In this excerpt Matt visits his soon-to-be new home and meets a strange raggedy bundle. 

 

...As Matt was left alone for a couple of minutes to think things over, he opened the window and looked out across the rooftops, which filled the skyline. Just to the right of the window was a little ledge, which hung over the roof. He then looked further and noticed that in the far, dark corner of the ledge was a raggedy bundle of something.
    He leaned out as far as he could and raised his hand to brush away the dead leaves only to be surprised by a sharp peck on his hand that drew blood. Matt quickly moved his hand back in pain concerned by what had attacked him. As he glanced back to where he had hurt his hand he could see a pair of eyes staring at him. 'What on earth was that?' he wondered, he then heard a noise that sounded like "Leave me alone!" in a gruff tone. He stared right back once more for a few seconds confused at the experience he had just had, subsequently, Matt was startled by hearing the voice of Chrissy shouting his name. He quickly closed the window and ran down stairs...

It was certainly turning out to be a strange day.

This next section is when Matt goes to his new school for the first time.

...Chrissy and Matt went through several swinging double doors that led to what seemed like a never ending series of corridors following closely behind Mrs Adams. The journey was made worse by crowds of strangers pushing past him that reminded Matt frighteningly of rush hour on the London underground. At last they arrived at a large red door surrounded by walls covered in brightly coloured art work.
    The noise of the crowds went suddenly silent, as the children and staff entered classrooms and shut the doors to begin their lessons. Chrissy knocked on the door, which echoed with an eerie sound. The door slowly opened, creaking and scraping like fingernails down a blackboard, which always gave you an unpleasant shiver down your back. Matt was convincing himself more and more with each minute that went by, that this place did not meet up to the expectations of its name, 'Spring Hope'....

 ... As they sat down in the cupboard-sized office, Matt tried to take in his surroundings with one big gulp. The small room comprised of shelves crammed full of books, some new, mostly old. As he surveyed the titles he was alarmed by the amount of settled dust he could see running around the edges. How could this man get away with it? If he'd ever left his bedroom like that, his mum would not be impressed and would be in there in a second with her bright yellow feather duster, that she would always tickle him with and make him sneeze, before she'd clean up...

 
...All Matt could think about was the voice inside his head telling him to run, with brief interludes of his mum's voice telling him how proud she was of him. He had to make a decision - it was now or never. The door looked very inviting, but his eyes were always drawn back to Chrissy, who was doing her best to help him come to terms with the many changes that he had going on in his life. He couldn't let her down, or his mum. Perhaps if he tried to settle in smoothly, it would help her get better and things could go back to the way they used to be. He had to give it a go. He had to believe it was going to be okay and he had to reduce his doubts, which were making his thinking blurred...

 
Matt becomes the attention of the School Bully.

..."Quiet… QUIET! Come on now 4A, I want to introduce you to your new class-mate, please welcome Matt Franks."
    "Oi! New kid… why you 'ere? The new term started weeks ago, nobody want you then?" jeered an arrogant looking boy.
    "Be quiet Nathan, I have heard enough from you for a whole life time, would you like to introduce yourself Matt?"
    'Quite honestly, no' thought Matt, that door become more interesting too. Matt could just about make Chrissy out through the glazed window panel in the door.
    "You looking at your girlfriend, isn't she a little old for you?" Nathan laughed.
    Chrissy smiled and made a quick exit so as not to make the situation worse. "Oh look she doesn't want you and frankly we don't want you either." Nathan trying to look clever surveyed the class like a hawk, proudly analyzing the ground as he was catching his latest prey.  Matt, who had tried to stand tall and look everyone in the eye, felt his body crumple up like a torn piece of paper. His eyes once full of hope were finding the floor a much better place to focus on. The scuffed lino surface reminded him of a blank canvas, something that would not judge or make faces at him. However he knew it was too good to be true. History was repeating itself - once again...

...Throughout the rest of the school day, Matt played the role of a school boy to the best of his ability. He was sure he could get an impressive award for acting, maybe even an Oscar. Even that thought was not helping him to feel better. All he could feel deep within was a sense of emptiness, a place with almost no sense of feeling, a place where silence seemed to dominate everything.
      He wondered if the day was ever going to end, time seemed to stop still. As he sat daydreaming observing the playing fields through the classroom window, he imagined everyone moving in slow motion as though they were on videotape, which had seen better days...

 
The following section contains a little information about the dodgy S.P.R otherwise known as the Secret Pigeon Racket!

...As Matt flicked through his book, which was all about dungeons and the knights of Jascabar, the wind caught it and it scudded across the ground. He stood up quicker than a flash of light and fled after it, chasing it down the field. Matt ended up screaming -
    "Stop, Stop!" as though the book had ears. Finally he caught it.
    As he grabbed the back cover, being careful not to tear the pages, he looked over to the bushes that lined the fence. When he looked closer he saw a couple of pigeons staring at him.
    They looked similar to Percy. He turned around. Then he quickly looked back. He turned around again and then looked back for the second time, hoping that he wasn't obvious in his movements. He was sure the pigeons were looking right at him!
    As Matt made his way back to the class, he slyly looked out of the corner of his eye just once more and noticed that, yes, for sure they really were checking him out. They might as well have had binoculars and a note pad and pen...

      

 

All excerpts from Matty-boy and the Secret Pigeon Racket
 © Anita Hunt