Girl Wonder and the Terrific Twins (6 page)

“Why didn’t you read it before we all sat down and ruined our clothes? That’s why the spiders couldn’t get down. Their feet kept sticking to the paint,” Mum said. “Come on. We’re going to have to go home and change before we can go anywhere.”

“Look at my mega-terrific trousers,” Anthony said to me. “There’s paint all over them.”

“Yeah! Look at my super-duper-favourite trousers,” Edward said. “I’ll
never be able to wear them again.”

“Your plan was mega-useless,” Anthony said.

“Yeah! Super-duper-mega useless,” said Edward.

“But it worked, didn’t it?” I said. “After all, we
did
get the spiders off the bench.”

Mum dragged us shopping with her.

We hate shopping.

I pushed the trolley whilst Mum read off her list and Anthony and Edward got the tins and packets from the shelves.

“Anthony, could you get me some plain flour, please?” Mum said, pointing to the right shelf. “The plain flour is in the red packet.”

Anthony picked up the packet around its middle.

The top of the packet burst open and WHOOSH! Flour flew up and out – all over Anthony’s face.

Anthony coughed and spluttered and spluttered and coughed. Edward and I cracked up laughing.

It was funny! Anthony looked like a ghost.

“I can’t take you anywhere,” Mum hissed at Anthony as she wiped the white flour off his face.

We carried on walking around the aisles. This time Anthony was pushing the trolley and Edward and I were getting the tins and packets.

“Maxine, could you get me some free-range eggs and check them all to make sure they’re not cracked?” Mum said.

I picked up the first box of free-range eggs I saw. The trouble was, I picked up the egg box from the top and it wasn’t shut properly. The egg box swung open and SPLAT! All the eggs dropped to the floor and right on the foot of the
woman standing next to me.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t my fault, the box was already open,” I said quickly.

Anthony and Edward were holding their stomachs from laughing so hard.

“I’m so sorry,” Mum said to the woman with the eggy shoes.

Mum glared down at me. She had her hands on her hips and her eyes were squeezed together and her lips were a thin line.

Boy, was she annoyed!

“It’s all right, madam. I’ll clean this up,” said a man in a chocolate-brown overall. He was holding a bucket and mop.

“I’m sorry about the mess,” Mum said, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the eggy mess on the floor. “Maxine, I can’t take you anywhere.”

We carried on with our shopping. I
hate
shopping.

This time Mum got Anthony and me to push the trolley.

“Edward, could you get me two bottles of lemonade? The ones with the white and green labels over there,” Mum said.

Edward picked up two plastic bottles. Mum wandered off to look at the bottles of orange and lemon drink. Edward put one bottle in the trolley but the other one slipped out of his hand and dropped to the floor.

BOING! BOING!

To our surprise, the bottle bounced.

“I didn’t know lemonade bottles did that,” I said.

Edward picked it up and dropped it to the floor again.

BOING! BOING!

“Edward, what do you think you’re doing?” Mum said, snatching the bottle out of my brother’s hand.

With a frown she turned the bottle cap.

SSSPLOSH! The lemonade flew out everywhere. Over Edward, over Anthony, over me – and over the four people standing behind us.

The twins and I laughed until our stomachs hurt and our eyes were watering.

“I . . . I was . . . er . . . just checking the bottle top to make sure it was on properly,” Mum stammered. “I’m so sorry. Come on, you three. I can’t take any of you anywhere!”

Mum dragged us away to where we had to pay.

“I’ve never been so embarrassed.” Mum wagged her finger at all of us. “Edward, you should never shake bottles or cans of fizzy drink because when you open them they explode all over the place.”

Mum told us off the entire time we were in the queue waiting to pay for our food. We still thought it was funny until Mum said we couldn’t have any sweets for being so naughty. Then Mum made all three of us push the trolley out of the shop.

“It’s the only way to keep all of your hands out of trouble,” Mum said.

We walked out of the supermarket. Mum started to lead the way to the car park.

Suddenly someone shouted, “Stop those men!”

We looked around and saw a policeman and a policewoman chasing two men – and they were all running in our direction.

“Stop those men!” the policewoman shouted again.

The men were getting closer to us.

Just as they were about to run past us, the twins and I gave our trolley a terrific shove.

The two men ran straight into it. The blond man went flying over our trolley whilst the man with the brown hair collapsed on to it.

The policeman and policewoman came running up and then more police arrived from all directions. They grabbed hold of the two men and led them away.

Then two of the police came over to us, bringing our trolley.

“Well done!” the policewoman said to us. “What are your names?”

The twins and I looked at each other.

So I said, “I’m
Girl Wonder
and . . .”

“We’re the
Terrific Twins!
” said Anthony and Edward together.

Hooray!

Malorie Blackman
has written over sixty books and is acknowledged as one of today’s most imaginative and convincing writers for young readers. She has been awarded numerous prizes for her work, including the Red House Children’s Book Award and the Fantastic Fiction Award. Malorie has also been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. In 2005 she was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her contribution to children’s books, and in 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature. She has been described by
The Times
as ‘a national treasure’. Malorie Blackman is the Children’s Laureate 2013–15.

NOUGHTS & CROSSES

KNIFE EDGE

CHECKMATE

DOUBLE CROSS

NOBLE CONFLICT

BOYS DON’T CRY

HEART BREAK GIRL

THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES

TRUST ME

PIG-HEART BOY

HACKER

A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E.

THIEF!

DANGEROUS REALITY

THE DEADLY DARE MYSTERIES

DEAD GORGEOUS

UNHEARD VOICES

(A collection of short stories and poems, collected by Malorie Blackman)

CLOUD BUSTING

OPERATION GADGETMAN!

WHIZZIWIG and WHIZZIWIG RETURNS

GIRL WONDER TO THE RESCUE

GIRL WONDER’S WINTER ADVENTURES

BETSEY BIGGALOW IS HERE!

BETSEY BIGGALOW THE DETECTIVE

BETSEY’S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

HURRICANE BETSEY

MAGIC BETSEY

JACK SWEETTOOTH

SNOW DOG

SPACE RACE