How to Get the Friends You Want by Jenny Alexander Page A

introduction before but it was really good. He was confident and funny, and he made us look forward to hearing Jess’s talk.
    Jess was a bit shy to start with, but she soon warmed up.
    After she had given us her five facts about the Young Voices competition, she told us about how she first began to love fives at playgroup. I remembered it! She used to build with five bricksand paint with five colours, everything five.
    Jess explained that the picture on the big screen behind us that she had chosen to illustrate her talk was of the five trees in her garden, which were the reason why her house was called Five Trees. She showed us her notebook and read some of her lists.
    Toby over-ran a bit on the question-and-answer session because he wanted to take five questions.
    Then it was my turn. My legs suddenly turned to jelly. I wasn’t worried about the audience; I was worried about Toby and Jess. They had no idea what I was going to say, and I had no idea what they would think of it.
    I took a deep breath. ‘Thank you, Jess for a really wonderful talk...’
    I went on to say that her talk was just like her. It was clever, and she was clever, because every time she was curious about something she went and found out about it.
    It was educational, and so was being around Jess. Not many of us would have known five facts about walruses before her talk, or five facts about yogurt or Jupiter or oak trees.
    I said Jess’s talk was surprising, and so was she. ‘I bet you weren’t expecting to hear a talk like that tonight,’ I said. ‘You never know whatto expect with Jess, and that means she’s never boring or dull.’
    I said Jess’s talk was different, and Jess herself was different. I had never met anyone like her. ‘Some people don’t like that,’ I said. ‘But that’s why I’m so happy she’s my friend.’
    We got a huge round of applause, the best so far, and it wasn’t just because our parents were the noisiest, although Dad did forget for a moment that he wasn’t at a football match and let out an ear-piercing whistle.
    â€˜You were really good!’ Sasha, Tammy and Olivia said when we went back to our seats.
    After all the talks were finished, the judges went off to discuss their decision. There was tea and coffee in the entrance hall for the audience and the teams went into a side-room for squash and biscuits.
    I didn’t know if Jess and Toby would want me to stand with them, but they came straight over to me.
    â€˜That was a lovely vote of thanks,’ Jess said. ‘I wanted to say, the fifth fact about friends? They forgive each other.’
    I nearly fell down with relief.
    â€˜I didn’t know if you would ever forgive me for letting you down like that.’
    â€˜Not you,’ Jess said. ‘Me. Can you forgive me?
    You explained why you did it and you were right – it would have been easier for us to find a new vote of thanks than for Sasha to find a new Chair.’
    I gawped at her.
    â€˜But I really over-reacted,’ she said. ‘I got into a state and then I just couldn’t seem to stop it. It wasn’t really anything to do with you, though. It was... stuff at home.’
    So that was why her mum was at the front of the hall and her dad on his own at the back.
    â€˜I wish you had told me,’ I said, but I straight away knew she couldn’t have done. Mums and dads can be confusing and Jess hates saying anything until she’s sure of the facts.
    The bell went for us to go back in. This time, the judges were up on the stage. They went through all the talks, saying what they liked about each one. ‘But there can only be one winner and one runner-up going through to the Southwest regional final next month...’
    â€˜And the winner tonight is Sasha Jones and her team, talking about the World of Fashion!’
    No surprises there, then. Sasha, Tammy and Olivia went up to get their