Best Friends Read online

  'This fast-paced story, at once funny and touching, exemplifies the author's ability to get to the heart of children's experiences'

  TES

  'Jacqueline Wilson at her best'

  Mizz

  'There is poignancy and humour in this account of the trauma suffered . . . Jacqueline Wilson's skill is to identify the problems that many children face in their everyday lives, but to write about the issues with an artless simplicity that makes the stories fun and accessible'

  Glasgow Herald

  'Heart-stirring stuff

  Funday Times

  www.kidsatrandomhouse.co.uk

  Also available by Jacqueline Wilson: Available from Corgi Pups, for younger readers'

  T H E D I N O S A U R ' S PACKED L U N C H

  T H E M O N S T E R STORY-TELLER

  Available from Doubleday/Young Corgi Books LIZZIE Z I P M O U T H

  SLEEPOVERS

  Available from Doubleday /Corgi Yearling Books BAD GIRLS

  T H E BED A N D BREAKFAST STAR

  B U R I E D ALIVE'

  T H E CAT M U M M Y

  CLEAN B R E A K

  C L I F F H A N G E R

  T H E D A R E GAME

  T H E D I A M O N D G I R L S

  D O U B L E A C T

  GLUBBSLYME

  T H E I L L U S T R A T E D M U M

  T H E L O T T I E P R O J E C T

  M I D N I G H T

  T H E M U M - M I N D E R

  S E C R E T S

  T H E S T O R Y O F T R A C Y B E A K E R

  T H E SUITCASE KID

  VICKY A N G E L

  T H E W O R R Y WEBSITE

  Collections:

  T H E J A C Q U E L I N E W I L S O N C O L L E C T I O N

  includes T H E STORY OF T R A C Y BEAKER and T H E BED A N D BREAKFAST STAR

  JACQUELINE WILSON'S DOUBLE D E C K E R

  includes BAD GIRLS and DOUBLE A C T

  JACQUELINE WILSON'S BISCUIT B A R R E L

  includes CLIFFHANGER and B U R I E D ALIVE!

  JACQUELINE WILSON'S SUPERSTARS

  includes T H E SUITCASE KID and T H E LOTTIE PROJECT

  T H E JACQUELINE WILSON DIARY

  T H E JACQUELINE W I L S O N ADDRESS B O O K

  T H E JACQUELINE WILSON J O U R N A L

  Available from Doubleday / Corgi Books, for older readers: D U S T B I N BABY '"

  G I R L S IN LOVE

  GIRLS U N D E R P R E S S U R E

  GIRLS O U T LATE

  GIRLS I N T E A R S

  LOLA R O S E

  Jacqueline Wilson

  Best

  Friends

  Illustrated by Nick Sharratt

  Corgi Yearling

  This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Adobe ISBN: 9781407046266

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  BEST FRIENDS

  A CORGI YEARLING BOOK 978 0 440 86579 7

  First published in Great Britain by Doubleday, an imprint of Random House Children's Books Doubleday edition published 2004

  Corgi Yearling edition published 2005

  9 10 8

  Copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 2004

  Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 2004

  The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mecbanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

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  Set in Century Schoolbook

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  Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

  THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009

  www.kidsatrandornhouse.co.uk

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Printed in the UK by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon, CR0 4TD

  For Scarlett, Fergus and Phoebe

  One

  Alice and I are best friends. I've known her all my life. That is absolutely true. Our mums were in hospital at the same time when they were having us. I got born first, at six o'clock in the morning on 3 July. Alice took ages and didn't arrive until four in the afternoon. We both had a long

  cuddle with our mums and at night

  time we were tucked up next to each other in little weeny cots.

  I expect Alice was a bit frightened.

  She'd have cried. She's actually still a bit or a crybaby now but I try not to tease her about it. I always do my best to comfort her.

  I bet that first day I called to her in baby-coo language. I'd say, 'Hi, I'm Gemma. Being born is a bit weird, isn't it? Are you OK?'

  And Alice would say, 'I'm not sure. I'm Alice. I don't think I like it here. I want my mum.'

  'We'll see our mums again soon. We'll get fed.

  7

  I'm starving.' I'd have started crying too, in case there was a chance of being fed straight away.

  I suppose I'm still a bit greedy, if I'm absolutely honest. Not quite as greedy as Biscuits though.

  Well, his real name is Billy McVitie, but everyone calls him Biscuits, even the teachers. He's this boy in our class at school and his appetite is astonish-ing. He can eat an entire packet of chocolate Hob Nobs, munch crunch,

  munch crunch, in two minutes flat.

  We had this Grand Biscuit Challenge at play time.

  I only managed three quarters of a packet. I probably could have managed a whole packet too but a crumb went down the wrong way and I choked.

  I ended up with chocolate biscuit drool all down the front of my white school blouse. But that's nothing new. I always seem to get a bit messy and scruffy and scuffed. Alice stays neat and sweet.

  When we were babies one of us crawled right into the rubbish bin and played mud wrestling in the garden and fell

  fel in the pond when we fed

  fe

  the ducks. The other one of us sat up prettily in her buggy cuddling

  Golden Syrup (her yellow

  teddy bear) and

  giggled at her

  naughty friend.

  8

  When we went to nursery school one of us played Fireman in the water tank and Moles in the sand tray, and she didn't stop at Finger Painting, she did Entire Body Painting. The

  other one of us sat demurely at the dinky table and made

  plasticine necklaces (one for

  each of us) and sang 'Incy

  Wincy Spider' with all the cute

  h a n d g e s t u r e s .

  When we went to infants school one of us pretended to be a Wild Thing and

  roared such terrible roars in

  class she got sent out of the room.

  She also got int