Author(s): Catherine Wilkins

Fiction - middle

Jessica and Natalie are best friends again, but things have changed a bit. Jessica's got new friends now and the comic that they've put together has just launched in school to great acclaim. Jess is really enjoying her new-found fame and starts to neglect the wildlife project she's doing with Natalie. But Scarlett, a new cartoonist on the block, is after her comic crown. It's felt-tip pens at dawn! Why are you pulling that face?' Amelia asks me. 'Are you bored with planning my sleepover?' This is how Natalie leaps to my defence: 'Oh, Jess just has a slightly weird face.' Still, at least she is defending me - that's huge progress on last term. 'Hey Jessica?' Hannah, a girl in our class, interrupts our exciting sleepover admin. 'Please can you draw a rabbit on my rough book for me?' 'Oh, yes, sure,' I reply happily. Then I turn to Natalie and Amelia, joke-haughtily. 'Excuse me a moment, ladies; I have to be a cartoonist. We can get back to discussing my weird face afterwards if you like.'