Sleepover Girls on the Range

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Now you must remember what happened in the scavenger hunt! We’re still laughing about it. We didn’t think the M&Ms were going to take part in the hunt at all, so you could have knocked us down with a feather when they turned up with their mates. They were determined to win the prize, you see. We were seriously worried when we thought they actually might win the thing. We came up with loads of cunning plans to try to put them off the scent, but it was Fliss’s mum, of all people, who managed to do the job for us! They got disqualified from the competition completely. So that’s why they were planning their pay-back time.

Anyway, just at that moment I wasn’t concerned about their stupid revenge. I was more concerned about Fliss.

“We’d better get someone to look at you, “I told her gently, helping her to her feet.

Poor Fliss – she was crying but trying not to. Both her palms were grazed and she had a nasty gash to her right knee which blood was starting to trickle from.

“Ouch, that looks nasty!” said Rosie sympathetically.

Kenny cast her eye over it. “Well you certainly need to get all the grit out of there,” she said in her best doctor’s voice. “But you’ll live!”

“Th…thanks a lot!” sobbed Fliss, and hobbled inside with the rest of us supporting her.

Well, so much for me telling the others my news. By the time Fliss was sorted out it was the end of break time. So that meant I had to wait until after lunch before I could tell them. We don’t all eat our lunch together, you see. At our school the people who bring packed lunches can’t eat with the people who have school dinners. Crazy I know, but there you go. And as Kenny isn’t really fussy about what she eats, she always has a cooked lunch. We tease her about eating sheeps’ eyeballs and stuff but she just says, “Yum, yum!” and licks her lips!

Anyway, as I wanted to tell all the others my news at the same time, I had to wait. And by the time we were all settled down on the grass together, I was absolutely bursting with it.

“You know that I had something to tell you? Well, Mrs McAllister is planning something special for the opening of her new stable block—” I began.

“And she wants us to plan another Stable Fun Day?” asked Rosie. “Cool!”

“Well not exactly,” I tried to continue. “I think she’s planning more of an Open Day. But the thing is—”

“I’m not getting on a horse again!” snapped Fliss.

“You don’t have to, Fliss, because—”

Suddenly there were gales of laughter from the bushes behind us.

“You got a bit carried away the last time you were on a horse, didn’t you Felicity?”

It was the Gruesome Twosome! They’d only been earwigging, hadn’t they?

“Right that’s it!” Kenny leapt up and dashed into the bushes.

Branches snapped, and there were stifled screams and shouts of “Gerroff, you moron!” Then we heard the M&Ms scrambling out through the back of the bushes and running away.

When Kenny emerged, she was holding a fistful of hair and looking very pleased with herself.

“That should keep them quiet for a while!”

The rest of us were kind of shocked. I mean, there was enough hair there to stuff a cushion. The M&Ms would have bald patches for sure.

“Kenny!” Even Frankie seemed shocked. “I mean, pulling their hair out, that’s a bit strong, isn’t it?”

Kenny snorted with laughter. “I didn’t pull it out, dumbo! It just got caught on all the branches as they tried to run away from me.”

There’s nothing we like better than getting one over on our rivals! Except perhaps …

“My news! I almost forgot!” I leapt up. “Mrs McAllister said that…”

“Come on, girls!” Mrs Weaver was heading towards us. “Didn’t you hear the bell? Hurry up, you’re going to be late!”

Talk about bad timing! Was I ever going to tell my friends my news, or was I going to end up having this treat on my own?

It didn’t help that I had to leave school early for the dentist, so I didn’t even have the chance to tell them about it later. Talk about fed up!

When I got to the van Mum laughed.

“Why the long face, Lyndz? Bad day?”

I nodded. “Something like that. I’ve got this great news to tell the others, but I just don’t think I’m ever going to have the chance.”

Mum gave me a funny look. She knows that when I have “great news” it usually leads to trouble one way or another.

“Well, can’t you tell them tomorrow?”

“Not if it’s anything like today,” I explained. “The M&Ms always spoil things for us.”

“OK,” Mum said. “What about if you invite your friends round after school? You can tell them then.”

“YEESS!!” I punched the air. “Thanks Mum!”

I couldn’t wait to tell the others. Thinking about it even got me through the dentist. As soon as I got home, I sat by the phone until I was sure that the others would be home too. Then I dialled Frankie’s number.

“Hi Frankie – it’s me, Lyndz. If you want to hear about my news you’ve got to come round to my place tomorrow after school. OK?”

I didn’t give her chance to ask any questions. I just said “bye” and put the phone down. And I did the same with the others. Those were the shortest phone conversations I’d ever had with my friends.

The next day they were all intrigued by the mystery.

“Can’t you tell us what this is about, Lyndz, please?” they begged. But I wasn’t going to give in. By the time Mum came to collect us all from school, they were really wound up about it!

“Come on Lyndz, we’re here now,” Rosie said as soon as we’d leapt out of the van at my place. “Won’t you please tell us what all this is about?”

“Yes!” I told them triumphantly. “But only after we’ve all dressed up.”

Well, they didn’t need telling twice. I have this fab box of dressing-up clothes, you see. And we all love to pile in and don all these weird and wonderful costumes. Fliss reached in and grabbed the bride’s dress (surprise, surprise), Rosie put on a clown’s outfit, Frankie dressed up as a gypsy, Kenny borrowed my leather chaps and cowboy hat, and I turned myself into a fire-fighting princess!

We all charged outside and chased round like loonies. Unfortunately, Ben heard us and wanted to join in. So just to keep him quiet we had a mock-battle, hiding behind bushes and leaping out to ambush him. Then we pretended we were in the jungle, climbing trees to escape from the poisonous snakes which I convinced everyone were slithering about on the ground. We must have looked really wild sitting amongst the branches in our dressing-up clothes.

When Mum had called Ben inside, we collapsed on to the grass, panting for breath.

“Hey Lyndz, we almost forgot about your surprise!” squealed Fliss suddenly, half-sitting up and squinting into the sunshine.

“Oh yes, the Open Day!” Rosie reminded me.

“Well, that’s not the surprise actually,” I reminded them. “I think Mrs McAllister wants to keep that a bit, you know, low-key.”

“Boring, more like!” Kenny chimed in.

“She just wants to show everyone that the stables are open again, so that she can get her business back,” I explained.

“Well if she wants to do that, she should make it fun” said Frankie, suddenly sitting up. You could tell by her voice that she was serious.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The more exciting the Open Day is, the more people are going to want to go to her for riding lessons,” Frankie explained patiently.

“Yeah, remember how many people turned up for the Stable Fun Day?” Rosie reminded us.

“But I don’t think she really wants to involve the horses again,” I tried to explain. “After what happened last time.”

We all looked at Fliss, but she just started picking blades of grass from her dress.

“The horses needn’t be involved at all.” Frankie was getting excited now. “We could have a horsey theme and just go with that.”

“What, like the Wild West, maybe?” I asked. Dad’s always watching those old cowboy movies on TV.

“Yeah, good one!” Frankie went on, her eyes blazing. “There could be a Wild West fancy-dress competition for children—”

“And for adults!” Rosie chipped in. “Mum always fancies herself as a bit of a cowgirl. She goes line-dancing now.”

“Yeah, she goes with my mum,” Fliss suddenly piped up. “Maybe we could have a bit of line-dancing at this Open Day! I’m sure our mums could persuade some of their friends to come along.”

“That’s a good idea, Fliss,” Frankie nodded. “Because then Mrs McAllister could show off her stables to people who might not even know about them.”

“And we could have real cowboy food!” I giggled. “Round a big campfire like they always have in those films!”

“Yes!”

We started to dance around. This was going to be brilliant!

Then it hit me. We weren’t supposed to be organising Mrs McAllister’s Open Day at all.

“But guys, the Open Day isn’t really anything to do with us!” I stopped jumping around.

“It isn’t?” They all looked surprised.

“No!” I laughed. “As well as having the Open Day for everybody, Mrs McAllister wants to give a special treat to just the five of us. It’s her way of saying thank you to us for helping raise money for the stables last time.”

“Great! What is it?” asked Frankie.

I took a deep breath. This was the moment I’d been waiting for!

“Well, what about a sleepover? In one of the barns? We’ll be like real cowboys – it’ll be so cool! What do you say?”

No-one said anything. They just stared at me.

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Fliss was the first to speak.

“A sleepover in a b…barn? I don’t think so, Lyndz.”

She looked round at the others for encouragement. Now I had expected problems from Fliss, but not from everyone else. I thought they’d be thrilled.

“You mean, you want us to sleep where Alfie sleeps?” asked Rosie incredulously. “What if he tramples us or something?”

“And wouldn’t it be a bit, you know, stinky?” sniffed Frankie. “You know what a mess it is when you’re mucking out.”

I started to laugh.

“De-err!” I put my finger to my head. “We’d be sleeping in an empty barn, dumbos, not a stable! We’d probably give Alfie nightmares if we pitched down our sleeping bags with him!”

“Well, it sounds brill to me!” Kenny suddenly leapt up and flicked the brim of her cowboy hat with her finger. Then she put on a terrible American accent. “There’ll be a wild time in that ol’ barn when the Sleepover Club move into town. Yes siree!”

“I’m still not sure,” Fliss mumbled. “It’ll be kind of spooky in a barn at night, won’t it?”

“Mrs McAllister does have lights in there, you know,” I explained. “She’s had a full security system fitted too, and her house is right next door to the barn anyway. Come on Fliss, it’ll be as safe as anything. What do the rest of you think?”

“I think it’s a brilliant idea. Count me in!” Kenny came to stand next to me. “What about you, Frankie? You’re not wimping out as well, are you?”

“Nope.” Frankie stood up and came over to join us. “As long as the horses aren’t sleeping over with us, you can count me in too!”

“And me!” Rosie leapt up. “It’ll be great, really different. It’s a brilliant idea, Lyndz!”

Phew – that was a relief!

“Well Fliss, are you in or out? Because you’re definitely outvoted, four to one,” Kenny told her firmly. “So we’ll be having this sleepover whether you’re there or not!”

Now as you probably know, Fliss hates being left out more than anything else in the world. She reluctantly got to her feet.

“OK, I’m in,” she agreed. “But I’m not really happy about it.”

“Nice one, Fliss!”

We grabbed each other in a circle and started to dance round, faster and faster. By the time we’d collapsed in a heap on the grass, even Fliss was smiling again!

“So,” panted Frankie as we were all getting our breath back. “What did Mrs McAllister say when you suggested your great plan to her?”

“Well,” I admitted slowly. “I haven’t actually mentioned it to her yet. I wanted to clear it with you lot first.”

“Oh?” The others looked at me wide-eyed. Fliss began to smile.