When I was young, I had a friend named Mark who loved to make friends. He always   (1)   how many friends he had at school. One day his grandfather said to him, “Mark, I bet you a big bag of popcorn that you don’t have as many friends as you   (2)  . I’m definitely sure many of them are   (3)   but companions.” Mark accepted the   (4)   without hesitation. However, he wasn’t sure how to test   (5)   his schoolmates were real friends or not, so he asked his grandpa. The old man   (6)  , “Wait a minute.” Then the old man left, returning soon as though   (7)   something in his hands. Mark could see nothing there   (8)  .

“Take it. It’s a most special chair, which is rather hard to sit on,   (9)   it is invisible to the eyes, but if you take it to school and   (10)   to be seated on it, you will make its magic happen and you’ll be able to   (11)   who your real friends are.”

Mark, brave and   (12)  , took the chair and set off for school. At break time he asked   everyone to   (13)   a circle, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair. Having difficulty seeing it, Mark tried to sit on it and fell straight onto his   (14)  . Everyone surrounding him had pretty good laugh.

“Wait! Let me try again,” Mark said. But again, he   (15)   the seat, causing more surprised looks and a few catcalls. Mark didn’t give up and kept trying to sit on the   (16)   chair. Yet he kept falling on the ground… until, all at once, he tried again but didn’t fall. Looking around, Mark saw three of his best friends holding him up. Meanwhile, many others he had viewed   (17)   friends had done nothing but made fun of him.

And there, the show came to an end. Mark   (18)   that true friends were those who   (19)   him, and not just the companions that happened to be passing by. And someone who took   (20)   in his misfortunes was even less of a friend.