Best Friends Read online

  'I don't need a wig,' I said, stepping out of the dress and striking a pose in my shorts and T-shirt. 'I can make out I'm a boy'

  'Excellent idea! You can wear my base-ball cap too, that 11 make you look even more like a boy. And I'll wear one of my old skirts and tops. Maybe I could rip them up a bit so I look like some really tough street girl.'

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  Alice didn't look at all tough in her shiny black wig and pale-blue skirt and top, even when she'd deliberately cut a big hole in her T-shirt with her sewing scissors.

  'Mum will be mad at me when she sees,'

  she said, poking her finger through the hole.

  'Well, she's not going to see, is she?' I said. 'It's just going to be you and me, Al.' I paused, making Golden Syrup jump up. 'And me too,' 'he' said.

  'Ought we to pack some stuff? Like pyjamas and clean knickers and some washing things?' Alice asked.

  Alice's mother came down the landing again, calling her name. It sounded as if she was getting seriously rattled now.

  'We haven't got time to pack,' I said. 'Though it would be very useful if you could take some money'

  'Easy-peasy,' said Alice, attacking the underbelly of her china pig. She dislodged the little plastic stopper and he showered her hand with money – several five- and ten-pound notes as well as heaps of coins.

  'Oh wow! We're rich!' I said.

  We filled our pockets with cash and then listened hard. Alice's mum seemed to have gone downstairs, out of earshot.

  'I think the coast is clear,' I said. 'Come on!'

  We crawled out of the wardrobe and rushed across the bedroom. Alice had Golden Syrup under 49

  her arm. She looked longingly at her bead box and her junior make-up set and my grandma's doll sitting stiffly on her bookshelf.

  'Let's take Melissa too,' she said. 'She belongs to both of us.'

  'It'll be too much of a bore, lumping her around,'

  I said. 'And a boy and a tough girl wouldn't be carrying a posh china doll. We look weird enough with Golden Syrup, though he's certainly scruffy.'

  Golden Syrup swatted me with his paw. 'Speak for yourself! You're the scruffy one' 'he' said. 'Look, we could run away to join a circus and I could be your special performing bear. You could both be my trainers. You could wear a top hat and tails like a ringmaster, Gemma, and you could wear a sparkly pink ballet dress, Alice.' I switched to my own voice.

  'Hey, we could have our own circus, right? I can go up on the trapeze and do tightrope walking and tricks on the trampoline, I'd love all that, and you can be a bareback rider on a pure white horse.'

  'They're called greys.'

  'I know, but it sounds silly when you mean white.

  Hey, maybe it could be a flying horse with wings like Pegasus and you could swoop right up to the ceiling of the big top—'

  'Big tops don't have ceilings.'

  'Alice, will you stop being so picky? We're only playing.'

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  'Yes, but this isn't a game. This is real. It is real, isn't it? We can really really run away?'

  My tummy went tight. I'd thought we were just pretending. I knew just how dangerous it would be if we ran off on our own. I thought how worried Mum and Dad would be even if we were missing just a few hours. Callum would be worried too. And even Jack. Then I thought about Grandad and what it would do to him. He wasn't really all that well.

  He'd started to wheeze quite a bit when we were out walking. He had to keep having a rest when we went up stairs. What if he had a heart attack with the shock of me going missing?

  But Alice gripped my hands tight, her eyes very big and blue and pleading. I couldn't let her down.

  'Of course we're really running away,' I said, dropping Golden Syrup on his head to show I wasn't playing any more. 'Come on, then. Let's get going.'

  We walked cautiously out of Alice's bedroom, listening hard. We couldn't hear Alice's mum.

  Perhaps she'd gone to look for her in the garden.

  We whizzed down the stairs quickly, dodged past some old uncle and out the front door before he'd drawn breath.

  We charged down the front

  path. I vaulted over the

  front gate just to show off,

  then I grabbed Alice's hand

  and we ran down the road. It felt so weird, the two of us out alone! Even though it was just Alice's ordinary street of neat black and white houses with tidy gardens and clipped privet hedges it felt like we were hacking our way through the jungle, with lions lurking in the shadows and snakes slithering through the creepers.

  'It's OK, Alice. We're going to be fine,' I said.

  'Let's keep running just in case they're coming after us,' said Alice.

  We ran and ran and ran.

  I'm used to running so it

  wasn't too hard for me.

  Alice hates running. By

  the time we got to the end

  of the road she was very pink

  in the face and her black

  wig was slipping sideways.

  'Maybe we should slow down now?' I suggested.

  'No! We've – got – to – get – far – away!' Alice gasped.

  So we went on running. Alice was bright red by this time and her wig had fallen so far forward she could hardly see where she was going.

  We ran past the parade shops. I wondered about asking Alice if we could buy some sweets but it didn't seem the right moment. I tried to ignore the fact that I was starving hungry.

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  We ran past the park with the tiny toddler swings where we'd dangled day after day when we went to nursery school. Then we ran past our school, all shut up because it was Sunday.

  'That's one great thing about running away. We won't have to go to school any more!' I panted.

  Alice was so out of breath she couldn't speak at all, but she managed a nod.

  We ran down the road with the church with the chiming clock.

  'We've been runaways for fifteen whole minutes,'

  I gasped. I looked round. 'Al, they're not coming after us, honestly. It'll be hours before they twig we're gone. Do let's stop running.'

  Alice stopped. She was purple now. The veins were standing out on her forehead. Her eyes were agonized. She leaned against the wall. Her hands clutched her side. She was wheezing worse than Grandad.

  'Have you got a stitch? Bend over, that'll make it better,' I said, patting her.

  Alice bent over. She looked so weak I was scared she was going to carry on bending until her head went bonk on the pavement. I seized her by the waist, holding her up.

  'There! Is that better?' I said, after a few seconds.

  'Not – really.'

  'Sit down,' I suggested.

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  I meant on the little wall behind us, but Alice sat right down on the pavement, without fussing about dirtying her dress. In fact she lay down,

  hands on her

  chest, eyes closed.

  'Is she all

  right?' said a lady

  pushing a buggy, gazing at flattened Alice.

  'She's fine,' I insisted, although Alice didn't look the least bit fine. She looked as if she was dead. I kicked her gently. 'Sit up, Al. Stop messing about.'

  Alice struggled upwards. She tried to smile at the woman to show she was OK, but she still looked pretty scary.

  'Where's your mother, dear?' said the lady.

  Alice blinked helplessly.

  'She's just in that shop down the road,' I said quickly. I pulled at Alice's arm. 'Come on, let's go and find your mum.' I dragged her up and made her stagger away with me.

  'Not – so – quick – I – still – can't – breathe,'

  Alice gasped.

  'Yeah, I know, but you're making that lady suspicious. We shouldn't attract attention or they'll start reporting us. We have to wise up.'

  'You – weren't – wise – you – said – my – name.'

  'No I didn't.'

  54

  'You did. You said i