Kate is my best friend. She’s a great friend because she always rings me on Saturday night to see if I can come to her house and what I’m going to wear to school on Monday and whether or not she thinks the teachers are mean and she always, always, ALWAYS asks me about my Mum’s books (she’s a writer and her book for kids is coming out soon!).

But there’s another reason why Kate and I are best friends. We have a lot in common. Kate likes: chocolate freckles, riding horses, visits to Taronga Zoo, colouring in pictures of farm animals, playing on her computer, dancing and singing, and acting. I like: dancing, singing, acting, going on the computer, horses, chocolate, visiting the zoo, going to the National Park, drawing, and feeding my pet budgie, Goldie.

Kate and I became best friends in the 3rd grade. Mrs. Graham sat us next to each other in the back row. But at first, we hated each other. Kate would always poke me and then I’d poke her back and then she’d poke me again and then I’d have to get her back and then she’d poke me again.
“Stop poking me!”
“You stop poking me!”
“You stop poking me!”
“No, you stop poking me!”

But then, a few weeks later, we started laughing at each other because we started saying “Stop poking me!” in really funny voices. And we were instant best friends. Our Mums didn’t really approve of it at first, since they had been enemies in the sixth grade. But eventually they lightened up and agreed that just because they had had problems when they were children, didn’t mean that they should keep their daughters from being friends.

Kate and I do nearly everything together. We play dolls together, are on the same netball team. And one time we even broke the same arm and we were in the same hospital wing in beds right next to each other for a whole week. And the funny thing was that we both broke it the same way: playing netball for our team, the Bumblebee Netballers.

Kate and I have other friends, as well, it’s not just us. We are best friends, but our other normal; friends we usually hang out with on the playground at lunchtime breaks at school are Janet, Nancy, Skye, Ricki-Lee and Ataahua. We normally play Tiggy or soccer with the boys, but sometimes, if it’s pretty hot and we’re feeling a bit lazy, we just sit down behind the shed, braid each other’s hair and chat and play with the grass bits. But besides some fighting we do, we are the best of friends- forever!