Bad Read online

  NASEN House, 4/5 Amber Business Village, Amber Close, Amington, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B77 4RP

  Rising Stars UK Ltd.

  7 Hatchers Mews, Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3GS

  www.risingstars-uk.com

  Text and design © Rising Stars UK Ltd.

  The right of Helen Chapman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988.

  Published 2011

  Cover design: Burville-Riley Partnership

  Illustrations: Bill Greenhead for Illustration Ltd. / iStock

  Text design and typesetting: Geoff Rayner

  Publisher: Gill Budgell

  Publishing manager: Sasha Morton

  Editorial consultants: Lorraine Petersen and Dee Reid

  Editorial: Jane Wood

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of Rising Stars Ltd.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978-1-84680-974-3

  Printed in the UK by Bookmarque CPI

  Meet the Gang-Stars!

  Character profiles

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Glossary

  Quiz

  Quiz answers

  About the author

  Name:

  Zeke

  Special skill

  Street dancing and rapping

  Good at:

  Surviving

  Not so good at:

  Doing things the easy way

  Other info:

  The boys think he’s cool. The girls think he’s cute! He gets a grant to go to ASH – but just don’t call him a charity kid. He knows how to look out for himself, so watch out!

  Name:

  Becca

  Special skill

  All-round production that …

  Good at:

  Lighting; organising stuff behind the scenes

  Not so good at:

  Being in the spotlight on stage

  Other info:

  Plays a bit of flute but is much happier behind the scenes.

  Zeke Porter was having a bad day at All Star High. There was going to be a school camping trip and everyone was excited about it. At first Zeke had been excited about it too, but then he saw how much money it cost to go on the trip. It was really expensive. Zeke didn’t have the money, or even anyone he could ask for the money. Zeke put his backpack in his locker and slammed the door shut with a bang.

  Becca Gray was also having a bad day, for just the same reason as Zeke. She couldn’t afford to go on the school camping trip either. Becca got her books from her locker and started to walk to her first class.

  When Zeke walked past Becca he saw that she looked as fed up as he was. Zeke and Becca knew each other because they were members of the same gang. The Gang-Stars always helped each other. They had first met at an under-12s Music Club. It was so great to meet up again at high school that they started a gang.

  Zeke stopped and asked Becca, ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ lied Becca. She really did want to tell someone how she felt. She sniffed and blinked back her tears. ‘It’s just that …’

  She stopped talking.

  ‘Just what?’ asked Zeke.

  ‘I’m fed up,’ Becca said. ‘I love being in the Gang-Stars but they don’t know what it’s like being me.’

  Zeke didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what it was like to be Becca either!

  ‘Being me means being different,’ said Becca. ‘My family doesn’t have much money. I get a special grant that pays my school fees but it doesn’t cover extras like school trips. I really want to go on the camping trip but I can’t afford it.’

  Zeke was surprised. Maybe he did know what it was like to be Becca, after all. He got a grant from a charity too, but he had never told anyone about it. He thought Becca was brave to talk to him about it. If she could tell him, then he could tell her. He took a deep breath and said, ‘It’s the same for me. I can’t afford it either. So what shall we do about it?’

  Becca couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She wasn’t the only one without money after all. She cheered up a little bit.

  ‘What can we do?’ she asked. ‘Beg in the streets?’

  ‘Not beg,’ said Zeke, ‘but we could busk. I can dance and you can do whatever it is that you do, and we’ll earn the money we need.’

  ‘I study lighting and set design,’ said Becca.

  Zeke pulled a face. ‘That’s no help,’ he said. Then he saw how upset Becca looked. ‘But at least you’ll know which streetlight to stand under, and where to put our collection hat!’

  ‘Ha, ha, very funny,’ said Becca. ‘And I can help. I don’t much like performing, but I can play the flute if I have to. When shall we do it?’

  ‘Sunday is good,’ Zeke said. ‘Meet me at the school gates at 10.30 a.m. We’ll get a bus into town and then catch a train into London.’

  Zeke was sure that busking would make them money. He could hardly wait. Becca had never busked before and she hoped their plan would work. Everyone was going on the camping trip and she really didn’t want to miss out.

  On Sunday Becca and Zeke got to London at midday. Becca followed Zeke through the railway station and down to the Tube.

  ‘We can get the Tube to Camden,’ said Zeke. ‘You need a permit to busk in most areas, but not in Camden.’

  Zeke seemed very nervous on the Tube train. He kept looking around as if someone was watching him. Becca felt as if she was in a spy movie. Zeke was even worse once they got to Camden. He kept staring at every teenager who walked past.

  They decided to busk near to the Tube station so that lots of people would see and hear them.

  ‘You start playing while I get ready,’ said Zeke. He unzipped his backpack, took out a hat and put it on the ground. Next he took out a sign.

  Becca began playing her flute, but it was too quiet. No one was taking any notice of her.

  ‘It’s too noisy here,’ she said to Zeke.

  ‘We need to make more noise,’ said Zeke. ‘How about these?’

  He pulled a set of bongo drums out of his backpack. ‘I can play the bongos and you keep playing the flute. That should be loud enough. What song do we both know?’

  Becca couldn’t think. Then she saw a small girl carrying a toy lion. ‘How about a song from The Lion King?’ said Becca.

  ‘Perfect. African bongo drums coming up!’ replied Zeke.

  Zeke’s bongo drums were a hit. His playing drew a small crowd and people dropped coins and notes in the hat. They also dropped some other things in the hat – a muffin, a packet of sweets and even a raw potato!

  ‘What are we going to do with a potato?’ asked Zeke.

  ‘I know!’ said Becca. ‘It can be our lucky mascot.’

  She draw a face on the potato. They both laughed and sat their mascot, Mr Potatoman, on top of Becca’s flute case.

  Zeke turned on his CD player. It was loud! He started to street dance. Zeke bent his arms and kept to the beat of the music. He kicked forward and then back without touching the ground. Becca thought he was amazing. Other people did too and they dropped even more money into the hat.

  Becca and Zeke busked all afternoon until the hat was half filled with money. Someone put in another handful of sweets, but there were no more potatoes!

  Everything was good until a street gang pushed their way to the front of the crowd.

  ‘Don’t let me stop you begging, Zeke,’ s
aid their leader. ‘Me and the lads like a good laugh.’

  Becca looked at Zeke. He stopped dancing. He clenched his fists and started to rub them on his jeans. Now Becca realised why Zeke had been so nervous about coming to Camden. There was someone here he didn’t want to meet, but now they had come face to face.

  The gang leader tossed a chewing gum wrapper into the hat. ‘You’re a real loser, Zeke,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe you left my gang for this!’ He spat on the ground and walked away. His gang followed him.

  ‘What gang?’ thought Becca. Had Zeke really been in a street gang? Zeke turned off the CD player. People put their money in the hat and moved away.

  ‘Come on, Becca,’ said Zeke. ‘Let’s pack up and go. Shark is bad news. It’s never safe when he’s around.’

  ‘No! I want to busk some more,’ said Becca. ‘We’re doing really well but we need lots more money to pay for the trip. I’m staying. You can go if you want to.’ She knew she sounded childish, but she couldn’t help it. She really wanted to get enough money to go on the school camping trip.

  Zeke started to pack up his gear.

  ‘Do what you want,’ he said. Zeke bent over the hat. ‘I’ll take the money before someone steals it.’

  ‘Don’t take all of it,’ said Becca. ‘If people see an empty hat they might think our playing was no good.’

  Zeke put a big pile of money back in the hat and walked towards the Tube station. ‘I’m better off on my own,’ he thought. But when he got to the platform he changed his mind. ‘I can’t leave Becca on her own,’ he thought. ‘What if Shark comes back? Becca won’t know how to handle him.’

  Becca had watched Zeke pack up his gear and walk away. She started playing her flute again but busking wasn’t much fun on her own. The sky was turning grey and everyone was in a rush. They didn’t want to stop and listen to her music. Even Mr Potatoman was looking fed up.

  It was getting dark, cold and rainy. When the overhead streetlight went out, Becca gave up. She was packing up her flute case when a voice startled her.

  ‘Where’s Zeke?’

  Shark and his gang were back!

  Becca looked up. There was something mean in Shark’s eyes and she didn’t feel safe. Becca stood up and Shark stared at her. Her bones felt like jelly. Becca hated bullies but she knew she shouldn’t show Shark she was scared.

  ‘Zeke’s gone home’ she said.

  ‘Is he coming back for this?’ asked Shark, kicking the hat and making the money inside it jingle.

  ‘No,’ said Becca. She was still acting like she wasn’t scared, but inside she was shaking.

  Shark grabbed the sweets from the hat and tossed them to his gang. Then he snatched Mr Potatoman from Becca, bit its face off and spat out the bits. Becca was upset. ‘What kind of person eats a raw potato with a cute face drawn on it?’ she thought.

  ‘You know what, lads? We should try begging. It’s easy money, and you even get sweets,’ Shark said.

  Becca stopped being afraid and decided to stand up for herself.

  ‘We didn’t get that money by begging,’ she said. ‘We worked for it. People put money in the hat because they liked our music and dancing.’

  ‘Nah, they’ve got it all wrong,’ said Shark. ‘You don’t put money in. You take it out.’

  Shark grabbed the money and stuffed it into his pockets. ‘And sometimes you take the hat as well!’ He flipped the hat on to his head and his gang started sniggering.

  Becca didn’t know what to do. If she stood up to Shark she might get their money back. She tried to grab the money from his pocket but Shark pushed her away. ‘Get out of here,’ he said, ‘and give me that thing before you go.’ He reached towards her flute case.

  Becca held on to the flute case tightly. The flute had been a present from her dad. It had taken him over a year to save up the money for it. There was no way she was giving it up without a fight.

  Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Zeke. Becca gasped in shock. What was Zeke doing here? Zeke did a back flip, pushed off the wall behind him with one foot and bounced into Shark. They both fell to the ground heavily. Zeke got to his feet first. He shouted to Becca: ‘Run!’

  Becca turned into a crowded side street which was full of market stalls. Zeke caught up with her.

  ‘We’ve got to lose them,’ said Zeke. Becca was red faced and gasping for breath, so she nodded, yes. There was a brick wall at the end of a street. When they reached the wall, Zeke threw their gear over the top. Then he cupped his hands for Becca to climb up. She stepped on his hands, pulled herself up and over the wall and landed on the other side. Zeke hauled himself up the wall, then jumped down next to her.

  Zeke heard Shark and his gang run up to the brick wall and stop. He and Becca ran through the dark streets until they got back to the Tube station.

  ‘I think we’ve lost them,’ gasped Becca. They only relaxed once they were safely inside the train, with no sign of Shark and his gang.

  ‘I’m all sweaty,’ said Zeke, ‘and my heart is thumping.’ He unzipped his backpack and looked at their money. ‘We did really well. I think we’ve got about …’

  Becca stopped him. ‘I don’t want to know,’ she said. ‘It’s my fault that Shark got away with all that money. I messed up so badly.’

  ‘No, you didn’t,’ said Zeke. ‘I didn’t leave much money in the hat. I just made it look like I did. Shark only got about ten pounds.’

  Becca cheered up. ‘That’s good,’ she said. ‘So how much did we get?’

  ‘There’s about a hundred pounds in here,’ Zeke said. ‘That’s enough for one of us to go on the camping trip.’

  ‘You or me?’ asked Becca.

  ‘We’ll have to toss a coin, I guess,’ said Zeke. ‘But it’s going to be bad news for one of us.’

  At school on Monday, Natalie from the Gang-Stars had news for Becca and Zeke.

  ‘My mum was at Camden market on Sunday, and guess what? She saw you two busking!’ said Natalie. ‘I told the other Gang-Stars and we all want to have a go at busking too! Meet us in the courtyard at lunchtime.’

  At lunchtime all the Gang-Stars met up in the courtyard. There were singers, dancers, musicians and actors. They all had fun busking, except Zeke and Becca. They couldn’t stop thinking about how only one of them could go on the school camping trip. By the end of lunchtime their collection hat was filled with money from students and staff.

  Natalie quickly counted the money. ‘Great news,’ she said. ‘We’ve got enough money.’

  ‘We’ve got enough money for what?’ asked Zeke.

  ‘We’ve got enough money for you and Becca to both go on the camping trip, of course,’ she replied.

  ‘This was for us?’ asked Becca. Zeke and Becca couldn’t believe how great their friends were.

  ‘That’s what being in the Gang-Stars is all about,’ said Natalie. She had another surprise for Zeke. ‘Mum saw what that bully did, and told him off. She got your hat back, but they got away with the money.’

  Zeke felt really happy. He had a lump in his throat, but he didn’t want to cry, so he blinked hard and shook his head.

  ‘I’m just glad I’m in the Gang-Stars now, and not Shark’s gang,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Thanks so much, everyone. You’re the best friends ever,’ said Becca.

  A boy with spiky red hair ran through the courtyard shouting, ‘Jacket potatoes! Hot jacket potatoes at the café now!’

  ‘Who is that?’ asked Zeke.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Becca. ‘But I do know I can never look at a potato in the same way again. Not after what Shark did to poor Mr Potatoman.’ She gave Zeke his share of the money. ‘Still, Mr Potatoman did bring us good luck,’ she said. ‘Now we’ve got the money we need to go on the trip after all. No more bad school days for us.’

  ‘Yeah, from now on they’ll be all good,’ Zeke said. ‘Just like our friends!’

  bongo drums – small African drums with a loud sound

  bu
sk – perform in the street to earn money from people passing by

  Camden – an area of London famous for its busy market and youth culture

  charity – an organisation that helps people with practical or financial support

  courtyard – an outdoor space enclosed by walls or buildings, often used as a place to relax or meet others

  grant – money given away by an organisation or charity to help to pay for a special project or education

  mascot – an object or person that acts as a lucky charm for a group or team

  permit – a note from the authorities allowing you to do something

  set design – the background, lighting and props for a stage performance

  street dance – a style of dance that goes with rap music

  Tube – the underground railway system in London

  1 Why were Zeke and Becca both having a bad day?

  2 Why did Zeke think Becca was brave?

  3 What does ‘busking’ mean?

  4 What instrument can Becca play?

  5 Why do they go to Camden?

  6 What does Becca do with the potato?

  7 Why does Zeke look nervous?

  8 How does Zeke know Shark?

  9 Why did Zeke leave Shark’s gang?

  10 Who got Zeke’s hat back for him?

  1 Because they didn’t have enough money to go on the school camp.

  2 Because she told him that her family didn’t have much money and she had a grant to go to ASH.

  3 Performing in the street to earn money.

  4 Flute

  5 Because you don’t need a permit to busk in Camden.

  6 She draws a face on it and makes it into a mascot called Mr Potatoman.

  7 He is worried that he might meet Shark.

  8 Zeke used to be in Shark’s gang.

  9 To go to ASH.

  10 Natalie’s mum

  Helen Chapman is an Australian author of eighty books who has been published in the United Kingdom, the U.S.A, New Zealand and Australia. She has travelled extensively and lived in America and England and is currently living in Australia.