by P J Denton
Want to sleep over? Come join the fun!
IT’S THE LAST WEEK OF SECOND GRADE, and Taylor has big news for her best friends, Emily, Jo, and Kara: She’s inviting them to her house on Friday night to celebrate! But this is no ordinary party—it’s going to be their first sleepover party!
The girls can’t wait to stay up late, play games, and watch movies. But Emily is also secretly worried. She knows her parents aren’t going to let her spend the night at Taylor’s, and she doesn’t want to be left out of all the fun.
Will Emily have to stay home and miss the party, or can she find a way to prove to her parents that she’s old enough to go?
You’re invited to the next Sleepover Squad Party!
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#1 Sleeping Over
#2 Camping Out
COMING SOON :
#3 The Trouble with Brothers
#4 Whisper Down the Lane
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people,
or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents
are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events
or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Text copyright © 2007 by Catherine Hapka
Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Julia Denos
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS and related logo are registered trademarks of
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Designed by Karin Paprocki
The text of this book was set in Cochin.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition May 2007
eISBN-13: 978-1-4424-5689-1
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Library of Congress Control Number 2006927849
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-2790-7
ISBN-10: 1-4169-2790-5
Contents
Chapter 1: The First Day of the Last Week of School
Chapter 2: Taylor’s Big Idea
Chapter 3: Emily’s Problem
Chapter 4: It’s Not Fair!
Chapter 5: Jo’s Plan
Chapter 6: Trying Again
Chapter 7: The Big Decision
Chapter 8: Kara Takes the Cake
Chapter 9: Long Live the Sleepover Squad!
Slumber Party Project: Frosting Frenzy
“H appy first day of the last week of school!” Emily McDougal said as she walked into the kitchen of her family’s old farmhouse. The kitchen was warm and steamy. It smelled like scrambled eggs and potting soil.
Emily’s father was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and correcting tests. He liked to give the high school students he taught lots of tests. He told Emily it kept them on their toes.
“Thanks, Em,” he said. His eyes were the same shade of blue as Emily’s, and they crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “Want some eggs? I made French toast this morning too.”
“Sure.” Emily’s stomach grumbled hungrily at the thought of her favorite breakfast. Her father usually had time to make French toast only on weekends.
Just then Emily’s mother hurried into the kitchen. Mrs. McDougal hurried everywhere she went. That was how she made her organic plant and vegetable business so successful.
“Happy first day of the last week of school, Mommy,” Emily said.
“Does that mean it’s summer already?” Mrs. McDougal joked. “Oh no, I’m not ready!” She set the tray of cucumber seedlings she was carrying on the counter. Then she wiped her hands on her jeans and pushed back her wavy blond hair, which was sticking out around her face.
Mr. McDougal was busy fixing Emily a plate of eggs and French toast. “Pour yourself a glass of OJ, Em,” he said. “Your mom and I want to talk to you about something before your bus gets here.”
“Okay.” Emily poured herself a glass of juice, then sat down. What did her parents want to talk about? They didn’t look angry or disappointed, like they did when she forgot to put away her clean laundry or scoop out her cat’s litter box.
She didn’t have long to wait. “The start of a new season seems like a perfect time for this,” her mother announced, sitting down across from Emily. “After all, summer is a time of growth. Spring seedlings sprout up into healthy summer plants, baby animals get bigger and stronger as they explore their new world, all of nature blooms and grows and—”
“All right, Felicity,” Mr. McDougal interrupted his wife with a smile. He tapped his wristwatch. “Em and I both need to get to school soon, you know.”
“All right, all right,” Emily’s mother said. “Here’s what we wanted to talk to you about, Emily. ”
Emily was still thinking about her talk with her parents when she got off the school bus outside Oak Tree Elementary. She headed straight inside. As usual, her three best friends were waiting for her in the hallway outside their homeroom.
“Guess what?” she cried when she saw them.
“What?” Kara Wyatt asked immediately. Red-haired Kara was almost always the first one to speak up. She said it was because she had to be fast to get a word in around her four noisy brothers.
Meanwhile, Jo Sanchez peered at Emily. “Hey, you look weird,” she said. “Is something wrong?”
That was just like Jo. She noticed things. And she was never afraid to ask about them.
Before she answered, Emily looked over at Taylor Kent to see whether she was paying attention. You never could be sure with Taylor. She always seemed to be trying to pay attention to four or five things at once.
This time, though, she was looking straight at Emily with curious, greenish gold eyes. “Well?” she said. “What’s the big news, Emmers?”
Next Emily looked around to make sure nobody else was close enough to overhear. This kind of news was for the ears of her best friends alone. After all, they were the only ones in school who knew her embarrassing secret.
“You know my night-light?” she asked them in a quiet voice.
Kara, Jo, and Taylor nodded. Even though all four of them were in the second grade, only Emily still slept with a night-light in her bedroom. Her parents always said it was better that way, even though it made Emily feel like a baby.
“Sure. What about it?” Jo asked.
Emily took a deep breath. Then she smiled. “My parents just told me I can try sleeping without it,” she announced. “They finally think I’m old enough.”
Taylor gasped. “That’s awesome!” she cried, grabbing Emily and hugging her. “Congratulations!”
Emily hugged her back. Over Taylor’s shoulder she could see some of their classmates looking in their direction. Taylor’s voice could be awfully loud.
“Thanks,” Emily said. She was glad her friends understood how important this was. “Don’t tell anyone, though.”
“Of course not,” Kara promised. “We would never breathe a word about something like that.”
Emily felt relieved. Her friends’ assurances made her already great morning seem even better. “By the way, happy first day of the last week of school, you guys.”
“Gracias,” Jo said. Emily knew that meant “thank you” in Spanish. Jo’s whole family spoke Spanish at home sometimes, especially when her grandfather was visiting. “Same to you, Em,” Jo added in English.
“Ooh, yo
u’re right—it’s the last week of school!” Kara said, looking excited. “That means only a few more days until summer, summer, summer!”
Emily waited for Taylor to say something. But Taylor didn’t seem to be paying attention anymore. She was staring down the hall with a faraway look on her face. Emily looked in the same direction, but she couldn’t see anything except some third-grade boys giggling and snorting as they played keep-away with someone’s baseball glove. There was nothing very interesting about that.
Kara noticed Taylor’s faraway expression too. “Earth to Taylor!” she joked.
Taylor blinked, then turned to look at them. She ran one hand over her short, curly black hair. “Sorry,” she said. “What were you guys saying?”
“It’s the first day of the last week of school,” Emily reminded her.
“Oh, I know,” Taylor exclaimed, clapping her hands. “That reminds me—I haven’t even told you guys my big news yet!”
“What big news?” Kara asked.
Just then the bell rang. It was time for everyone to go into homeroom and take their seats.
“Oops,” Taylor said. “Guess I’ll have to tell you later.”
All morning long Taylor refused to spill her secret. “This is too big to tell in a hurry,” she kept saying. “Just wait—I’ll tell you at lunch.”
For a while Emily thought lunchtime would never arrive. She could hardly wait to find out what Taylor wanted to tell them. Knowing Taylor, it had to be something fun!
Finally, the four friends were sitting in the cafeteria. They always sat at the same table—the small one in the corner near the windows overlooking the playground. That way, they could watch as all the other second and third graders headed outside for recess. Or they could eat in a hurry and rush outside themselves if they wanted.
“Are you going to tell us your big secret now, Taylor?” Kara asked the second she sat down. She tossed her lunch bag on the table without even opening it. “I’m dying of curiosity!”
Taylor grinned. “Really? You look like you’re still alive to me,” she teased.
“Taylor!” Kara cried, her voice rising to a squeak.
Jo rolled her eyes. “She’s just trying to drive you crazy,” she told Kara, carefully unpacking her usual lunch: a peanut butter sandwich, a bag of carrot sticks, and a chocolate chip cookie. “Come on, Taylor. You said you’d tell us your big news at lunch, and now it’s lunch.”
“Yes, please tell us!” Emily begged. “Pretty please!”
Taylor kept grinning. For a second Emily was afraid she would decide not to share after all. Taylor could be like that sometimes. She loved practical jokes and teasing almost as much as Kara’s brothers did.
But then Taylor rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Okay,” she said. “Here’s my big news. My parents said I could have a party this Friday night to celebrate the start of summer vacation.”
“Oh! That sounds like fun.” Emily smiled. Taylor’s parents sometimes let her have parties when it wasn’t even her birthday. The last time had been on Valentine’s Day, when Mr. and Mrs. Kent had taken Taylor and her friends to the ice-skating rink. They’d even had heart-shaped pizza for dinner at the snack bar.
“Cool,” Kara added. “It’s been ages since you had a party, Taylor.”
“Oh, but you haven’t even heard the best part yet. See, this isn’t going to be an ordinary party.” Taylor’s eyes sparkled as she looked around at them. “It’s a sleepover party. And you’re all invited!”
“A sleepover party?” Kara cried. “Are you serious?”
“Wow!” Jo whistled. “That really is big news!”
Emily nodded slowly as her three friends continued chattering about Taylor’s surprise. A sleepover—that wasn’t just big news. It was huge news. Nobody in the second grade had ever had a slumber party before. But Emily had heard all about what fun sleepovers could be from her neighbor and babysitter, Courtney, who was fifteen.
“We can stay up late,” Kara said eagerly. Her cheeks had gone almost as red as her hair, like they always did when she was excited. That made her freckles stand out even more.
“And we can play games like Truth or Dare and Whisper Down the Lane,” Jo added.
Kara dumped her lunch out on the table. Her apple bounced across the table and off the edge onto the floor, but she didn’t even notice. “And eat lots of junk food and watch scary movies on TV!” she said.
Taylor laughed, her eyes shining. “I knew you guys would love the idea,” she exclaimed. “We’re going to have the best time ever!”
Emily smiled along with the others. But secretly, she was worried. On the one hand, her friends were right—a sleepover sounded like lots of fun. On the other hand, Emily’s parents had just decided to let her unplug her night-light. Were they really going to let her sleep away from home?
“A last-day-of-school sleepover sounds great,” she said. “But I have an even better idea. Why don’t we have a picnic at my house instead? My dad can cook his famous garlic hot dogs on the grill, and we can play tag and stuff to welcome summer.”
“Are you kidding?” Kara wrinkled her nose. “Picnics are nice, but what could possibly be more fun than a slumber party?”
Emily shrugged, not knowing what to say to that. Just then Randy Blevins, a boy in their class, came running over holding Kara’s apple. “Yo, girls, quit throwing food!” he yelled. Randy liked to yell. He yelled at recess, he yelled on the school bus, and he even yelled out the answers in class.
Kara blinked at him in surprise. “Hey, how did you get my apple?” she demanded. “Give it here.”
She grabbed it back. Randy made a monster face and then ran off with a yell.
“You know the best thing about slumber parties?” Kara said with a frown as she wiped off the apple on her napkin. “No boys allowed!”
“Good thing we’re having the party at Taylor’s house instead of yours.” Jo smiled at Kara. “Otherwise, your brothers would probably try to crash it.”
Taylor gasped. “That’s a great idea!”
“What?” Kara sounded confused. “Having my stinky brothers crash our sleepover? That sounds like a terrible idea to me.”
“No, silly.” Taylor rolled her eyes. “The great idea is having the next sleepover at your house. Or Em’s. Or Jo’s.”
“The next sleepover?” Jo said.
“Sure!” Taylor tapped her fingers on the lunch table, looking more excited than ever. “This could be just the beginning. Maybe we could have sleepovers every weekend from now on!”
Kara gasped, dropping her apple again. This time it rolled across the table and bumped into Jo’s sandwich. “That’s the best idea ever!” she cried, clapping her hands. “Taylor, you’re a genius!”
“I know.” Taylor grinned. “I can’t help it.”
Jo looked thoughtful. “We could turn it into a club,” she suggested. “Sort of like the bridge club my parents belong to.”
“Bridge club?” Kara said. “What do they do—go tour bridges or something?”
Jo giggled. “No, silly,” she said. “Bridge is the name of a card game. My parents get together with their friends once a month to play cards and eat dinner.”
“Oh.” Taylor looked confused now too. “So do you want us to play bridge at our party?”
“I don’t know how to play bridge!” Kara complained.
“No, wait!” Jo shook her head. “Listen for a second, okay? I’m trying to tell you. My parents have a bridge club—and we should have a slumber party club!”
“Oh!” Taylor and Kara cried at once.
“A—a slumber party club?” Emily repeated, even more nervous than before. She was already worried about whether her parents would let her go to one sleepover. Now her friends wanted to form a whole club?
“It’s perfect!” Taylor cried. “We could be the Sleepover Friends.”
“No—the Sleepover Squad.” Kara smiled. “That means the same thing, but it sounds better. Right, E
m?”
Emily smiled weakly. She got the best grades of any of her friends in English class. “Sure,” she said. “That sounds good.”
She couldn’t believe this was happening. The first day of the last week of school had started out great, but now it seemed to be getting worse and worse. What if she asked her parents if she could go to Taylor’s slumber party and they said no? What if her best friends were all in the Sleepover Squad without her? They would all be having fun together every weekend, and she would be all alone, sitting in her dark room without even a night-light to keep her company.
Suddenly, Emily felt tears welling up in her eyes. She did her best to stop them by swallowing hard and staring down at her lunch.
But it was no use. Right there at the table she burst into tears.
Kara gasped. “Em, what’s wrong?” she cried.
Jo put her arm around Emily’s shoulders. “Why are you crying?”
“Did you bite your tongue or something?” Taylor asked. “I hate when I do that. Sometimes it happens when I try to talk and eat at the same time.”
Emily shook her head, still staring down at her lunch. Her tears hadn’t even stopped yet, but she was already embarrassed about starting to cry right there in the cafeteria. She hoped the kids at the other tables hadn’t noticed.
“I—I’m okay,” she said with a gulp and sniffle. She squeezed her eyes shut until she could feel the tears stop flowing. Then she opened her eyes again and wiped them with her napkin.
She looked up at her friends. They were all staring at her with concern.
“Em, what is it?” Jo spoke up for all of them. “You can tell us.”
Emily took a deep breath, wishing she wasn’t so quick to cry whenever she felt upset or anxious. She knew that Kara and Jo would never cry over something so silly. And Taylor hardly ever cried at all. She hadn’t even cried when she’d sprained her ankle in the middle of her big soccer tournament last year.
“It’s stupid,” Emily said, so quietly that the others had to lean forward to hear her. “But Taylor’s party sounds like so much fun, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to go!”