Dustbin Baby by Jacqueline Wilson

in my ice-cream tub. Big Mo thought we were holding hands and sharing ice-cream. Everyone thought Pearl and I were the best of friends.
    I thought I was safe at school because Pearl should have been two years above me, but she’d missed out on so much schooling in the past she hadn’t yet learnt to read so they put her back a couple of years. Into my class. They moved the little boy beside me so that Pearl could sit next to me, ‘seeing as you two girls are such special friends’.
    I tried to run away from Pearl at playtime but she could run much faster than me. She’d whack me hard with her book.
    â€˜You’re supposed to help with my reading, April. Come on, get cracking, or I’ll tell on you.’
    I had to sit down beside her and open up the book and point to all the words about Freddy and his teddy. Pearl read along as I pointed, but she whispered her own words. She might not have been able to read conventionally but she could certainly read
me
.
    â€˜There was a stupid, spotty, smelly girl called April and no-one liked her, not even her own mum and dad, so they dumped her, ha ha, what do you expect. This daft, fat lady said, “Oooh, never mind, April, little diddums, we will make Pearl be your friend.” Do you think Pearl will be April’s friend?’ She said it as if she was still reading . She dug me viciously with her elbow. ‘Oi, dumbo, I’m talking to you. Am I your friend?
Am I
?’
    â€˜No! Yes! I don’t know,’ I said helplessly.
    â€˜Can’t you make up your mind, stupid? Well, I’ll make it up for you. If you don’t want to be my friend that means you’re my deadly enemy.’
    School was bad enough but Pearl was worse at home. I’d start to feel sick every evening when it got near bathtime. There were so many of us needing baths every day that Big Mo thought it would be fun for us girls to have our bath together.
    I tried to hide but it was no use.
    â€˜
Found
you!’ said Big Mo, and she’d haul me out from under the bed and give me a little shake. ‘You’re as bad as the boys, sweetiepops. They don’t like baths either. But you want to be a nice clean girl, don’t you? Come on now. Pearl’s already in the tub. She’s squirting bubbles everywhere, bless her.’
    I begged to have a bath with Esme instead.
    â€˜No, dearie. Esme’s quite the little lady now in lots of ways. She needs her privacy. You pop in the tub with Pearl.’
    Big Mo effortlessly held me up with her giant arms, suddenly squinting at me. ‘What’s up, eh? You and Pearl haven’t had a little tiff, have you?’
    I shook my head. ‘A little tiff’ implied an argument. I didn’t dare disagree with Pearl.
    I had to share the bath with her. When Big Mo was in the room with us Pearl couldn’t go too far, though she’d pinch me under the bubbles and run her sharp toenails down my skinny legs. But when Big Mo went out the room to fetch some clean towels from the airer in the kitchen Pearl would play her favourite game. Mermaids.
    â€˜What do mermaids do, April?’ she’d whisper, sitting really close to me, her teeth gleaming. Soapsuds glistened on her pale arms. Her wet black hair lay flat against her head, shiny like a Dutch doll.
    â€˜I’m talking to you, April. Can’t you hear me? Haven’t you got any ears?’ She yanked a lock of my hair to one side and jabbed her finger right into my ear, making it ring.
    â€˜I – I don’t know what mermaids do,’ I stammered that first time.
    â€˜And you’re such a clever-clogs too! Well, dopey, drippy April, mermaids have got long fishy tails so they can – what?’
    I swallowed, trying to edge away from her until the hard enamel of the bath bit into my back.
    â€˜Answer me! Maybe you haven’t got a tongue, is that it?’ Her fingers scrabbled at my bottom lip until it opened.