Bigg School: Double Drama
By Jess Bradley and Lisa Williamson
()
About this ebook
Life isn't easy for Daniel Littleton - Mum's poorly, Dad's always working and his twin sisters drive him up the wall! At school he's the only kid without the latest trainers or Xbox and his mates are starting to notice.
Things look up when he gets a starring role in the school play - though if his football-mad mates find out, they'll make his life a misery! But leading a double life is tricky and before long, Daniel's lies start spinning out of control...
Jess Bradley
Jess Bradley is an illustrator and comic artist from Torquay. As well as writing and drawing for The Phoenix, she also writes for The Beano and illustrates a variety of children's books. She has created puzzle and activity and comic books for various publishers, including contributing to Usborne's bestselling Write and Draw Your Own Comics. Her work for Buster Books includes the Bright Sparks series, I Heart Cute Colouring and the laugh-out-loud A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu and You.
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Bigg School - Jess Bradley
BIGG SCHOOL: DOUBLE DRAMA
is a GUPPY BOOK
First published in the UK in 2024 by
Guppy Books,
Bracken Hill,
Cotswold Road,
Oxford OX2 9JG
www.guppybooks.co.uk
Text copyright © Lisa Williamson, 2024
Inside illustrations © Jess Bradley, 2024
978 1 916558 090
The rights of Lisa Williamson to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permissions of the publishers.
Ebook by Falcon Oast Graphic Art Ltd
www.falcon.uk.com
For Winnie.
LW
For John-Paul, just because.
JB
Chapter One
‘You nearly ready, Dan?’ my mate Ollie asked.
‘Almost,’ I said, adjusting my headset so I could hear him properly. ‘Just lining up my refreshments.’
‘What are you having?’
‘Er … a bag of Hula Hoops, a jammy Wagon Wheel and a glass of Coke,’ I said, looking at the snacks I’d just laid out on the coffee table.
‘What flavour Hula Hoops?’ Ollie asked.
‘Barbecue.’
‘Solid.’
I grabbed a cushion from the sofa and got comfy on the floor in front of the TV. When I’m gaming, I like to be as close to the screen as possible.
‘Battle mode or Creative?’ Ollie asked.
‘Battle.’
‘Wanna team up?’
‘Definitely,’ I replied (Ollie is really good at Fortnite).
We were on our third battle and there were just sixteen players left when the door burst open, and my little sister Nia came running in wearing her Princess Tiana dress and a pirate hat.
‘Nia! Move!’ I shouted as she ran in front of the TV.
‘Can’t,’ she replied. ‘I’m hiding from Nelly.’
‘But you’re supposed to be playing upstairs.’
‘Upstairs is boring!’
‘Who are you talking to?’ Ollie asked.
‘No one important,’ I muttered, trying to concentrate on the screen. But I could hear Nelly in the hallway counting to twenty.
‘Daniel!’ Nia said. ‘Cover me with this.’
She was standing on the sofa holding up one of Mum’s fleecy throws.
‘Cover yourself up!’ I said. ‘I’m busy.’
‘Please!’ she whined. ‘She’s nearly finished counting. Please!’
I groaned. ‘If I do, do you promise to go play somewhere else afterwards?’
‘Promise!’
I told Ollie to give me a second and removed my headset. I covered Nia with the blanket and a load of cushions. Because she’s so teeny, you really couldn’t tell she was under there.
‘Sorry about that,’ I said to Ollie as I pulled my headset back on. ‘My twin sisters are so annoying.’ Ollie is an only child, the lucky thing.
‘Coming! Ready or not!’ Nelly bellowed. I could hear her crashing about looking. But our house isn’t all that big so it didn’t take long for her to work out that the only place Nia could be was in the living room.
‘Where is she?’ Nelly demanded, planting herself slap-bang in front of the TV. ‘Nelly, out of the way!’ I shouted. ‘You’re going to get me killed!’
She moved but not before another player had shot me in the back.
I chucked down my controller in frustration.
‘Don’t worry, Dan,’ Ollie said. ‘I’ve got some med-mist – I can revive you.’
That wasn’t the point though – I never would have died in the first place if it weren’t for the twins barging in.
The original plan had been for me to game round at Ollie’s house, but because Dad had to work and Mum was having one of her bad days, I was stuck at home keeping an eye on the Terrible Twins.
I tried to get back into the game, but it was hard to concentrate with Nelly prowling about behind me.
Finally, Nelly figured out Nia’s hiding place, tearing off the blanket. Nia sprang up, roaring like a lion and sending the cushions flying. Nelly started shrieking and within seconds they were chasing each other around the room, screeching their heads off and running back and forth in front of the TV.
‘Get out of the way!’ I shouted.
But it was too late – I’d been massacred with a bow and arrow.
Angrily, I yanked off my headset and jumped to my feet, banging my knee on the corner of the coffee table. The entire table wobbled, including the almost full glass of Coke. Frozen in horror, all I could do was watch as it toppled, the contents gushing out of the glass …
… and straight onto my Xbox.
There was a weird fizzing noise. I grabbed my controller, frantically pressing the buttons. For a few seconds, it seemed like everything was still working, but then the screen went all stripy.
I held my breath as I turned the console off and on again.
Please, I chanted as I waited for it to fire up again. Please, please, please.
Nothing happened. I stabbed at the buttons some more. Still nothing.
My Xbox – my favourite thing in the entire world – was broken.
And it was all the twins’ fault.
Nia and Nelly must have called Dad because twenty minutes later he burst through the front door.
I was in the downstairs loo (the only room in the house with a door that actually locks) and the twins were sitting on the stairs, crying their eyes out which made zero sense seeing as I was the one with the fried Xbox, not them.
‘Daniel!’ Dad hollered. ‘Daniel!’
I stayed where I was, balled up on the toilet seat.
I heard Nelly tell Dad where I was. Within seconds he was on the other side of the door, hammering on it with his fist.
‘Daniel Benjamin Littleton, come out here this instant!’
‘No!’ I shouted, burying my face in my knees.
‘I’m going to count down from ten. If you haven’t come out by zero, that’s it, you can forget going to Ollie’s tomorrow. Ten, nine, eight …’
I really didn’t want to miss spending the day at Ollie’s house.
‘Seven, six, five …’
I slid off the toilet seat and peered at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were all puffy and my cheeks were blotchy and stained with tears.
‘I mean it, Daniel! Four, three, two …’
I wiped my face with the heels of my hands and opened the door.
Dad was standing with his arms folded across his chest.
‘What the hell is going on?’ he bellowed.
‘It’s them!’ I yelled, pointing at the twins who were peeping out from behind his legs. ‘They broke my Xbox!’
‘No, we didn’t!’ Nia cried. ‘You did!’
‘And then he said a bad word!’ Nelly chimed in.
‘Three bad words!’ Nia added.
‘You little snitches,’ I cried, lunging towards them.
Dad blocked my way.
‘Don’t you dare,’ he said. ‘You’re in quite enough trouble as it is. Girls, go to your room.’
‘But I’m hungry!’ Nia whined.
‘I don’t care. I need to talk to your brother.’
The twins pouted but did as they were told.
Dad waited until they were all the way upstairs before turning to face me. ‘What the hell were you playing at?’ he demanded. ‘I had to tell work it was an emergency!’
‘I didn’t ask the twins to call you.’
‘You can’t just lose it with them like that,’ Dad snapped. ‘I don’t care how angry you are. And you know how I feel about swearing.’
I once made the mistake of swearing at Dad. I’ve never seen him get so angry. He shouted at me for about ten minutes straight then took my Xbox controller off me for two weeks.
‘But it’s broken,’ I said, fresh tears rolling down my cheeks.
Dad sighed. ‘Not necessarily, it might just need drying out.’ His voice was a bit calmer now.
‘Mike? Is that you?’
Mum’s voice floated down the stairs. She sounded sleepy, like she’d just woken up.
‘Yes, love,’ Dad called back.
‘Is everything OK? I thought I heard shouting.’
‘It’s fine. You go back to bed; I’ll be up in a bit.’
The floorboards above us creaked as Mum shuffled back to the bedroom.
‘Now,’ Dad said, turning back to me. ‘How about you tell me what happened?’
‘What’s the point?’ I muttered, fiddling with the towel rail. ‘You’re only going to take Nia and Nelly’s side, the same way you always do.’
Dad frowned. ‘That’s not true.’
‘Yes, it is. They get away with everything.’
‘Daniel, they’re five.’
‘I don’t care. I wish they’d never been born.’
‘You don’t mean that.’
I looked him right in the eye. ‘Oh yes I do.’
I didn’t always feel this way about the twins. When I was little, I wanted a younger brother or sister more than anything else in the world, so when Mum and Dad first sat me down and told me that Mum wasn’t having one baby, but two, I couldn’t quite believe my luck.
The next day I told my teacher and everyone in my class that I was going to be a big brother to twins. And then at lunchtime, I told the dinner ladies, and Mr Keen the caretaker. And then on the way home, I told the lollipop man, and a random old lady who was watering her flowerbeds. I was so proud I thought I might burst.
The rounder Mum’s belly became, the more excited I got.
The