Sleepover Girls on Safari (2 page)

It took the combined strength of the rest of the Sleepover Club to stop an enraged Frankie throwing herself at Emma.

“Where’s the other Queen of Darkness today?” panted Kenny, still hanging on to a furious Frankie.

“Yeah, you want to be careful,” said Lyndz. “If I was you, I wouldn’t want to get Frankie angry without my evil twin for back-up.”

As everybody in the village knows, Emma Hughes and Emily Berryman, aka the M&Ms, are our deadly enemies. This was one of the few times I’d ever seen one without the other.
Without her snooty bodyguard, Emma looked strangely incomplete.

“If you must know,” she said stiffly, “Emily’s caught—” She glanced around to make sure no one was listening and dropped her voice, “—erm, nits.”

Kenz totally cracked up. “Oh, that’s made my day! Emily Berryman’s got head lice!! Can’t you just imagine her scratching herself like a monkey!”

“My sympathy’s with the nits personally,” Frankie growled, still trying to wriggle free.

“Aren’t you scared you’ll catch them, Emma?” said Lyndz wickedly. “You’ve always got your heads together plotting some little scheme. Her evil creepy-crawlies wouldn’t have far to jump.”

Kenny gave a fake gasp. “Yikes, Emma!! I just saw something crawl into your hair! Dad says nits LURVE clean, blonde hair. He says that’s like head lice heaven to them.”

Kenny’s dad is a doctor. Kenz says this is why she revels in blood and gore and all things icky. We don’t totally buy this. We just think she’s bizarre!

Emma was furious with Kenny. “You don’t think I’d fall for that old trick, do you?” she spat. She stuck her nose in the air, obviously meaning to flounce away.

At that moment we all noticed the pretty blonde girl standing behind her.

“Hi, Emma, they said I’d find you in here!” she beamed. “Your mum fixed everything. Mrs Poole says I can come into school with you any time I’m at a loose end.”

It was blatantly obvious Emma hadn’t expected to see her friend in the dinner hall. “Oh, that’s erm, super!” she gushed. “Why don’t I show you round the school?” And she practically dragged the mystery girl towards the door.

“That’s them, isn’t it?” I heard the girl say excitedly. “They’re just like you described, Emma! But it sounded like you were having an argument.”

She’s Australian, I thought. The new girl had exactly the same accent as Brad Martin, our favourite Aussie soap star.

I saw panic flicker over Emma’s face. She gave a nervous giggle. “Oh, we’re always
kidding around like that. It doesn’t mean anything.”

I thought I must have misheard. It was quite possible. By this time Frankie had worked herself into a major razz.

“…plus I hope that hideous ghost drags her into a wall and they never EVER find her body!” she finished up breathlessly.

I was horrified. “Frankie, don’t say that! Suppose Emma got ghost-napped for real. How would you feel then?”

“I’d think she deserves all she gets,” Frankie said spitefully.

“Yeah, if the ghost wants her, let it have her,” said Kenz.

“I agree,” said Lyndz. “What do you reckon, Rosie-posie?”

Rosie jumped. “Oh, sorry, I was miles away.”

“Must have been somewhere depressing,” said Kenz cheerfully. “You looked gutted just then.”

Rosie looked anxious. “I didn’t, did I? Well, I’m fine, honestly.”

She wasn’t but we didn’t find that out till later.

Frankie spent the rest of the afternoon dreaming up ways for us to avenge ourselves on Emma Hughes. By home time, she’d narrowed it down to three personal faves.

1. Pouring cold baked beans over Emma’s head.

2. Smuggling fresh droppings from the school rabbit into her lunch box.

3. Stuffing old, v. smelly cream cheese in our enemy’s P.E. shoes.

“I vote for the beans,” giggled Lyndz.

Kenny shook her head. “Uh-uh. Rabbit droppings have better shock-value.”

“Yeah,” said Frankie. “Plus Emma’s shoes are bound to be naturally cheesy anyway!”

Everyone fell about. Everyone but Rosie, that is.

I couldn’t help noticing that our mate didn’t join in Frankie’s scheming. She’d been quiet all day. Any time we asked what was wrong, she said she had a headache.

This is typical Rosie. She keeps her worries so bottled up, Kenny says it’s a wonder steam doesn’t spurt from her ears. She’s heaps more chilled than she was when she first moved to
Cuddington though. It used to take weeks before she’d admit anything was bothering her. Now it’s days at most. Though even now, she tends to withdraw inside herself at the first sign of trouble.

I couldn’t help feeling tense as we walked home. Mum says I have to learn not to be so sensitive. But I can’t bear those jangly vibes when people are upset, can you? Suddenly I noticed something totally unbelievable. Emma and her new friend were following us.

The others noticed it at exactly the same moment.

Emma was obviously desperate for us not to notice her. Each time one of us looked back, she bent down and pretended to tie her shoelace, which has to be the most pathetic ruse ever. (Kenny reckoned she must have seen it on an old 1970s cop show!) Emma’s friend was obviously wondering what on earth was going on.

“I’ve had enough of this,” growled Frankie. “No one spies on the Sleepover Club and gets away with it.”

“Spying?” I said in surprise. “Why would Emma spy on us?”

“Because she’s gone over to the dark side, dummy,” said Frankie. She blocked the pavement, very obviously waiting for the two girls to catch us up. “What’s going on?” she called to them in an aggressive voice. “You’ve been sticking to us like fly paper all day.”

Emma went bright red, but to my astonishment, the new girl beamed at Frankie and stuck out her hand. “Hi, you must be Frankie!” she said in a genuinely friendly voice. “I can tell from your gorgeous curly hair. Emma’s told me all about you guys. I’m Kirstin.”

Frankie looked totally confused. She just did NOT know how to react. I felt it was down to me to jump in and save my fellow blonde from humiliation. I grabbed Kirstin’s hand and pumped it up and down.

“Hi, I’m Fliss. Let me introduce the others. From left to right: Rosie, Lyndz, Kenny and yes, the one with her mouth open is Frankie. I just lurve your trainers, by the way.”

Kirstin looked pleased. “I got them in Sydney, just before we flew over. I’m Australian
if you hadn’t guessed.” She pronounced it “guissed”.

“I thought so! She sounds exactly like the characters in
South Beach
, doesn’t she?” Lyndz said excitedly.

“Emma told me you guys had a bit of a
South Beach
craze going. I heard you met Brad Martin.” Kirstin made a flirty face. “That guy is so dishy!!”

“Emma TOLD you we met Brad?” Frankie said suspiciously.

“She said she almost fainted when he invited you guys up on stage.”

Frankie scowled. “She must have fainted from jealousy. It was us he invited to perform with him, not the Gruesome Two—”

Emma frantically tried to shut her up. “So, you’ve finally met my e-pal,” she interrupted brightly. “We’ve been e-mailing each other for over a year now.” Emma went into peals of fake laughter. “But you knew that already, silly me! I’m always telling you about Kirstin, aren’t I?”

“You are?” said Kenny.

Emma Hughes suddenly looked at her watch. “Heavens!” she said in an artificial
voice. “Is that the time! We’re going to be SO late for my grandmother’s party.” She flashed us a strangely pleading smile. “See you later, guys!”

Before we could say “Huh?” Emma dragged her bewildered e-pal up the road and out of sight.

Frankie stared after them with a puzzled expression. “Did you hear that, or did I imagine it?”

“What?” we chorused.

Frankie gulped noisily. “I thought she said, ‘See you later, guys’.”

Kenny looked thoughtful. “She did say that, actually.”

“Is it a crime?” I said timidly.

Frankie looked outraged. “It is, actually, Felicity Proudlove. A crime against Nature. Emma made it sound like we were friends with her!”

Kenny shuddered. “That is creepy.”

“She was weird at dinner time too,” said Lyndz.

“Maybe she really has got nits or ants in her pants or whatever?” Rosie suggested.

“Bats in her belfry more like,” Kenz sniggered.

Frankie shook her head. “Emma’s up to something. But she won’t get away with it. I’m going to be watching her very closely.”

“Listen to Frankie the super spy!” Lyndz giggled.

I was feeling slightly hurt. Why did Frankie have to draw attention to my name like that? It’s not my fault my new stepdad is called Andy Proudlove. Mind you, my real dad’s name is even worse. It’s Sidebotham, would you believe. When it comes to names, my family has the worst luck.

“Mum will be worrying,” I sighed. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

I waved to my mates and went speeding down the street. I was still waiting at the pelican crossing when I heard Rosie call my name. She caught me up breathlessly. “Have you got a sec? I need to talk to you.”

I had an awful feeling like going down too fast in a lift. Rosie can be really touchy sometimes. Obviously I’d upset her and that’s why she’d been acting so strangely. I decided to get in first.

“I don’t know what I’ve done, Rosie, but I’m so SO sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. And what’s more I’ll never ever do it again, erm, whatever it was.”

Rosie looked confused. “What? No, Fliss, you haven’t done anything. But I’m really worried about something and I need to talk to someone.”

A warm glow started up inside me. Rosie trusted me. “You can tell me anything, dummy,” I said. “I’m your mate.”

I stood at the crossing for ten minutes, listening to Rosie.

When I finally walked up my front path and put the key in the door, I barely heard my brother and sister’s wails. I trudged upstairs to my bedroom, shut the door, and collapsed miserably on to my bed.

We’d been looking forward to this trip for ever: since Kenny’s sister Molly went to the same safari park. We’d daydreamed about what animals we’d see and what outfits we’d wear. We’d planned in detail the wonderful sleepover feast we’d have afterwards.

Now our dreams had ended up in the dustbin of disappointments.

I knew the awful truth behind Rosie’s headaches.

She couldn’t afford to come. Her dad was supposed to send the money but he’d forgotten and now he’d gone away on business. Rosie’s mum was sorry, but she didn’t have any cash to spare.

I was so upset, I felt as if my insides had been put into an ice-cream maker and churned into a great big, multicoloured mess.

What was I going to do? I didn’t have enough money to pay for Rosie. I couldn’t even ask anyone for help. She had totally sworn me to secrecy.

That meant Rosie was relying on me to come up with a plan to save the big Sleepover Safari. I really hoped I wouldn’t let her down.

Morning came and I still hadn’t come up with a solution.

To make matters worse my fringe totally would NOT lie down. “Oh, well,” I told my reflection unhappily. “Looks like you’ll be spending the day looking like a scruffy blonde cockatoo.”

When I went downstairs, I discovered Mum had woken me up half an hour later than usual. So it was one mad dash to bolt down my Crispy Loops and sprint to the car.

To make my day even more depressing, Joe and Hannah screamed in their car seats all the
way to school. Did I mention they look exactly like my stepdad? Don’t laugh, it’s true! Andy has absolutely no waistline and only a very, very small amount of fine, tufty hair. Don’t get me wrong. I’m crazy about Andy. I tell my mates he’s the best stepdad in captivity. But I’m not crazy about being trapped in a small car with two roaring, miniature, Andy look-alikes. Not to mention my brother Callum who was whingeing about this stupid game he’d seen on kids’ MTV.

By the time Mum dropped me off, I’d gone deaf in both ears. I’m not exaggerating. I couldn’t even hear the bell. I was also humungously late. By the time I stumbled into my classroom Mrs Weaver was reading out the last name on the register. It was awful. The entire class turned to stare at me.

I sheepishly took my seat. Rosie whispered, “Any ideas yet?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

In my embarrassment, I’d completely forgotten my Rosie dilemma, but now it came flooding back.

Rosie deserves to go on this safari more than anyone, I thought fiercely. Life is rough
for her at times. Her dad walked out on them some time ago and since then he hasn’t really showed much interest in her and Tiffany. He makes slightly more effort with her brother Adam, who has cerebral palsy. But Rosie says it’s like he thinks she doesn’t need him or something. Luckily Rosie’s mum copes brilliantly, but sometimes money is tight.

I’d feel terrible if we had to go without her. But I still had no idea how to help. Suddenly I realised that the entire class was looking in my direction.

“What do you think, Felicity?”

Mrs Weaver’s voice sounded deceptively kind. Unfortunately I had no idea what she’d just said.

“Urmm, could you please repeat the question?”

Mrs Weaver narrowed her eyes into two scary laser beams. “Weren’t you listening, dear?”

This was a toughie. Frankie would have no problem telling a little white lie. But this is me we’re talking about and I am physically
incapable of being dishonest. Take my promise to Rosie. I’d never break her confidence, even if I was threatened with hideous torture. That’s the way I am.

So I was forced to stammer out the truth. “No, s-sorry, Mrs Weaver. I wasn’t listening. It won’t happen again.”

I didn’t think Frankie would ever let me live it down. She mimicked me all through break. “Sorry, Mrs Weaver, it won’t happen again,” she said in a breathy little voice. “Fliss, you’re SUCH a wuss!”

Lyndz thought Frankie’s impression was brilliant. She shrieked with laughter until – you guessed it – she got one of her famous attacks of hiccups. Usually I flap around like a mother hen, suggesting every cure in the
Bible of Hiccups.
But this morning I had absolutely no sympathy. Lyndz shouldn’t have been laughing at me in the first place.

“Frankie, will you leave Fliss alone? It’s getting boring now!”

It was Rosie’s turn to do an impression, a scarily accurate one of her bossy big sister, Tiffany.

Frankie scowled. “Kenny thinks it’s funny, don’t you, Kenz?”

“The first few times I did,” Kenny said truthfully. “Now it’s kind of annoying.”

At that moment a shadow fell over us. We looked up to see Emma with her pointy nose stuck in the air.

“Oh, it’s you,” Frankie sniffed. “Thought I could smell something.”

Lyndz giggled, then hiccuped loudly.

“Where’s your e-pal today?” I asked Emma.

“Her parents took her to London to do some sightseeing.”

It was weird. Emma must have known we wanted her to go away, but for some reason she just went on standing there, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

If you’d taken a photograph at that moment, we’d have probably looked like we were all playing a peculiar game of musical statues.

“Is there anything you want, Emma?” Frankie asked sweetly. “Like a nice empty coffin to crawl into?”

Emma always looks really stressed. This is partly her hairstyle. She pulls her ponytail so
tight, it literally makes her eyes bulge. But I’ve never seen her look so scared before.

“I just, erm, wanted to let you know that Kirstin’s coming with us to Gawdy Castle on Friday,” she mumbled.

Frankie shrugged. “Are we supposed to jump up and down?”

“No, I just thought you might—”

For a minute I thought Emma was going to burst into tears in front of us. She pulled herself together and tried again. “The thing is, Kirstin seems to think you guys are fun, so I was wondering if…” Emma couldn’t quite bring herself to finish her sentence.

“Yes, your nose is too big,” Kenny sniggered. “Oh, sorry, Emma, that is what you were wondering, isn’t it?”

“Ha ha! Very funny.” Emma was just plain angry now. “I didn’t want to ask you losers in the first place. It’s Kirstin who wanted me to.” With that, she stormed off.

This might sound disloyal, but I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Emma. I know how it feels when your best friends are off school. One time there was this nasty bug going around. Absolutely
everyone caught it, except for me. Frankie, Rosie, Kenny and Lyndz were all off school for three whole days. I still remember how I felt sitting by myself in the dining hall. Every night I prayed to catch that bug. At least then I’d have some teeny-weeny microbes for company.

Being ill is horrible but loneliness is much, much worse. Emma obviously felt so exposed and vulnerable without Emily that she was even prepared to risk total humiliation by talking to us.

Kenny looked baffled. “The poison dwarf was acting well weird.”

Lyndz had a listening expression. “Good, they’ve gone finally.” Her hiccups, she meant. “So what do you think Emma was going on about?”

“You don’t think she’s just trying to be friendly?” I suggested.

Frankie knocked on my skull. “Are you feeling OK, Flissie?”

“She could have changed,” I said nervously. “People do.”

The others stared at me then went into complete hysterics.

“They do,” I protested. But my friends refused to take me seriously.

On the way home, Rosie and I lagged behind the others.

“I’m a useless friend,” I told her miserably. “I’ve been racking my brains, but I still can’t think of anything.”

Rosie tried to smile. “Thanks for trying, Flissie. Just promise not to tell the others. I’d hate them feeling sorry for me.”

“I won’t,” I told her earnestly. “But for what it’s worth, I don’t think they would pity you. They’d want to help.”

Rosie shook her head. “I’m not a charity case. It’s bad timing, that’s all. Mum had to fork out for new equipment for Adam. I can’t exactly begrudge him that.”

I gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Of course you can’t. But we’re your friends, Rosie-posie. You’d help us, if it was the other way round. I think you should give them a chance.”

I could tell she wasn’t convinced and decided I had to try harder.

“Remember that time Mrs Weaver said my project on the Ancient Romans needed more
work? I had just about killed myself drawing those togas. I was gutted. And what did you guys do to cheer me up?”

“We baked you a batch of our special, best friend, triple chocolate chip cookies,” Rosie mumbled.

“You see!” I told her.

“It’s not the same. I can’t expect you guys to pay for my school trip. How embarrassing would that be?” Her voice was gritty with despair.

“We couldn’t give you all the money anyway. I worked it out last night. Even if we all chipped in our pocket money, we’d still be exactly seven pounds and fifty pence short. But I could ask my mum…”

Rosie looked horrified. “Flissie, no! Don’t even think about doing that! Mum would feel humiliated.”

“OK, OK. Stupid idea,” I said hastily. “Look, relax. We’ll figure it out somehow.”

Rosie blew her nose. “Thanks, Flissie you’re a really special friend.”

It’s nice when someone tells you you’re special, but I felt I had to tell her the truth.
“We’re all your friends, Rosie. And I still think you should tell the others. They’re going to be SO hurt when they realise,” I added sneakily.

That evening the twins seemed to be screaming non-stop so I took myself off for a soothing early night. I put on my favourite cosy PJs that Mum got from Miss Selfridge. The top has this sweet Pink Panther motif. Then I snuggled up in bed, reading the stars in my magazine. This probably sounds dumb, but I don’t just read what they write for my birth sign, Virgo. I read the star signs for all my mates. Frankie’s Aries. Her stars said she was feeling reckless but she should learn to look before she leaps. I turned to Rosie’s birthday, but by this time I was having trouble concentrating. The screams seemed to be getting louder, in fact they were worryingly close. My door opened and Andy appeared with a screaming baby under one arm and our phone in his free hand. “It’s Frankie,” he told me. “She says it’s urgent.”

I took the phone and Andy tactfully went out and closed the door.

“Is something wrong?” I gulped.

Frankie sounded incredibly serious. “I’ll say. The Sleepover Club’s got a crisis on its hands. I don’t know how to break it to you, Flissie, so I’ll just say it straight.”

Frankie might be a drama queen, but she only uses that tone of voice when something’s really, really wrong. I squinched my eyes tight shut, and waited for her to give me the bad news. I didn’t know for sure what Frankie was going to say, but I could guess. Obviously my wimpy ways had alienated my mates so totally that they no longer wanted to be friends.

“Are you listening?” Frankie sounded just like our teacher.

I nodded miserably.

She sighed. “You do know I can’t see you on the phone?”

Luckily Frankie couldn’t see me blush either. “Sorry. I mean, yes, I’m ready,” I told her bravely.

“You’d better sit down. Rosie can’t afford to come on the safari!”

I am SO selfish! In the last few seconds, I’d
flashed through a zillion awful scenarios, all of them ending with me being left with no mates. The Rosie situation had totally slipped my mind!

“Aren’t you shocked?” Frankie prompted.

No, I was confused, that’s what I was. First because – hurray! – my sleepover mates were still speaking to me. But mostly because I couldn’t begin to imagine how Frankie had found out Rosie’s secret.

“SAY something, you wally!” said Frankie impatiently.

“Ermm…”

Frankie began to chuckle. “It’s all right, you dippy duck. Rosie said she told you. I have NO idea how you persuaded her to ’fess up, but you did a wicked job.”

I felt myself go weak with relief. “I did?”

“But seriously, what are we going to do? Even if we gave her all our pocket money, we’d still be…”

“…seven pounds and fifty pence short.” I finished Frankie’s sentence for her.

“Exactly. And she’s forbidden us to ask our parents.”

I yawned. “Can we talk about this at school?
The twins are screaming so hard I can’t hear myself think. Plus I’m really tired.”

Frankie giggled. “Poor Flissie, you should get some earplugs. See you tomorrow then. Sleep tight, don’t let the bugs bite.”

We hadn’t solved Rosie’s problem, but as I climbed back into bed, I felt a weight lifting off my shoulders. I was still worried about my friend, but at least I didn’t have to come up with a solution on my own.

Next morning at break, we met up in a corner of the cloakroom that teachers tend not to check. Probably because it’s so smelly. I’m not exaggerating: it reeks of gym shoes and boys’ socks. But this was a serious Sleepover Club emergency, so I bravely breathed through my mouth.

“Anyone got any good ideas?” Kenny demanded.

We all shook our heads.

“Sorry, guys,” Rosie mumbled.