Free How to Get the Friends You Want by Jenny Alexander Page B

just in time for Sasha, Tammy and Abina to hear the ear-splitting scream that suddenly erupted from Primrose’s bedroom.
    Dennis thumped again. Primrose started to wail. I read in Amazing Animals of the World that a lion’s roar can carry up to five miles away, which sounds impressive until you hear what Primrose can do.
    Mum grabbed a tea-towel and disappeared up the stairs to try and stop her from waking up the Australians. The sudden movement spooked Dennis. He burst out of his hutch and shot round the room, making Sasha, Tammy and Abina spill back onto the doorstep.
    Dad said, ‘It was lovely meeting you, girls,’ as he edged past to go to his match. Then he remarkedon what nice shoes they were wearing, looking back at me in a smug way as if to say, ‘See, I can do it if I want to!’
    I jumped up and got to the door just in time to stop Dennis from disappearing down the front steps. I scooped him up and ushered Sasha, Tammy and Abina back inside.
    We heard Mum’s voice upstairs saying something soothing and then Primrose screamed, ‘Go away, Mum! You aren’t helping!’ Mum didn’t go away, but went on trying to talk her down, which only made her wail again.
    â€˜Do you mind if I finish cleaning out Dennis?’ I said to Sasha, Tammy and Abina.
    They sat round the half-cleared kitchen table, watching while I wrestled the old newspaper out of Dennis’s hutch and tried to sweep up the old hay, with him tugging at the brush. I didn’t do that nose-under-hand thing so I knew it would get messy.
    I managed to get the paper and hay into the black bag, and then Dennis abandoned ship and dived in after it, kicking around furiously in it, making bits fly back out.
    â€˜He’s very lively,’ Sasha said, picking up a stray sprout and popping it back in the bowl.
    â€˜He’s sweet,’ said Abina.
    Primrose yelled again and Dennis did one ofhis dashes. Tammy only just lifted her feet up in time.
    I lined Dennis’s hutch with fresh paper, put the hay in the bedroom end and gave him fresh food and water. He arrived back from his dash just as I finished, jumped up into his hutch, grabbed the food bowl in his teeth and tipped it over.
    â€˜All done!’ I said, cheerfully. ‘Would you like to see round the house?’
    As we went up the first flight of stairs we could hear what Primrose and Mum were saying.
    â€˜Happiness has made me fat!’ Primrose wailed.
    â€˜But most of your clothes fit fine,’ Mum said.
    â€˜He wants me to wear the dress I was wearing on The Day!’
    â€˜He won’t care what you wear. What about this yellow one?’
    â€˜Noooooooooooooo!’
    As we went up the second flight to Primrose and my bedrooms we saw clothes strewn over the landing and, looking in at her door, Mum sitting on the bed amongst a heap of clothes, trying to stay calm and reasonable.
    â€˜Primrose darling, he loves you. Even if you have put on a little, teeny, tiny bit of weight...’
    â€˜Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!’
    Mum mouthed, ‘Hello,’ to Sasha, Tammy and Abina – or she might have said it out loud, but wecouldn’t hear her. We went into my bedroom and closed the door.
    â€˜Wow – you really do like dogs!’ Tammy said.
    â€˜And you’ve got so many books about animals,’ goes Sasha.
    We had a look through some of my books and they seemed really interested, especially when I showed them the sections on pot-bellied pigs and fancy rabbits in the one about unusual pets.
    The noise was quite loud in my bedroom and Primrose can keep it up for hours, so I suggested we went back downstairs. When I opened the door we were hit by a wall of sound as Primrose yelled, ‘He’s going to dump me – I know he is! I might as well finish with him now and get it over with!’
    We sat around trying to watch TV for a while, and then Mum came through on her way back down to the kitchen. She said Matt was