weird) the best moments had been when she’d actually forgotten to try. Even though she hadn’t even shown Bob her introduction video, she had a lovely feeling that she and Bob were really getting to know each other.
The feeling was very pleasant and satisfying. Penelope was determined to hang onto it.
Later that evening when she was having dinner (and Harry was disgustingly chewing up his noodles and showing her the mush in his mouth), Penelope kept thinking about her and Bob organising Bob’s bedroom together, and Bob calling her a legend.
While she was brushing her teeth (six brushes for each tooth, front and back, and don’t forget the gums), she remembered the way they had laughed when they couldn’t suck the thick smoothies up their straws.
But when she remembered telling Bob how Sienna had thwacked her over the head, a little air seemed to seep out of her happy memory bubble. Penelope lay straight in her bed, blue teddy lying next to her (because he matched the blue f lowers on her doona cover), and thought about it.
She had never said anything like that, anything critical, about Sienna before. Well, maybe she’d complained a little to her mum and Harry. But definitely not to anyone outside the family. Until now, she had only told the other girls at school how fabulous it was to have a little half-sister. And even though what she’d told Bob was an absolutely true story, part of her felt guilty.
As soon as she started thinking like that, more thoughts jumped in to trample down the happy ones.
There was no doubt that Penelope and Bob had gotten along well. It was starting to seem that they actually had many things in common.
But that was when they were on their own. Without Alison or Eliza or Tilly or Sarah or Joanna or Rita to compete for Bob’s attention.
The truth was, everyone liked Bob.
Bob was popular.
In the end, it didn’t really matter whether Penelope tried her very hardest, or went with the flow. In the end, Bob would choose who she wanted to be best friends with. And with all the options, the best Penelope supposed she could really, honestly, hope for was that Bob would include her as one of her friends.
Penelope got up to check that When We Were Very Young was safe and ready for the morning in her tartan book bag. Then she climbed back into bed, sighing as she tucked the cover under her chin and drew blue teddy in for a hug. He was probably cold all the way over there by himself.
‘Oh well,’ she whispered comfortingly in his ear, ‘at least I’ve got you.’
It was quite silly to talk to a teddy, and Penelope was definitely going to stop doing it very soon. But blue teddy had been with Penelope for a very long time. He was a very reliable teddy. In fact, blue teddy made her think of Oscar, who was always there and always reliable. Penelope found talking to blue teddy and thinking about Oscar strangely comforting. In fact, it relaxed Penelope into a very nice sleep.
At school the next morning Penelope carefully took When We Were Very Young out of her book bag and laid it on the table in front of her. Sarah had brought in her favourite Go Girl book, Dancing Queen , and Joanna had a very lovely illustrated copy of Alice in Wonderland.
‘Let’s go around the class, starting from the back,’ Ms Pike said. ‘Felix, can you begin by showing us your book and telling us a few things about it?’
It was lovely to see and hear about everyone’s favourite books. There were several Penelope had never even heard of. She smiled as Oscar talked animatedly about Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It wasn’t her sort of book, but it did sound like it would be fun to read. When Rita’s turn came, she held up a book with Harry the popstar’s face on the cover. Rita talked about the awesome things she had learnt about Harry from reading the book. Penelope didn’t think it was all that amazing that Harry enjoyed eating Oreos (most people enjoyed eating Oreos), but she listened politely.
Then came
The feeling was very pleasant and satisfying. Penelope was determined to hang onto it.
Later that evening when she was having dinner (and Harry was disgustingly chewing up his noodles and showing her the mush in his mouth), Penelope kept thinking about her and Bob organising Bob’s bedroom together, and Bob calling her a legend.
While she was brushing her teeth (six brushes for each tooth, front and back, and don’t forget the gums), she remembered the way they had laughed when they couldn’t suck the thick smoothies up their straws.
But when she remembered telling Bob how Sienna had thwacked her over the head, a little air seemed to seep out of her happy memory bubble. Penelope lay straight in her bed, blue teddy lying next to her (because he matched the blue f lowers on her doona cover), and thought about it.
She had never said anything like that, anything critical, about Sienna before. Well, maybe she’d complained a little to her mum and Harry. But definitely not to anyone outside the family. Until now, she had only told the other girls at school how fabulous it was to have a little half-sister. And even though what she’d told Bob was an absolutely true story, part of her felt guilty.
As soon as she started thinking like that, more thoughts jumped in to trample down the happy ones.
There was no doubt that Penelope and Bob had gotten along well. It was starting to seem that they actually had many things in common.
But that was when they were on their own. Without Alison or Eliza or Tilly or Sarah or Joanna or Rita to compete for Bob’s attention.
The truth was, everyone liked Bob.
Bob was popular.
In the end, it didn’t really matter whether Penelope tried her very hardest, or went with the flow. In the end, Bob would choose who she wanted to be best friends with. And with all the options, the best Penelope supposed she could really, honestly, hope for was that Bob would include her as one of her friends.
Penelope got up to check that When We Were Very Young was safe and ready for the morning in her tartan book bag. Then she climbed back into bed, sighing as she tucked the cover under her chin and drew blue teddy in for a hug. He was probably cold all the way over there by himself.
‘Oh well,’ she whispered comfortingly in his ear, ‘at least I’ve got you.’
It was quite silly to talk to a teddy, and Penelope was definitely going to stop doing it very soon. But blue teddy had been with Penelope for a very long time. He was a very reliable teddy. In fact, blue teddy made her think of Oscar, who was always there and always reliable. Penelope found talking to blue teddy and thinking about Oscar strangely comforting. In fact, it relaxed Penelope into a very nice sleep.
At school the next morning Penelope carefully took When We Were Very Young out of her book bag and laid it on the table in front of her. Sarah had brought in her favourite Go Girl book, Dancing Queen , and Joanna had a very lovely illustrated copy of Alice in Wonderland.
‘Let’s go around the class, starting from the back,’ Ms Pike said. ‘Felix, can you begin by showing us your book and telling us a few things about it?’
It was lovely to see and hear about everyone’s favourite books. There were several Penelope had never even heard of. She smiled as Oscar talked animatedly about Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It wasn’t her sort of book, but it did sound like it would be fun to read. When Rita’s turn came, she held up a book with Harry the popstar’s face on the cover. Rita talked about the awesome things she had learnt about Harry from reading the book. Penelope didn’t think it was all that amazing that Harry enjoyed eating Oreos (most people enjoyed eating Oreos), but she listened politely.
Then came
Similar Books
