Sleepover Girls Go Karting (4 page)

“Well, we’ve only just started karting,” Frankie explained. “But, yes, we are.”

“Come and see mine,” said Charlie, and she led us over to a really sad-looking kart. It wasn’t even painted, it was just made of bare metal.

“Er – very nice,” said Fliss awkwardly.

“Don’t worry, I’m doing it up!” Charlie said with a grin. “I’ve just got to tinker with a few bits and pieces, and then I’ll paint it.”

“You’re not going to paint it black and gold, are you?” I asked, winking at the others. “Because there’s someone who might not be too pleased if you do!”

Charlie grinned even wider. “Oh, you’ve met Josh, I see.”

“Yeah, worse luck!” I replied.

“He’s a right creep,” Frankie chimed in.

“And smug with it,” Rosie added.

“He keeps winding us up,” Lyndz explained.

“Do you know him?” Fliss asked.

“You could say that,” Charlie replied. “He’s my brother!’

We all nearly
died
. If a big hole had opened up right in front of us, we’d have jumped straight into it, I swear. We all started saying sorry, and that we didn’t really mean it. Meanwhile, Charlie was laughing fit to bust.

“It’s OK,” she said. “I know he can be a right pain sometimes. He’s been getting up
my nose ever since Dad bought this place a few weeks ago.”

“Are you into karting too, then?” Rosie asked.

Charlie nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been karting for years. But I prefer doing up old karts, while Josh likes to have the latest model on the market. That one he’s driving at the moment cost a fortune.”

“So what does Josh think about you karting?” Frankie asked. “He says it’s a man’s sport!”

Charlie shrugged. “Yeah, more boys than girls are into it, that’s true. But the girls are just as good. Josh is just winding you up!”

“Hey, Kenny, we’d better get a move on.” Frankie slapped me on the shoulder. “Your mum’s probably looking for us.”

“OK,” I said reluctantly. I would’ve liked to stay and chat to Charlie a bit longer – she was cool!

“Are you coming on Saturday?” Charlie asked. “We’ve got a special race day on, with team races and prizes.”

“Team races?” Frankie said, looking interested.

“Yeah, teams of five.” Charlie grinned at us. “So you’ll be OK!”

“Hear that, guys?” I said excitedly, as we waved goodbye to Charlie and went back into the arena. “The team races sound mega-cool!”

“And we’ve still got tomorrow to practise for them,” Lyndz pointed out.

“Maybe we could all wear the same T-shirt or something on Saturday,” Rosie suggested. “To show we’re a team.”

“Yeah, we could customise them with fabric paints,” Fliss said. “Like we did when we played five-a-side football that time.”

“We could do that tomorrow night when we sleep over at Lyndz’s,” Frankie added.

When we went back into the arena, there was some sort of presentation going on. There was a little stage to one side of the track, a bit like those platforms the medal-winners stand on in the Olympics, and Josh
Mr Smug
Stevens was standing on top of it, looking as if he’d just won a gold medal.

“Oh, knickers!” Frankie groaned. “He must’ve won the final!”

“Yeah, well, he won’t be winning everything for much longer,” I said confidently, “because the Sleepover Club is on hot on his trail!”

“Uh-oh!” I nudged Frankie hard in the ribs with my elbow. “Creep alert! Pass it on!”

It was the following day, and we were back at the Silver Streak karting centre. My mum had moaned a bit about having to spend the morning there again, so this time she’d dropped us off and was coming back for us later. Meanwhile, we were all totally fired up about taking part in the team races on Saturday. We were taking our plain white T-shirts round to Lyndz’s place tonight so that we could paint them, and we were going to discuss race tactics too (OK, so none of us
knew
very much about race tactics but it sounded good!).

Anyway, we’d just arrived in the arena when I spotted Josh. He was sitting in the café with a glass of Coke in front of him, and Alex and Robin were in the queue at the counter. We were all glaring at him when Josh happened to look round and see us. He grinned, and beckoned us over.

“Who does he think he is, the king?” I muttered, as we reluctantly went over to the rail which separated the café tables from the main arena. I would’ve ignored him, but I didn’t want him to realise just how much he was winding us up.

“Well, I didn’t expect to see
you
here today, girls,” Josh said mockingly, raising his eyebrows. “I mean, you’re obviously rubbish at karting! Why don’t you just give up?”

“Why don’t
you
go and play in the traffic?” I retorted.

“Not if you lot are driving!” Josh replied, and then laughed his head off as if he’d said something really funny.

“Hey, Josh.” That was Robin calling from
the front of the café. “Do you want another Coke?”

Josh turned round. “Yeah, and get me a fudge brownie, a Crunchie and a Mars Bar. No, wait a sec, I’ll have a Twix instead of a Crunchie.”

While Josh was talking to Robin, he had his back to us. Quick as a flash, I leaned over the rail, grabbed the salt cellar off the table and up-ended it into his glass of Coke. I had just enough time to dump a whole lot of it in there before he turned back to us again. By the time he did, we were all standing there looking like butter wouldn’t melt in our mouths.

“Like I told you, girls,” Josh went on, “karting’s for
boys
.” He picked up his glass of Coke, and we all held our breath. “You could practise all day and you’d never be as good as me in a million years—URRRRGH!”

We all roared as Josh took a huge mouthful of Coke, pulled a disgusted face and then spat it out all over the table.

“That’s horrible!” he spluttered furiously, wiping his mouth. “It tastes salty!”

By this time we were almost weeping with laughter. I was laughing so much I couldn’t even stand up straight, and I had to hold on to Fliss because my knees were giving way.

“You did that!” Josh leapt to his feet, looking as if he was about to explode with rage. “You put salt in my drink!”

“Prove it!” I retorted coolly, as we all sauntered off, still grinning.

“Serves him right,” Fliss said with satisfaction, as we heard Josh yelling at Alex and Robin to get him a glass of water.

“Brilliant move, Kenny!” Rosie slapped me on the back.

“Yeah, class, Kenny!” Lyndz agreed.

“That was one of your better ideas, Kenny,” Frankie remarked.

“Thanks,” I said modestly. Now all we had to do was beat Josh Stevens in today’s races, and our revenge would be complete!

We had to wait a little while to take part in our first practice session as one had already started, so we went over to watch the action on the adult track for a bit. It was only a
practice session, but there was one kart which was well ahead of the others all the time. The driver was really good, and when the kart pulled off into the pit stop, we realised that it was Charlie Stevens. So we went over to say hello.

“I’m just about to start painting my kart,” Charlie explained, taking off her helmet and shaking her hair out. “D’you fancy giving me a hand for a bit?”

“Sure,” I replied, and the others looked really keen too.

We followed Charlie outside. She’d already put the base coat on to the metal, so the kart was ready to paint.

“What colours are you using?” Rosie asked.

“Purple and silver,” Charlie replied, prising the lids off the tins of paint with a screwdriver. “I thought I’d call it
Silver Flash
.”

“Hey, my favourite colours!” Frankie grinned. “You could paint some lightning flashes on it, Charlie.”

“Good idea,” Charlie agreed.

While we were painting, we asked Charlie what would happen in the team races on Saturday. She told us that each member of the team would take part in two races each, and everyone got points, even if they came last. The team who got the most points overall would be the winner.

“So it’s really important to keep trying hard, even if you’re only third or fourth,” Charlie explained. “The higher you finish, the more points your team gets.”

“Will Josh be in the team races?” I asked, trying to finish off the part I was painting without getting any in Fliss’s hair. She was crouched down in front of me doing a bit near the wheels.

“Oh yeah, with Alex and Robin and another couple of his mates.” Charlie grinned at me. “I’ll let you into a little secret. His other mates, Ben and Nathan, aren’t as good at karting as Josh is.”

“Oh, excellent!” I crowed. “That means we stand a better chance of beating them!”

“That’s what we like about you, Kenny,” Frankie remarked, carefully finishing off the
bit she was doing. “You’re such a good sport!”

“Fliss, what’s that in your hair?” Rosie asked. “It looks like paint!”

“Kenny, you total idiot!” Fliss yelled, grabbing a rag and trying to clean herself up.

“Sorry, I got a bit over-excited,” I said apologetically.

“Hey, why don’t we all wear some hair mascara tomorrow as well?” Rosie suggested. “We could match it to our T-shirts.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Fliss brightened up immediately, so I was off the hook. Phew!

We didn’t have time to help Charlie finish the kart because our practice session was due to begin. But Charlie promised that, in return for our help, she’d give us some driving tips before the team races tomorrow. So we were all well pleased when we went back into the arena.

“I reckon we’ve got a great chance in these team races,” I said eagerly. “Especially if Charlie’s going to help us.”

“Yeah, we can use today’s individual races to practise for tomorrow,” Frankie agreed.

Meanwhile, Rosie was looking gloomy. “ I know I was the worst driver yesterday,” she said. “I’m not going to score many points, am I?”

“I wasn’t that brilliant either, Rosie,” Lyndz said quickly. “So you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to pretend my kart’s a horse!”

You know how crazy Lyndz is about horse-riding, but that was just a bit too weird! We all stared at her.

“Well, it’s not
that
different, is it?” Lyndz muttered.

“Oh no,
every
horse has got a brake and an accelerator!” I grinned.

“And since when did you see a horse with a steering wheel attached to its neck?” Frankie snorted.

“OK, OK,” Lyndz said, as we all fell about laughing. “But I still think it’ll help.”

“Just don’t try giving your kart a lump of sugar!” I warned her, as we went over to get kitted up. Then Frankie grabbed my arm.

“Hey, guys,” she said, a big grin spreading across her face as she pointed at the track. “Check it out!”

We all looked over at the track, where the last practice session was just finishing. Most of the karts had already pulled into the pit stop, but there were a few still completing their last lap. There was one kart right at the back which looked as if it was being driven by someone who hadn’t got a
clue
what they were doing. The kart was going really slowly and weaving from side to side. The driver slowed down even more as they got near to a bend, so that the kart was practically crawling along. It was the worst bit of driving I’d ever seen.

“Oh, I
really
hope that driver’s in my race tomorrow!” Rosie said longingly, as the kart pulled off the track. “I’ll be able to beat them for sure!”

“A snail with a limp would beat that driver!” I said, disgusted. “I wonder who it is?”

We all watched curiously as the driver took her helmet off. Then we all groaned loudly. It was only Alana Banana Palmer, the doziest girl in our school!

“I might’ve known.” Frankie rolled her eyes. “Only Alana Banana could drive like that!”

“I hope that doesn’t mean the M&Ms are here!” Fliss said anxiously.

Alana Banana is kind of friendly with our big enemies, the M&Ms (otherwise known as the Gruesome Twosome), which is one reason why we don’t like her very much. But Alana’s generally a bit too dozy to seriously annoy us.

“No, it looks like she’s here with her brother,” Rosie said with relief, as Alana wandered over to a younger boy and a couple of other kids.

“Thank goodness,” Lyndz sighed. “It would’ve been awful if we had to try and beat Josh Stevens
and
the M&Ms.”

“Nah, it would’ve been cool!” I said confidently. “We’re gonna do really well today – I can feel it in my bones!”

“Just don’t break any, OK?” Frankie said jokingly.

Guess what? Our short practice session went brilliantly! Frankie and Fliss were definitely the best drivers, but I wasn’t far behind, and even Lyndz and Rosie did much better. If pretending the kart was a horse meant Lyndz
felt more at home, I didn’t care how weird it was! OK, I admit that a lot of it had been just talk when I kept saying we were going to do well in the team races tomorrow, but now I was really beginning to feel that we had a chance. And now that the practice sessions were over, if we could do well in today’s individual races it would give us a real boost for tomorrow.

“OK, guys,” I said confidently, as we went to find out which heats we would all be racing in. “Let’s go for it today, and see how many of us can get into the final!”

“I’ll tell you how many,” Smarmy Stevens’ snooty voice chimed in from behind us. “Zilch!”

“Oh, it’s you.” I turned round, and smiled sweetly at him and his two sad mates. “Enjoy your Coke?”

Josh turned a sort of dark red colour, and stomped off without saying anything.

“You shouldn’t wind Josh up like that,” Alex said accusingly.

“Why not?” I said. “I enjoy it!”

“Josh’ll be out to get you now!” Robin said, and then the two of them rushed after him.

Frankie frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Oh, relax, Franks,” I shrugged. “They’re just trying to annoy us. What can Josh Stevens do to us?”

Good question…