Come in, quick. Sit down. Iâve got something to ask you, and itâs dead serious.
Have you got a sister? A crummy big sister? The kind who hates to see you having fun and always tries to ruin things for you? Have you ever wanted to put a spell on that jealous sister? You know, make her disappear, grow warts, or turn into smelly frog-slime and slither off down some deep well? I have, cos my sister Molly really messed up things for the Sleepover Club at Halloweâen. And it wasnât funny (not at first, anyway). Mind you, when Frankie did her witchy thing and scared everyone half to death it was a killer. The best. And when Rosie went haywire with the Curse of the Nerdâs Nose, that was something else.
But that wasnât all.
There was Merlin (my pet rat) and his sneaky trail of ratâs droppings. There was the candlelight and the secret chants and all the dark, dark, mysterious goings-on. Then there was the trouble I got into for stealing bits of Mollyâ¦
Why she had to make such a fuss about a teeny weeny bit of belly-button fluff, goodness only knows! But thatâs Molly for you. Always making a big deal. If only she was like my other sister, Emma. Emmaâs my eldest sister and sheâs all right, she is. Molly is different. Gruesome. Is it any wonder we call her Molly the Monster?
Look, I know Iâm going on about Molly, but she nearly ruined our Sleepover Club, and thatâs the most important thing in the world to me and my mates, as anyone knows.
Wait. Dâyou want to hear everything that happened? I bet you do. Okay, here goes⦠It started on a Friday night. (Thatâs our regular sleepover night, in case you donât know.) It was right before Halloweâen and the Sleepover Club was getting in the mood for a specially spellbinding time (spellbinding⦠get it? Spells, potions, witches and stuff). See, my four friends were due at my house any minute. We wanted to work on our trick-or-treat stuff before the dreaded M&Ms, Emma Hughes and Emily Berryman, beat us to it. The M&Ms are our biggest enemies at school and they were sure to have nasty tricks up their sleeves. The gang had some great sleepover things planned: costumes, tricks, witchy games and creepy ghost stories, all topped off with the most wicked midnight feast of black sweets. We had liquorice, Black Jacks, Wine Gums, Fruit Pastilles, jellybeans, Black Imps and best of all, black Jelly Babies! It was going to be the most coo-ell sleepover in history! But of course, Molly the Monster didnât like that. Oh no. She had to create a scene the minute she heard about it.
âBut Mu-um!â she whinged, stamping her silly foot. âMum, you promised Jilly could sleep over next time we had swimming practice and itâs swimming practice tomorrow!â
Mum clapped her hand to her forehead. âOh no!â
Of course Molly had to take advantage of the look on Mumâs face, by whining, âKenny canât have our bedroom tonight, Mum. You promised!â
âI just didnât realise it fell on Kennyâs sleepover night.â
âShe can have her baby sleepover tomorrow,â said Molly. âSaturday.â
âSaturdays are out while the Cuddington Ballroom Contests are on,â sighed Mum. âIâve got customers booked up for the next four weeks.â (Mum does hairdressing at home, and while the Ballroom Contests were on she had glamorous grannies lining up to get their purple rinses and perms.)
âOur sleepoverâs tonight. The gangâs already on their way,â I protested.
âMum promised me,â Molly said in that annoying singsong voice she always gets when she thinks sheâs got one over me. âAnd anyway Jillyâs on her way too⦠with her mum.â
âToo bad the Sleepover Club got in first!â I retorted.
âToo bad for you, Laura McKenzie.â Molly made a face at me. But she waited for Mum to leave the kitchen before she gave me one of her big, fat pokes. âToo bad cos Iâm having my friend over to stay tonight no matter what. So you can forget your soppy Sleepover Club.â
That did it.
How dare she call the Sleepover Club soppy? Our Sleepover Club is the best, the most brilliant fun in the world, and nobody calls it names. For a start itâs got me, Kenny, in it (Laura McKenzie to people who want to get on the wrong side of me). But itâs also got my best mate Frankie (Francesca Thomas) in it, so that makes it fantabulous, cos Frankieâs a real laugh. Then thereâs Lyndz (Lyndsey Collins) the soft-hearted giggly one, Fliss (Felicity Sidebotham) the sugar-and-spice one and Rosie Cartwright the most down-to-earth grown-up one. Weâre the five most coo-ell girls in Cuddington School.
And we are not soppy!
Thatâs why when Molly called us that, I had to get my own back by pretending to sigh a huge great sigh. âWhat a shame there wonât be room for your dear little friend to sleep overâ¦â I went. âI sâpose the only thing you can do is camp out in the garage.