Hi. Itâs me. What do you mean, who? Rosie, of course! OK, so I sound a bit miserable, and Iâll tell you why. At the moment Iâve got two big problems: 1) Iâm sitting on a lump of ice and itâs freezing my bottom off, and 2)â
âCome on, Rosie-Posie, get up!â Kenny yelled, skating towards me at about a hundred miles an hour. I gasped, and scrambled to my feet quickly to get out of the way, but Kenny just dug her blades into the ice and came to a stop about two centimetres from my nose. What a show-off. I began to wobble from one side to the other, then my legs slowly started moving apart, and I couldnât stop them. I did the splits like Bambi does in the film, and sat down on the ice again.
âNice one, Rosie!â Frankie said, skating smoothly up to me. âYou didnât tell us you could do tricks!â
âOh, ha ha,â I muttered, rubbing my sore behind, âIâd laugh if that was the slightest bit funny.â
âOh, come on, Rosie, donât be such a sad case!â Kenny grabbed hold of one of my arms, Frankie took the other and between them they pulled me to my feet. âWhatâs biting you? Youâve been in a right mood all afternoon!â
Before I could say anything, Fliss and Lyndz skated over. You remember everyone in the Sleepover Club, donât you? You should do, by now! Thereâs me, Kenny, Frankie, Fliss and Lyndz. We take it in turns to have sleepovers every week at each otherâs houses, and it was my turn tonight. That was my second problemâ¦
I guess you remember what happened. When we moved to Cuddington, my dad bought this massive house, and we were all going to live in it like a happy-ever-after family â thatâs my mum and dad, me, my sister Tiffany, my brother Adam and our dog Jenny. The house needed loads doing to it, but my dadâs a builder, so that was all right. Anyway, he started pulling off all the old wallpaper and taking up the carpets and knocking down walls, then he suddenly decided heâd had enough, and he went off to live with his girlfriend. Since then he keeps promising that heâs going to fix the house for us, but heâs hardly done anything. I love my dad to bits, but he drives me mad.
âLook out!â Kenny screeched as Fliss and Lyndz headed straight towards us. Fliss wasnât very good at stopping, and because she and Lyndz were holding hands, she was dragging Lyndz along with her. Alarmed, Kenny and Frankie let go of my arms again, and I collapsed in a heap. Unfortunately, I grabbed at the hood of Kennyâs Leicester City FC sweatshirt as I fell, and pulled her down on to the ice next to me. Fliss and Lyndz managed to avoid us, but not Frankie, and the three of them landed in an untidy pile right on top of me and Kenny.
âOi! Get off!â Kenny roared, âyouâre suffocating us!â
Frankie, Lyndz and Fliss could hardly move, they were laughing so much. It was all right for them. They werenât at the bottom of the heap like I was.
âAre you girls all right?â called Frankieâs mum from the side of the rink.
Frankie gave her a thumbs-up as we all climbed to our feet.
âIâm going to be black and blue after this,â I grumbled. Ice-skating just wasnât my thing. But then, nothing ever goes right for meâ¦
âOh, come on, Rosie, itâs a good laugh!â Frankie said with a grin.
âYouâll soon get better after youâve been a few more times,â Lyndz said kindly.
Fliss stared at me suspiciously. âWhatâs the matter, Rosie? Youâve got a right face on you.â
âThatâs what I said,â Kenny chimed in. âSo whatâs the story?â
I felt a bit embarrassed and shuffled my feet, but that was a mistake because I nearly fell over again.
âItâs my dad,â I mumbled. âHe promised he was going to decorate my bedroom this week, and he didnât.â
âWell, great big fat hairy deal!â Kenny shrugged. âSo whatâs new? Youâve been waiting for him to do it for months!â
Frankie and Lyndz both elbowed Kenny in the ribs so hard that she nearly fell over, and I glared at her.
âI know,â I snapped. I guess I donât like anyone else criticising my dad, even though he gets on my nerves. But itâs true. My bedroomâs a tip, and itâs been like that for ever. When I first met the others, I didnât even want them to come round to our house and see just what a mess it is. âBut he promised me heâd do it before the sleepover tonight. We even went out and bought all the wallpaper and paint last week-end.â
âYou didnât say anything about that,â Lyndz remarked.
I had a horrible big fat lump in my throat. âI wanted it to be a surprise when you slept over,â I muttered.
âSo why hasnât he done it?â Fliss asked sympathetically.
âHeâs gone on holiday with his girlfriend,â I said, and the others groaned.
âWhat, again?â Kenny said, raising her eyebrows. âYour dadâs the Holiday King!â