Chapter 1 : Tamara''s cousin November 2023 Tamara arrived at the school gates before her friends. It was a cold, grey, Tuesday morning in November. Fallen leaves were heaped in wet piles on the streets, and she''d nearly skidded over as she strode to school, hands in pockets, insides churning with anger.Standing by the gates, she was quite glad to be alone. Her life was about to change forever, and her famous hot temper was threatening to burst out at any moment.Tamara reached inside her school sweater to feel the gold chain and Star of David Gran had given to her two years ago, on her tenth birthday."I''ll never take it off," she''d declared, as Gran had fastened the Star around her neck.They weren''t allowed to wear jewellery in school, so Tamara always kept her necklace hidden and tucked it away in her school shoes for PE.
But even touching her beautiful Star couldn''t keep her calm today.Dad called Tamara''s temper, red hot like chillis. That temper was always getting her into trouble and now, in Abbey Park High School, with so many new teachers and new things to learn, Tamara felt on the edge of an outburst several times a day.The eldest and also tallest girl in Year 7, Tamara had turned twelve on their very first day, a few weeks back in September. Generous, loyal and always up for a challenge, Tamara made friends easily, despite her temper, which other kids found funny.Abbey Park High School was in North London, with many different nationalities and a group of Jewish kids in each year. Tamara''s mum had wanted Tamara to go to a Jewish High school. But Tamara had refused to be separated from her absolute best and forever friend Yaz, let alone Arthur and Josh.
They''d all four been friends since Primary school. As Tamara scrolled down her phone now, eyebrows furrowed, insides clenched, a voice broke into her thoughts. "Hey, Tam." It was Yaz.Tamara threw her arms around her friend and gave her a tight hug. "Whoah," said Yaz, pulling back, her face split in a grin. "What''s up?" Before Tamara could answer, Arthur came over, football under his arm as if it was an extra limb.Arthur was rarely seen without a football.
He was not only the best striker in the Year 7 team, but he''d recently been taken into the school''s under fifteen team and had already scored in their first match. Arthur had reached hero status. "But they''re all bigger than you," Yaz had said with a shudder when they''d stayed behind to watch a game. "So what," Arthur had said with a grin. "I''m faster than anyone." "And more skilled," Josh had added. Now Josh came to join the other three and Tamara felt some of the turmoil inside her begin to settle, as her friends bunched round. "What''s happened?" said Yaz in her quiet voice.
Tamara stared at her friend, Yazmin Amina Ali, with her light brown skin and long, straight hair, which Tamara had always envied.Tamara''s hair, darker than Yaz''s was so frizzy and bushy. It was impossible to straighten and she wore it much shorter than her friend. Yaz''s family were from Pakistan, but her mum and dad had grown up in London. They went to mosque sometimes, like Tamara''s family went to shul sometimes, but neither family was very religious. They all lived in the same semi-circle close. The two families had moved into their houses during the same week when Yazmin and Tamara were babies, and they''d all become firm friends. Yaz was the calm, logical one.
The one who could stop Tamara from going chilli mad with the pressure of her cool hand on an arm. Tamara''s voice was beginning to shake now as she said, "My cousin Gidi is coming over from Israel tomorrow to stay with us. He''s having my bedroom." "Why''s he giddy?" asked Arthur, giving his ball a couple of bounces. Arthur was a bit shorter than Tamara but with long muscular legs. He kept his hair sport short and had a determined line to his chin. His skin was more golden brown than Yaz''s; Arthur''s family were from Thailand, although there was only his mum since he was little. Arthur could move as fast as Tamara''s temper on the football pitch, and he never lost his cool.
"I''m going to get into the Premier League and buy my mum a house," Arthur was always telling them. Josh''s dad was Jewish and although his mum wasn''t, Josh knew quite a bit about Israel. Now he said, grinning at Tamara, "She doesn''t mean giddy like that. It''s an Israeli name." "His name''s Gideon," said Tamara in an impatient voice. "Gidi for short, spelt G.I.D.
I." "So, what''s the problem?" said Arthur, Tamara opened her mouth to let out the hot rush of chilli words bubbling up inside her and then shut her mouth again.Yaz gave her a surprised look.Tamara looked down at her screen, hands trembling. I can''t say anything, she thought. They won''t understand if I tell them what I did last night.An even worse thought came to her.They might not want to be friends anymore if they find out.
She had to fight to hold back tears. Arthur and Josh had started to tap the football between them. Yaz was checking her phone too. They seemed to sense that Tamara needed time to push down her anger about something. Last night was still so fresh and painful in Tamara''s mind.If she was honest, things hadn''t been good at home for a while.Ever since the terrible attack on Israel on October 7th, just a few weeks ago, it felt as though everything had changed. They all knew that dad was very worried about the family in Israel.
They were all worried. But dad had completely changed from fun, friendly dad, into grumpy, miserable, hardly ever at home dad.Tamara often felt grumpy herself these days. But she mostly avoided dad and getting into arguments with him. However, last night was the bitter end. How did my whole life go so wrong in a few short minutes? she asked herself over and over. As she stared at her phone, Tamara could hear mum''s voice again in her ear, as they sat at the table last night. "Girls," Mum had said.
"We have something to tell you." Dad looked serious and mum looked worried. Now what? wondered Tamara. There was so much bad news these days, she tried not to listen. All she wanted to do was finish dinner and message Yaz. Eden, her little sister, put her thumb in her mouth which she did now whenever she was worried. It infuriated Mum. "What can you expect?" Tamara had told her mother.
"You and Dad are always on your phones, your voices are either angry or upset and Eden doesn''t get it. So, she sucks her thumb. It''s obvious."Tamara had rolled her eyes which probably wasn''t a good idea, but she was fed up with all the phone calls too. "I''m worried about her top teeth coming through properly," Mum had answered, in a prim voice. "She''s only six," Tamara had said. Who cared about teeth when her baby sister was sad. Since October 7th and the horrific attack on Israel, all Mum and Dad seemed to do was scroll on their phones, make video calls to the family in Israel and watch the news.
They''d all been frightened of course and here in London, there were nasty things against Jews too, which Tamara found quite scary. But more recently, she''d felt as though the family had gone off into separate corners and she wasn''t allowed to ask any questions or watch the news. She looked things up online of course but it was all very confusing and there was no-one to talk to at home. We don''t know how to be together anymore, she told herself. Dad didn''t look up from his phone at mealtimes, except to say something harsh to Tamara like, don''t eat with your mouth open, and mum didn''t even tell him to put his phone away.Which is totally against the rules, Tamara would rage to herself. I''m not allowed to bring my phone to the table. Now Mum fixed her e.