Read Online Annabel's Starring Role by Holly Webb - Free Book Online Page A

again, Auntie Jan was looking limp and demanding coffee.
    Mum gave them a suspicious look. “What have you been doing? Did Annabel try and buy something really silly?”
    Annabel just clutched the bag with the blue cardigan and a striped silk scarf in, and grinned knowingly at the others. Sometimes, even she found it hard to believe just how clever she was.

Chapter Seven
    The triplets didn’t get much sleep that night. They were sharing the sofabed in the front room and the duvet just wasn’t quite big enough for three. Becky was in the middle, so she was toasty, but every time Annabel and Katie yanked the duvet over to their own sides she got elbowed! They’d finished off the evening by watching a film from the sofabed on Mark’s DVD player – he had a really good film collection. In fact, there were so many things they fancied watching that they ended up tossing a coin and Katie’s choice won – Jaws. Although it was a really old film the triplets had never seen it. Becky had thought that it wouldn’t really be all that scary – it was ancient, and the special effects would be really bad, she reckoned. Actually, she didn’t see very many of them. She watched the first quarter of an hour, and then she had to dive under the duvet and have a running commentary from Katie and Annabel instead.
    They were still asleep the next morning when an enticing smell wafted into the living room, and they were sitting at the kitchen table within minutes. Mum wasn’t up yet, so the triplets told Mark about their shopping success the day before while they wolfed down a fry-up.
    â€œSo, did you get everything you wanted?”
    Annabel quickly swallowed down a bite of bacon sandwich. “Yup, presents for everybody. People at school, and we got something for you and Auntie Jan. Oh, and we got the best present for Mum, she’s going to love it.” She nipped back into the living room and found the bag, carefully unfolding the layers of tissue paper round the blue cardigan.
    â€œNice,” said Mark, stroking it. “Very soft.”
    Annabel looked at him, expecting more. “Is that all you can say?” she asked disgustedly, while Becky and Katie giggled – her face was so funny. Mark looked apologetic and shrugged. Annabel sighed in an “I give up!” sort of way and refolded the cardigan lovingly. “I can’t believe it. A whole day of shopping, and I didn’t buy anything for me!”
    Katie and Becky exchanged smug looks. Annabel didn’t know that while she’d been choosing clothes for Auntie Jan to try on, they’d spotted a jewellery display, with a necklace on it just like one she’d pointed out in one of her magazines. There’d been a bracelet too, but they didn’t have enough money to get it – so Auntie Jan had volunteered to get it as her Christmas present for Annabel.
    When Mum and Auntie Jan finally surfaced, also drawn by the breakfast smell, they were keen to get down to work on the dress, and they commandeered the kitchen table and most of the living-room floor. Annabel was eager to help, as she really wanted to see her dress taking shape, but Becky and Katie began to feel they were rather in the way after they’d been shrieked at for nearly treading on the fabric several times. Becky fetched a book from her bag, and curled minutely into the corner of the sofa, reckoning that if she didn’t extend any part of her body beyond the furniture she had to be safe. Katie wasn’t feeling like sitting still, though. After shopping all day yesterday she felt like doing something active. She could never live in a flat, she decided. Window boxes were useless for playing football in.
    Mark laughed at her the next time she passed his armchair. “You look like a caged tiger. Want to go out? I’m supposed to be playing football with some mates in the park in half an hour – we could go and have a kick