Best Friends
by Jaqueline Wilson
Gemma and Alice have known each other all their lives, but when Gemma reads Alice's diary at a sleepover, she discovers that Alice is keeping a secret from her. The next morning, after Gemma confesses to Alice that she read her diary, Alice decides to tell Gemma her secret. Her family are moving to Scotland.
At Alice's moving away party, Alice suggests they run away. They nearly get away, but their parents catch them after a boy in their class they passed by, Billy McVitie (nicknamed Biscuits), tells his mum, at his baby sister Polly McVitie's christening, that they are running away.Although later when Gemma confronts him he tells her he only told his mother Alice's and Gemma's names.
Gemma is heartbroken when Alice is gone,and to make matters worse, Alice's mum, Karen Barlow(who is particularly snobby) blames Gemma for making Alice run away (as Gemma is known to be the mischievous one), and bans Gemma from speaking to Alice. Gemma is then mean to Biscuits as she is convinced it's his fault that she and Alice got caught. This is hard, as she has been paired up with him for a school project.
While she is stubborn with Biscuits about the project, she is also worried about Flora Hamilton, a girl Alice has become friendly with at her school in Scotland.Gemma is convinced that Flora can only be bad news and is trying to steal Alice off her.
Although Gemma is starting to feel a bit better, and making friends with Biscuits, she is still worried about Alice. Her and Alice's birthday is coming up soon. Every year before Alice left, Gemma and Alice would cut their birthday cake together, and make a wish for them to be best friends for ever. Now that they are banned from speaking to each other and hundreds of miles apart, Gemma knows that it will be impossible for them to make their wish, but worries that as Alice is getting keen on Flora, they might make the wish with together instead.
Gemma's Grandad has to go up to Scotland one day, near where Alice's new house is, so he decides to let Gemma come too, as an early birthday party.
When Gemma gets there, it starts out awkwardly, as Alice's new bedroom is pink and Gemma hates pink, especially the pink dress Melissa (a china doll that Gemma's granny left to her when she died, which Gemma gave to Alice), is wearing. However, by lunch everything is going fine.
When Flora arrives, however, things begin to change. Flora appears to be more mature than Gemma, and turns her nose up at some of Gemma's ideas. She also makes Alice laugh at some of Gemma's antics, which are silly to her. When Alice and Gemma go to cut the cake Gemma wants her and Alice to cut it, so that they can make their special birthday wish to be best friends forever. Karen gives the cake knife to Flora, and Gemma is so angry that she throws the cake in Flora's face. She is then told to get out of the house.
When Gemma gets home, everyone starts to plan her birthday party. They invite the McVities and Biscuits makes a cake for Gemma. They have pizzas in the garden and Gemma's dad even makes her a tree house. Gemma is sad though because Alice didn't even send her a card.
The book ends with Gemma opening a package from Alice containing a card and Alice's charm bracelet, with a new charm right next to Gemma's favourite one, Noah's Ark. The new charm has four words on it: "Best Friends For Ever".
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I loooove this book! >.
It's talking about real friendship.. :)
