Project Best Friend (9 page)

‘Well, well, well,’ Bob’s dad said, standing in the doorway and looking around Bob’s bedroom. ‘You girls have done an amazing job in here.’

Penelope quickly got out of her handstand and stood up.

Bob stayed put.

‘I think banana smoothies are in order,’ Bob’s dad continued. ‘In fact, I’ve already made them. They’re in the kitchen.’

Now Bob was very quick to get out of her handstand.

‘Thanks, Dad!’ she said as she zoomed across the room.

As they crossed paths, Bob’s dad leaned down and kissed Bob on the top of the head.

Of course, Penelope’s dad kissed her hello and goodbye when she visited. Sometimes he even kissed her goodnight when she slept over. It seemed to Penelope, though, that
this
kiss was for absolutely no reason. Bob and her dad didn’t even seem to notice it had happened. They acted as if those sorts of random kisses were totally normal.

Bob and her dad both walked out of the bedroom. But the tickly scratchy thing in Penelope’s heart made her freeze for a second.

Suddenly, Penelope imagined her own dad delivering a random kiss like that …

Bob peeked around the doorway. ‘Are you coming or what?’

The banana smoothie was so thick that the girls had to work hard to get it up the straws. Bob crossed her eyes as she sucked. She looked so funny that Penelope completely forgot about her dad and Sienna and random kisses. She giggled so much that her smoothie (which she’d managed to get three-quarters of the way up her straw) was slowly going backwards.

‘I give up!’ Bob said.

She took the straw out of her drink and went to get some spoons. Penelope followed. On the way back, she noticed a framed photo sitting on the bench.

‘Who’s that?’ Penelope asked, instantly thinking of Sienna again. Bob picked up the photo.

‘That’s my little cousin, Lincoln,’ she said, taking the photo back to the barstool with her. Both girls took a spoonful of smoothie (which Penelope now discovered was very delicious, even though it was more like food than a drink).

‘He’s very cute,’ Penelope said.

This was true. Lincoln, who looked to Penelope to be about three years old, had soft blond curls and big blue eyes. He looked like one of the cherubs Penelope had seen on countless cards and paintings.

‘He might
look
cute, but he’s a rat,’ Bob said.

Penelope could not help grinning. She probably shouldn’t encourage Bob to talk like that, but she could not stop smiling. As soon as Bob mentioned a rat, Penelope found herself mentally adding whiskers to the photo of Lincoln.

‘I’ll give you the perfect example,’ Bob continued. ‘My auntie put him on my lap. I didn’t mind that, even though he had a huge gob of snot hanging out of his nose. Then he started leaning right into my face. My auntie was going on about how cute it was that he wanted to kiss me, so I thought I’d just get it over and done with, snot and all. Then the little rat BIT me, fair on the nose!’ Bob pinched her nose to indicate where the little rat had bitten her.

Something about the way Bob told the story struck Penelope as hilarious. It was almost as though Bob had her very own special language. With a f lash, Penelope realised that she completely understood why Bob didn’t want to be called Brittany. The name (as much as Penelope loved it) didn’t suit her one bit.

Penelope couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so hard. And she didn’t think there had EVER been a time someone else had been laughing along with her.

When their laughter had finally been reduced to giggles, Penelope got out her phone.

‘Oh my god, you’ve got an iPhone!’ Bob squealed. Then she cupped a hand to her mouth and yelled loudly up the stairs. ‘Dad! Penelope has an iPhone!’

It was a moment before her dad’s voice boomed back. ‘Tell her congratulations.’

Bob rolled her eyes. ‘I’ll
never
get a phone,’ she said. ‘But give me your number anyway.’

It was very exciting watching Bob write her name and phone number on a magnetic board on the fridge. It was almost like a promise that Bob really planned to stay in close contact with Penelope! Penelope was also thrilled to note that Bob had very neat handwriting, just like hers.

In fact, there were quite a few things (though maybe not the things she’d originally hoped for) that she and Bob had in common.

After Penelope added Bob’s number to her phone, she scrolled through the photos until she came to one of Sienna.

‘This is my half-sister,’ she said, showing Bob the photo.

‘She’s also very cute,’ Bob said. ‘She looks very sweet, too. I bet she wouldn’t pretend to kiss you and then bite your nose.’

‘She
is
very cute,’ Penelope agreed.

The photo showed Sienna, all big brown eyes and chubby cheeks, wearing her tiara (the best piece of jewellery Penelope had ever made), along with a fairy costume, and holding a wand. Penelope had taken the photo during the last school holidays, when she and Harry had stayed with her dad for a few days.

‘But sometimes she’s not very sweet,’ Penelope continued. ‘You know what she did with that wand?’

Bob shook her head.

‘She told me to close my eyes while she said a fairy spell. Then she thwacked me right over the head with it.’

Making Bob totally crack up was one of the best moments in Penelope’s Entire Life.

On the way home from Bob’s, Penelope felt extremely excited. It was a bit like the feeling she got when she’d just finished a test and was absolutely sure she’d done well. But today’s type of excited was a bit different. For one thing, Penelope tried her very hardest in tests. At Bob’s house (and this was very 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.