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Chapter One – Life Is Not Fair

Jack was coming home from school with his friend William from next door, and William’s mum. He trailed behind them a little, dragging his bag and scuffing the toes of his trainers. His bag felt heavy. He noticed that William’s mum was carrying William’s bag for him. If his own mum had fetched him from school today, she might have carried his bag for him. But his mum hadn’t come to school today, because she was busy doing something else. He liked to see his mum when school finished, and he missed her. It wasn’t fair.

All day he’d felt things weren’t fair. He had a new teacher, Miss May. He missed Mrs Smith, his old teacher. He liked to be in the action in football, but he’d been put in goal that afternoon. One of the other boys had blamed him for letting in a goal, when he’d tried his hardest to stop it. It wasn’t fair.

They got to William’s house, with its smart black front door.

“Can you come in for a bit?” asked William. “We could play my new computer game.”

Jack thought for a moment. He and William had been friends since they started school, and now they were eight. They had lots of good times together. William’s house was quiet, because William was the only child. William had a lot of toys and games and his own tablet and laptop, all the things Jack would have liked but couldn’t have. Mum and Dad said the money for children’s presents had to be split among the five in the family.

No one bossed you about at William’s house.

He sighed. “I’d better not. But maybe I can come after tea. Or tomorrow.”

Jack went on to his own front door, and let himself in. The house seemed to be full of people or rather, full of teenage girls. Girls were everywhere, talking and screaming, giggling and arguing, rushing in and out of rooms and up and down the stairs. All of them were bigger than Jack, and all of them were his sisters.

Jack threw down his bag on the hall floor. The High School had been given a holiday today, because most of the teachers were away on courses. Jack was the only one of the family who’d had to go to school, and that wasn’t fair either.

“Pick that up!” said Amy, appearing at the kitchen door. “Someone will fall over it there.”

Amy was the oldest. She had long dark hair, in lots of curls all tangled as though she hadn’t had time to do her hair that day. But Jack knew that she had sat in front of her mirror for hours and hours, getting it to look like that. She wore a baggy T-shirt and baggy trousers with pockets on the legs.

Jack kicked his bag into the corner, where the hockey sticks and tennis rackets and roller blades were. Megan came pounding barefoot down the stairs, in bright red sports leggings, with a big green towel on her head like a turban. Megan was keen on things like running and fitness training and football. She was talking on her phone, but found time to speak to Jack. “Do up your shoelace!” she said.

“Wipe your nose!” said Rosie when he got to the kitchen door. Rosie was the next oldest sister. She had short hair and glasses, and wore a checked shirt and jeans with rips in both knees. She was sitting at the table wrapping something in shiny gold paper. At the other end of the table, Marianne was stirring something in a big bowl. She looked quite red in the face, and her jeans and T-shirt were covered by a huge striped apron. Marianne liked cooking. She and Megan were twins, and looked alike. They’d just had their thirteenth birthdays. Sometimes they dressed the same to confuse people. Even Mum and Dad were fooled sometimes, but Jack could always tell the difference.

“I’ll make you a cheese sandwich in a minute,” Marianne told Jack.

All of Jack’s sisters were bossy. Sometimes it seemed as though he had five mothers instead of just one. All he wanted to do was flop down in front of the TV for a bit to recover from the day at school. And he liked a jam sandwich when he got home, not a cheese one.

“Where’s Mum?” he asked.

“At the hairdresser’s,” said Rosie. “While she’s out, we’re taking the chance to do a bit of getting ready for her surprise birthday party next week.”

“This is the cake icing,” said Marianne. Jack peered into the bowl. The icing looked delicious, smooth and shiny and pink.

Rosie gave him a look. “We did remind you,” she said. “We told you to get a present. Don’t say you’ve forgotten?”

Jack didn’t say anything. He had. They’d been reminding him about Mum’s birthday for weeks and weeks, and he’d been saving money in his piggy-bank for a really nice present. But so far, he’d forgotten to buy one.

Amy put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Jack! You’ve gone and forgotten, haven’t you?”

“Sort of,” said Jack.

Amy clicked her tongue crossly. “I knew you would! Well, there’s nothing for it. I’ll have to take you shopping myself tomorrow.”

Jack’s heart sank. He hated going shopping with any of his sisters. They always walked miles and went into all the shops selling silly things like clothes and make-up and magazines. They never let him go anywhere he wanted.

Marianne seemed to have forgotten all about the cheese sandwich. She gave Jack’s fingers a tap with the wooden spoon when he tried to dip them into the icing bowl. He sighed, and headed towards the stairs. He wished Mum was there. He wished he’d gone into William’s house. Having all these sisters bossing him about just wasn’t fair.