Meanwhile she stayed back to have a word with the headmaster and she told Charlie all about it on the way home. The headmaster, she told him, more than once, was one of the most understanding men she had ever met. She had suggested Charlie stay home for the rest of the week and he had agreed.

So Charlie had an extra week's holiday. He spent the entire time worrying.

"Do I have to go back there?" he asked one dinnertime.

"Charlie," she began with a sigh. "You know there's no money left."

Charlie hacked at his food stroppily.

"We moved for nothing!" he cried. "I couldn't keep it secret for one day!"

She leant over and rubbed his wrist gently.

"Well," she said. "Maybe it's better that way."

"Hmph!" Charlie grunted. "Don't see how."

"Well," she said. "Everyone knows now. They can get used to it."

Charlie shook his head. Charlie knew people. Charlie knew how nasty they could be. "I wish I could just chop it off!" he cried and leapt up from the table. He scrambled up the stairs to his bedroom before she could tell him to stop being difficult again.

Miss Broom came around that evening, but Charlie stayed in hiding upstairs. He crouched at the top of the stairs, peering between the banisters and listening to them chat. His mum told her all about the trouble at his last school and Miss Broom ummed and ahhed a lot.

As she led Miss Broom back to the door, his mum added that Charlie would be back in school again on Monday and on hearing that, Charlie stormed off to bed in a huff.

So come Monday morning, Charlie found himself standing in the cold outside the school gates once again. He was yet to be spotted, but that was surely just seconds away.

"Do you want me to come in?" asked his mum.

Charlie shook his head.

"You will remember you're walking home today, won't you?"

Charlie nodded.

She bent down to kiss him on the cheek and whispered into his ear.

"Chin up!"

Then she patted him softly on the back and started walking down the road.

Charlie waited in the shadows until the bell rang. He turned to wave to his mum, catching her just in time as she rounded the corner. He thought of running after her, but he had already been spotted. Miss Broom was standing on the other side of the gates, ready to invite him in.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"It'll be okay, Charlie," she said.

And it was... until the moment he passed into the school building. A sudden murmur spread throughout the crowd and the lot of them fell instantly silent. They all just stood and stared. The real pandemonium began when he started walking.

"Make room! Make room!"

"Argh, get off my foot!"

"He touched me! He touched me!"

The corridor descended into chaos as people pushed, shoved, wriggled and squirmed, but Charlie just kept his head down and kept on walking. Neat lines of children disappeared into one big swarming mass. People caught in the middle of it all began wailing in despair.

But Charlie just kept on going. If anything, he got to class quicker. Those in his way were quick to scramble clear, leaving him with a straight line right up to the door. As he slipped into the classroom, everyone within stopped their noisy chattering and fell silent. Charlie eased the door shut behind him and turned round.

Miss Broom was smiling sweetly.

"Morning, Charlie," she said. "Find a seat."

No one ever sat in the front row so there were plenty free there. He didn't even have to look up. He just slid down into the chair nearest the door. When he finally glanced up he found Witch Girl sitting right behind him, her nose in another book.

Charlie was dreading break. He sat through assembly and the first lesson going over and over what was likely to happen. When the bell finally rang he clammed up. Everyone else was in a mad dash for the playground, but Charlie packed up his things slowly.

Miss Broom came over and perched on the corner of his desk.

"How are you, Charlie?" she asked. "Everything okay?"

"Yes," he lied.

She smiled. "Glad to hear it," she said. "Of course, if you do have any problems, we're always here for you, Charlie."

Charlie nodded and smiled. That made it easier to go outside. There were a few people who stared, and a few calling him names from afar, but they quickly became bored when he ignored them. Most of the kids were too involved in their own games to notice, anyway. Charlie was glad.

He looked out over the playing field and longed to join Des and the gang. He didn't dare ask, however. He doubted he would be very welcome. He spied an empty bench on the far side of the playground and decided to spend break there instead. He never made it.

He heard the whisper a second before it happened.

"Dare you to pull it!"

So, before he even knew what was going on, someone had pulled out his trousers, reached in and grabbed his tail. He shot forward with a yelp of surprise and spun on his heel to face the jokers.

It was Emma and a friend, and they were now jumping up and down and squealing in delight. Emma was shaking her hand about as if she'd put it in something icky. She wiped it on her friend's cardigan and they started having fits of giggles.

Charlie began to stutter. He had something to say, but couldn't get it out.

And now everybody had stopped in the middle of their games to stare.

"Stop it!" said a very loud, powerful voice. "Stop it!"

Charlie immediately thought a teacher had come to his rescue.

"Stop it... or I'll put a spell on the lot of you!"

That was no teacher.

Witch Girl broke her way between Emma and her friend. She stopped right in front of Charlie, spun round and lifted a wavering finger to Emma's nose. Then she began to chant.

"Patho-magnifico-tyranno-ooh!"

Emma and her friend balked. They scrambled away as fast as they could, but did not get very far. The two of them tripped over a misplaced skipping rope and went flying into the tarmac.

"You okay?" whispered Witch Girl.

Charlie just nodded.

"Follow me," she said, taking his hand but breaking into a run without him. One look over the stunned faces of all those watching and Charlie needed no further encouragement. He chased after Witch Girl and she led him round the back of the school building.

Charlie was out of breath by the time they stopped. They were in a quiet, shady spot right on the edge of the playing field. There was not another person in sight and the sounds of the other kids were agreeably distant.

"Thanks," said Charlie, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah," said Witch Girl, shrugging him off. "No problem."

Charlie smiled. "I'm Charlie," he told her.

"Anna," said Witch Girl. "Not Witch Girl."

Charlie grinned sheepishly.

"See?" she said. "I know how it feels, too."

Charlie raised his hands in defence. "I never thought you were a witch!"

Anna sighed, then sat down on the grass. "Sometimes I wish I was," she said.

Charlie held back a moment more, then sat down in front of her.

"Then I'd make them all disappear," she added with a cheeky grin.

Charlie grinned too. "So, you can't do any magic, then?"

"Well," she began. "I can't do any spells..."

"Oh," said Charlie, a mite disappointed. "Never mind."

"But I can make a hole appear in your hand!"

Charlie tried to imagine such a feat. "You can?!"

"Sure," she said proudly. "All I need is a piece of paper."

There were always pieces flapping around the field, so they quickly found a suitable scrap. It was a bit damp but Anna assured him that was okay. She rolled it up carefully into a tube and then handed it over to Charlie. He held it gingerly in both hands in case it might explode if he dropped it or something.

"W-what do I do with this?" he stuttered.

"Put it up against the side of your hand," she replied.

He thought for a moment, then placed it across his open palm.

"Hmm, no," she said, screwing up her face and taking it back. "Let me."

She went on to do it for him. She obviously knew what she was doing so he just let her. She opened up his left hand and pressed the tube against its fleshy side, just below the knuckle of his little finger and perpendicular to his palm.

"Hold it in place," she told him.

He obeyed, cupping his hand around the tube.

"Now," she said. "Look through the tube with your right eye..."

Before she had even finished explaining, he started squinting through the tube.

"No, no, no," she said with a sigh. "Keep your left eye open."

Charlie looked up and raised an eyebrow. This was all so much simpler than he had imagined. Were there no magic words to be uttered? Was there no spell to be cast? Still, Anna looked sure of herself, so he lifted the tube and his palm once again.

He could see straight through.

He tossed the tube away in shock. It unfurled at his feet, a normal scrap of paper once more. He clenched his left hand in his right, squeezing it tightly. "My hand!" he cried.

"No, no, look!" said Anna, taking his hands in her own. She prised open his fingers and sure enough, his hand was back to normal. The hole had vanished!

"W-what... h-how?" he stuttered.

Anna was grinning mischievously. "Magic," she whispered.

And on that note, the bell rang and break was at an end. They took up their bags and began the long trek back to class. Anna took the lead whilst Charlie dawdled behind, still checking his hands for any small holes he might have missed.

"Who are sitting next to in History?" asked Anna as she turned the corner.

"I dunno," shrugged Charlie. "When do we have History?"

"Next," she told him.

"Oh," he said. "Who are you sitting with?"

"Well, I was thinking..." she trailed off.

"Can I sit with you?" he blurted out.

"Sure!" she cried delightedly and they joined the end of the door queue.

When they reached the door, there was a mad crush as everybody was pushing and shoving and wanting to get through first. Charlie didn't like the look of that, so he stood back with Anna and waited for the teachers to appear and sort it all out.

However, someone beat the teachers to it. Des suddenly appeared out of nowhere and forced his way between Charlie and Anna. He shouldered Anna out of the way so roughly that she dropped her bag.

"Look!" he announced to his three followers. "It's the Freak Gang!"

"Yeah, the Freak Gang!" cried Roger, joining in.

"Eww! Freaky, freaky Freak Gang!" squealed Sam.

Eric just gave a wicked laugh and then the four of them leapt into the fray, joining the squeeze in the doorway and enjoying every minute of it. Anna gave Charlie a grave look. He ignored it and squatted down to pick up her bag before anyone else trampled over it.

"Great," she said grumpily. "Just great."

"What?" said Charlie, pretending Des's comment hadn't hurt him too.

"They're calling us the Freak Gang!" she cried.

Charlie shrugged. "Cool."

Anna frowned. "What?" she said. "Really?"

But before he had time to answer, Miss Broom and Mr Clayton appeared in the doorway to restore order and tell people off. Des and his gang, being at the back, were found to be the likely culprits and got a few stern words from both teachers.

Charlie and Anna were the last through the doors and that meant the last into class. Miss Broom was just about to begin and waved them to their seats. They quickly pulled out their pens and pencils and sat ready for the lesson to begin.

Miss Broom was a fantastic teacher. She knew an awful lot of things about an awful lot of stuff and she could make just about anything sound interesting. Today she spent the lesson telling them all about the Ancient Egyptians. They listened to stories of the Pharaohs and the Pyramids and of mummies in tombs. The lesson just flew by.

"Now," said Miss Broom, her story at an end. "You'll all get the chance to see some real mummies at the museum this Friday..."

An excited whisper spread along the back row.

"Are they dead mummies, miss?" Des called out.

"Haven't you been listening to a word I've said, Des?" Miss Broom snapped. "Of course they're dead mummies. All mummies are dead."

There were a few laughs at Des's expense and then Miss Broom went about collecting money and permission slips from everybody. There were quite a few that had forgotten theirs and Charlie hadn't even known about it before the lesson had begun. When the lunch bell rang shortly thereafter, Miss Broom asked him to stay behind.

She slipped him a letter and then started going on and on about the trip when all he wanted to do was get out and find Anna. When he finally managed to escape, however, he found that Anna had waited for him in the corridor all along. They went back to the shady spot behind the school and had a private little picnic. Then in the afternoon they sat together again and Anna proved to be quite adept at helping Charlie with his sums.

The final school bell of the day, when it finally came, was very welcome. The last hour in school, as the clock ticked round to 3pm, was always the longest. When Miss Broom wasn't looking, Anna scribbled her address on the inside of Charlie's maths book. Much to his surprise, he found that Anna lived only three streets away from him, and right on the edge of the park to boot.

He suggested they walk home together and she agreed. They ran to start with, which gave them an ample head start on Des and his cronies. Once down the road and round the corner, Anna began telling him all about her time at school.

"It's always been like this," she told him. "It's because I read books and actually like school, I think. And it's not just Des and his stupid mates. None of them like me."

Charlie sighed. It was a story he was familiar with. A few hours ago he still thought of Anna as Witch Girl, but now he felt he'd known her for years. That was because their stories were much the same. Here, finally, was someone who could understand.

"It's because we're different," he finally said.

Anna shrugged. "I suppose."

"That's what my mum says, anyway," he added quietly.

She took him on a short cut across the park. It wouldn't take as long as walking around the outside, and was altogether more pleasant. They walked around the edge of the duck pond, through the flower garden and past the children's playground. It was full of noisy toddlers and their tired parents. Charlie remembered those innocent days fondly.

They followed the bicycle path toward the gate, passing a strange man in a long, black coat, sitting on a park bench. He only stuck in Charlie's mind because he was buffing the end of his cane with the cuff of his coat, and few people carried walking canes these days.

When they had walked a little further, Charlie was sufficiently intrigued to look back over his shoulder, but the man had vanished. Charlie thought little of it and quickly forgot he'd ever seen him.

As they turned out of the park, Charlie told Anna his own sordid history. "I managed to keep it secret for years," he told her. "But then someone found out and blabbed it to everyone... That's why we moved..."

An awkward silence ensued.

Eventually Charlie just had to ask, "Doesn't it bother you?"

"Doesn't what bother me?" she replied.

"My tail."

Anna said nothing, though she did quicken her pace. Charlie wished he'd not asked her now, and trailed behind her grumpily. But then she started doing something really quite peculiar. With each fourth house they passed, she would stop and bend down to tie her shoelace. She would take the opportunity to look back, beyond Charlie, then stand and walk on past another four houses.

"What are you doing?" Charlie was finally moved to ask.

"Nothing," she murmured, and moved off once again.

Charlie was beginning to get the jitters as well now. He'd stop whenever Anna stopped, but he wouldn't be so subtle. He'd just spin round and cast his eyes down the street. He wasn't seeing anyone either.

"Des?" he asked quietly.

Anna shook her head. She continued to do this every four houses until they reached the corner. Once round the corner, however, Anna pulled him out of sight and leaned in close.

"Quick," she hissed. "Lets run the rest of the way."

Charlie gave her a puzzled look. The one he got back gave him the shivers. He was in instant agreement. After a few steps more in the right direction, they broke into a run together. They did not stop until they reached Anna's porch.