Acting Friends by Sophie McKenzie Page B

said.
    We walked on and were soon at Madame van
    Persiana’s hut. I peered inside. The hut was empty, but Emmi’s cardigan was on the chair where I’d left it. I darted inside and picked it up.
    ‘Did you see the fortune teller?’ Shaz asked as I walked out.
    ‘Yeah, she was bonkers,’ I said.
    ‘What did she tell you?’
    ‘Stuff about me meeting some guy . . . how it would all be passionate and we’d be the loves of each other’s lives . . . just fortune-telling rubbish.’
    Shaz grinned. ‘You never know,’ she said. ‘When did she say you’d meet this guy?’
    I frowned, trying to remember. Madame van Persiana had said it would be some time in the future, hadn’t she? Though that didn’t fit with his name starting with ‘F’ and being into acting – which was clearly Frankie. Though she’d been totally wrong about Frankie too.
    ‘It was stupid,’ I said. ‘Total rubbish.’
    ‘Don’t be so sure,’ Shaz said. ‘She told me I was going to make a new friend tonight.’

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    I grinned. ‘Well, I guess there’s still time for that,’
    I said.
    Shaz laughed. We walked back to Emmi and
    Grace.
    ‘When we get back I’m going to order in pizza,’
    Emmi announced as we left the party. ‘Then we’re going through my clothes to see what suits you and what doesn’t, River.’
    ‘Oooh, that’ll be fun,’ Grace enthused.
    ‘Why me?’ I grumbled.
    ‘Because right now you think all sorts of stuff suits you that just makes you look like you’re wearing a tent,’ Emmi said with a wink.
    ‘Whoa, save some stuff for me,’ Shaz said. ‘You have awesome clothes, Emmi.’
    ‘Yeah, we could do swaps,’ Grace said.
    We stood outside on the pavement. As Emmi waved to her dad, I smiled down at the picture of the four of us on my phone. Was it only last week that I’d wondered if I’d ever fit in at Langton Girls Grammar?
    I might not have found the love of my life yet, but I did have something important. Three ‘somethings’, in fact.
    My new friends.

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    If you enjoyed
    Acting Friends ,
    find out what happens to River
    and her friends when they’re
    a few years older in
    Falling Fast ,
    out now!
    Will River ever fall in love
    with the mysterious F?
    Read on for the first chapter . . .
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1
    I stared out of the minibus window. It was raining and the pavements were a glistening grey. The houses and sky above were a softer, paler grey.
    Grey. Dull. Boring. Like me. Like my life.
    Maybe today would change everything.
    Maybe.
    Emmi peered past me. ‘I think we’re nearly there,’
    she said. ‘So, River . . . you decided yet if you’re gonna try for it?’
    I swallowed. ‘It’ meant Juliet in Romeo and Juliet .
    We were on our way to auditions at St Cletus’s – a local boys’ secondary school that had invited year 10s and 11s from our girls’ school to try out for the female parts in the play.
    Juliet was the main girl’s part, of course. But that wasn’t why I wanted it.
    I looked out of the window again. The rain was Acting Friends CS5.indd 79
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    falling harder now. I could hear it drumming on the minibus roof even over the excitable chatter inside.
    There were about fifteen of us, mostly girls doing drama GCSE with Ms Yates or in her after-school drama group. For everyone else, I was sure, the auditions were just a laugh.
    But not to me. I wanted to be Juliet in the play, because I wanted to be Juliet in real life.
    I wanted to be in love. To be loved.
    I was just sixteen and I’d never met a boy I really liked. I mean, I’d met a few I quite fancied and more than a few who were fun to chat to. But I’d never felt what you could possibly describe as love. I spent a lot of time imagining it, though.
    Imagining what he would look like. Tall