Sleepover Girls Go Wild! (5 page)

Needless to say, Dad went totally ballistic. Mum just shook her head and disappeared upstairs, leaving us in Dad’s hands. I guess she didn’t have any more energy to shout at us after what had happened earlier.

But nuclear war had nothing on Dad. We all sat in a row in his study and stared very hard at the floor while he paced around and yelled about “responsibility” and “idiots” and “I won’t be able to hold my head up in public”.

“Now, will somebody have the good manners to look me in the eye and explain this?” Dad said at last.

The trouble with looking at Dad was that he had Sausage tucked under his arm. It made it kind of hard to meet his eye without getting the giggles, you see. And this was seriously
not
the time to get the giggles.

“Hic,” hiccuped Lyndz suddenly. She always gets the hiccups at the
worst
times.

Still no one said anything. Well, we’re the Sleepover Club, aren’t we? We don’t dob on our mates.

“Right, we are calling your parents,” said Dad at last. “Let’s see what they have to say about this. You lot, stay here.”

And he marched out of the room. The last thing we saw before he closed the door was Sausage’s little tail, waggling away under his arm.

Kenny started to laugh.

“Stop it, Kenz,” I said sternly. “This is no laughing ma-ma…”

And then I got the giggles too. Soon we were weeping with laughter, clinging on to each other like we were drowning.

“When your – your dad… hic! When he yelled, I thought my heart was going to stop!” giggled Lyndz, tears streaming down her face.

“Ouch!” groaned Rosie, holding her sides. “I’m in agony here! Stop laughing everyone, I can’t take it!”

Fliss was the only one who wasn’t laughing. “Well, I don’t see anything funny about it,” she said sadly. “We are probably going to be grounded for weeks and weeks, and we’ll never be able to see each other again, and Andy was going to take me to the cinema next Saturday and that won’t happen now. Mum will probably refuse to take me shopping on Saturday morning, too. Oh, how I wish we’d never laid eyes on that stupid pig!”

We stopped laughing pretty quickly when everyone’s parents arrived. Fliss’s mum wrung her hands a lot, although you could tell that her step-dad Andy thought it was pretty funny. Kenny’s parents didn’t look very surprised – with a daughter like Kenny, not much surprises them any more, I guess. Rosie’s mum was very solemn and quietly spoken, but there was no doubt that she was pretty cross. And Lyndz’s parents just talked quietly to each other, and shook their heads whenever they looked at us.

The questions poured over us like a tidal wave. Who had stolen the pig? Why? When? What had we been thinking of? What had we planned to do with it? But still no one said a word. I’m well proud of my mates, because it must have taken major guts. I think Lyndz was pretty grateful.

“Well, there’s only one thing for it,” said Dad in the end, shrugging his shoulders. “We’ll all have to go back to Animal World this afternoon. You’ll have to explain it to them there instead. If you persist in this silence, they’ll probably call the police.”

The police! I stared round at my mates. What would happen? Would we go to jail?

“Honestly, I’ll never be able to look my clients in the eye again after this,” Dad went on. “The papers will probably get hold of it, and I’ll be a laughing stock!”

Dad takes his reputation very seriously. He is a lawyer after all, so I guess his reputation is pretty important.

“Come on, Gwyn, there’s no harm done,” said Mr Collins. “Let’s just get these little criminals and that piglet back down to Animal World. Everyone will forget about this whole business soon enough.”

“What if they press charges?” wailed Fliss’s mum. “I don’t want my darling Felicity to have a criminal record!”

Fliss burst into tears.

“Don’t cry, Fliss!” said Lyndz, practically in tears herself.

“Yeah, it’ll be all right, honest,” said Rosie, though she didn’t seem too convinced.

“Will I have a criminal record too?” said Kenny, looking really interested.

“You be quiet, young lady,” snapped Mrs McKenzie. “You’re in quite enough trouble as it is.”

We got out Pepsi’s travelling box for Sausage’s trip back to Animal World. It looks a bit like a picnic hamper, except with more breathing holes in it. Pepsi took one look at it and slunk off under the sofa. She knows it usually means a trip to the vet – so I guess she was pretty relieved when we put Sausage in it instead. Lyndz fussed around with a blanket and some carrots, and then Dad closed the box and stowed it in the back of the car.

“You’d better do the lid up tightly, Dad,” I said in a small voice. “He’s a real escape artist.”

And twenty minutes later, we were all on the road, heading for our doom.

I was in Dad’s car with Kenny and Dr McKenzie. Somehow, the journey took forever. I remembered how quick it had seemed when we’d all gone to Animal World for my birthday the day before. I could hardly believe it was only yesterday – it felt like a lifetime. I kept wanting to talk to Kenny, but every time I opened my mouth, Dad just glared at me in the car mirror. It was a deadly boring journey.

My heart jumped into my mouth when we finally swung through the gates of Animal World. Visions of gloomy police cells and clanging metal doors loomed in my mind. I’ve got an over-active imagination, Mum always says – and man, it was really working overtime.

“Enquiry Room?” said the guard on the gate. “Just park over there, sir, and follow the signs. You can’t miss it. Hope you’ve got some good news about that little swine, if you’ll pardon the joke!”

Dad muttered something, and swung away from the gate pretty quickly.

The others had got to the car park before us. Fliss and Rosie were with Andy and Rosie’s mum – Fliss’s mum had had to go home to look after the twins. Lyndz was standing quietly with her parents. No one was talking to each other – everyone just looked really nervous.

There really was no way out of this, I thought miserably. The Sleepover Club has gone belly up this time.

There were lots of people heading for the Enquiry Room. Apparently there was a reward, so I guess everyone was keen to help. I kept overhearing conversations that just made me feel worse and worse.

“Our Sarah saw that little piglet, she says – she reckoned it got through the fence and headed off into the woods.”

“A fox will have got it, for sure.”

“I think I saw it in our road, but it might have been a cat.”

Dad was holding Pepsi’s travelling box very firmly. No one seemed to have noticed that he was carrying it, as we were swept along in the crowd. Maybe everyone thought it was a picnic basket. I think Dad was kind of glad about that – his reputation, blah, blah, blah.

“Hurry up,” said Andy, not unkindly, as he saw us dawdling behind. “Let’s get this over with, eh?”

“And then we can all go home,” sighed Dr McKenzie, holding Kenny very firmly by the wrist.

“Hear, hear,” said Rosie’s mum and the Collinses.

When we got to the Enquiry Room, it was already busy. Everyone had to take a little number from a ticket machine, and sit down to wait their turn – even Dad, and he had the bloomin’ pig! He tried to tell someone, but no one seemed interested. Duh.

At last, we could talk to each other – but we had to whisper.

“This is it, isn’t it Franks?” said Kenny gloomily.

“We’ll probably get fined, if not worse,” declared Rosie. She definitely the biggest pessimist in the Sleepover Club, if not the whole of Cuddington.

“We might go to j-j-jail,” sobbed Fliss, who hadn’t really stopped snivelling since we arrived.

“At least I know Sausage will be safe,” said Lyndz quietly. “That’s something, I guess.”

“Number 143!” called an attendant at the main enquiry desk.

“That’s us,” said Dad firmly, picking up the travelling box. “Come along.”

My legs felt like they were rooted to the floor. Kenny tugged on my arm.

“Come on, Franks, let’s do it!” she said.

“One for all and all for one,” joked Lyndz feebly.

The walk to the enquiry desk took forever and a half. When we got there, Dad put the travelling box on the ground and turned to the woman behind the desk.

“So, what news do you have for us, sir?” asked the woman cheerily. “Anything useful?”

“Well,” began Dad.

But he didn’t get any further, because there was a sudden shout.

“Look!”

Sausage was standing on the far side of the room.

“It’s the p-p-pig!” stammered Dad, totally astonished.

“Yes, I know you’ve come to help us find the pig,” said the enquiry lady kindly. She obviously thought my dad was a bit mad. “That’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s the PIG! Over there!” shouted Kenny.

This time, the enquiry lady looked. “Where?” she said with a frown.

Sausage had vanished again!

“He’s under that table!” came a roar in the far corner of the room. A man was pointing at a row of tables by the exit. “Catch him, somebody!”

I think the word “reward” zinged into everyone’s head right at that moment. Because suddenly, there was a total scrum as every single person in the room started shouting, yelling and running. Dad was looking seriously spaced out. He kept staring from the travelling box to the scrum and back to the travelling box, like he was watching a game of ping pong or something.

“But how…” he started saying.

“Come on, guys!” shouted Lyndz. “He’ll be scared, we’ve got to go and rescue him! He trusts us!”

“Yeah, go the Sleepover Club!” I roared, punching the air like I was mad or something. It was a pretty crazy feeling. I think all that tension had got into my head, and done something weird to my brain.

Lyndz and Kenny threw themselves into the crowd of people, all pushing and shoving to get hold of Sausage. Fliss jumped in after them, which was pretty amazing. She was wearing a pair of really thin-looking tights, and she must’ve known she’d get a ladder in them. Rosie and I tried to rush after them, but we got pushed back by the crowd.

“But how…” Dad said again.

“How indeed?” said Mr Collins, watching the chaos with a big grin on his face.

“It’s a miracle,” said Mrs Collins.

Both the Collinses were looking totally calm, like this kind of thing happened to them every day. Maybe having five kids does that to you? Andy and Dr McKenzie were just laughing their heads off.

“Did you shut the lid properly like I told you, Dad?” I asked, hopping up and down as I tried to see over the crowd.

“Of course I did!” snapped Dad. “I just don’t understand it!”

“The piglet is famous for escaping round here, apparently,” put in Rosie’s mum. “I was just talking to one of the guards about it. He’s called Houdini, you know. Rosie, what on earth are you doing?”

Rosie had scrambled up on to a chair, and was peering across the room. “I think I just saw Kenny,” she said. “But there are a couple of other Leicester City shirts in the middle too, so I can’t be sure.”

I scrambled up beside her, and stared hard at the crowd. No one seemed to have caught Sausage yet, which was pretty amazing, since there must have been about fifty people and only one pig.

A sudden movement caught my eye. Just like magic, Sausage had appeared back where we’d first seen him! He looked like he was laughing at the crowd all struggling on the other side of the room. Honestly, if I hadn’t known better, I would have said someone was doing a magic trick with mirrors.

I nudged Rosie. “He’s over there now! Would you believe it?”

“Hey, and there’s Lyndz!” said Rosie suddenly.

Lyndz was wriggling out of the crush, crawling through on her hands and knees. She must have seen Sausage make his move!

“Go, Lyndz!” I yelled. “Quick, go get him!”

Lyndz took a flying leap into the air, and WHUMPH! She landed right on the piglet, grabbing him round the middle. “I’ve got him!” she screamed triumphantly. “Look, I’ve got him!”

The room fell silent, as everyone looked up from the scrum. There stood Lyndz, all pink-faced and smiling, holding up the piglet for the world to see.

“Thank you all for coming,” the guard was saying, as he ushered the crowds out of the Enquiry Room. “Yes, thank you for your time.”

Everyone was shuffling out of the door and heading back to their cars. You could almost see the question marks bobbing in the air. Where had the piglet suddenly appeared from? What had happened? Had it really escaped in the first place?

“You can tell everyone’s really narked,” Kenny whispered to me. “They all thought they’d get the reward!”

We were all gathered together, waiting for the guards to finish clearing the room. Lyndz was still holding Sausage – or should I say Houdini? – and chatting happily to Rosie. And all the grown-ups were standing round Dad, trying to cheer him up. I didn’t know what Dad was looking so gloomy about. As far as I could see, this totally let him off the hook – and us too, with any luck.

“Well, I guess Lyndz’ll get the reward now, don’t you?” I grinned, poking Kenny in the ribs.

“Ouch!” squeaked Kenny, rubbing her side.

“Oh, sorry, Kenz, did I hurt you?” I said anxiously.

“I think I saw someone tread on her in the crowd,” put in Fliss, smoothing down her skirt.

I noticed with total amazement that Fliss’s tights weren’t laddered
at all
.

Fliss saw me staring. “Mum always tells me to keep a spare pair of tights in my bag,” she said modestly. “You never know when you might need them.”

“Hey, guys.” Lyndz came up to us. “Anyone want to give Sausage a final cuddle? We’ve got to give him back in a minute.”

“Are you OK about that, Lyndz?” I said. “I know you got really attached to him.”

Lyndz shrugged. “He’s going back to his mum. That’s where he belongs, I suppose.”

“What about the reward?” asked Rosie curiously. “Are you going to take it?”

“That would be totally dishonest!” said Fliss, looking really shocked. “I mean, you took him in the first place!”

Fliss had a point. We stood there and thought about the problem for a bit. And then Dad solved the problem for us.

“Right, time to confess,” he said grimly. “Come along.”

We all stared at him. What did he mean, confess?

“Don’t think you are getting away with this, girls,” he continued. “You owe Animal World an explanation.”

I couldn’t believe it! We’d just got away with the perfect crime, and now Dad wanted to land us in it anyway!

“But Dad—” I started to say.

“No buts, Frankie!” said Dad. He had this really determined expression on his face. “You must all come along with me now. I think we should do this in private, don’t you? The Animal World manager’s office is just down the hall. We’ll deliver that pig in person, and then clear up a few things.”

We looked a pretty sorry sight, trailing behind Dad. The manager’s door was looming closer and closer… Then it was so close that I could read the manager’s name on the door plate – “R. Keating”. I giggled at the thought of the Boyzone singer running Animal World.

Suddenly I had the strangest deja-vu. Keating? I knew that name from somewhere else as well…

Then it hit me. Totally simple.
Totally
brilliant.

I pulled Dad down to me and whispered something in his ear.

“Right, are we ready for the ordeal?” said Mr Collins with a grin.

“You’ll all feel better in the long run,” advised Andy. “Trust me.”

“I’m sure Animal World will understand,” said Rosie’s mum. “Which is more than I do, to tell the truth,” she added.

“Come on, Gwyn,” said Dr McKenzie, buttoning up his coat. “Lead the way.”

“Um,” said Dad.

“Is there a problem, Gwyn?” asked Mrs Collins with a frown.

One of the guards came up to us. “Shall I take that little blighter, then?” he said with a grin.

“Lyndsey, give the piglet to the guard,” said Dad. He’d gone a very strange colour, sort of blotchy red.

“But I thought you said—” began Lyndz.

Dad’s face got redder. “Forget what I said. Just hand it over, will you? Then we can go.”

Forget
it? Everyone stared.

“There is a reward, sir,” said the guard with a smile. “Mr Keating the manager would be delighted to—”

“No, honestly, no need for a reward,” said Dad. “Give it to charity or something.” His face was verging on purple now. “Come on, everyone. Off we go, back home now.”

Everyone was so surprised that they let Dad hustle them out of the door and into the car park.

All my mates started talking at once. They were absolutely
bursting
to know what I’d whispered to Dad.

“Frankie, what—” hissed Kenny.

“Tell us what you said, Frankie, or I’ll have to kill you,” Rosie threatened.

“Please put us out of our misery,” Fliss pleaded.

“My lips are sealed,” I said solemnly.

“Frankie, we’re your mates!” begged Lyndz. “I can’t believe you’d be so mean not to tell us!”

“Listen,” I said. “I made a pact, OK? You know about pacts – we make them all the time. And they mean silence
forever
, don’t they?”

Everyone nodded reluctantly.

“Even under torture, right?” I continued.

Everyone nodded again, even more reluctantly. I think they could tell that I was serious.

“Well, whatever you said, mate, I owe you one,” said Lyndz with a huge sigh. “I think you really just saved my life in there!”

“S’pose,” said Rosie grumpily.

“At least we don’t have a criminal record,” said Fliss.

Kenny snorted. “Yeah, and I was really looking forward to that bit!”

I linked arms with Rosie and Kenny. “We should just be grateful that we’ve got out of it.”

“Never look a gift horse in the mouth,” added Lyndz.

“Well, you wouldn’t do that anyway, would you mate?” I said cheerily. “Come on, let’s go home.”

Kenny didn’t try to make me talk on the way home in the car. I think she knew she was on to a total loser. Dad didn’t say a single word all the way home, either. So it was just Dr McKenzie making conversation. He kept saying things like, “Well, I’m sure you had your reasons, Gwyn”, and then staring out of the window a lot.

Dad dropped Kenny and her dad off, and then drove me straight home. When we got in, he just said “Go to your room.” Then he disappeared into the kitchen, where I could hear Mum moving around. It was Thomas Conference Time.

I didn’t get as far as my room. I settled down on the stairs, to wait for news of my fate. Pepsi came to join me after about ten minutes, so we both sat there together, watching the hall clock. Tick tock, tick tock…

Mum stuck her head round the kitchen door. She had this strange, scrunched-up look on her face, which could have been either a frown or a really desperate attempt not to laugh.

“Frankie, will you come downstairs, please?”

Down I trotted, all obedient, with Pepsi following close behind.

Dad was waiting by the kitchen table. He cleared his throat.

“Frankie,” he said. “Your mother and I have been talking. And I think we agree that you should be grounded for two weeks.”

Two weeks? Hmm, not great – but not bad either, I decided. I waited to see what else Dad would say.

“We think you have probably learned your lesson,” Dad continued hurriedly, “so let’s consider this the end of the matter. I don’t want to discuss it again.”

And that was it! I wasn’t totally banned from seeing my mates, I wasn’t given any chores. Jammy or what?

You’re dying to ask what I whispered to Dad back at Animal World, aren’t you? Well, I know I told the others I swore a pact and everything, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t. I just didn’t want to tell them about this, because it’s really pretty private. The Sleepover Club respects pacts, you see. Tell you what. Why don’t we make a pact now? OK, repeat after me:

“From the top of the mountain to the bottom of the sea, I’ll never tell a soul what you’re gonna tell me!”

There. I can tell you now.

Remember I recognised Mr Keating’s name? He’s one of Dad’s old clients – his name made me laugh then too, that’s why it rang a bell. And you remember how Dad goes on and on about his reputation? Well, I just put two and two together. I pointed out Mr Keating’s identity, and I said – come close now, I don’t want anyone to overhear us – I said: “Dad, you’re a lawyer. How’s it going to look if you own up to pignapping in front of a client?”

I think Dad was grateful, in a furious kind of way.