Читать книгу Sleepover Girls on Safari - Angie Bates, Narinder Dhami - Страница 7

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.