Best Friends For Never

by Laura Pearson

  “She doesn’t eat cheeseburgers!” repeated Zoe.

  Rafe must have felt left out. “Seven,” he said. “Onetwothreefourfivesixseven.”

  “That’s right,” Zoe told him. “No cheeseburgers!” She could always count on Rafe to agree with her.

  “How do you know she doesn’t eat cheeseburgers?” asked Zoe’s dad. “Did she tell you?”

  “She’s a veterinarian, errr, vegetable-arian,” said Zoe. “Because of her religion. Isn’t that terrible? No cheeseburgers!”

  “You mean she’s a vegetarian,” said her mum. “Zoe, Grandma and Grandpa Ahlberg don’t eat cheeseburgers either, because of their religion. You know that. It’s not that terrible.”

  That was true. Like Zoe, Grandma and Grandpa Ahlberg were Jewish. They kept something called kosher, which Zoe knew meant that they didn’t eat meat and cheese together. They also had lots of cutlery at their house to use for different kinds of food.

  “Where has Rani moved from?” Zoe’s dad asked.

  “I don’t remember,” said Zoe. “Somewhere that starts with L, but isn’t London.” Zoe had been so cross after lunch that she hadn’t really listened to Rani going on about where she came from.

  “Onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine?” guessed Rafe, and he laughed alongside everyone else.

  “You need to be kind to Rani,” Zoe’s mum said, finally. “Can you imagine how hard it would be to move schools and to leave all of your friends behind? Especially as the term has already started.”

  Zoe hadn’t actually thought about that. She couldn’t imagine leaving Ava. She wondered whom Rani had left behind in that other L place. Some poor girl who was now way more than a few rows away from her Best Friend Forever.

  Zoe decided then and there that she would forgive Rani for spoiling the seating plan in Year Three. She would forgive her for wasting two break times and for ruining what should have been a fun magnetic play date. Tomorrow, Zoe would tell Rani all about Grandma and Grandpa Ahlberg, and how they didn’t eat cheeseburgers either. Maybe she would also tell her about that fox she had seen on the way to school: the one going to the bus stop. She would be extra, extra kind to the new girl.

  But it didn’t quite turn out that way.

  Zoe couldn’t have been happier to see Ava strolling up the path ahead of her as they went into school that morning. She’d already talked to her mum about having Ava round to work on the magnet project. Zoe’s mum was going to ring Ava’s mum and it was all going to be sorted out. That would make up for yesterday and everything would be back to normal. And Zoe would be extra, extra, extra nice to Rani and maybe even invite her round some time. (But not today, Zoe had decided. Today would just be Ava and Zoe.)

  “How was the play date with Rani?” Zoe asked Ava as they pushed open the heavy school door. “Is she nice? What did you do?”

  “She’s great!” said Ava. “We played Monopoly at mine and then we went across the road to Rani’s house and made—”

  But Zoe wasn’t listening. Ava reached out to stroke Baron Biscuit and Zoe noticed something on her wrist. It was a bracelet made out of brightly coloured threads, with beads woven through it. Zoe had never seen it before.

  “What’s that?” Zoe interrupted Ava. “Is it new?”

  “It’s a friendship bracelet,” Ava told her excitedly. “Rani and I made them; her mum showed us how. You make the same one as someone else, and that’s how you know you are friends. Kind of like our Best Friend necklaces, but you can make it at home.”

  “So Rani has one too?” asked Zoe carefully. Her tummy felt a little bit funny.

  “Yes, we made them pink and purple and turquoise,” said Ava. “And then we put some beads on with the letters of our names, As and Rs and—”

  Zoe had stopped on the stairs. The hustle and bustle of the busy hallway seemed far away. All she could think about was that bracelet.

  “But you hardly know Rani!” Zoe said. It came out sounding meaner than she meant it to, but how could you be proper friends after ONE play date?

  “I do now,” said Ava, moving up the stairs. “And I said we could be her friends. Did you know that Rani is allowed to try on her mum’s make-up? And she has a canopy on her bed, just like a princess, and also loads of trophies in her room. She was the fastest runner at her old school—”

  They’d reached the Year Three classroom and suddenly there was Lottie, wanting to know all about Rani coming to Ava’s house, and then all about Ava going across the road to Rani’s house. What did Rani like to play, and what was Ava’s new bracelet, and how did you make it, and what were Rani’s loads of brothers like, and what colour was her new room?

  Rani, Rani, Rani. Zoe was sick of Rani. All thoughts of Grandma and Grandpa Ahlberg and the fox and Rani’s long-lost best friend in the other L city flew out of Zoe’s mind. Zoe didn’t feel sorry for poor old Rani any more. Rani was a best-friend stealer.

  As they were waiting for the register, Zoe could see Rani’s friendship bracelet. It wasn’t a proper bracelet, like one from a shop, and it certainly didn’t have a magic spell on it. At least, Zoe hoped it didn’t.

  Zoe wanted to tell Rani that her bracelet didn’t mean best friends, only regular friends. But it was pink and purple and turquoise with As and Rs all over it and it looked just like Ava’s, which Zoe did not like. Not one tiny little bit.

  Zoe stared at Rani’s bracelet whilst Miss Moody called out their names. She stared at Rani’s bracelet instead of copying out their new spelling list. She stared at it when they were meant to be practising their six times tables, and when they took turns reading aloud.

  Zoe did not, however, stare at Rani’s bracelet when the time came to queue up to go outside for morning break. Miss Moody had barely finished saying “Girls, line up, please” when Zoe tore her eyes from Rani’s arm, leapt from her seat, bounded over Lottie, who was bent over tying her shoe, and landed next to Ava’s desk. The best friends joined the queue together, and Rani the friend-stealer was left behind.

  “It’s called Go, Go, Grannies: Gotcha!” said Ava. “Right, Rani?”

  Ava was standing with Zoe, Lottie, Isabel and Rani on the playground. She was describing a game that Rani had told her about.

  “But we don’t have grannies in Mummies and Babies,” Lottie told Rani.

  “We could,” suggested Isabel. “We could have a trip to a granny’s house, that would be good.”

  “You aren’t LISTENING,” Ava said impatiently. “It isn’t grannies in Mummies and Babies. Go, Go, Grannies: Gotcha is its OWN game. Rani used to play it at her old school.”

  “You mean, you don’t want to play Mummies and Babies?” Lottie asked Ava. “But that’s what we always do!”

  “We could try something different,” said Isabel. “I’m getting a tiny bit tired of Mummies and Babies.”

  Zoe couldn’t believe it. They hadn’t played yesterday, and now Ava and Rani, and even Isabel, were ruining Mummies and Babies today too!

  “Go, Go, Grannies: Gotcha is sort of like the game It,” Ava explained, “except you have to move really, really slowly, like an old granny. Whoever is ‘it’ says, ‘Go, go, grannies,’ and everyone has to run away but you have to go in slow motion, right, Rani?” Rani nodded.

  “It is very funny,” Rani said, “because everyone is reeaaallllyyyy slow but trying to rush too, so you don’t get caught! We played it every day at my old school.” Rani didn’t sound shy and sad any more, Zoe noticed. She sounded like a bossy pants.

  “Go, Go, Granny Whatsit is just It,” said Zoe, “And playing It is boring. Playing It slowly is even more boring than boring.”

  “Stop being rude!” Ava told Zoe. “Go, Go, Grannies: Gotcha is not more boring than boring, it’s more fun than fun! Isn’t it, Rani?”

  Zoe knew that Ava could not possibly have known how fun Go, Go, Grannies: Gotcha was because Ava had never played it. Ava had never even heard of Go, Go, Grannies: Gotcha until silly old Rani had to move from her silly old school and ruin t
heir break times.

  Someone had to be in charge. “We are going to play Mummies and Babies like we always do!” said Zoe. “Rani, if you want to play, you can be the granny.”

  Lottie nodded in agreement. But Ava wouldn’t listen.

  “You are not the boss of Rani,” said Ava. “Or me either. We want to play Go, Go, Grannies: Gotcha! If you just try it, you will like it! Me and Rani love it!” Ava’s voice sounded shoutier with every word. “Besides,” she said, “Mummies and Babies is for babies.”

  There was a gasp all round. Zoe stood there facing Rani and Ava. She looked at them in their matching bracelets, going on and on about grannies as slow as turtles.

  Zoe glared at Rani. Rani was definitely, one hundred per cent trying to steal her best friend. But even worse was that Ava was letting herself be stolen!

  “Then you and Rani play stupid Go, Go, Grannies on your own,” said Zoe to Ava at last. “Because you are not my best friend any more!”

  Everything went very quiet. Isabel’s jaw fell open. Lottie dropped her notebook. Rani looked surprised, and then as if she was about to cry. All around Zoe and Ava, the Crabtree girls paused to hear what would happen next. It is not every day at Crabtree School that the bestest of best friends suddenly aren’t. The air felt heavy with some sort of dark magic, and Zoe thought of the friendship spell, which definitely wasn’t working properly.

  “We’re not best friends because I won’t do what you say?” said Ava. “That’s not fair! We’re best friends FOREVER.”

  “No,” cried Zoe. “We are best friends for NEVER!” She hadn’t meant to scream, but that’s how it came out.

  Then the bell went.

  That strange feeling in the air lasted for the rest of the day. Suddenly Zoe was VERY important. Everyone in Year Three was watching her and Ava, and not because they had won a race on Sports Day.

  ARE YOU FRIENDS WITH AVA ANY MORE? read a note passed to Zoe during their French lesson. Zoe recognized Lottie’s handwriting.

  Zoe ticked the box for NOT FRIENDS.

  That afternoon in the library, Zoe sat as far away from Ava and Rani as she possibly could, with Isabel and Lottie sitting on either side of her. Lottie’s purple notebook was open on the table. She was trying to hide it underneath her reading book, but Zoe could see that Lottie had been hard at work on her CHART OF FRIENDSHIP.

  “Are you and Ava really not going to be best friends ever again?” Isabel wanted to know.

  “Yes, really,” said Zoe. “Ava is bossy and mean and Go, Go, Granny Whatsit is the dumbest game I’ve ever heard of.”

  “Lottie and I argue sometimes,” said Isabel. “Remember, Lottie, when I wanted to see the extra secret special bit of your notebook, and you said no, and I said—”

  “Yes, I remember!” Lottie interrupted. “But some things are PRIVATE.”

  “Shush! Quiet, girls!” said Mrs Shush, peering at them over the top of her own book.

  Zoe didn’t even know that Lottie had an extra secret special bit of her notebook, but she hardly cared just then. “This is different,” Zoe whispered to Isabel. “This is forever.”

  Then Zoe looked up and noticed that Ava and Rani were watching them. What were they whispering? Something mean about Zoe, probably. Zoe stuck her tongue out at Ava.

  Ava’s eyes went wide. Then they went very narrow and she looked … mean. Zoe had never seen Ava look like that before, not even when they had argued over who got the lolly with more sprinkles or who got to wear which dress-up dress. Mean-looking Ava whispered to Rani some more. Rani whispered back. After a minute, Ava put her hand up. Mrs Shush went over to her and they had a chat. Then the librarian made her way towards Zoe.

  Zoe couldn’t believe it. Her best friend forever and ever and happily ever after and as long as we both shall live had told on her.

  Ava was a tattle-tale, a snitch and a meanie. And it was all Rani’s fault. Or at least it started off as Rani’s fault, but now it was Ava’s too. Zoe had no idea that her ex-best friend could be so horrible.

  When Mrs Shush turned her back, Zoe stuck her tongue out again. In fact she did it twice; once at Ava, and once at Rani.

  The second magnetic play date was over before it began.

  “I wouldn’t play with you,” Zoe told Ava, “if you were the last girl in the world. You’re a tattle-tale!”

  They were stood round the Crabtree School gates waiting for their mums or dads to come and collect them. The Year Three class had made a circle around Zoe and Ava. Rani was next to Ava, with Lady Lovelypaws at her feet. Why did even the school cat have to like Rani so much, Zoe wondered.

  At first Zoe tried to just ignore Ava and Rani, like she had all afternoon after the library incident. But then Zoe decided Ava should probably know what a horrible person she was.

  “I didn’t tell on you,” said Ava. “I just told Mrs Shush that you were hurting Rani’s and my feelings.” Ava put her arm around Rani, just to show what good friends they were.

  “THAT IS THE EXACT SAME THING AS TELLING ON ME!!!!” said Zoe, who found that she was screaming again. It made her angry that Ava’s and Rani’s feelings were now the same feelings. How did that happen?

  “Girls, what is going on?” asked Miss Moody. At first there was silence. Neither Zoe nor Ava knew quite what to say. They just looked down at their shoes.

  “Zoe and Ava aren’t friends any more,” Lottie told Miss Moody helpfully. She opened her notebook. “Zoe says Ava is a tattle-tale and a meanie. Ava says Zoe is bossy and also a baby. Ava says Zoe is only her regular friend, and Zoe says Ava is not her friend.”

  Somewhere halfway through Lottie’s report, Zoe began to cry. So did Ava.

  Through her tears, Zoe could see Lottie’s friendship chart. Ava and Rani were next to each other on the page. Zoe’s name had been crossed out and rewritten; now it floated out in white space on the paper, alone. Without a best friend. Without a magnet partner.

  Somehow that last bit made Zoe maddest of all. Miss Moody tried to calm them all down, but there was no going back.

  “You can’t be best friends with a BABY,” Zoe shrieked at Ava. “So I don’t need this any more!” She pulled off her half-heart necklace and held it high over her head.

  “YOU don’t want to be best friends with a TATTLE-TALE,” shouted Ava. She tore her own necklace from her neck. “Anyway, YOU broke the spell when you said that you wouldn’t be friends with me!”

  “No, YOU broke the spell when you made best friends with Rani,” screamed Zoe.

  Everyone stood perfectly still and silent, watching and waiting. Even Miss Moody couldn’t think of anything to say.

  “I HATE YOU!” shouted Ava to Zoe and Zoe to Ava. At exactly the same time, they both tossed their necklaces high into the air. Together the half-hearts soared over the top of Crabtree School and disappeared.

  There was a crack of lightning and a boom of thunder, and it began to pour with rain.

  Even the sky was crying.

  The next morning, Zoe spent a lot of time waiting next to Baron Biscuit. She pretended to tie her shoes, even though they were Velcro and didn’t have laces. She polished the Baron’s paws with a tissue from her pocket. She checked in her bag for her spelling homework three times.

  Zoe wasn’t waiting for Ava, exactly, but she happened to be standing there when Ava came in. Zoe also happened to have her hand up on Baron Biscuit’s back at precisely the right time to show Ava her new bracelet.

  “What’s that?” asked Ava, who for a minute seemed to forget they were in a fight. She sounded just like the old Ava. “That’s an amazing bracelet.”

  It was. Yesterday during the big rainstorm, Zoe and her family had got a lift home from school with Isabel’s mum. Then Isabel and her mum had popped in for a cup of tea and to play, and it was then Isabel and Zoe had decided to make the best friendship bracelets the world had ever seen.

  Isabel was brilliant at crafts, and these Extra Special Friendship Bracelets were even better than Isabel’s co
nker people and her sparkly Christmas snowflakes combined. Standing there in the shadow of Lady Constance Hawthorne’s statue, Zoe watched Ava gazing at her wrist in admiration.

  The main bit of Zoe’s Extra Special Friendship Bracelet – and Isabel’s too, for they were exactly the same – was a fat ribbon that had been dipped in glue and coated with purple glitter. Winding round that ribbon in a brightly coloured chain were small pink and green elastic bands. Then, with careful use of more glue and safety pins, Isabel had attached all sorts of buttons and charms, pearls and diamonds and even a few sweeties to each of their bracelets. Zoe’s wrist looked glorious resting there on Baron Biscuit’s back.

  “Isabel and I made them,” said Zoe. “It’s an Extra Special Friendship Bracelet.”

  Ava made that mean face again. “You’re just copying me and Rani,” she said. “Now move your hand so I can stroke Baron Biscuit.”

  Zoe left her hand exactly where it was. “It’s not copying if ours are better!” she said. “You are such a meanie.”

  “You’re the one being mean,” hissed Ava. “Now, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY.”

  Ava reached out to stroke Baron Biscuit. Accidentally, but really probably on purpose, Ava’s hand pushed Zoe’s hand out of the way. So now Zoe’s best friend for never was pushing her. Ava was a meanie and a bully! Even though they were much too grown-up for this, Zoe pushed back a little bit. After a few more shoves from either side, Baron Biscuit began to wobble.

  No one noticed. Zoe was busy glaring at Ava and Ava was busy glaring at Zoe, so the first either of them knew about Baron Biscuit’s dangerous situation was the great clunk! as he crashed to the floor.

  There was a moment of silence and then panic filled the halls. Baron Biscuit was not at his post to guard Crabtree School! They would all have bad luck forever! Zoe was about to tell Ava about how this was all her fault, but then Mrs Peabody rushed in and scooped the Baron up in her arms. Baron Biscuit’s left hind leg had broken off, and one of his ears had crumbled away. A crowd gathered and after a bit, Nurse Forehead appeared with some plasters and a lolly.