Hi! So I looked on fanfiction and was disappointed to find that there was no category for the Animal Healer series. I sent a new category request to , and they added the category, so, without further ado, here is the first Animal Healer fanfiction. Hope you enjoy! ViolaGoddess.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Animal Healer books; they belong to Lauren St John.
Martine rushed around her bedroom frantically, pulling on her new school uniform while she shoved stuff into her bag.
She ran to the bathroom and started to tie her hair, which now reached to just past her shoulders, into a low ponytail to keep it out of her face during lessons.
Lessons! She realised that she had forgotten to put her school books into her bag! Toothbrush still in mouth, Martine raced back to her room and looked at the timetable she had been sent over the holidays to see which books she needed for today.
She had homeroom first, then drama, geography, maths, sport, and science. She quickly grabbed all the things she needed for those classes.
Then she heard a voice from downstairs.
"Martine! Be out the front in fifteen minutes, Tendai is going to drive you and Ben to school!" Gwyn Thomas called.
Martine was starting to feel ill. She wasn't ready for high school! It would be so big, and so busy! Martine gulped and called back to her grandmother, saying she would be down soon, before closing her door and flinging herself onto her giraffe bedspread, trying hard not to cry. Then she heard a new voice, and a knock at her bedroom door.
"Martine? … Martine?" It was Ben.
"Martine? … Can I come in?"
"N-no."
"Oh, right. You're probably getting changed. Sorry."
"N-no. I-I'm n-not"
"Martine, what's wrong?" Now he sounded worried and almost suspicious.
"N-n-nothing?"
"Uh, okay… If you're sure…"
Martine could tell that since she was his best friend, he knew something was wrong, but he had decided to let it go and give her some space, for which she was grateful.
"I'll wait out front for you then," he said. "Come down when you're ready."
Martine gave up on trying to hold in her tears, and buried her face in her pillow, sobbing. She couldn't do this! If only she wasn't so nervous; why couldn't she be as brave now as she was when she and Ben were saving animals?
That's it, she thought, and she dried her eyes and started to smile. It was just like Saf said in her letter; she had saved dolphins, elephants, rhinos, a leopard, she was the girl who rode the white giraffe. She could certainly do something as mundane as starting high school.
With this, Martine determinedly shouldered her school bag, and two minutes later, she was sitting next to Ben in the back of Tendai's old jeep, ready to begin her next adventure.