and made her dive down into the pool.
    â€˜Wheee! She likes it, see. She’s a great swimmer. Find me some oysters, please, I want some pearls.’
    â€˜You don’t get pearls in every oyster. They’re very rare. Though of course you can farm oysters and have cultivated pearls—’
    â€˜Tim,’ Kelly interrupted. ‘Do you want to be a school teacher when you grow up?’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜Because you don’t half
act
like one sometimes.’
    â€˜Oh,’ I said.
    â€˜Ooooooooh!’ said Kelly.
    I blinked at her. I wondered if she was mocking me. Or playing the fool with Theresa? She scooped her troll out of the little pool and was holding her at arm’s length.
    â€˜Help! Look what’s in her
hair
!’ Kelly yelled.
    I looked. Then I laughed.
    â€˜Oh Kelly. It’s just a weeny little crab. Theresa used her hair like a fishing net.’
    â€˜Get it
off
her. She doesn’t like it,’ Kelly said urgently, waggling Theresa frantically.
    â€˜Hold her still then. Come here.’ I held the little wet troll doll and gently untangled the tiny crab from her long purple locks.
    â€˜
Yuck!
’ said Kelly, snatching Theresa back and combing her hair with her fingers. ‘Poorpoor
poor
Theresa – under mega-attack from a sea monster!’
    â€˜It’s only a baby crab, Kelly. Nothing to be scared of,’ I said, letting the crab scuttle up my arm.
    â€˜
I’m
not afraid of it. Theresa is. It practically bit her head off. Ugh, put it back in the water.’
    I popped the little crab back into his swimming pool. He paddled out of sight, probably very relieved.
    â€˜That’s it, you go back to Mummy Crab,’ I said.
    â€˜
Mummy?
’ said Kelly.
    She started climbing higher very quickly. I climbed too. I was getting the knack of it now and leapt from rock to rock almost as if I were Super-Tim himself. I felt great (though a bit guilty about Biscuits).
    â€˜Wow!’ said Kelly, from up above. ‘There’s an even better beach the other side of these rocks. A little cove.’
    It took me a minute or two to get up to the top. Then I saw the beach for myself. It was fantastic, a miniature bay of soft white sand circled by tall cliffs.
    â€˜Maybe no-one’s ever spotted it before,’ said Kelly. ‘It looks like you can only reach it by going over the rocks from our beach. Hey, let’sget right down there and make it
ours
. We can call it Kelly-and-Tim beach. Come on!’
    â€˜Well. Hadn’t we better get Biscuits too?’
    â€˜No!’
    â€˜It’s not really fair if we go off without him.’
    â€˜He’s the one that went off, not us.’
    â€˜Yes, but—’
    â€˜Look, if we go all the way back to