I come here a lot. When you lie back, you can see the sky stretching out for miles and the airplanes crisscrossing over. I always wonder where they’re going, and what the people in them are doing.
On the other side of the mound are the rugby pitches, but no one is out there right now, so it’s like we’re hiding. And beyond the rugby pitches are the fields, which lead onto Honeysuckle Lane, andwaybeyond that is my dad’s dairy farm.
The three of us slump against the soft grass, and I turn to make sure no one has spotted us. But all I see is Mrs. Stevens drinking her coffee. Before I look at Annabel and Mary again, I quickly try to find Hendricks. He’s running around with Miles, Jack, and Thomas.
“I don’t think we’re allowed to be here. We’re going to get into trouble.”
Twisting around, I lie next to Annabel. “No, we’re not. No one can see us.”
Mary doesn’t look like she believes me, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she watches Annabel smoothing out the map. “Why do you have this?”
“Because Mrs. Stevens gave us a pirate hook. And pirates have maps because they hide treasure. So we made a treasure map for the school. We can leave the map lying around, and someone might pick it up and think there’s treasure hidden in school.”
“But why would there be treasure? Wouldn’tsomeone have found it already?”
Annabel tuts as I say, “You have to use your imagination.”
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a drawstring bag that I found in my dad’s office and tip out the contents. There’s a big silver coin I took from under my brother’s bed, some jewels from the craft table I had at my last birthday party, and a pink lip balm.
“We’re going to hide this.” I grin.
Mary’s eyes widen. I can’t tell if she’s excited or scared.
Annabel looks away, and I know she’s getting annoyed. I like Mary, but we don’t play together much because she’s not very good at pretending. She doesn’t have an “active imagination” as my granny calls it.
Not like me. I love making up stories.
“How will people find it?”
“With the map. We’ll leave clues.”
“Where are we hiding it, then?”
“Here.” Annabel points at the map where she drew a big X. It’s beneath the giant conker tree. “We’ll put it in the little hole at the bottom of the trunk.”
Mary sits up and peers over the mound. I know she’s looking at the tree on the other side of the playground.
“I guess it’ll be safe there. But what happens once we’ve left it?”
“Then we leave clues around the school and see if anyone finds them.”
“But how will we know?”
Stuffing my hand back into my pocket, I pull out a tube of glitter, also left over from my birthday. “Let’sempty this into the pouch as a trap. Anyone who opens it will be covered in glitter.”
Mary giggles, which means she’s finally on our side. “So we start with the tree and work backward.”
I nod. “Yes.”
We all twist around again and lie flat on our bellies.
Mary points at the conker tree. “So we have to run over to there?”
“Yes.”
Annabel peers over the edge of the mound. “Mrs. Stevens is talking to Billy Cross, so she’s not looking this way.”
“Okay, let’s go. But we have to be careful not to get caught. Don’t talk to anyone.”
