Emergency Sleepover (4 page)

All through the first lesson I rehearsed what I was going to say to Mrs Poole. When the bell went for break, my head was like a washing machine with all these ideas whizzing around in it. I was sure that as soon as I opened my mouth I’d only be able to spout out rubbish.

“I guess we’d better get this over with,” I told the others as we nervously made our way to the Head’s office.

“Ooh, have you been naughty girls, then?” chimed our Number One enemies the M&Ms, Emma Hughes and Emily Berryman, when they saw where we were going.

“Not yet, but I might be very naughty in a minute,” I said menacingly, thudding my fist into my palm with a smack.

“What are we going to do if she’s still in a bad mood?” whispered Fliss as we waited outside the door.

“I’ll think of something,” I reassured her.

“Ah girls, come in.” Mrs Poole opened the door to her office and ushered us inside. At least she didn’t seem to be in quite such a bad mood.

“Now what was all that about this morning? I caught something about fundraising for the Children’s Ward at Queen Mary’s. Perhaps you’d like to explain the rest to me, Laura.
Slowly
!”

I took a deep breath and told her everything – about Rosie’s accident, about there being no books or toys for children in hospital, about our idea for the Mufti Day and about the scavenger hunt. When I’d finished I felt all hot and red in the face, but the others all grinned at me and Frankie gave me a thumbs-up.

“Well, that’s very interesting,” said Mrs Poole, whipping off her glasses and squinting at us. “I had been trying to organise a Games Evening for our fundraising event this year. But the bingo caller rang up last night to say that he couldn’t make it. And the quiz questions I’ve been sent are ones we’ve used before.”

We all looked at each other. So that explained why Mrs Poole had been in such a bad mood that morning.

“So,” she continued, “your ideas are very timely Now, using the school’s Fundraising Day for a scavenger hunt. Hmm. And paying not to wear school uniform – yes, I can see how that might be popular. And the staff will…”

“… have to wear
school uniform
for the day!” piped up Frankie.

The rest of us stared at her – we’d never mentioned that before.

“Oh!” Mrs Poole looked shocked too. “Ah… Well, now. I was going to suggest that the staff will help to organise things. Look girls, you’ll have to leave this with me so I can think about it. I’ll give you my answer this afternoon.”

We all trooped out of her office.

“What did you have to say that for?” I turned on Frankie as soon as we were in the playground again. “She’d virtually agreed to everything and you have to come up with something like that. I mean, come on! Can you really see Mrs Poole wearing one of these stupid skirts?”

“They’re not
that
different from the stuff she normally wears,” reasoned Rosie.

“That’s not the point,” I argued. “We had Mrs Poole in the palm of our hand and you have to come up with a dumb suggestion like that. Whatever possessed you, Frankie?”

“I dunno,” Frankie grinned. “I just thought it would be a laugh, that’s all.”

Remember when I told you that Frankie could still be wild? Well, this was definitely one of those times!

“At least our ideas sound better than some boring Games Evening,” said Rosie brightly.

We all had to agree with that.

Even so, all the rest of the day my stomach churned up whenever I thought about what Mrs Poole was going to say. If she didn’t agree to our plans, I’d feel as though I’d let down Jake and all those other kids in hospital. And because I was so worried, I couldn’t pay any attention to the rest of the lessons. Mrs Weaver’s used to me being a bit weird during maths lessons so she didn’t really notice any difference. But I couldn’t even concentrate on
games
, which was our last lesson of the day. And let me tell you, I can usually play netball with my eyes closed.

Of course, the M&Ms thought it was just the best laugh ever when I kept dropping the ball, or moving my feet before I threw it.

“Mrs Poole must really have told you off this morning!” smirked Emma Hughes. Her stupid mate Emily Berryman just sniggered in that annoying way she has. Miss Burnie blew her whistle.

“Come on girls, let’s get on with the game. It’s a free throw to Emma’s team –
again
, Kenny. Do try to concentrate, this isn’t like you at all.”

I could see Emma and Emily pulling faces at me, and something just flipped. I still had the ball in my hand, and instead of passing it to them, I threw it as hard as I could. WHACK! It hit Emma’s arm, and she started screaming like she’d been punched by Lennox Lewis or something.

“You’re for it now!” growled Emily, looking over my shoulder. “Here comes Mrs Poole.”

I couldn’t believe it. Of all the times for her to appear! She
definitely
wasn’t going to agree to our plans now, was she?

“Could I have a word, Laura?” she shouted. “It won’t take a moment.”

My heart was in my boots as I went over to join her. It didn’t help that Emma hissed through her sobs:

“You’ll be in big trouble now, McKenzie!”

Rosie, who had been watching from the side, hobbled over to me. Frankie, Lyndz and Fliss hurried over too.

“Girls!” called Mrs Burnie, “I don’t think Mrs Poole needs you too.”

But Mrs Poole called them back.

“This affects all of you!” she told us seriously. We held our breath.

“I would just like to say, Laura…” she began slowly.

My heart was beating like a drum.

“… that you’ve shown great initiative!” she smiled. “You can have your fundraising ideas!”

We all started jumping around with excitement.

“Now, you do know that there’ll be a lot of work to do, don’t you?”

“Oh yes, Mrs Poole!” I tried to compose myself. “We’ve got everything worked out already.”

“Good, well, you can tell me all about it after school on Friday, can’t you? Our annual Fundraising Day is planned for the first Saturday of half-term, in two weeks’ time. So I thought we could have your Mufti Day on the Friday and the scavenger hunt on the Saturday. A double-whammy, you might say!” Mrs Poole began to chuckle. “That will give you enough time to organise everything, won’t it?”

“Ooh yes!” I nodded seriously, ignoring the others who were starting to look rather green.

“I’ve asked Mrs Weaver if your class can make some posters in an art lesson and she agreed. Right then, I’ll see you in my office after school on Friday. And congratulations again on showing such initiative!”

We waited until she was out of earshot before we cracked up. When we’d calmed down Frankie said:

“It’s going to take more than ‘great initiative’ to pull this off, you know. It’s going to take a
miracle
!”

And the hugeness of what we’d promised to do suddenly hit home. It was going to take all the cunning and determination of the Sleepover Club to pull this off. And I have to be honest with you – for once, I really wasn’t at all sure that we were up to the job…

When we were getting changed after the games lesson, panic really began to set in.

“What are we going to do?” asked Fliss anxiously. “You lied to Mrs Poole and said that we were organised and we’re not at all!”

“It’s going to turn into a disaster, I can tell,” moaned Rosie.

“Look, we’ve got until Friday to come up with the goods, haven’t we?” I reassured them. “And you’re all coming back to mine now, aren’t you? So we can make a start on our plans straightaway. Simple!”

I don’t think the others believed me, and I wasn’t sure that I really believed myself. But Mum always says that if you think positive, it helps you to act positive.

It takes us quite a while to get anywhere these days, because we have to slow down for Rosie on her crutches. When we finally did make it home, we were all pretty thirsty. So we had a Coke break, then a crisp stop, and then we’d hardly any time left before everyone had to go home.

“Come on, we’d better plan
something
,” Fliss said in exasperation. “But where do we start?”

“Well, I reckon we should concentrate on the scavenger hunt,” suggested Frankie. “As long as everyone knows about Mufti Day, all we’ll have to do is collect the money.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed. “And Pooley said that we were going to make posters in our art class. So as soon as they’re put up around school, everyone will know about it anyway.”

“OK then, what about the scavenger hunt?” asked Lyndz.

We all looked blank. When I said that in the past we’ve always suggested having a scavenger hunt, well – that’s as far as we’ve ever got. We’ve never actually thought about the route it should take, or clues or anything.

“We could just use our gardens, I suppose,” suggested Rosie. “You know, plant clues in each one, like Lyndz’s brothers did last term.”

“Only without the joke bit thrown in,” groaned Lyndz. Her brothers had scared us silly with a stupid ghost trick – but that’s another story, I guess!

“I think we need to send everyone to lots of different places to keep them guessing,” said Frankie thoughtfully. “That’s where the clues come in.”

“But what if no-one wants to take part anyway?” said Lyndz.

“We’ll need a big prize to attract people, “Fliss piped up.

“Hey, good thinking, Batman!” I laughed, slapping her on the back and making her cough. “What we need is a prize which doesn’t cost us any money!”

“You don’t ask for very much, do you?” Frankie grimaced. “We could all donate something of our own, I suppose.”

“Nah!” I shook my head. “We need a prize that will appeal to everybody. There might be some adults who want to take part, and I don’t suppose a couple of old CDs and a football magazine would interest
them
.”

“We ought to get a big company to sponsor the scavenger hunt,” Frankie announced after a few minutes’ pause.

“What, you mean sponsor people to take part in it?” asked Fliss. She looked ever so confused.

“No dummy, they’d provide the prize!” laughed Frankie.

We all sat around racking our brains trying to think who could help us out. Then I spotted a carrier bag in the corner.

“I know, I know!”

I leapt to my feet, climbed on to the sofa and started bouncing around.

“What about Pricebusters supermarket? They’re always supporting local charities. I’m
sure
they’d help. And they could provide the baked beans for my bath too!”

The others whooped and joined me on the sofa. Apart from Rosie, of course. She just sort of hopped around on the carpet.

My horrible sister Molly the Monster suddenly burst into the room.

“MUM!” she bellowed at the top of her voice. “Kenny’s bouncing on the sofa again. Shall I make her get off before she wrecks it?”

We all scrambled down. And by the time Mum came in, we were sitting quietly, pretending to make notes about the scavenger hunt. Mum looked at our flushed faces and wasn’t taken in at all.

“Don’t tell tales, Molly!” she scolded, ushering her out of the room. “And Kenny, it’s bad enough you ruining your bed by bouncing on it without spoiling this furniture for the rest of us as well.”

“Sorry Mum,” I mumbled. Then I smiled at her ever so sweetly. “Will it be OK if I go to the supermarket after school tomorrow? There’s something I’ve got to ask the manager. And can we have a sleepover here in a couple of weeks’ time? It’s for a sort of celebration, you see.”

Mum looked at us slowly.

“Well you’d better tell me what all this is about first, Kenny. But I don’t see why you can’t have a sleepover.”

“Yes-s!” the others all cheered.

“But,” Mum continued seriously, “if you’re planning another of your harebrained schemes, I suggest you other girls get approval from your parents too. Speaking of which…” She looked at her watch. “I think it’s probably time you were making tracks home now.”

And with that, Mum went out.

“Right, this is the plan,” I told the others before they left. “We mention the scavenger hunt to our parents tonight and see if they can help us out.”