Soon, Jack’s dad knocks on the door. ‘Jack?’ he calls softly. ‘Come on. Your cousins have arrived!’

‘Tell them I’m not here,’ Jack says from under the blanket.

Jack’s dad comes into the room. He sits down on the end of the bed.

‘They’re here to see you, Jack,’ he says.

Jack sighs. Then he kicks off the blanket and follows his dad downstairs.

In the kitchen, Jack’s uncle and aunt are talking with his mum. Suddenly they hear a scream.

Everyone looks outside. David is chasing Stella and Ivy with a stick.

‘David!’ calls Jack’s Uncle Bob.

‘That’s enough!’ Aunty Bee calls.

But Jack’s cousins don’t listen. They run around the garden like little monsters.

Jack sighs. Why does he have to play with his annoying cousins? They are the worst cousins in the world!

He walks outside and sits down on the back step. He wishes Billie was here to help him.

A best friend always makes things better.

‘Hey Jack!’ David calls. ‘Do you want to play soccer?’

‘No,’ says Jack grumpily. ‘Last time you kicked my soccer ball over the fence!’

‘How about we make a potion then?’ says Ivy. ‘Remember we made one last time?’

‘We got in trouble because you picked all Mum’s flowers,’ Jack says, frowning. ‘I don’t want to make a potion again.’

‘I’m sorry,’ says Ivy in a little voice. She flops down on the back step beside Jack.

David kicks a pebble and Stella chews her fingernails. The three of them look miserable.

‘We just want to play with you,’ Stella says to Jack.

‘You’re the one with all the good ideas,’ David says.

‘Yeah, Jack!’ Ivy says. ‘You’re the bestest, funnest cousin in the whole wide world.’

Jack looks up at his cousins in surprise.

The best cousin? He didn’t know they thought that!

Jack gets a warm honey feeling in his tummy. Now he feels bad for acting so grumpy.

He certainly hasn’t been the best cousin today. He’s been the worst cousin!

‘Well,’ he says slowly, ‘I guess you could come and look at my Lego castle.’

‘Really?’ says David.

Jack grins. ‘It’s got a tower and a moat and even a drawbridge!’

‘Cool!’ shout Stella and Ivy together.

Jack smiles and the four of them run upstairs to his bedroom.