Mega Sleepover 4

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“Aw Tiff, give them a break,” he said. “Let them have a laugh.”

Still scowling, she walked downstairs after him.

“What’s her problem?” asked Frankie.

“Mum’s had to go somewhere for one of her assignments at college. And she’s left Tiff and Spud in charge until she gets back. Tiff is not very pleased!” explained Rosie. She looked as though she was going to get miserable again, so I said,

“I’ll be ‘it’. 1,2,3,…”

The others screamed and I could hear them scampering away to hide.

“… 99,100. Coming! Ready or not!”

Rosie’s house is a pretty cool house to hide in – but not such a great place to do the seeking in! There seem to be so many secret places that you just couldn’t possibly know about. Usually Adam is a great help to whoever is seeking. He kind of gestures with his head, and creeps up behind you silently in his wheelchair and moves to where someone is hiding.

“Any clues Adam?” I called to him when I passed him in the hallway. But he just sat there looking sad. Surely Rosie’s father’s job couldn’t have been that important. If Adam were my son, I’d always take him fishing when I promised him that I would.

“Hie!”

Lyndz is always easy to find. The excitement gets to her, then she starts hiccuping.

“Easy-peasy!” I told her. Then she giggled even more and went bright red.

“Honestly Lyndz. What are you like!” I laughed. “Come on. Help me find the others.”

We eventually found Frankie in a cloakroom downstairs. She was under a pile of coats and it was only her big feet that gave her away! I would recognise those trainers anywhere! Rosie was harder to find, but that’s not surprising when it’s her house and she knows all its secret places. There’s a staircase, which leads to more rooms in the roof, and sort of tucked underneath it is a tiny hiding space. We only found it by accident because Lyndz tripped over and fell into it.

“Ouch!” cried a voice. We’d found Rosie!

After another half an hour of looking we still hadn’t found Fliss. And we were bored. We shouted that we were giving up the search.

“Do you suppose she’s heard us?” asked Rosie.

“’Course she has!” I said. “She just wants to make us sweat. Let’s go and play something else. She’ll come to us when she’s fed up!”

“What time is it anyway?” asked Lyndz.

“Time you learnt to tell the time yourself!” Frankie and I shouted together.

“It’s just after six,” said Rosie. “That means it’s almost time for doing makeovers.”

“Can’t we play something else first?” I pleaded. Hopefully, we’d get so involved in another game, the others would forget about the stupid makeovers.

“Let’s play ‘Tell Me’,” said Rosie. “I’ve set it up in the lounge, just in case.”

“Crikey Rosie. You’ve thought of everything haven’t you?” said Frankie. You could see she was impressed. After that, Rosie’s face was just one huge grin. If Frankie was impressed by her organisation, she was on to a winner!

We were in full flow with ‘Tell Me’, yelling and shouting at each other, when the door opened. In came Fliss. Boy, did she look angry!

“Where’ve you been then?” I asked her as I spun the wheel.

“Hiding. I thought we were playing ‘Hide and Seek’. I must have been wrong.” Her mouth was set in a thin, tight line and she spat the words out.

“Keep your hair on!” I said. “Didn’t you hear us calling to tell you that we gave up. Where were you hiding anyway?”

“In a cupboard in the bathroom. And it was very hot and very spooky in there by myself!”

“Come and sit down, Fliss. You can play with me if you want,” said Rosie.

“I thought you might have waited for me,” Fliss turned on Rosie. Rosie’s smile disappeared again. She looked sadder than ever. The rest of us gave Fliss some of our ‘black looks’. It had taken us ages to cheer Rosie up, trust Fliss to spoil it.

“What?” asked Fliss. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Because…”

But we couldn’t finish because an enormous CRASH shook the room and we all started to scream.

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While we were screaming, two things seemed to happen together: firstly, we noticed that the large window in the lounge had shattered, and secondly, Rosie’s mother appeared.

“Mum! What have you done?” Rosie wailed. She was staring at her mother as though she had just made her entrance by leaping through the window.

“Darling are you alright?” asked Mrs Cartwright. “Are you all alright? You haven’t been cut by flying glass have you? Are you sure?” She was looking at us all anxiously.

“Why did you do that?” asked Rosie. She was still in a state of shock.

“Do what?” asked Rosie’s mum. “I was just coming in the front door when there was an enormous gust of wind. I heard it shattering the window and I came in here. I didn’t realise that you were here. Are you sure that you’re alright?”

She looked at us carefully, checking for cuts. I was all prepared with my First Aid if anyone needed any assistance. Unfortunately they didn’t.

“Did the wind make you fly?” asked Fliss. “It made me fly, didn’t it Frankie?” Frankie sighed and nodded.

“No, I’m afraid I didn’t fly Fliss,” said Rosie’s mum. “But that certainly sounds like fun.” Fliss smiled and nodded. Rosie began to cry.

“Oh-oh,” I muttered under my breath.

“What’s the matter darling?” asked her mum, putting an arm around Rosie’s shaking shoulders.

“It’s not fair!” cried Rosie. “Why does everything always go wrong for me? I wanted this sleepover to be perfect. I bet it wouldn’t even have rained if it had been at someone else’s house. But whenever I do anything, it always goes wrong.”

“Don’t be silly darling,” said her mum. “It would have been raining today, wherever the sleepover had been.”

“Yes and we wouldn’t have had such a great time playing ‘Hide and Seek’ at anyone else’s house,” said Lyndz. “Your house is best for that.”

Fliss tutted. She still hadn’t forgiven us for leaving her, and something told me it would be a long time before she did.

“Yes, but what about the window?” said Rosie. “I bet that wouldn’t have happened at one of your houses.”

“That could have happened anywhere with this wind,” Mrs Cartwright reassured her. “It’s just that our house is quite old, and some of the windows need replacing.”

Rosie lost it completely when she said that.

“It’s not fair. S’not fair,” she sobbed. It was awful. I felt bad for Rosie and everything. But I couldn’t see what the big deal was. I’d love it if a window smashed in our lounge. Nothing like that ever happens at my house.

Tiff and Spud appeared with brushes and newspaper and bin liners.

“Thanks you two,” said Mrs Cartwright. “You can sweep the glass into a pile, but leave it for me to pick up.”

Tiff sighed and stomped off with the brush.

“I’m just going to phone your father to see if he’ll come round and board up the window…” continued Rosie’s mum. Rosie let out another howl. “… You girls go upstairs to Rosie’s room,” said Mrs Cartwright, shooing us through the door, “and I’ll call you when your food’s ready.”

We all trooped off upstairs. Frankie and Lyndz had their arms around Rosie. Fliss was pretending to fly up the stairs. And I was thinking what a crummy party this was turning out to be. It wasn’t Rosie’s fault, it was just that everyone seemed so wet sometimes. What we needed was a good old Gladiator fight or something. But when I suggested it Frankie went ballistic.

“Kenny, for goodness sake! Can’t you see how upset Rosie is? I don’t think bashing each other about is exactly what she needs right now!” she said.

So much for that idea. I knew that I could do with bashing someone about to make me feel better.

It was pretty gloomy in Rosie’s room. We had to turn on the light even though it wasn’t very late. The dark sky and rain outside made it feel like November again.

I hate it when everyone is really quiet. I felt that I should say something to break the silence.

“The way that window smashed! It was way cool!” I said. The others shot me a look.

“Kenny!” warned Frankie. “Shut up can’t you?”

“Sorry for breathing!” I snapped back. What was wrong with everybody?

“It’s going to look like a squat isn’t it?” mumbled Rosie through her tears.

“What do you mean?” asked Lyndz.

“With the window boarded up. Everybody’s going to think that I live in some run-down shack,” Rosie wailed.

“Don’t be silly!” I said. “It’ll only be for one night, then someone can replace the window tomorrow, or Monday at the latest. No one’s even going to notice it.” Rosie stopped crying.

“Actually Rosie, you look pretty awful,” I laughed. “We’ll have to do something about those red eyes. It’s just not a good look for you, darling!” The others laughed too.

“Come on then Fliss. Do your stuff with that make-up!” I said.

“Are you having make-up on as well?” asked Rosie.

I could feel the others all staring at me. Now you know me and make-up. Yeuch! is all I can say. But this was an exception, and I only did it for Rosie because she was so upset. I’ll admit it: for the first – and last – time, I let Fliss make me up. The others were more bothered about that than having their own make-up done. And usually they all argue about who should have theirs done first and which eye shadow they should wear. On the birthday Saturday, they stood about watching me with their chins scraping the floor. I mean p-lease! Anyone would think I was some rare animal in a zoo or something.

“So, how do I look?” I asked pouting and posing like a model.

“Wicked!”

“Coo-el!”

“You really ought to wear it more often. It really suits you,” said Fliss standing back to admire her handiwork.

“Ta very much!” I shrieked, pretending to be upset. “Are you saying that I’m ugly the rest of the time?”