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We’ve only just discovered green slime. Actually, it was Lyndz who invented it. Rosie was round at her house and they were helping Lyndz’s mum make green jelly. Lyndz was supposed to be stirring the jelly cubes in hot water to make them melt, but she was talking to Rosie and didn’t stir them enough. Then she put in just a bit too much cold water by mistake.
“Whoops!” Lyndz said. “Oh well. I don’t suppose it’ll matter,” and she tipped the whole lot into the bowl where it was meant to set… but it never did! It turned out all slithery and – well, slimy. The bits of jelly cube that hadn’t quite melted were floating on the top. When Lyndz and Rosie fished them out and ate them they were like jelly sweets – all rubbery. Ben, Lyndz’s little brother, thought it tasted gross, but Lyndz didn’t, and neither did Rosie. They ate the whole lot… with straws! We’ve been eating green slime ever since. It’s a Sleepover Club special!
“What else?” Lyndz asked. “What other food is creepy?”
I was playing with the pencil. “Um… I don’t know.”
“OK.” Frankie snatched the pencil off me and turned to face us all. “So what sort of things shall we do? How can we set it up so it’s really scary?” She wrote Plans! on the paper, and drew a creepy face with long pointy teeth underneath.
Fliss gave a little shiver. “We don’t want to go too far…”
We all started eyeballing each other and Fliss quickly shut up.
“Booby traps!” I said. “We ought to have booby traps! And horrible noises!”
Frankie let out a loud and horrible wail. She was sitting right next to me with chocolate crumbs all over her face… but still it sent a quivery chill up my spine. Fliss squeaked, and Rosie and Lyndz clutched each other.
“Wow!” I said. “Maybe we could tape you! That’d sound completely gruesome in the dark—”
I didn’t get a chance to finish. Frankie gave another wail and grabbed me. “Kenny. You’re a genius! That’s it. We’ll make the spookiest tape ever, full of shriekings and wailings!”
“And horrible gurglings!” shouted Rosie.
“Slow dragging footsteps!” yelled Lyndz.
Even Fliss was beginning to look enthusiastic.
We were so excited we didn’t hear the banging. We were all jumping up and down on my bed, and I was waving a pillow round and round – just as Molly burst through the door. It wasn’t my fault she walked straight into the pillow.
“Oooof!” Molly made an amazing spluttering noise and sat down on the bed with a flump. She looked so funny we all fell about laughing.
It was a pity Mum was right behind her. We had really and truly meant to tidy up all the crisps and crumbs – and of course we were going to make the beds. It’s always the same though, I expect you’ve noticed – no one ever surprises you when your room is all neat and tidy and spotlessly clean. No, it’s only ever when it’s totally upside down. And upside down was exactly what my half of the room was – and Molly’s half wasn’t much better.
We got it sorted out. Well, we had to. Mum stood in the doorway with her arms folded until it was back to normal. Molly tried to boss us about, too, but luckily the phone went and Mum sent her downstairs to answer it and she was gone ages.
I didn’t ask Mum about having a sleepover straight away. It didn’t seem quite the right moment. Just then she seemed really keen on getting rid of everybody – not on having them around. Still, I wasn’t too worried, I was sure I could find a way round her somehow, even if it meant doing the washing-up or some other gruesome task for a week. It was going to be the best sleepover ever – and nothing was going to stand in our way – we just had to make sure Molly didn’t stick her nose in and spoil it!
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After the gang had gone I went back inside expecting to find Molly waiting to yell and scream and throw a fit or two – all in my direction. I was ready for it – but it never happened! She was in the kitchen talking to Mum, and as I went past she actually waved at me – if you’d been there you would have heard my jaw fall thunk on the floor. I leant against the wall to recover. Yes, OK I leant against the wall to recover and to see if I could listen in and find out what was going on. Wouldn’t you have done the same?
“That’s fine,” I heard Mum say. “It’ll be nice for you to have a night away with a friend, and it’s not as if you have school the next day. You can collect your things when you get home from school, and I’ll give you your bus fare then.”
My jaw thunked on the floor for the second time in minutes. Molly going away? With a friend? And then it clicked… Mum had said she wouldn’t have any school the next day – Molly was going to be away on Friday night!
It took a ginormous effort not to dash to the phone that second and ring Frankie and Fliss and Lyndz and Rosie. But somehow I restrained myself. Somehow I managed to stay where I was until Mum and Molly had finished chatting, and Molly was back on the phone.
“Zoe?” she said. “Mum says it’s OK. I’ll zoom home from school and get my stuff, and then I’ll catch the first bus over.”
As soon as Molly was out of the way I wandered into the kitchen trying to look as if I didn’t really want anything. Mum was tidying up, so I thought it might be a good idea to hang up a few mugs. After all, it wasn’t that long since I’d been blasted for being messy, untidy, and a few other things that I couldn’t remember.
Mum looked at me suspiciously. “Hmm,” she said. “Let me guess… you want to have a sleepover here on Friday night.” Then she nodded. “I don’t see why not. It’ll be much easier for you with Molly away – but I want your room spotless by the time she comes back again!”
I gave her a huge hug. “I promise!” I said, and I meant it. Cross my heart and hope to die. Then I helped put away all the rest of the crockery.
I had to wait until school the next day to tell the others. Mum said the phone bill was already staggering under the weight of all my calls, and I’d only said goodbye to my friends half an hour before. When I burst into the cloakroom and told them that the sleepover was all fixed and Molly was going to be away Frankie whooped, Lyndz cheered and Rosie grinned all over her face. Only Fliss shuffled a bit.
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “You’re not chickening out after all, are you?”
Frankie banged Fliss on the back. “You said you’d come!”
Lyndz nodded. “It wouldn’t be the same without you,” she said.
Fliss started to look really pleased. For a moment I felt bad, and I wondered if we were a bit hard on Fliss sometimes.
Then she shuffled her feet again. “It’s the burglar,” she said. “My mum isn’t sure if I should spend the night away from home.”
We all stared at her. “Burglar?” Rosie said. “What burglar?”
“It was in The Mercury,” Fliss said. “Three houses were broken into last week, and another one this week. One of the houses was just round the corner from where I live!”
Frankie gave a loud snort. “You’ll be just as safe at Kenny’s house as you are at home,” she said. “After all, it’s only a burglar – it’s not a murderer.”
Fliss went even pinker. “My mum says it might not be safe. She says burglars often murder people if they get in their way.”
Frankie made another snorting noise, but Lyndz patted Fliss’s arm. “We could come and collect you,” she said. “I could ask my mum to drive us both to Kenny’s house.”
Fliss looked a lot happier. “That would be great,” she said.
I wasn’t really taking much notice. I was thinking that things were getting better by the minute. Friday 13th – no Molly – a spooky sleepover – and now a burglar on the loose! What more could we ask for?
“Hey!” I said. “Maybe we could hunt down the burglar and catch him! Is there a reward, Fliss?”
Lyndz gave me a push. “Shut up!” she hissed, because Fliss was staring at me in her rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights kind of way. Catching burglars was about the last thing she would think of as fun.
“Just kidding,” I said, but I didn’t look at Frankie. I was pretty sure that she was thinking the same as me. But we didn’t have time to discuss the sleepover any more, because the bell for registration rang.
At lunchtime we got into a huddle to talk about the food, and Fliss was a lot more cheerful. She said she’d make a green cake, and when Rosie said she hoped it would be green inside, as well as having green icing, Fliss giggled and said, “Of course it will.”
I wondered if Fliss would have green hair ribbons to match.
“Bags I make the green spaghetti,” Rosie said. “I’ll put currants in it, and they’ll look like dead flies.”
“Or spiders without legs!” said Fliss, and we all laughed.
Lyndz said she’d already had an idea for a scary pizza. “What?” Frankie asked, but Lyndz shook her head and wouldn’t say. She’s completely brilliant at cooking so we didn’t make her tell us. If she had a good idea it was worth waiting for!
“I don’t mind doing the green slime and the jelly spiders and worms,” I said. “But what are you going to do, Frankie?”
Frankie rolled her eyes. “Wait and see!” she said. “Slugs and snails and puppy dog’s tails!”
“Yuck!” said Fliss, but she didn’t look totally grossed out.
You know I said how my jaw kept falling open so I looked like a gasping goldfish? Well, it happened again. As I staggered in through our front door that afternoon, I met Emma coming out with some girl I didn’t know.
“Hi,” I said, although I didn’t expect a reply. Sometimes Emma pretends I’m invisible when she’s with someone. Either that, or she talks to me as if I’m about six and she’s my ageing aunt. Today I was lucky, this time it was the ageing aunt.
“Hi,” she said, and ruffled my hair. She knows I hate it, but she still goes on doing it. “Look, Jade – this is my kid sister, Laura.”
Jade gave me the sort of look you’d give a passing beetle. “Oh,” she said.
“She’s got loads of funny little friends,” Emma said. “They have a club, and they all sleep over at each other’s houses. Cute, isn’t it?”
Jade didn’t look as if she agreed, but she nodded anyway. “Yeah. Cute.”
Emma ruffled my hair again. “You can really have fun on Friday, little sister,” she said. “I’m going to stay with Jade for the weekend. And she and the strange girl walked off.
I stood and stared after them, my jaw doing its thunking thing. Emma was going away for the whole weekend. Wow! And an idea crept into my head, and once it was there it grew and grew and grew: if I put all Molly’s things in Emma’s room, I could clear my room right out! For the first time ever we could have loads and loads of space!
I could just imagine it. No Molly hanging around telling us not to touch her things. No squeezing three extra sleeping bags onto the tiny bit of floor between my bed and Molly’s. I could push Molly’s bed right against the wall, push the dressing table back… or we could move the beds the other way… I dashed to the phone to tell Frankie, and to ask her to come round as early as she could on Friday to help.
Frankie was just as pleased as I was. Then she said something that I’d been thinking. I’d been thinking it, but not saying it on purpose. I suppose I was being superstitious – you can’t be too careful around Friday 13th, can you? But then Frankie came right out and said it.
“It all seems too good to be true,” she said. “Isn’t Friday 13th meant to be an unlucky day?”
So I’m blaming all the things that happened after that on Frankie.
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I woke up really early on Friday 13th. Molly was still fast asleep with her mouth wide open. Gross! I thought about seeing if I could flip something in, but I decided not to. After all, she was going to be away for the night of our sleepover. Maybe if I was nice to her she’d go away again…
I decided to start fixing up some of the booby traps and tricks ready for the evening. Frankie was coming home with me after school to make our scary tape and to help move the bedroom furniture… but I thought there was no harm in getting started. And anyway, I had to plan something special for Frankie! I slid out of bed and tiptoed out of the room.
Down in the kitchen I had a good look round. I knew exactly what I wanted to do – I wanted to arrange something so that Frankie had a fright. Yes, I know she’s my very best mate – but she wouldn’t be angry with me, she’d just think it was really funny. Besides, I had a sneaky feeling that she might have a plan or two up her sleeve for me, too.
I stared at the cupboards, hoping for inspiration. It didn’t help much, so I opened a few doors and peered in. Flour? Could be useful. Sticky syrup? Maybe. I opened a jar of raisins, and ate some. Looking at them made me giggle – they looked just like mouse droppings! A few in the corner of my room might be fun… Fliss might be fooled for a minute or two! But what could I do that Frankie wouldn’t expect? She was bound to be suspicious of drawers and cupboards in my room… I needed a much more cunning idea! I ate a few more raisins and climbed on a stool to look in the top cupboard… and then it happened.
Whoooooosh!
I nearly died of fright. Something soft and dusty and furry flew straight at me. I fell off the stool with a crash. My heart was pounding and my knees had turned to jelly as I stared wildly… at my old hot-water bottle!
OK, OK, I know. hot-water bottles are pink and rubbery. But remember when you were little and relatives gave you furry, cat-cover hot-water bottles, and brown, teddy hot-water bottles, and cosy clown hot-water bottles? One Christmas I had four! Talk about boring. And I hate hot-water bottles anyway – I’m always worried they might burst and splurge boiling water all over me while I’m asleep.
So Mum had put them away. And obviously this was one of them. I picked it up. It was a furry black cat, but it was totally covered in dust – it must have been in the top cupboard for ages and ages. Then, while I was looking at it, a ginormous light bulb switched itself on in my head. This was it! This could be my special surprise for Frankie! After all, it had scared me silly; I was still feeling fluttery inside. As it had done that to me – wouldn’t it do just the same to Frankie? Yes! I said to myself. Yes! Yes! Yes!
I was about to put the cat back exactly how it had been, when I had another thought. I grabbed the bag of flour and gave it a thorough dusting… just for that little extra effect. Then I climbed back on the stool. I could see why the cat had sprung out the way it did. The cupboard was so small I had to bend the hot-water bottle to fit it in, which made a natural spring! I grinned happily as I wiped my hands and put the flour back on the shelf.
“Laura? Don’t tell me you’ve got up early just to make your old dad a cup of tea!”
I jumped in a guilty sort of way, but Dad didn’t notice. He was looking his usual morning self – all crumpled, and half-asleep. I didn’t want to make him suspicious, so I put the kettle on without making a fuss, while he got out the teapot and cups. Then I made us both some toast, fetched the paper and we sat down to breakfast together.
“This is a very pleasant surprise,” Dad said, and he yawned. “It’ll set me up for a terrible day. I’ve got surgery, then house calls, and then this evening I’ve got to go to a meeting… and I’m introducing the speaker so I’ve got to dash back here and get all dressed up in my suit.”
“Poor old Dad,” I said, and I meant it. He works really hard and is always having to dash around all over the place. It’s a tough life being a doctor – but that hasn’t put me off!
“Look at this!” Dad said suddenly. He was reading the paper. “There’s been another burglary! In just the next street. Well, they’d better not try getting in here. There’s nothing for them to take, but it won’t hurt to be careful.”
“I’ll make sure all the doors and windows are shut before I leave,” I said. “And I’ll tell Mum to be extra careful, too.”
After I’d finished my toast I went to get ready for school. Molly looked very surprised when she saw I was up before her, but she didn’t make any nasty remarks. I decided it must be because she had a friend. Wow, I thought. This is actually turning out to be a Really Good Day!
All through assembly I kept thinking of how I’d jumped when that dusty old cat flew out at me. It made me smile, and Frankie started to give me sideways looks.
“What was so funny?” she asked when we all met up at first break.
“Nothing,” I said. “I was just thinking about tonight.”
Lyndz gave a little whoop. “Just wait till you see my pizza!” she said. “Tom helped me – we had a totally ace idea!”
“My spaghetti’s turned out a bit odd,” Rosie said. “We didn’t have any green food colouring so I thought I could mix blue and yellow, but it hasn’t really worked.”
“You should have phoned me,” Fliss said. “My mum bought two kinds of green for my cake.”
Frankie nudged at me. Trust Fliss.
Fliss saw the nudge, and pulled a face at us. “My mum says if a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Anyway, you haven’t told us what you’re bringing yet, Frankie?”
“Ah! Wait and see. It’s a surprise,” Frankie said.
“I didn’t see you carrying anything to school,” Fliss said. “And aren’t you going straight home with Kenny?”
“Congratulations!” Frankie banged Fliss on the back. “I proclaim you… Felicity Sidebotham, Junior Detective!”
“I was only wondering,” Fliss said, sounding all huffy.
“Well, you’ll just have to keep guessing,” Frankie said. “Nothing will be revealed until tonight… the night of Friday 13th!” And she made a ghoulish face.
Rosie squeaked, and we all laughed – Fliss too. Then the bell went, and we had to go back into lessons.
That afternoon, on the way back from school, I looked at Frankie’s school bag slung on her back – Fliss was right, it didn’t look as if there was anything much in it at all.
“Have you really made something for tonight?” I asked.
“Wait and see!” Frankie said, and I knew it wouldn’t be any good asking her any more about it. She’s brilliant at keeping secrets. I wouldn’t find out about this one until she was ready!
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Emma wasn’t there, of course, when Frankie and I crashed in through the front door. She was already safely on her way to her friend Jade’s house. Molly was still at home, though. She growled at us when we charged into our bedroom.
