Best Frenemies Read Online Free PDF Page A

sure there’s stuff I forgot.”
    Alice’s mom and dad shared a look.
    â€œYou’ll see Cassidy plenty,” Mrs. Kinney reassured her, running her hand through Alice’s hair and twirling a red-gold tendril in her fingers. “I know it feels hard right now, but you’ll figure it out and it’ll get better, I promise.”
    â€œI hope so,” Alice grumbled. After bringing her plate to the sink, she shouldered her backpack, which somehow felt heavier than when she took it off.
    â€œOr else what?” her dad teased, and she threw him a foul look as she climbed the navy carpeted stairs to her room.
    â€œDinner at six, okay?” Alice’s mom called up to her.
    Alice could only muster an “uh-huh” in response.
    In Alice’s room, which was done up with peach floral wallpaper and turquoise carpeting, the sunshone cheerily through the white-painted shutters. Just because school had started, summer was still not technically over. What a tease, Alice thought. She dumped the contents of her backpack onto the floor and sighed, picking up her paperback copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and her school planner, already filled with a list of tasks.
    She contemplated turning on the radio to lighten her mood but knew she’d never really be able to concentrate on reading without complete silence, so she settled onto her bed with the white fluffy duvet cover and cracked open her book. Outside, she could hear kids running around, screaming happily in their backyards, and in the distance, the sound of motorboats on the lake. One day down: the whole rest of the school year to go.

CHAPTER 4
TOGETHER AGAIN
    â€œHere’s you on the first day,” Cassidy said, gearing up to do one of her impressions of Alice, which were never accurate but always hilarious. She balled her hands up into tiny fists and rubbed them at her eyes like a baby. “Waah! I’m so scared! I’m Alice Kinney and I’m so smart and so cute and because of this I’m going to have a terrible time at school! Boo hoo!”
    â€œYeah, well here’s you.” Alice grinned, standing up and tucking her denim skirt between her thighs so that it resembled shorts. “I’m Cassidy! Look at my shorts! I’ve got long, skinny legs, woo woo!” She did a few high kicks for emphasis as she ran her hands over her scalp. “How’s my hair? How would you rate it on a scale of fabulous to extra-fabulous?”
    It was Friday night, and Alice had to laugh about how freaked she had been the first day of school. ThatMonday, it took her less than an hour to get all her homework done, and she realized that as long as she was disciplined about getting home in time, she could still go over to Cassidy’s house—and had gone twice already in the last week.
    â€œTo our first week,” Cassidy said, raising a glass of the special infused water Mrs. Kinney liked to experiment with. Sometimes it was delicious. Other times she left some jalapeño peppers in the water for too long, and Alice and her dad had the comical yet painful experience of drinking hot but cold water.
    This batch, though, flavored with fresh plums and cinnamon sticks, was a winner. Alice clinked glasses.
    â€œHold on, I’ve got a great idea,” Alice said, scrambling to her feet and going to her white drafting table, the organization of which was her pride and joy. Alice loved finding the perfectly sized box, jar, bowl, or odd container to hold her desk supplies. She opened up a drawer on a tiny clear plastic chest and pulled out a sheet of metallic gold stickers, the kind teachers put on good projects and papers. Alice liked to decorate cards and letters with them.
    â€œI figured we could look back at the notebook and put stickers next to the best entries,” she said. “That way, if we’re ever sad or bored or something like that,we know which ones to look back on so we can laugh.”
    â€œI