‘This is so unfair,’ Ayesha grumbled. ‘Why do I have to spend my school holidays with Grandpa and Grandma?’

Khaya and Thithi were seven-year-old twins. They were both born on the same day, at the same time. Well, Khaya was born first, so he was really 12 minutes older than his sister and he liked to remind her of that, acting like he was in charge.

Tina was the youngest in her family. She had two older brothers aged 10 and 13 who were always busy playing with their friends. They didn’t like it when Tina followed them around. Tina was almost seven and she thought she was very grown up, but her brothers told her she was too immature to play with them.

Jared wasn’t sure he liked the idea of being an April Fool. Last year, on 1 April, his big sister Lily had made him feel very silly. She told him they were going on holiday and that he should start packing because they were leaving as soon as their dad got home from work. Jared was thrilled. He took out his suitcase and filled it with his clothes and toys. He waited at the front door with his luggage the whole afternoon. When his dad got home he laughed and asked Jaredwhere he thought he was going. Jared was very disappointed and thought Lily was very mean for tricking him like that.

NEW WORDS TO LEARN

1. Context (noun) The setting or background of an event, statement or idea
2. Opinion (noun) Your thoughts on something
3. Tolerant (adj) Accepting of the opinions or beliefs of others

Parvati sat staring at the clock above the blackboard. Its hands seemed to inch from hour to hour more slowly on Friday afternoons than on any other day. What she wanted them to do was whizz around the clock’s face until it was home-time, but there were still two hours to go.

Parvati propped her chin up on her palm and leaned her elbow on her desk, trying to concentrate. The thing that made going home this weekend even more exciting was that Monday was a public holiday. Nobody would have to go [...]