How to Get the Friends You Want Read Online Free

conferencing.’
    â€˜They only love you because they think you’re Daphne,’ Mum pointed out. ‘And they’d only be “the other” agony aunts if you really were an agony aunt yourself.’
    â€˜Here I am!’ cried Dad, finding the picture. He turned his laptop round so we could see it.
    It looked as if being famous might be going to his head.

Chapter 4
Parsnip Pudding and Perfect Happiness
(which are two different things)

    Toby was still off school the next day and Jess had cello at lunchtime. Tammy and Abina were going to netball practice and Sasha asked me if I wanted to go along with her and watch. That’s what they do. Even if they aren’t all taking part, they go along and support each other.
    It would never have crossed my mind to go and listen to Jess learning to play her cello, which just went to show how much I had to learn about having proper friends.
    When I got home from school, Matt and Sam were already there and Primrose was making banana milkshakes. She put an extra banana in the food-mixer for me and sloshed in a bit more milk.
    Whenever Matt was around, Primrose turned into the Best Big Sister in the World to impress him. It was just a shame that, knowing Primrose, it couldn’t last. Sooner or later, she was bound to mess it up.
    I took Sam for a walk down into town. It was a chilly day and he seemed to go even slower than usual. By the time we got to the harbour I was so cold I couldn’t feel my face.
    Walking back up the hill, I gave in and carried him most of the way. I put him down at the bottom of our steps and waited for him to start climbing up. But he looked at me in that steady way dogs look at you when they want something, and he didn’t stop looking until I picked him up again.
    I carried Sam up the steps. The lights were on in the house and the kitchen windows were all steamed up, so Mum must be home from work, cooking tea.
    The upside of Mum having a gardening business was that she got home early every day in the winter. The downside was that she was too good at it – the gardens she looked after produced so much fruit and veg that people had started giving her boxes to bring home.
    We had been working our way all week through a big box of parsnips someone had given her. In case you’re lucky enough not to know, a parsnip looks like a carrot that’s lost its colour and crunch. It’s kind of greyish-cream and mostly turns to mush when you cook it, which wouldn’t matter if it tasted nice.
    Mum had made mushy parsnip chips, mushy parsnip crisps and mushy parsnip pie over the weekend, and we still had plenty of parsnips left for a few more days of pain.
    I put Sam down on the rug in front of the radiator and he sat there looking sorry for himself. Dennis bounced over to give him a good sniff, but Sam ignored him.
    â€˜Poor thing,’ said Mum. ‘He doesn’t like this cold weather.’
    My face was beginning to thaw out.
    â€˜What are you making?’ I asked.
    â€˜Parsnip pudding,’ said Mum. Oh, joy!
    I sat down on the rug next to Sam and scooped Dennis up onto my lap for his daily groomingsession. He used to wriggle when I tried to brush him but then I discovered all you have to do is hold your free hand close to his face, flat and low, and then he’ll push his nose underneath it and keep completely still.
    It says in You and Your Rabbit that if your rabbit leaps around rubbing things with his chin he’s saying ‘This is mine!’, but if he puts his chin on the ground and dips his nose underneath your hand or the arch of your foot that means ‘You’re the boss,’ and he stops leaping around and relaxes.
    I was planning to put Dennis in the Polgotherick Pet Parade and that’s why I was brushing him every day. I had three weeks to get him looking his absolute best. Not that he needed much help – he was naturally adorable!
    For the last three years, Mrs