Oh, hi! Itâs you again. Look, you can walk with me if you want to. Iâm going to the video shop to borrow a film. But youâve got to promise me one thing. Youâve got to promise that you wonât ask me what happened at our sleepover last night. I canât tell you because itâs a Big Secret. The Biggest. So donât ask me, OK?
My mum and dad said I could choose a film for the three of us to watch tonight. Usually one of them comes to the video shop with me and makes a big song and dance about which films are suitable, and which films arenât. You know what parents are like. But today they said I could come on my own. I think itâs because theyâre pretty relieved that nothing happened at the sleepover last night (or so they think). The last time we slept over at Flissâs, we ended up wrecking her mumâs kitchen, as well as giving her gruesome neighbours a complete fit. This time we did something just as bad. We â oh, sorry! I forgot. I canât tell you.
Come on, hereâs the video shop. No, donât bother going into the adult section. Iâm not even allowed to look at the covers of the films over there. Anyway, Nathan Wignallâs standing there, trying to pretend heâs old enough to borrow a grown-up film. Iâve told you about Nathan Wignall before, havenât I? He lives next door to me, and heâs a complete pain. I could tell you loads of embarrassing stuff about Nathan Wignall, but I havenât got time right now.
We sometimes watch a video when we have a sleepover, but not every time. Like last night at Flissâs, we â whoops, there I go again! Me and my big mouth.
No, I canât tell you. Donât ask me to. My lips are sealed.
Look, donât get mad. Of course I trust you. As my grandma always says, if you canât trust your friends, who can you trust? Itâs just that if our parents find out what really went on at Flissâs house last night, weâll be up to our eyes in everlasting doom for the next five years. So, if I tell you what happened at the sleepover last night, do you swear never to breathe a WORD about it to ANYONE? Cross your heart and hope to die? Do you promise faithfully you wonât tell anyone, even if they offer you their last Rolo?
OK, youâve twisted my arm. I give in. Letâs go behind the childrenâs videos so that no one else can hear us, and Iâll tell you all about it.
The sleepover at Flissâs was going to be an ordinary sleepover right up until the day before. Well, what I mean is, no sleepover is ever really ordinary, but we werenât expecting anything special to happen. Of course, we were wrong.
As my grandma always says, the best place to start is at the beginning. That was at school on Thursday morning. We were in the playground, and all of the Sleepover Club were there, except Fliss. Me (Iâm Frankie, remember?), Kenny, Rosie and Lyndz. We were discussing our new teacher, Miss Jenkins. Our real teacher, Mrs Weaver, was ill and she hadnât been at school all week. We missed her a bit. But not a lot. Compared to Mrs Weaver, Miss Jenkins was a pushover.
âOK, today Iâm going for it,â Kenny said. âI bet I can make six trips to the pencil sharpener before Miss Jenkins tells me off.â
âWhatâs the record so far?â I asked.
âI managed five times yesterday,â said Rosie.
Kenny shrugged. âYou only got the fifth one because Danny McCloud had stuffed two rubbers up his nose. You sneaked over to the sharpener while Miss Jenkins was telling him off.â
âThen they got stuck up there,â said Lyndz. âPoor old Miss Jenkins had a terrible time trying to pull them out.â
âIâm glad Iâm not a teacher,â I said with feeling. âI wouldnât put my fingers up Danny McCloudâs nose for a billion pounds.â
âWell, she couldnât just let Danny suffocate, could she?â said Lyndz.
There was a thoughtful silence.
âI wouldnât have a problem with that,â Kenny said with a perfectly straight face, and Rosie and I began to giggle.
âI think youâre horrible,â said Lyndz. âPoor Miss Jenkins. I feelââ
âReally sorry for her!â we all chimed in. Lyndz has got a heart of pure marshmallow.
âOh, shut up!â Lyndz grinned, and stuck her tongue out at us. Sheâs used to us winding her up. âBy the way, whereâs Fliss?â
âYeah, where is Fliss?â said Kenny. âSheâs going to be late if she doesnât get here soon.â