Best Friends Read online

  'But why are you going?'

  'My dad's getting a new job with this Scottish firm and my mum wants to live up there because we'll be able to get a bigger house. And we're going to have a huge garden and Mum says I can have a swing and a tree house.'

  'I'm going to have a tree house, you know I am, when Dad gets round to it,' I said. 'It was going to be our tree house.'

  'And I can have any pets I want.'

  'You've got a share of Barking Mad.'

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  'Mum said I can maybe have my own

  pony.'

  I was brought up short. A pony!

  I'd always longed and longed to have a pony. When I was very little I used to hold my hands up like I was holding reins and I'd gallop along, pretending I was riding this fantasy white horse Diamond. Well, you call white horses grey but Diamond was as white as snow and sometimes he grew wings like Pegasus and we flew up and over the town until we got to the sea and then we'd gallop for hours, skimming the waves.

  I stared at Alice. 'Are you really getting a pony?'

  'Well, Mum said I could. And Dad, though he didn't promise. It's still not definite we're going.

  Dad hasn't been given a starting time for his job and we haven't completed some contract thingy with the house so we're not telling anyone yet.'

  'But I'm not anyone. I'm your best friend! Why did you keep it a secret from me? I would have had to tell you or I'd burst!'

  'Yes, I know, Gem. That's why. You'd have told heaps of people because you can't ever keep secrets.'

  'I can! Well, sometimes I can. Anyway, why does it have to be this great big secret?'

  'We're not telling people till the last minute because my gran and grandad will go nuts and try 34

  to stop us.'

  I was shocked. 'You mean you're leaving them behind?'

  'Well, Dad says we've got no option,' said Alice.

  I couldn't ever imagine leaving Grandad behind.

  I'd sooner leave Mum and Dad than Grandad. But I'd leave all three if it meant I could stay with Alice.

  'You're leaving me behind too,' I said.

  Alice's face crumpled. 'I don't know how I'm going to bear it, Gemma. I told Mum and Dad I couldn't go because I'd miss you too much. They just laughed at me and said I'd make some new friends – but I don't want any new friends. I just want you.'

  'You've still got me. We can still be best friends.

  And tell you what, I'll come and visit you every weekend! I'll get the train,' I said, getting excited.

  'You can't, Gem. It takes hours and hours and hours and it costs heaps and heaps too.'

  'More than two pounds for a child fare?' I said.

  I got two pounds pocket money every week. Well, in theory I did. It depended on whether I'd been naughty or cheeky or broken anything. I resolved to behave like Little Miss Perfection from now on.

  But it was no use.

  'It's forty-eight pounds.'

  'What!'

  'And that's a supersaver price.'

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  I'd need to save for nearly six months for just one visit.

  'What are we going to do?' I cried.

  'We can't do anything. We're just children. We don't count,' said Alice bitterly.

  'Well, you did say it's not definite definite. Maybe your dad won't get the job after all. And they'll sell the house to some other family. And you'll stay here, where you belong. With me.' I said it very fiercely and firmly, as if I could make it true just by being insistent.

  I wished it every morning. I prayed for it every night. I did all sorts of weird things to try to make it come true. I tried to walk the entire length of the street without walking on any cracks in the pavement, I counted to fifty without blinking, I kicked every lamppost and muttered, 'Please-please-please.'

  Grandad got really worried about me. 'What's up, little Iced Gem?'

  'Nothing, Grandad.'

  'Don't you nothing me. You're

  walking funny, you're going all

  starey-eyed like you're in a trance and you're circling every blooming lamppost like a little dog.

  There's obviously something up.'

  'OK, there is. But I can't tell you, Grandad. Though I wish I could.'

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  'Couldn't you just whisper it in my ear? I won't be cross or shocked no matter what you've done, sweetheart.'

  'I haven't done anything, Grandad. Not this time,' I said, sighing.

  'Well, that certainly makes a change,' said Grandad, panting a little as we trudged up and up the stairs to his flat. The lift was broken again and it was a long long haul up to the twelfth floor.

  I tried to hop up but I couldn't manage more than three steps. Then I tried running up without stopping but it felt mean leaving Grandad to struggle up all by himself. So then I tried walking up sideways, feet stuck out at an angle.

  'We'd better get your mum to take you shopping for new shoes on Saturday,' Grandad wheezed.

  'Those ones look too small for you, pet. You're walking all funny in them.'

  'I'm just trying to make a wish come true, Grandad,' I said. 'Though it isn't bogging well working.'

  'It doesn't sound very nice using words like that.'

  'You say it. You say worse.'

  'Yes, well, I'm a naughty old man. I'm allowed.

  You're not. Your mum wouldn't like it.'

  'I don't care,' I said. 'Grandad, why are mums and dads allowed to boss you about and tell you what to do and where you have to live? Why aren't 37

  children counted as people?'

  'You wait till you get to my age, sweetheart. Old guys like me don't count as people either,' said Grandad. He reached out and squeezed my hand.

  'You sure you can't confide in your old grandad, Gem? I won't tell a soul, I swear.'

  I couldn't stop myself telling him this time. It just came out in a rush and then I had a little cry.

  Grandad helped me into his flat, flopped into his big velvety armchair and sat me on his knee. He gave me a big cuddle until I'd stopped crying and then he wiped my eyes with one of his big soft white hankies.

  Then he made us both a cup of tea.

  'How about a little snack too? I expect you're feeling a bit peckish after all that emotion,' he said.

  He gave me a golden syrup sandwich and a slice of strawberry sponge cake and a whole packet of iced gems. Every

  time I put an iced gem in my

  mouth I wished that Alice didn't

  have to go away. I even wished

  on the little bits of broken

  icing and the crumbs.

  It wa

  t

  s all in vain. The next

  Saturday Alice's mum came round to my house with Alice. Alice was very pale and her eyes were pink, as if she'd been crying a lot. But Auntie Karen was 38

  flushed with excitement, starting

  to talk the minute she was in the

  front door.

  'We've got something to tell

  you!' she announced. 'We're

  moving.'

  Alice flashed me a warning look

  so I acted like this was the first I'd heard of it.

  My mum looked totally stunned as Auntie Karen went on and on. 'Moving? To Scotland? Oh Karen, I can't quite take it in. Is this just an idea or is it all fixed up?'

  'It's been in the air for weeks but we wanted to wait to tell everyone until it was definite. Bob's got this brilliant job offer and we're buying this incredible house with an enormous garden. Property's so much cheaper there, though of course Bob will have a hefty raise in salary. It's a perfect place to bring up a family, the countryside's so beautiful. It was such a fantastic chance for us we just couldn't say no. But it'll be a wrench moving all the same. We'll really miss you.'

  'And we'll miss you too,' said my mum. She gave Auntie Karen a hug. Then she looked at Alice. 'Oh dear, you and Gemma will miss each other terribly too.'

  Alice nodded mournfully, tears dripping down her chee