Harry: Harry Page 4

  ‘My oh my, how time passes when you’re having fun. I’ve got a class to teach!’

  He stood from the chair, picking up his bag.

  ‘Now . . .’ he said, holding my picture, ‘will you let me show this at the Monvale Art Fair?’

  My thoughts were flipping over and over like cooking tasty pancakes. Cosmic Samurai is different, but he doesn’t care. If anything, he likes being different. He’s the only Cosmic Samurai. Would he let his own drawing get displayed at the Monvale Art Fair? Would he care what everyone else thought?

  I didn’t think so.

  ‘All right, Mr Slater. Do it.’

  The rest of the week passed by slower than ever. I couldn’t stop daydreaming in class. I think it was a mix of excitement and panic. I wanted to know what everyone thought of my picture, but at the same time I didn’t. I rushed through all my other homework quickly so I’d have as much time as possible to draw stuff before heading to bed.

  By the time Monday rolled around, I’d kind of forgotten what the drawing I gave Mr Slater looked like because I’d sketched so much other stuff on the weekend. When I walked into the assembly hall, which they’d converted into a little gallery, my enthusiasm switched to sheer panic again.

  Mum walked beside me, oohing and aahing at every picture she passed. I still hadn’t seen mine yet. On the way through, I saw Eddie’s drawing of a rock. I guess it looked pretty cool . . . for a rock.

  Then I saw Gregor’s photo of his neighbouring park, covered in green. He must have switched it back to colour. On a pedestal in the middle of the room was Lou’s clay model of Io, the volcanic planet. I bet his mum and dad were really proud.

  Then, I saw a crowd of kids, parents and teachers gathered around something. I couldn’t see what it was.

  Probably Josie Yang’s project. That Magical-Super-Horse-Pony or whatever it was called. It’d be getting a bunch of gold stars sooner or later, but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

  Pushing my way to the front, I was shocked by what I saw.

  Tacked proudly onto the wall was a drawing. Mine.

  It wasn’t just Mum who was oohing and aahing now. It was everyone!

  There he was. Cosmic Samurai, screaming across the surface of some alien moon on his sleek hover-bike. Evil monster-aliens surrounded him, with the mutant space wizard in front of them, his Martian staff raised, glowing with evil energy. In one hand, Cosmic Samurai held his lightning sword. In the other, the sweetest laser pistol ever. Ready to fight. The background was lit up with distant stars and swirling bands of multicoloured galaxies.

  ‘Harry, this is so cool!’ said Lou, who appeared behind me.

  Eddie slapped my back. ‘Aw man, I wanna see more of Cosmic Samurai! It’s not as awesome as my rock, but . . . yeah, pretty cool.’

  Someone touched my shoulder. It was Principal Davies. She was smiling. Maybe a software update finally allowed her to do that. ‘Excellent job, Harry. It’s amazing to see what you can do when you draw on your own paper, isn’t it?’

  People actually liked my drawing? Even Robot Principal Davies? It felt like I was in the best dream ever. I had to pinch myself, which kind of hurt. I was awake and it was really happening!

  I felt a tug on my sleeve. It was Darcy. I couldn’t see his eyes under that massive mop of blond hair. ‘Is this Cosmic Samurai, Harry? The one who we made the fortress for?’

  ‘Yeah, Darcy,’ I said. ‘Yeah, it is.’

  ‘That’s awesome!’ he shrieked, launching into me with a hug. ‘You’re the coolest big friend ever!’

  It felt good when they said nice things. It made me feel really . . . happy. Maybe Mr Slater was right all along. Being different and standing out wasn’t a bad thing.

  I searched the room for him. He was in the middle of talking to one of the mothers.

  He winked at me. I winked back. Then Mum stood in front of me.

  ‘Someone special wants to see you, Schnook,’ she said.

  I blushed, looking sheepish around my friends. ‘Don’t call me that, Mum . . .’

  A large, hairy hand rested on my shoulder.

  ‘Why not? I believe it is quite fetching for a young man like you,’ an adult voice said. ‘I see you have a thing for drawing now. Thought I’d bring you these.’

  I looked behind me.

  It was Dad.

  He had a big beard, soft eyes and an even softer smile. He hadn’t changed a bit. In one of his hands was a tin of fancy coloured pencils. He must have flown down with them for the exhibit.

  I wrapped myself around him, squeezing tight.

  Over his shoulder, I could see my drawing of Cosmic Samurai, alone and outnumbered by evil aliens, ready to fight. An epic battle frozen in time – and I was the one who drew it.

  With a goofy grin on my face, all I could imagine was Cosmic Samurai giving me a big thumbs up.

  My submarine had finally come to the surface . . . and you know what?

  It’s not too bad up there.

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

  India | New Zealand | South Africa | China

  Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies

  whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

  First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2015

  Text copyright © Alex McDiarmid, 2015

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  Series editor: Susannah McFarlane

  Design by Tony Palmer © Penguin Group (Australia)

  Cover and internal illustrations by Dean Rankine

  puffin.com.au

  ISBN: 978-1-76014-127-1

  THE BEGINNING

  Let the conversation begin...

  Follow the Penguin Twitter

  Keep up-to-date with all our stories YouTube

  Pin ‘Penguin Books’ to your Pinterest

  Like ‘Penguin Books’ on Facebook

  Find out more about the author and

  discover more stories like this at penguin.com.au