Acting Friends Read Free Page B

going to want to come to her party.’
    I stood stock still, unable to speak. All eyes were on Shaz. About half the class were here, though not Emmi. Had she told Shaz about my invites? Shaz looked up and saw me.
    ‘What made you think anyone would want to be your friend?’ she snarled.
    I stared into her dark, vicious eyes. Why was she being so mean?
    ‘I didn’t,’ I stammered. ‘It was just. . . my birthday.’
    ‘ Just my birthday .’ Shaz’s thin voice mimicked the shake in my own exactly. I could feel Grace tensing beside me. The other girls around the room were shrinking back, not wanting to get involved, but still watching.
    ‘Register, ladies.’ Mrs Bunton’s voice cut through the taut atmosphere. In seconds the crowd had melted away. Shaz was gone. And I was staring down at the blue invites, feeling worse than I had ever done in my life.
    I left school with Grace and, after we parted at the 21
    Acting Friends CS5.indd 21
    21/12/2011 11:48
    corner at the bottom of the hill, I dumped the invites in the first bin I came to.
    I wasn’t going to have a party. What was the point? Emmi had practically laughed in my face when I invited her. And Shaz had poisoned everyone else against me.
    Mum and Dad were both waiting when I got in.
    Great.
    I didn’t want to answer their questions. Neither of them would understand about Shaz and how awful she’d made me feel, laughing at me in front of everyone.
    ‘How did it go, River?’ Dad smiled his crinkly smile as he gave me a hug. His jumper smelled of earth from the garden centre, and of roll-ups. He tried to hide his smoking from me, but I’d known for years anyway. Parents always think they can keep things like that from you, and they’re useless at it.
    ‘Fine.’ I shrugged.
    Mum tutted. ‘Come on, River,’ she said. ‘I left work early so I could be here when you got back.
    Tell us about your day.’
    I slid into a kitchen chair. ‘They gave us planners with a map,’ I said, drawing my notebook planner out of my bag. ‘But nobody uses these school bags.
    They’re stupid.’

22
    Acting Friends CS5.indd 22
    21/12/2011 11:48
    ‘Well we paid for it, so—‘
    Dad put a restraining hand on Mum’s arm. ‘Did you meet anyone nice . . . anyone who might be a friend?’
    I shrugged again. I thought Grace was becoming a friend – but no one else had really talked to me.
    Apart from Emmi, and I’d totally embarrassed myself in front of her, so . . .
    ‘I got chatting with one girl. She just moved here with her family.’
    There was a silence. Mum sat down opposite me.
    ‘Was it a problem not knowing anyone from Primary?’ she said.
    Yes. ‘It was fine.’
    ‘Did you hand out your party invites?’
    I hesitated. ‘Mum, it’s not like that.’
    ‘Not like what?’
    ‘I don’t think I want a party,’ I said. ‘Maybe it could just be us, going bowling.’
    ‘What?’ Mum now sounded disappointed. ‘But your birthday’s such a great opportunity to break the ice . . . make new friends . . .’
    Dad patted Mum’s arm again. ‘Maybe River
    wants to make friends in her own time.’
    I flashed Dad a grateful glance. Somehow, whereas Mum was always pushing, Dad knew how to hold back . . . how to let me come to him .

23
    Acting Friends CS5.indd 23
    21/12/2011 11:48
    Mum rolled her eyes. She stood up. ‘All right,”
    she said, sounding injured. “You can tell us more when you’re ready.’
    I sighed as the terrible thought occurred that maybe I would never make new friends at Langton Grammar. Maybe I would never fit in.

24
    Acting Friends CS5.indd 24
    21/12/2011 11:48

4
    The next few days passed much as the first had, in a whirl of new things: new teachers, new lessons and new subjects. I was taking Spanish for the first time as well as Chemistry and Biology, and getting my head around all of that was exhausting in itself.
    At least some things got easier. I was starting to get to know the building and the faces of my classmates. I could make my