Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 'You are joking?!' Charlie said in utter disbelief. 'It's the ONLY explanation,' Flora said, crossing her arms. It was Monday lunch break, and the first time the four had been together since the Bandit's Hill Disaster. 'You're saying I wasn't scared enough to change? You are actually completely and totally– DO YOU REALISE HOW TERRIFIED I WAS?' 'I think you enjoyed yourself too much,' Flora said thoughtfully, as much to herself as anyone else. 'You have lost it. Like actually properly lost it,' Charlie replied. 'She might have a point,' said Mohsen. 'It did look awesome wicked fun.' 'I can assure you it was NOT.'

'Charlie,' crazy said Wogan, placing a hand on Charlie's shoulder. 'You were whooping with delight. The whole way down.' 'That was NOT whooping! I was screaming!' protested Charlie. 'We could hear you, Charlie. Whooping.' 'Screaming!' 'Whooping.' 'I. WAS. SCREAMING. SCREAMING! I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. I WAS TERRIFIED.' 'Hmm,' said Flora. 'Oh, do not start hmming!' snapped Charlie. 'We should listen to Flora's hmms. You know that,' Mohsen said. 'Hmm,' Flora hmmed again. 'I think I might have made a mistake.' 'YES, I KNOW!' said Charlie. 'I should have thought more carefully,' continued Flora. 'You're absolutely right there,' said Charlie. 'Charlie, you had rollercoaster fear.'

'Rollercoaster fear?' Charlie replied, shaking his head. But there was something that nagged in the back of his mind. Deep down– deep, deep down– Charlie knew there had been a tiny element of excitement in his descent down Bandit's Hill. Looking back, Charlie realized that as well as ludicrously dangerous and terrifying and insane, it had been… fun. 'The first time you changed, you were worried about your brother. The second time it happened, you were in trouble at school. You were upset and

anxious both times. There was nothing enjoyable about that. Worry isn't fun. And that's where the experiment went wrong.' 'And so…?' said Charlie, nervous of the reply. 'And so we need to do another experiment to test the improved theory,' said Flora, with an air of finality. 'That's how science works, Charlie.' 'OK then, smarty-pants, what's your plan this time?' Flora stroked her chin. 'I haven't quite finalized it yet. It's nearly there. But not quite. But I will definitely have a plan before you change again. One hundred per cent definite,' said Flora with an air of confidence and certainty. Behind the four friends, clearly looking very pleased at what he had just overheard, Dylan crept off silently, unnoticed.... Perhaps Charlie shouldn't have been quite so willing to believe Flora's confidence and certainty. Two days after their conversation, her plan was still yet to

appear, and it was the day of the dress rehearsal for the play. Ms Fyre and Mr Wind had spent many long evenings together writing their musical masterpiece, The Veg of Reason, the story of two rival gangs of vegetables, and two star-crossed vegetables from those rival gangs who fall in love and– Actually there's no need to say anything more about the plot. There's really no point in destroying your brain cells by giving you any more details. All you need to know is that Ms Fyre and Mr Wind were very proud of it and were extremely anxious that everything should go as smoothly as possible at the dress rehearsal. About twenty children were waiting backstage, all dressed in vegetable costumes and chatting and giggling excitedly. Mohsen and Flora had decided against auditioning for the play. Wogan, though, had gone along to the audition to give Charlie moral support, and had been accidentally auditioned and cast as the main star. He was dressed as a big stalk of broccoli and was sweating under the heavy costume at the thought of having to kiss Cara Cotton at the end of the play. Cara was sitting opposite him, nervously adjusting her cauliflower costume.

Charlie sat on the floor looking very glum. This look was perfect for his role as Sad Potato Number 1, and Mr Wind seemed very happy to see Charlie getting into his character so well. Charlie sank further into the floor when he heard Cara's cue to go on. Dylan, dressed in a bright orange costume, was also getting perfectly into his role as Happy Carrot Number 2. He sauntered up to Charlie with a huge grin stretched across his face. 'Cheer up, Charlie,' sneered Dylan. 'It's not the end of the world. It's not like you're about to change into an animal and be revealed as a freak of nature and sent to the circus. Oh, sorry! I forgot. Yes you are. That's exactly what's going to happen. Say goodbye to your life, loser.' 'Oh, get lost, Dylan. I'm really not in the mood.' Dylan gave him a smug smile in return and sauntered off. Charlie hated happy carrots.