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Elsa had spent the afternoon trying to get to know the kitten better. She spent ages feeding him the sandwich bit by bit, although he turned his nose up at the crusts. Then she rolled a ball of paper around for him to chase, and waved the piece of curly ribbon that Maisie had used to wrap up her goodbye present. It bounced up and down in a long shiny coil, and the kitten darted after it with huge leaps– Elsa reckoned some of the time he jumped his own height, or even higher.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_20]

“Did you have kitten brothers and sisters?” she’d asked him, laughing as he stomped away from her with the ribbon in his sharp little teeth. He probably missed having them to play with. He must miss them all the time, she’d realized sadly. And his mother, too.

When she’d gone to bed, she’d lifted Pepper into the box of jumpers, but he’d clambered straight out again and stood by her bed. When Elsa got in, he scrambled up after her, digging his claws into a trailing bit of duvet, and padded around curiously for a while before curling up by her feet.

Elsa sat up in bed, trying to see the kitten. His black fur settled into the shadows so completely that she could only see a faint round shape, but she could feel him.“How did you end up in the attic on your own?” she wondered again, but the only answer was faint kitten breathing.

Elsa lay back down, thinking over the day. The only thing that spoiled it was the hurt look on Lilly’s face when she’d said she had to go. Perhaps Elsa should have explained? But she couldn’t really, could she? She’d only just met Lilly. She couldn’t tell her an enormous secret, not when she didn’t know her.

Still, Lilly had looked so upset. And it had been really nice of her to come round and say hello. Elsa sighed. Perhaps she could go and explain? It would be weird, but if she didn’t do something she’d have to live next door to somebody who thought she was mean for years and years. Lilly probably went to her new school as well. What if she told everybody that her new next-door neighbour was horrible and unfriendly? Elsa’s stomach twisted with horror.

“I’ll have to do something,” she muttered sleepily into her pillow. “Tomorrow. I’ll think about it tomorrow. Night, Pepper.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_4]

The kitten snuffled and opened one eye. The girl kept on wriggling about, but she was very warm– and not as wriggly as a box full of kittens. It was good to be full of food, even though he missed his mother’s milk and the comforting feeling of sucking and snuggling up against her. He still wondered where she was and where his brothers and sisters had gone, but the strange lost feeling wasn’t quite as bad as it had been before.

He stretched out to his full length, padding his paws against the duvet, and then stomped along the bed, wobbling over the lumps and bumps of the bedding. The girl was fast asleep, breathing softly, her long hair spread over the pillow. He tapped at it with one paw and she mumbled something in her sleep but didn’t wake.

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The kitten peered thoughtfully round the top of the duvet, drawn up close over her shoulders. Under there it would be properly cosy. He nudged the duvet up a little with his nose and crept inside the soft darkness, snuggling close up against the girl.

Warm. Full. Sleepy.

It was good.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_22]

The next morning, Elsa woke up deliciously cosy. They were still working out how to use the radiators in the new house and it seemed to be icy or boiling, and nothing in between– her bedroom had been freezing on their first night. Obviously Dad had found out how to make the radiators do as they were told, she thought blissfully, still half asleep.

Then something wriggled next to her chin and there was a small purry snore.

Pepper was under the duvet with her, lying on his back with his paws on his tummy and his eyes closed tight. Elsa had to put her hand over her mouth to stop herself laughing and waking him up.“You’re the best hot-water bottle,” she whispered, gently tickling him under his furry chin. “I’m so lucky. Yesterday morning when I woke up I hadn’t a clue that soon I’d have a kitten in my bedroom.”

Then she sighed. She’d just remembered Lilly next door. She was going to have to do something – maybe go round and say sorry? But that would mean telling Lilly about the kitten and she still wasn’t sure she wanted to do that… What if Lilly told her parents and they told Dad? Elsa wriggled until she was half sitting up and Pepper gave a whistling sigh, half opened one eye and glared at her.

“Sorry,” Elsa whispered. “It’s OK. Go back to sleep.” Under the duvet the kitten scrambled up on to her tummy and curled himself into a tiny black knot with his back to her.

“That’s me told,” Elsa murmured. “Sorry, kitten. But I still don’t know how I’m going to sort things out with Lilly. Maybe I could get her to promise not to tell first? But I’m not sure I want to go round there. It would be too weird…”