Oh, hiya. No fooling you Sleepover fans, is there? Yes, itâs me, Frankie! Look, itâs great to meet you here, but please donât tell anyone else youâve seen me.
Iâm serious. Iâm keeping a low profile until this whole thing blows over. Why do you think I sneaked out of the house wearing dark glasses and this sad saggy old hat?
Lucky for me Grandpa Joe left his fishing hat behind last time he stayed. Yeah, yeah, I know; itâs not the coolest head-gear in the world. For one thing, it smells like mouldy mushrooms. But itâs brilliant for hiding my hair. Especially with my collar turned up.
Iâve got masses of the stuff. Hair, I mean. Auntie Joan says I could stuff a mattress with it. I figured my hair was the real Frankie giveaway. Apart from my lanky legs, that is. But thereâs nothing I can do about them, unless I disguise myself as a mermaid!
Anyway, Iâm glad it was you, not the M&Ms who spotted me. Remember them? Theyâre sworn enemies of the Sleepover Club. Their real names are Emma Hughes and Emily Berryman. We call them the M&Ms for short. Neat, eh?
You see, on our last sleepover, quite by accident, we did something the M&Ms will NEVER forgive us for. And take it from me, they wonât give up till theyâve paid us back. Those girls are so spiteful itâs unreal.
Would you mind looking out for them, while I pull Grandpaâs hat down a teensy bit further? Donât worry, theyâre dead easy to recognise. Look out for two sinister figures without shadows. Just kidding! No, you nutcase, Iâm not scared! But I donât need any extra hassle. Iâm still totally stressed out from our last sleepover.
OK, letâs just see if you remember all the Sleepover members. Thereâs a whole bunch of us: Laura McKenzie, otherwise known as Kenny. Sheâs been my best friend for ever. Then Fliss. (Her full name is Felicity Sidebotham, poor thing.) Lyndsey Collins â we call her Lyndz. And Rosie Cartwright; Rosie hasnât lived in Cuddington very long.
And then thereâs me! Francesca Theresa Thomas, Frankie for short. But you guessed that by yourself, didnât you? Iâll have to get better at disguises, if Iâm going to be a world-famous actress! It was my nail varnish that gave me away, right?
Iâm crazy about silver. Itâs the coolest colour in the universe. Iâd paint my whole room silver if my parents would let me. Up till now they wonât even let me have silver curtains! And now Mumâs expecting a new baby, I can probably kiss goodbye to that space-age bedroom Iâve been hankering for. My parents are too busy buying cute little vests and booties.
Actually Iâm over the moon about the baby. Being a lonely only is so-o bo-ring. But Mumâs pregnancy doesnât mean Iâm letting them off the hook. I donât want them to think Iâve lost my touch! Besides, I think a totally silver room would be excellent, donât you? Not as good as sleeping in a real space station, but still pretty cool. I could even camouflage my boring old bed to look like a space pod or something. Mind you, Iâm not sure the other Sleepover members would approve. Especially Fliss. Her bedroom furniture looks exactly like that shiny stuff in department stores. Itâs dead girly â like a Barbie catalogue. And her roomâs so tidy, itâs scary!
Still, what can you expect from a Virgo? Iâm an Aries, if you didnât know. A natural born leader. Act first and think afterwards, thatâs me.
Where was I? Oh yeah. I was explaining why Iâm creeping round the village wearing this gruesome disguise.
Have you noticed how the things that seem totally mega-brilliant at the time, are the exact same things which make your parents go ballistic when they find out? Lifeâs so-o-o unfair.
Look, pop over to Rosieâs with me and Iâll tell you all the really juicy details of our sleepover as we go. (Private joke!) I could do with the company. Donât tell the others, but Iâve got butterflies in my tummy.
You see, I promised Rosie Iâd tell Mr and Mrs Quormby what really happened, and I canât let her down, can I? Iâm going to be someoneâs big sister soon. Iâve got to practise being dead grown-up and sensible before he or she arrives.
Didnât I explain about the Quormbys? Theyâre Rosieâs new neighbours. Theyâve got this really cool baby called Morgan. Mr Quormbyâs the grim silent type. Mrs Quormbyâs OK, but sheâs such a fusspot! Can you believe sheâd never ever left her precious little Morgan with anyone before? Not even for five minutes!