Neeiiigghhh!
Hey, watch out! Thatâs Kenny, doing her mad pony impression again. Sheâll use us for jumping practice if we donât get out of the way. Quick â letâs sit over here for a sec. I havenât seen you for ages and weâve got so much to catch up on!
You remember me, donât you? Iâm Lyndz (Lyndsey Marianne Collins to give you the full caboodle) and Iâm a member of the coolest club in the whole worldâ
âUniverse!â
OK, Frankie! How come she heard that from half-way across the yard? She must have enormous flappy elephant ears, that maniac!
But sheâs right, the Sleepover Club is the best club in the entire universe, ever. And when you hear what weâve been up to this timeâ¦Well, itâs a good job Iâm the one who gets to tell you about it, cos no one else could give you all the inside goss on this story. Thereâs been more drama round here recently than in a whole series of Hollyoakes, I reckon! Like that moment whenâno, wait, I mustnât spoil it. But I think I got the biggest fright of my life. Youâll be on the edge of your seat, I promise!
Iâd better start at the beginning, hadnât I, or Iâll be gabbling on and you wonât have a clue what Iâm talking about. For a start â you remember the rest of the Sleepover Club, right? Thereâs Kenny, who nearly landed on top of us just now. Sheâs actually Laura McKenzie to the teachers, but donât call her that or sheâll jump on you for real! Kennyâs wild about football (weird, huh?), but sheâs a complete laugh, too. And she is the best schemer when it comes to getting back at the M&Ms, our arch-enemies.
Then thereâs Frankie Thomas. She doesnât really have elephant ears, but she does have a seriously LOUD voice. Frankieâs always having barmy ideas, and dressing up in even barmier clothes, given half the chance. Just wait till you hear about her latest outfitâ¦
Next comes Miss Felicity Sidebotham â thatâs Fliss for short, of course. Look, sheâs over there chatting to Rosie, probably still going on about those hairdos sheâs mad about. Rosie looks a bit bored, but sheâs far too nice to say so â typical Rosie!
Rosieâs the fifth member of the Sleepover Club. Sheâs ace â and not as crazy as some of the others, which is a relief, I can tell you. Together we have the most awesome time going to sleepovers at each otherâs houses. Weâre always making wicked plans for things to do, even if sometimes they go a bit pear-shaped.
And, boy, did things go super pear-shaped this time â especially for me! It all started a few weeks ago, on a wet Monday morning. The first bell hadnât even gone yet, but we were in our classroom because of the rain. Everyone was sitting on desks and talking, except for Danny McCloud and Mark Pitt, who were having a scrap in the corner (sad or what?).
Suddenly Frankie burst into the room at a million miles an hour, threw her bag down and boinged up on to the desk beside me.
âGuess what?â she said.
âWhat?â Fliss, Rosie, Kenny and I all said together.
âMy gran came to stay this weekend and she brought me the coolest present and it made me have the coolest idea and I am just so COOL you should all just gasp.â
Kenny did it really well. Her hands shot up to her mouth and her eyes stretched wide, as if Madonna had walked in to take the register.
âWell? What is it?â I said. Frankie had started wriggling out of her coat, in no hurry to spill the beans. Sheâs never happier than when sheâs got all our attention. I wouldnât put it past her to say sheâs got a brilliant idea even when she hasnât, just to keep us hanging on.
âWhatâs the idea?â said Rosie.
âWhatâs the present?â said Fliss.
âQuick! Or ve have vays of making you talk!â said Kenny, grabbing Frankieâs arm and pushing her sleeve up, pretending she was going to give her a Chinese burn.
Frankie laughed. âItâs, like, a bag of treasure,â she said.
âTreasure?â Kennyâs eyes lit up. âPirate treasure?â
A really strange picture popped into my head of Frankieâs gran wearing a black eye patch, with a parrot sitting on her shoulder. It made me giggle.
âPieces of eight?â said Rosie. âAnd diamonds and â and gold?â
âNot real treasure. Granâs given up the bank-robbing,â said Frankie with a wink. Sheâd spotted the M&Ms â thatâs Emma Hughes and Emily Berryman, the snidest snottiest girls in our class â loitering near us. Theyâre so nosy, theyâre always listening in to our conversations. When she heard the word âbank-robbingâ Emily looked really shocked. It was wicked.
Now Frankie leant forward and said more quietly, âItâs beads, actually. Gran brought me this big bag of them, and theyâre amazing. Like jewels. Theyâre all different colours, and some of them have got glitter under the surface so theyâre really sparkly. Some have tiny patterns painted on them too.â