Best Friends Read online

  Oh, let me suck up to you because you're so rich and pretty and even posher than us – sooo much more suitable than that scruffy little Gemma who's been such a bad influence on my little angel Alice.'"

  'You are bad,' said Mum, but she was snorting with laughter. 'You've got her voice spot-on, Gemma. You ought to go on

  the stage.'

  I couldn't cheer me up but at least I'd made Mum laugh. I put my

  arms round her neck. 'Thanks for

  sorting out the phone call, Mum.'

  'That's OK. But I can't keep on

  pestering Karen. You know as well as I do that she doesn't want Alice to stay friends.'

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  'But ya boo sucks to her, we are friends, for ever and ever.'

  'Yes, b u t don't forget Alice will be going to a new school, making new friends.'

  'No she won't!'

  'You don't want her to be lonely, do you?'

  'Well. No. So, OK, maybe she can have one or two just-at-school friends. But I'm still her real best friend.'

  'Oh Gemma. I j u s t don't w a n t you to get h u r t , love.'

  But maybe Alice wasn't going to forget me. She wrote to me straight away, and she p u t her full address on t h e back of the envelope.

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  Ten

  ive us a hand with the dishes, Gemma,' said Mum

  G

  '

  , piling them up in the sink.

  'Oh Mum! That's not fair. The boys never help,'

  I said.

  Callum and Jack slipped smartly upstairs.

  'Jack, wait for me!' I called.

  'Why are you always hanging round Jack nowa-days?' Mum asked suspiciously. 'You keep disappearing into his room.'

  'He's just letting me use his computer for a bit, Mum,' I said. 'He shows me how to look up stuff on the internet.'

  'Hmm,' said Mum. She still looked suspicious.

  'What sort of stuff? It's nothing naughty, is it?'

  'Mum! No. No, it's for this project thingy.'

  'What project? Is it for homework?'

  'That's right. Homework,' I said quickly.

  'You've never been bothered about making an effort with your homework before,' said Mum.

  'Are you telling the kid off for trying hard with 116

  her homework?' Dad called from the sofa in the living room. 'Give her a break, Liz.'

  'Yeah, Mum, give me a break,' I said, dodging out the way as she swatted me with the tea towel.

  I was determined not to get lumbered with any more chores like the boring old dishes. I was working flat out as it was, appeasing Jack. He let me use his computer to e-mail Alice via this Flora girl and he saved her e-mails back to me – but at a price.

  He didn't demand actual cash as he knew I didn't have any. No, I had to act like his general servant, finding all his pongy old socks from under his bed and putting them in the laundry basket, dusting the geeky collection of paper aeroplanes dangling from his ceiling, even rinsing round the bath after he'd used it.

  'Would you like me to flush the flipping toilet for you while I'm at it?' I added sarcastically.

  This was a big mistake.

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  I also had to change his horrible

  dinosaur duvet cover, a job I hate hate hate. I was far too exhausted afterwards to tackle changing my own duvet and Mum lectured me for hours.

  'I was just too tired to change it, Mum,' I said truthfully.

  Mum went on and on about how tired she was, running the house for a family of five. Surely it was the least a daughter could do to lend a hand? Even Jack was getting a lot more responsible now about his laundry and keeping his room spick and span even though he was so busy with all his school stud-ies, plus being the number one dog walker in the family.

  I wouldn't have minded walking Barking Mad myself as one of my chores but Jack wouldn't let me. However, if he let Barking Mad off the lead up the

  common he would roll in the smelli-

  est dungheap he could find. Barking Mad, that is, not my brother. Then

  guess who had to try to give the

  silly dog a bath. Me!

  But all these extra chores were worth it as I could now communicate properly with Alice. I didn't like having to start off tapping out a message to Flora first. I didn't much like the sound of her.

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  Still, I tried to be ultra polite as she let Alice use her computer.

  Hello, Flora. It's me, Gemma, Alice's best friend. Thank you very very very much for letting us write to each other.

  Now, here is my private message for Alice. Don't read it, OK?

  Dearest Alice – How are you? Are you still missing me LOTS and LOTS and LOTS? I am missing you MORE if that is possible! It is so lonely and no one understands and they're all being hateful to me.

  Oh! Jack has just looked at the screen and he says he's being exceptionally kind to me by letting me use his computer. I suppose that's true, but it's at GREAT COST

  to me!

  Callum is being OK too actually. He took me out to McDonald's yesterday evening and he bought me a Happy Meal and when it didn't have the special Blue Two Kung Fu Fighter toy I particularly wanted he bought me another Happy Meal and the little blue guy was in that, so now he's got Red Zed to fight with. Yay! I expect Callum only asked me out because Ayesha was seeing her girlfriends, but it was still sweet of him.

  Grandad's being so kind too, though he won't buy me cream cakes any more. Dad keeps tickling me to try to make me smile. Mum was OK for a bit, but 119

  now she's nag nag nag as always.

  Still, they're mostly all right at home – but it's HORRIBLE at school. Mrs Watson was quite nice for a bit but now you will never ever ever guess what she's done! We have to do this stupid project about a famous person with a partner and she says I have to be partners with Biscuits! I am not not not going to be his partner. Do you have to be partners with anyone at your new school or are you allowed to work on your own if you want?

  Lots and lots and lots of love

  From your best ever friend for always Gemma

  Hi Gem! Thanks for your really really really long message.

  I can't write back as much because it would be a bit rude to Flora seeing as it's her computer. I've got to be quick anyway because we've got a ballet class at five. Flora's mum is taking us. I do hope I do OK. Flora is BRILLIANT

  at ballet, heaps better than me. I hope I'm not the worst in the whole class.

  What's this project? Poor you getting stuck with Biscuits. They're in the middle of this Egyptian project in my new class and I got worried because I didn't know anything about them but Flora's lent me her notes, so she's sort of my partner, I suppose. It's very kind of her to help me out.

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  This is not just a pretty pattern. It's an Egyptian hiero-glyphic.

  Lots and lots of love

  From your best friend

  Alice

  Hello, Flora. This is a very private message for Alice. You stop reading now.

  Dearest Alice – You know HEAPS about the Egyptians.

  Don't you remember, Callum took us up to London and we saw the mummies in the museum and it was so cool

  – only you found it a little bit creepy, even the cat mummies.

  But I bet the computer girl Flora hasn't seen real mummies. You tell her all about them. And I'll make you up a story about them. I'll get to work on it right away, all about a Terrible Curse and a mummy who comes back to life and its bandages fall off and little blackened bits of flesh crumble off too. It will be dead scary and will seriously impress all your new classmates. Only don't get too matey with anyone in particular, will you?

  Lots and lots and lots of love

  From your best ever friend who will never ever break friends

  Gemma

  I was certainly not matey with anyone at school.

  Especially not Biscuits. I wasn't