I'm starting from the point where series 5 of The Story of Tracy Beaker left off - with the new girl just arriving. I've decided to call her Katie, and this episode takes place a few weeks after her arrival, and Frank is about to join the dumping ground.


"Since Tracy's gone, it seems like everyone's leaving," commented Layla to Roxy as they got the barbeque ready. They were about to have a joint leaving party for Tracy, Justine and Jackie. Tracy was going to live with Cam and Gary, Justine had finally agreed to give her dad another chance, and Jackie was going back to boarding school.

"Weird about Jackie, isn't it?" Layla added. "I thought she hated it at school."

"Yeah, well, why'd she want to stay here?" Roxy pointed out. "All her friends have gone. Tracy, Lol, Justine..."

"What about Crash? He's still here."

"Yeah, but not for long, I bet. Now his dad's out of prison. He'll probably go to live with him."

"You think?" Layla asked.

"Well, anything's better than this dump, right? I mean, everyone's left now, anyway."

Thinking about it, Layla realised Roxy was right. The three girls leaving today, Lol, Bouncer, Milly and Marco, her own best friend Hayley... and with a shock she realised that, except for Crash, she'd be the person who'd been there longest. Only Layla, Alice, Roxy, Rio, Crash, Rebecca, Wolfie and Katie were there now, and eight really wasn't many. Things were definitely changing.

"Uh oh, here comes trouble," muttered Roxy.

"Look who's talking!" came Katie's loud voice. "You're the one who's always in up to something. Thinking you're tougher than everyone else! Well you're not."

"You'll regret saying that!"

"Yeah, right! You will!"

Layla sighed. Ever since Katie arrived she and Roxy had been arguing non-stop. It was getting annoying.

"Shut up!" she broke in to the argument. "What do you want, Katie?"

"Oh, Mike wants to see you."

"He does?" Layla went off, wondering what he wanted. When she got to the office, Jackie was there too.

"Do you have any idea what this is about?" Layla asked her.

"None." Jackie shrugged. "But we can't be in trouble, right?"

Just then, Mike called them in.

"The reason I want to see you," he said, "Is because we're going to have a new boy called Frank coming soon who I want you two to keep a special eye on."

"Why?"

"Well, like Layla, he has cerebral palsy, and like Jackie, he's joining us because his grandfather is too old to look after him. So I thought you two would understand him better."

"But I'm leaving soon." Jackie objected.

"I know, but he's coming next week, so you'll still be there to settle him in. He's ten, the same age as you, Layla."

"Um, ok. We'll try to help." Jackie said. Layla nodded in agreement. They both remembered how they'd felt when they were new, and were curious to find out what he'd be like. They went into the garden to tell the others.

"Great. Another weirdo. Just what this place needs," said Roxy, like she always did.

"He don't sound that weird," objected Katie. "Mind you, they'd put anyone in this dump,"

"Yeah, like you," said Rebecca. She didn't think much of Katie, and she wasn't the only one. Katie retorted by hitting her with her handbag.

"See what I mean?" Rebecca whined as Elaine and Alice skipped in.

"Three people finally finding their happy endings!" gushed Elaine. "Isn't this lovely!"

"I know!" sang Alice. "And two new beginnings. Isn't this place just teeming with positive vibes?"

"Maybe not," said Elaine sadly as she noticed the dirty looks everyone was giving them.

"Oh, I'm sure they're all fine," Alice said. "Their auras just need cleansing!"
"It's not your aura that'll be getting cleansed if you don't shut up!" growled Roxy. Alice just grinned at her.

Layla sighed. How could any new person possibly survive in this madhouse?

Her thoughts were further confirmed when Wolfie and Rebecca ran out, arguing. Why was it that people around here always argued?

"I only borrowed twenty pounds!" Rebecca was yelling. "You've got so much money from your rich parents, I didn't think you'd notice!"

"Well I did! I can't believe you actually went into my room and stole money!"

"Borrowed!"

"Yeah, without asking. And were you planning to give it back?"

"No, but-"

"Exactly!"

"Well, some of us don't have much-"

"Which doesn't give them the right to steal it off people who have!"

"So what were you planning to buy, then? Some new brand of make up that you just had to have?"

"Yeah, like that would make her look any better!" sniped Justine, as she passed by. "I'm so glad I've left here. Otherwise it's my stuff that you'd have taken!"

Rio listened to them arguing in surprise. Not about the arguing - that was nothing new - but at Rebecca stealing. Now that wasn't like her. She was always taking stuff from people like Justine to be spiteful, but she never owned up. And Wolfie? There was no reason for Rebecca to have a grudge against him. So she'd obviously taken the money because she really needed it for something. But what?

"Stop daydreaming and help me set up the barbeque!" His sister Roxy interrupted his thoughts. She wouldn't usually be so helpful, she wanted to stay in Mike's good books so they could visit Chantal, there older sister, that weekend. Rio made a mental note to see what he could find out about Rebecca and got on with the barbeque.

"Hurry up, everyone!" Elaine yelled. "Tracy will be here in a minute! Why hasn't Bouncer arrived yet?"

"He's giving Tracy a lift," said Crash.

"What? But he's meant to be helping set up the party - Katie, no!"

Katie had grabbed a hold of the table cloth, knocking down everything on it, and was running away from a furious Roxy. Elaine tore after them, not even bothering to find out the cause of the argument.

In the chaos, only Rio noticed Rebecca sneaking off. He looked around him. Everyone was distracted. For once, he decided to do something productive and followed her. Roxy would have been proud of him if she hadn't been too busy chasing Katie to notice.

In the middle of it, Mike came into the garden, looking stressed.

"I just got a call from Rob," he said. "Frank's arriving today. We got the date wrong."

"WHAT?" Elaine yelped. "But nothing's ready! And we're having the party. It really isn't convenient."

"I know," said Mike. "He'll be here in half an hour."

"I could kill Rob!" snarled Elaine. "What are we going to do?"

Mike sighed. The two social workers had never seen eye to eye and he couldn't risk them fighting in front of the kids.

"Look, Elaine," he said, "Why don't you start getting Milly's old room ready. It's the tidiest. I'm sure some of the kids will help you. Crash or Rebecca... where is Rebecca? - Never mind. Katie, you'll help, won't you?"

"No chance!" said Katie swiftly, then went back to fighting Roxy.

"Now now, Katie -"

"No way am I doing chores that have nothing whatsoever to do with me! I hate this place!"

Mike sighed. "Crash?"

"My three best friends are leaving, so I'd rather help with the party."


"Fine," Mike sighed. "Layla? Jackie?"

"I thought you told us to help this Frank kid settle in," said Jackie.

"Wolfie?"

"In his room, plotting revenge on Becky," said Justine. "I think I'll go join him, actually."

"Rio? Where is Rio? Never mind. Roxy?"

"Piss off," said Roxy in a bored voice, and got on with the barbecue.

"Hey, guys!" beamed Tracy, coming over. "Um, I thought we were having a party."

"So did I," muttered Mike.

"Oh, buy the way, Rob is in the lounge, having a fight with Elaine. There's a new kid with him." said Bouncer. The kids giggled, and ran over to watch.

"Aaaaarrrrrggghhhh!" Mike groaned. "Alice, you do something about Frank's room! Tracy, help her! Bouncer, get the barbecue ready! What's left of it, anyway." Then he tore off after Elaine.

"Fine." said Tracy. "Seeing as we're apparently his slaves, I suppose we'd better get to work. This party really needs saving."


Meanwhile, Rio was following Rebecca. It was kind of hard to be discreet, but he'd grabbed Mike's coat on the way to make himself less recognisable, and so far, Rebecca hadn't noticed him. But he still had no idea what she was up to. She wasn't heading into town, as he'd first suspected, and seemed to be heading for the council estates. Maybe she had a boyfriend there? Confused, he followed her on until he noticed her going down a drive. Hurriedly, he hid behind a bush as she rang the doorbell.

"Hello?" he heard the person answering the door say – though he couldn't see who it was. "Oh, Rebecca! Hi! Did you bring it?" Rebecca nodded, and went inside.

Rio didn't know what to do now, so he got out his knew phone and texted Roxy to tell her what he new, along with the address of the house Rebecca had gone into.


"EEEllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeee!" yelled Mike. "STOP FIGHTING AND SORT FRANK'S ROOM!"

Roxy and Katie watched gleefully, in between giving each other the evil eye. Roxy couldn't help admiring Katie, though she drove her mad. But maybe she could train her up, get her round to her way of thinking. She could do with an evil sidekick. Rio wasn't exactly much use.

At that moment, her phone beeped as she got Rio's text. She looked around her. Everyone was distracted by the fight,while Jackie and Layla fussed over Frank, who was looking mutinous. Probably not as shy as he looked, Roxy thought. Not one bit. She smiled slyly, and left the house.

Frank broke free from Jackie and Layla's clutches and looked around him. He wondered if he'd like it here. The girls looked a bit wet, but maybe there'd be some boys he could play football with. And everyone seemed pretty mad. He was sure he'd have some fun here. Once he'd given Jackie, Layla, Alice and Elaine the slip, anyway.

At that moment, he noticed Roxy sneaking off. He decided to follow her, partly to find out what she was up to, partly to get out of this crazy place, and partly for some fun.

Getting out was easy. Everyone was still busy, and only Katie noticed him. Quietly, she followed some distance behind him. This would be fun, she thought.


In the garden, Tracy and Bouncer were hurriedly trying to get the party ready.

"Argh!" Tracy growled as she spilt the marshmallows all over the ground. "I never knew a party could be this much trouble!"

"Relax!" said Bouncer. "You can was them."

"Ugh!" Tracy wrinkled her nose. "Wasn't your brother meant to come and help?"

"He was actually. I wonder where he's got to." Bouncer shrugged, and went back to cooking sausages.


Lol strolled over. To be honest, he was kind of bored of endless leaving parties, but Tracy, Jackie and Justine were all good friends of his. Besides, he hadn't seen Wolfie in ages. He was about to go in when he noticed a small girl leaving.

"Who are you?" he called.

"Katie. Who are you?"

"Oh, nobody. I only used to live here." he said crossly. "My brother is the cook here. And I thought there was supposed to be a leaving party."

"There is. It's chaos."

"So where are you going?"

She shrugged. "Come with me and see for yourself." So he did.

Justine sighed. Elaine and Rob were still fighting and it was getting boring. She was glad she was leaving soon. Suddenly, something caught her eye. Roxy's phone? Why had she left it lying about? Curious, Justine picked it up. She read Rio's text, and grinned, then took the phone up to Wolfie. She knew he'd be game for any means of getting his own back on Rebecca.

Five minutes later, they set off for the address. Alice watched from the window of Frank's new room. She shrugged, and went back to preparing the bed.


Much later that day, Elaine and Rob stopped arguing, and Rob left. The first thing Mike noticed was how quiet it was. He supposed everyone had gone into the garden.

But at that moment, Tracy and Bouncer came in from the garden. "It's ready!" they called. "Where is everyone?"

"I thought they were with you," said Mike. They shook their heads. "So where are they? No way!" he gasped. We've lost the new boy! And also Roxy, Rio, Katie, Rebecca, Lol, Crash, Wolfie and Justine! Where the hell are they?"

"MIKE! How could you lose them?" yelled Elaine.

"Me!? It's your fault!" Jackie and Layla sighed and decided to look for Frank. Poor kid, they thought. He must be feeling terrible! As they left the house, they could just see the faint outlines of Wolfie and Justine in the distance. They ran after them.

Later, Elaine and Mike noticed that nobody was left.

"Mike!" screamed Elaine. "How could you be so foolish?"

"Me?" yelped Mike. Tracy and Bouncer groaned as they argued again. This had been funny at first, but now it was getting seriously annoying.

"I know where they are!" said a silky voice. They all looked up in surprise...


"There you are!" said Rio as Roxy came up. " Finally – what?"

"I followed you," said Frank, apologetically.

"Do you know what happens to people who spy on us?" said Roxy threateningly, even though Frank was taller than her.

"Ah, Rio and Roxy, up to something as usual." came a voice. They all looked round at Lol, who was grinning broadly, while Katie grinned sheepishly beside him.

"Hi, Wolfie!" said Lol suddenly. "I haven't seen you for ages!"

"Roxy!" growled Rio. "Well done, you've only brought the whole dumping ground here!"

"Yours, I believe," said Justine, passing Roxy her phone. "Now where's Bex?"

"Come on!" said Roxy. "It's not my fault! And not everyone's here – Layla, Jackie – oops, my mistake, here they are -" as they came and started annoying Frank again " -, "Crash, Alice..."

"So here we all are," said Katie. "Cool. So what happens now?"

"We wait – quietly – for Rebecca to come out," said Rio.

So they did.


"I saw them," said Alice. "Leaving the house. All at different times."

"And you didn't think to mention it?" growled Mike.

" No." said Alice innocently.


That was about the moment when Rebecca left the house, looked up, and saw the entire contents of the dumping ground waving back at her.

"Oh, for heavens sake!" she yelled. "Look, guys, it's my baby sister. It's her birthday, and I wanted to see her. That's why I stole the money. To buy her a present. She lives with my aunt now. But I didn't want anyone to know, not even my aunt, otherwise we'd have to sort it with social workers and everything... but it's too late now."

At that moment Mike came up. "Oh, why don't you just join the party!" he said. "There's two social workers there, and you can bring your aunt and sister... why not. None of us have done particularly well today, so let's just have fun. Sorry about this, Frank – but I see you've made some friends anyway. Come on, guys, let's party!"

Everyone was in a crazy mood, so they all just went home, and had fun. It wasn't till later that they realised that one person was still missing.

"Where's Crash?" Layla asked some time that afternoon.

Mike groaned...


Find out what Crash got up to in the next episode! And remember to review and tell me what you think, who you want to leave or arrive next. I'll be doing maybe five chapters for each year, though I won't be able to update till Sunday. Bye!