The Sleepover Club Bridesmaids (8 page)

Oops, I only just shut my diary in time or I’d have ruined the big surprise! I’m not being funny, but I truly can’t let you read any more, just yet. These are like, official wedding secrets, OK? Which means they can only be unveiled at the actual wedding!

Are you KIDDING? Of course you’re invited. I’m just working up to the most exciting bit of the whole story, you nutcase!

So jump back on the wedding rollercoaster, and get ready to go “ooh!” and “aah!” and “wow!” because that great big water splash is coming up, any minute NOW!

This is SO embarrassing.

I’ve been building up to this like, HUGE moment in my story, and now I’ve come over all wobbly.

It’s not just stage fright. You see, in the middle of the celebrations, I got some news which completely blew me away. I took it really calmly at the time. But now I’m in this total DAZE.

I mean, I’ve been talking all along like this was just about Mum’s wedding. But it turns out that the whole time, there was this other mega dramatic stuff going on behind the
scenes. So now I’m feeling like, “Fliss, how could you be so DIM!”

OK, OK, I’m probably being about as clear as mud! But my head is just spinning. If you could see my thought bubbles, like in those cartoon strips, I just know they’d be totally haywire.

Bubble 1 is panicking: “Eek, NOW where do I start?”

Bubble 2 is signalling frantically: “Major headache, major headache! A fluff-brain like you shouldn’t be attempting to describe the sheer wonderfulness of Mum’s Big Day, let alone explaining this like, WILD new strand of the plot!”

But inside Bubble 3 is just a humungous exclamation mark!

In case you were wondering, that’s the part of my brain which is still trying to digest my stunning news. You see, it
seemed
to come out of the blue. But, now I look back, I realise there were all these clues staring me in the face, which I totally failed to pick up on.

Phew! Thanks for letting me get that off my
chest. Actually, I think I’ve calmed down very slightly. So I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’ll put my big news on the back burner for now, and just carry on like I originally planned.

So now we’re going to zoom straight to that hopelessly mushy scene we’ve all been waiting for.

The one where we FINALLY get to see (SIGH!!) Mum’s dress!

The night before the wedding, Mum had firmly packed Andy off to stay with Dave, Andy’s best man. So apart from Callum (who doesn’t exactly rate as a real bloke), this was like, an
exclusively
girly moment.

Patsy had been shut in with Mum practically since DAWN, helping her get ready. So there was just Jilly and all six of us bridesmaids, waiting nervously for Mum to come downstairs.

But when she eventually appeared at the top of the stairs, I almost cried. I’m not lying. We all just stared and stared at her, until she came over all shy.

“Do I look all right?” she asked anxiously.

But I think she knew the answer really.

“You look like a fairy-tale princess,” sighed Frankie.

Mum had chosen a dress which was utterly perfect for a summer wedding. It was in shimmery ivory satin, with slightly puffy sleeves which came to just below her elbows. The skirt was completely plain, but the sleeves and bodice had all these tiny embroidered hearts and roses done in silver thread, plus silver beads so tiny, you’d hardly know they were there at all.

Oh, and you should have seen Mum’s veil! It was the dreamiest thing. It was really long, and edged with more teeny roses and scattered with little seed pearls. To keep it in place, she’d got this gorgeous silver tiara with a cluster of larger pearls in the centre.

Her flowers were really simple – just this absolute
cascade
of creamy blossoms. They smelled so lovely, it seemed like the dress itself was giving off some unique wedding-day scent.

And if Frankie and the others think that sounds soppy, well, that’s just too bad. My
mum was getting married. I’m
supposed
to feel like that!

Oops, I almost forgot to tell you about her amazing train!

Actually, none of us realised exactly
how
amazing until Mum reached the bottom of the stairs, and suddenly there was absolutely NO room in our hall!

In case you didn’t know, most people have at
least
one rehearsal before their actual wedding day, so everyone knows what they’ve got to do. But for very special reasons I’ll go into later, Mum and Andy’s schedule was so hectic that they totally couldn’t fit one in.

Anyway, you’ve got to picture like, MILES of satin, all billowing around the hall of our little semi!

Well, naturally we all went into a major panic! I mean, Mum’s special wedding car was arriving in five minutes. In other words, the Peaches and Cream Squad (Jilly’s nickname for Mum’s bridesmaids!) had precisely five minutes to acquire some serious train-management skills!

Poor Mum looked like she might pass out cold at this point.

But Patsy quickly calmed everyone down, explaining that it was really just a question of common sense.

“But you
must
stop walking the instant Nikky stands still,” she told us sternly. “And don’t lag too far behind, or else you’ll all get dragged along behind her like a bunch of bad water-skiers.”

This was such a wild picture that my mother and all six bridesmaids, me included, burst into mad fits of giggles. Jilly immediately whipped out her Polaroid camera and took a snap of us all, falling about hysterically, in our long dresses and flowery crowns.

There was only just enough time left for Mum to give us all our special bridesmaids’ lockets. They were on these incredibly fine gold chains with the SWEETEST tiny gold hearts on.

“Aaah,” said Jilly when we’d put them on. “That is the perfect finishing touch, Nikky. Don’t they all look cute!”

I was so proud of Kenny. I mean, imagine Laura MaKenzie allowing herself to be seen in public
looking cute
. That is TRUE friendship!!

But there she was, wearing her peach meringue, a flowery crown and a golden heart locket, with this dreamy little Mona Lisa smile on her face. (Later we found out that the smile was because she’d just thought up this wicked bridesmaid-survival strategy, which I’ll tell you later! But who cares – it worked!)

Suddenly I peeped out of the window and almost screamed my head off.

There was a
real Rolls Royce
parked outside our house! A genuine cream-coloured Rolls Royce, decorated with white ribbons. Mum’s wedding was really happening at last!!

“Remember, girls,” said Patsy fiercely. “Stay calm.”

“Peaches and Cream Squad – go go go!” commanded Jilly.

Amber rolled her eyes. “Mum, perleaze!”

“Please God, don’t let us trip up, and
please, please don’t let me get hiccups,” I heard Lyndz pray under her breath.

“Amen,” said Frankie fervently.

Then Patsy opened the door and all this lovely summer sunlight flooded in. This is too perfect, I thought tearfully. Even the weather is just TOO perfect.

We followed my mother down the garden path, solemnly keeping all her precious satin out of the dirt. (Now I understand why they call them trains. Mum’s practically went on for EVER.) But it wasn’t until we got outside that we saw just
how
special her train actually was.

A few metres above the hem, there was this big embroidered A.

Do you get it? Sure you do, you nutcase!

The A was for Andy!! Is that romantic or WHAT!!!

Oh, you did remember the ceremony wasn’t going to be in an actual church, didn’t you? We all had to drive out to this fabulous old Tudor house out in the country. Belvoir Manor, it’s called.

I got this absolute STORM of butterflies in
my tummy when we drove up and I saw all the crowds of people waiting for us. I didn’t recognise my step-dad at first in his morning coat. Honestly, it was so sweet! When Andy saw Mum in her wedding dress, he was totally lost for words!

He’d somehow found time to get a really smart haircut since we’d last seen him, and he really did look incredibly handsome. Plus I just
loved
his waistcoat. It was embroidered in exactly the same roses and hearts as Mum’s dress. Dave, the best man, was cracking these stupid jokes about how it was so Andy didn’t go home with the wrong bride by mistake. But Amber and I agreed that it made Mum and Andy look like they totally belonged together.

I’d have liked to give my step-dad a hug actually, but my official train-management duties made this impossible. So Andy made do with giving me a huge wink, and I gave him a very dignified bridesmaid’s smile!

The ceremony passed in a flash. I know you’ll be relieved to hear that absolutely no-one tripped over, and Lyndz
didn’t
have an
attack of her famous hiccups, thank goodness!

But the star of the show was definitely my little brother. I don’t think I mentioned what a terrible time we’d had getting Callum into his page-boy clothes earlier? I was probably trying to forget it!

Mum’s idea was for Callum to walk along with the wedding rings carefully balanced on a small velvet cushion. I had serious doubts about this. He’s not the most co-ordinated boy in the world, and his shoes had seriously slippy soles. He wasn’t walking really, so much as
skating
over the carpet.

But somehow, even with total strangers watching him, Callum managed to walk down that long strip of red carpet in his strange new page-boy outfit, plus he hung on to those rings like grim death!

I don’t think anyone minded that the tip of his tongue was sticking out the whole time. It was only because he was concentrating so hard. And even our vicar laughed when Callum puffed out his cheeks with relief and said, “So now can we have that cake, Mum?”

And suddenly it was over. Mum and Andy were married.
For real!

The wedding lunch was held in this big marquee. The food was just amazing. We’d all been loads too nervous to eat a bite of breakfast, so everyone was starving.

Mum and Andy had arranged for us bridesmaids to have a special table of our own. But for the first few minutes we all just stuffed our faces, and now and then one of us would go, “Wow, we actually did it.”

But eventually, we were all chatting away at once, like we always do.

“It’s so great of you guys to invite me to your big wedding sleepover tonight,” Amber said suddenly.

“Well, as we’re all going to be staying in Fliss’s house,” grinned Kenny, “it would be pretty rude to have it without you!”

Rosie looked shocked. “You didn’t have to say it like that,” she said. “Amber might think you mean it.”

But Amber just burst out laughing. In a funny way, I think Kenny teasing her made
her feel like she was really one of us.

By this time, all the speeches had started. I don’t know why grown-ups insist on having them, do you? Next to school assembly, speeches have to be the most boring invention on this planet.

While they were all going on (and on), everyone at our table carried on talking in whispers. Which is when Kenny shared her secret survival strategy to being a bridesmaid.

“I pretended I was invisible,” she said calmly. “You guys didn’t realise, but the sixth bridesmaid was totally invisible the whole time.”

Well,
honestly
– we all fell about. Can you seriously imagine an INVISIBLE bridesmaid helping to hold up a train? Spooky or what!

But by this time, all those angels who’d been busily protecting Lyndz all morning must have gone off duty. And you know what happens when Lyndz gets the giggles? That’s right. That girl just EXPLODED into big-time hiccups.

She’d only just gone back to her normal
colour (i.e. not purple) when everyone in the marquee suddenly went completely wild, all clapping and cheering and laughing.

I looked up in amazement, just in time to see Andy return to his seat beside Mum. For some reason they were both grinning like idiots.

“Wow,” breathed Amber. “I don’t know what your dad just said, Fliss, but everyone really, REALLY loved him.”

And all at once Mum was beside me, hugging all the breath out of me.

“Sorry you had to hear it like that, sweetheart,” she babbled. “We’d planned to tell you before we went away on our honeymoon. I don’t know what got into Andy, blurting it out in front of everyone like that!”

I struggled up for air. Mum was glowing with excitement.

“So what do you think?” she demanded. “I can’t believe I’ve been worrying myself to death all week, thinking something was wrong. And all the time everything was perfectly normal.”

I stared at her. “Mum, I haven’t a
clue
what you’re on about. What do you mean,
normal
?”

“Normal for twins, of course,” she cried. “Isn’t it amazing! I had the scan yesterday.”