How to Get the Friends You Want by Jenny Alexander Read Free Book Online Page A

it’s not too late?’ I asked.
    â€˜No, the closing date’s tomorrow.’
    â€˜Oh... good,’ I said, trying to sound glad.
    They all agreed it was a fantastic idea.
    â€˜Three pets give us three chances of winning!’ they said. It was like we were a team and if one of us won then we all did.
    Sasha, Tammy and Abina thought we should get all the pets together before the pet parade.
    They didn’t just want to be matching-set friends – they wanted to have matching-set pets.
    â€˜I could bring Pookie to Peony’s house tomorrow,’ suggested Abina. ‘He’d enjoy the walk.’
    â€˜And I could bring Heavenly Honeybun in her travel box,’ said Tammy.
    They all looked at me. No-one had mentioned meeting at my house on Sundays again, but it looked as if they just assumed it now.
    â€˜That would be lovely,’ I said, ‘but I probably should warn you, my sister’s got a bit of a bug. She’s being sick and everything.’
    I knew they wouldn’t want to risk catching something right before the Young Voices competition. ‘I’m sure she’ll be better by next week,’ I said.
    I already knew what I was going to say next week – Primrose was better but now Dad had caught it. The week after that, it could be Mum. If I kept it up for long enough they might forget all about coming to my house and just let me go to theirs.
    You shouldn’t lie to people, especially your friends, so I didn’t feel very proud of myself. But on the other hand, I couldn’t help looking forward to a normal Sunday on my own, with nothing I had to do all day except breathe in and breathe out.

Chapter 9
Mime-time with Mum and the Emergency Meeting

    The good thing about Sam is he understands; the good thing about Dennis is he doesn’t. You can say whatever you like to him, he won’t get upset.
    â€˜I don’t know why we’re bothering with all this brushing,’ I said, picking up the brush and flopping down on the rug. Dennis hopped over to me. I scooped him onto my lap. ‘We haven’t got a snowflake-in-the-desert’s chance of winning nowthat Heavenly Honeybun and Pookie are in the competition.’
    Dennis had bits of fresh hay in his fur and food on his face from his routine kicking-and-tipping the minute I had finished cleaning out his hutch.
    â€˜Who’s Heavenly Honeybun?’ Dad said. He had just been next door to get his problem page letters and answers from Mr Kaminski, ready for his conference call with the agony aunts. ‘And who is Pookie?’
    I explained, but he wasn’t really listening. He was too busy fiddling with his laptop.
    â€˜Are you doing that in here?’ Mum said, coming in from the yard.
    â€˜Yes, the living room’s covered in the kids’ mess.’
    â€˜Hey!’ I protested. ‘None of that stuff is mine. Blame Primrose.’
    â€˜Do you want us to go somewhere else?’ Mum said. ‘Only I really do need to keep an eye on my sponge.’
    She was making a cake to take up to Nash House. Gran, Jane and Mr Kaminski were going up there that afternoon to strip the wallpaper in the front room and Stella was helping Mum with the garden. They used to work together at the Green Fingers Garden Centre before they set up their own business, Garden Angels.
    â€˜Shh!’ said Dad. ‘They’re here.’
    He said hello to the agony aunts. We couldn’t see them this time because Dad was on the far side of the table and the screen was pointing the other way. Mum shrugged and sat down on the rug beside me.
    Kay asked Dad if his friends were still teasing him and he said yes, they were. Alice tut-tutted. Jeannie hoped he was managing to keep his spirits up. You could almost hear the chin-wobble in her voice.
    â€˜We can’t manage next weekend, but we’ve set a date for taking you out to lunch – it’s going to be the Saturday after