Sari Sleepover

by Narinder Dhami

  Asha shook her head sadly. “I’m just going to have to tell Emma the truth and ask her to give it back to me.”

  “No, don’t do that!” the rest of us said together, alarmed.

  “Well, have you got any better ideas?” Asha looked round at us.

  “No,” I replied, “But we’ll think of something…”

  “I’d like to slap some of this clay right round Emma Hughes’ face!” Kenny muttered, as she modelled another lopsided diva. Mrs Weaver had shown us how to make the little lamps, and said that we could put night lights in them and use them to decorate the hall for the Diwali / Bonfire Night celebration, which was only a couple of days away. Kenny had made three divas so far, and all of them were wonky!

  “Look at her smug face,” I said in disgust. “She definitely knows something’s going on!”

  The M&Ms were working on their rangoli patterns, and the Queen kept glancing over at us. Every so often she put her hand up and touched the necklace, as if she was checking it hadn’t moved somewhere else. Maybe she really had believed that part of Kenny’s story!

  “At least she doesn’t know that we wanted the necklace ourselves,” said Rosie, who was busy finishing off her Diwali card.

  “Yeah, she probably just thinks Kenny was winding her up about the necklace for a laugh,” Fliss added. “Hey, Rosie, your Diwali card is so cool!”

  We all looked at Rosie’s card. Usually she’s not that brilliant at art, but this time she’d done a great job. Her card was all done in red and gold with Indian-looking patterns on it.

  “I reckon you might win a prize, Rosie-Posie!” I said.

  Asha’s card was good too, but she hadn’t really been concentrating on it that much. She was obviously really worried about the necklace, because she kept staring across the classroom at Emma Hughes.

  “Stop staring at the Queen, Asha!” Kenny whispered, giving her a nudge. “She’s already really suspicious!”

  “Sorry,” Asha replied gloomily.

  “Right, I want you to tidy everything away quickly,” Mrs Weaver suddenly called out, glancing at the clock. “I’ve got a surprise for you!”

  “Huh! Probably a maths test!” Kenny snorted as we quickly cleared up the clay, and the others put their Diwali cards and rangoli patterns away.

  Mrs Weaver waited till we were all sitting down and our tables were tidy. Then she smiled at us. “Well, I said I’d got a surprise for you,” she began, “and I’m sure you all want to know what it is.”

  “Fractions and percentages!” Kenny whispered. “You wait and see!”

  “We have a very special visitor coming to talk to us today about Diwali,” Mrs Weaver went on. “And she should be here any minute now…” She hurried over to the door and opened it. “Ah, yes, here she is, coming down the corridor. Hello, do come in!”

  Mrs Weaver opened the door wider, and we all got the shock of our lives as Mrs Chopra walked into the classroom.

  We all nearly died. Fliss let out a squeak of terror, and Asha looked like she was about to faint clean away. Even Kenny was speechless.

  “I’m sure nearly all of you know who Mrs Chopra is.” Mrs Weaver ushered Mrs Chopra into the room. “She’s the wife of Dr Chopra, and Asha’s aunt.”

  Mrs Chopra gave the class a cheery wave. As Mrs Weaver fussed around, asking her if she wanted to sit or stand for her talk and if she’d like a glass of water, we all started panicking.

  “Mrs Chopra said she had a Diwali surprise for us this afternoon!” I groaned, “but I never guessed it was this!”

  “What if she sees the necklace?” Asha hissed. “I’m done for!”

  We all glanced over at the Queen. Being the creep that she was, Emma Hughes sat with Emily Berryman near Mrs Weaver’s desk at the front of the class. There didn’t seem to be any way that Mrs Chopra could miss seeing her necklace round the Queen’s neck.

  “Maybe she won’t notice it,” Lyndz whispered hopefully. Trust Lyndz – she always tries to see the bright side of everything!

  Mrs Weaver was glaring round the room now, waiting for silence. “We’re all very grateful to Mrs Chopra for giving up her time to come and talk to us,” she said in a voice which really said, “You’d better shut up and sit still and listen or else!”

  “I’m very glad to be here,” Mrs Chopra chimed in. She was wearing a lovely red sari with gold embroidery today – the necklace would have looked fab with it. Instead it was round Emma Hughes’ skinny neck, just centimetres in front of its real owner!

  “What’re we gonna do?” Kenny whispered in my ear, as Mrs Chopra prepared to start her talk.

  “I dunno!” I whispered back. “Don’t ask me!”

  “Maybe one of us could faint or something and stop the talk,” Rosie suggested.

  “Ssh! Mrs Weaver’s giving us the evil eye!” Fliss wailed.

  Mrs Chopra beamed round at us as the class fell silent. We all held our breath as she glanced at the M&Ms, but Mrs Chopra’s expression didn’t change. She hadn’t noticed the necklace this time! Phew!

  “Well now, Diwali is one of the most popular Hindu festivals,” she started off, “just like your English Christmas!”

  Mrs Chopra went on to explain that Diwali is celebrated over five days, and different things are done on each day. It was all pretty interesting, but none of us could concentrate. I was fidgeting around in my seat like I had ants in my pants, and so were the others, especially Asha. I was just waiting for Mrs Chopra to rush forward and yell “That’s my necklace!” and pull it off the Queen’s neck!

  “And on the third day we put the divas in our houses, in every single room,” Mrs Chopra was saying, “and we draw rangoli patterns on our doorsteps, and dress up in our best clothes. Everyone’s getting very excited by this time.” She looked over at Asha. “Asha and I drew our rangoli patterns on the doorstep last night, didn’t we, Asha?”

  Asha jumped. “Er… Yes, Auntie,” she stammered.

  Mrs Weaver was frowning. She could obviously tell that something was going on by the way we were all fidgeting around, and she didn’t like it. So we all made an effort to sit quietly while Mrs Chopra went on talking. She explained that Diwali is a time to visit friends and relatives, and exchange sweets, presents and cards. She’d brought some boxes of sweets called barfi, which were made of coconut, milk and sugar, and she said that we could all taste them.

  “Would you hand the sweets round?” Mrs Chopra said, smiling at Emily Berryman.

  “Oh, thank goodness she didn’t ask Emma!” Asha breathed, as the Goblin got up (having nicked the biggest pieces of barfi for herself and the Queen, naturally).

  I didn’t know how, but we seemed to be getting away with it. Mrs Chopra had finished her talk, and the boxes of barfi were going round the room, and she still hadn’t noticed the necklace!

  “Now, does anyone have any questions to ask me about Diwali?” Mrs Chopra asked.

  Wouldn’t you just know it, the Queen’s hand was the first in the air!

  “Oh no!” Asha groaned, and Kenny kicked me under the table.

  “Yes?” Mrs Chopra was looking straight at the Queen.

  “What does the word ‘Diwali’ mean?” Emma asked.

  Mrs Chopra beamed at her. “That’s a very good question!” she said. “Diwali comes from the word ‘Deepavali’, which means a ‘row of lights’.”

  “Thank you, Mrs Chopra,” the Queen said smarmily, and Mrs Chopra nodded and smiled and moved on to another question.

  We could hardly believe it. Mrs Chopra had been looking right at Emma Hughes, and hadn’t even noticed a thing! Not a thing!

  “Maybe it’s not her necklace after all,” Rosie whispered doubtfully, and I couldn’t help thinking she might be right.

  But then we found out the real reason why Mrs Chopra hadn’t noticed the necklace. After the questions were over, Mrs Weaver started showing her some of our Diwali cards and rangoli patterns. Mrs Chopra laughed, and looked a bit sheepish.

  “I’m sorry
,” she apologised, “but I can’t see them very well. I forgot to bring my glasses with me, and I’m terribly short-sighted without them!”

  We all heaved a huge sigh of relief, and Kenny whispered “Yes!” and kicked me under the table again. It looked like we were going to get away with it!

  “I was so frightened, I didn’t even notice that Auntie wasn’t wearing her glasses!” Asha gabbled, looking more relieved than any of us.

  We weren’t off the hook for long, though. As Mrs Chopra prepared to leave, Mrs Weaver turned to her and said, “I hope you and Dr Chopra are coming to our Diwali / Bonfire Night celebration tomorrow night?”

  That wiped the smile off our faces!

  “Oh, certainly, we’d love to come,” Mrs Chopra agreed.

  “Don’t panic!” Kenny whispered. “Emma might not even wear the necklace that night!”

  “And even if she does, there’ll be so many people around, Mrs Chopra might not notice,” Lyndz pointed out.

  “Perhaps you’d like to be our guest of honour and present the competition prizes,” Mrs Weaver went on. “There’ll be book tokens for the best Diwali card and rangoli pattern.”

  “I’d love to judge the competition,” Mrs Chopra agreed eagerly. “And this time I’ll bring my glasses so that I can see exactly what’s going on!”

  We all looked at each other. That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all.

  “We’d better hope the Queen doesn’t win a prize!” Fliss pointed out. “Because then she’ll come face to face with Mrs Chopra!”

  Asha groaned and buried her head in her hands as Mrs Weaver ushered her aunt out into the corridor. “I’ve got to get the necklace back before then!” she muttered. “If only Emma would take it off just for a moment – then maybe I could steal it back!”

  “Brilliant, Asha!” Kenny sat up straight and slapped her on the back. “You’ve just given me an excellent idea!”

  “Are you sure this is going to work, Kenny?” Fliss asked for about the millionth time. It was the following afternoon, and we were getting changed for a games lesson. We were getting changed very slowly, because that was all part of Kenny’s master plan.

  “Look, you know how fussy Weaver is about everyone taking off any watches or jewellery before games,” Kenny said impatiently. “She’ll put all the stuff in her desk drawer like she usually does – and then we’ll be waiting to pounce!”

  “Isn’t it a bit dodgy going through Mrs Weaver’s drawers?” Lyndz asked. We all started giggling hysterically. It was probably nerves, but we just couldn’t stop.

  “You know what I mean!” Lyndz said.

  “Well, it would be if the necklace was really Emma’s,” Kenny pointed out. “But it isn’t. So we’re not stealing anything. Not really.”

  “Line up by the door when you’re ready, please,” Mrs Weaver called. “And give any watches and jewellery to me before we go down to the gym.”

  We all pretended not to watch as the Queen went over to Mrs Weaver and gave her the necklace, which went into the desk drawer with all the other stuff. Kenny winked at us.

  “See?” she whispered. “Everything’s going to plan!”

  “Goodness me, girls!” Mrs Weaver said irritably as she spotted that none of us were even half-changed yet, while the rest of the class was ready to go. “What’s the matter with you? I’m going to take the others down to the gym, and I want you to follow us as fast as you can!”

  “Yes, Miss,” we all chorused. We waited till the sound of footsteps down the corridor had died away, and then Kenny legged it over to the teacher’s desk.

  “Kenny, I really don’t think we should be doing this,” Rosie said nervously. “What happens when the Queen wants her necklace back, and it’s gone?”

  “Yeah, Weaver’s sure to suspect us!” Fliss wailed, looking scared.

  “We just deny it!” Kenny replied impatiently. “Look, Weaver’ll say ‘Did any of you take Emma’s necklace?’ and we all say NO, ’cos it isn’t Emma’s necklace, it’s Mrs Chopra’s! So we won’t really be lying!”

  “Anyway, Mrs Weaver won’t know if someone else came in and nicked the necklace while we were all in the gym,” I pointed out.

  “Let’s just get the necklace back and worry about all this later!” Asha said urgently, as Kenny began to pull the drawer open carefully.

  And that’s when it happened!

  RRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!

  The noise of the bell was deafening! We all nearly jumped out of our skins, and Fliss gave a scream.

  “What’s that?” Asha gasped.

  “It’s the fire bell!” I said urgently. For one horrible moment I’d thought the alarm had gone off because we’d opened Mrs Weaver’s drawer! “Quick, we’ve got to get out of here!”

  “Let me get the necklace first!” Kenny gabbled, pulling the drawer open wider.

  “There’s no time, Kenny!” Lyndz cried. “The school might be on fire!”

  “Mrs Weaver’s coming back!” Fliss wailed. She was already over by the door, and looking really scared, as if she was about to wet herself!

  Cursing under her breath, Kenny immediately slammed the drawer shut, and we all legged it over to the door just as Mrs Weaver came running into the classroom. “Into the playground as fast as you can, girls!” she snapped, and hurried us out.

  The rest of our class was already lined up outside, shivering in their games kit, and we ran to join them as the rest of the school filed out of the building.

  “Well done, everyone,” called Mrs Poole, the headteacher, glancing at her watch. “You all got out of the school in very good time.”

  “Isn’t the school on fire, Miss?” Kenny asked.

  Mrs Poole shook her head, looking rather amused. “No, Laura, it was just a fire drill,” she explained.

  “Oh, ratsville!” Kenny muttered crossly. “Another second or two, and we would have had the necklace – what a stupid time to have a fire drill!”

  “Well, that’s my last chance then,” Asha said gloomily. “I’ll just have to hope that Emma doesn’t wear it tonight. If she does, I’m dog biscuits…”

  “Hey, Mum! Come and see my outfit!” I yelled.

  I looked at myself in my bedroom mirror. Asha had lent us all some Indian clothes for the Diwali night, and I’d borrowed the purple and gold shalwar kameez with the matching gold scarf again (I’d decided that a sari might be too difficult to walk around in!). I was also wearing a bindi and loads of bangles and a pair of gold sandals. I thought I looked cool!

  “You look lovely, Frankie.” My mum popped her head round the door, and I did a double-take. She was wearing a blue sari with silver embroidery!

  “I didn’t know you were going to dress up too!” I spluttered. “Where did you get it from?”

  “Mrs Sharma lent it to me,” my mum grinned. Mrs Sharma lives in the same street as us. “She showed me how to put it on, too. I just hope I’ve done it right – I don’t want to unravel halfway through the evening!”

  “If you do, I’ll never speak to you again!” I threatened. Mums! They can be so embarrassing sometimes!

  We got into the car and drove to the school. Dad was staying at home to babysit Izzy, so we’d promised to nick some samosas for him. I was really looking forward to the evening, but I couldn’t help worrying about the Queen and that stupid necklace. We’d all be in big trouble if Mrs Chopra found out what had happened. But if we could just get away with it tonight, we might have a chance to get the necklace back some other time…

  My mum pulled into the school car park, and I began bouncing up and down in my seat with excitement. Rosie and her mum were standing there talking to Mrs Proudlove (who was really pregnant by now – she’s having twins, remember?) and Fliss, Lyndz and her mum and Asha and her uncle and auntie. Everyone looked great. Rosie was wearing a silver shalwar kameez, Fliss had a pink one (of course!), Lyndz had a pale green one and Asha a lilac-coloured one. Mrs Chopra was wearing this totally gorgeous lime-green sari with purple
and gold butterflies on it – it was fab!

  My mum and I got out of the car and hurried over to join them. Well, I hurried – my mum sort of trailed along behind me. I don’t think she’d got the hang of walking in a sari yet.

  “Hi, Frankie! You look great!” Rosie yelled.

  “So does your mum!” Lyndz added.

  “Yes, very elegant!” said Mrs Chopra, trying not to smile as she watched my mum walk carefully across the playground. “But not exactly very warm for this weather!”

  We’d had to put our big winter coats on over the top because the shalwar kameez were so thin, and I was dying to get inside so I could get rid of my coat and show off!

  “Fliss, do your coat up right away,” Mrs Proudlove said fussily. Fliss had sneakily undone the buttons so that she could flash her pink shalwar kameez at us. “You’ll catch your death of cold!”

  “How are you both?” my mum asked the Chopras. Mrs Chopra’s face fell.

  “Well, I’m fine, but I still haven’t found my necklace,” she sighed, and I glanced in horror at Asha and the others. This could ruin everything!

  My mum looked blank. “What necklace?” she asked.

  “Oh, didn’t Frankie tell you?” Mrs Chopra began – but at that moment, to my relief, I noticed the McKenzies’ car sweeping into the car park.

  “Here’s Kenny!” I said brightly, hoping that Mrs Chopra would stop talking about the necklace right away.

  Well, when Kenny climbed out of her dad’s car, even Mrs Chopra forgot about the necklace for a minute or two. Kenny was wearing a baggy white tunic and baggy white trousers, and this massive pink turban on her head! We all nearly died laughing.

  “What’s up with you lot?” Kenny asked airily as she sauntered over with her mum and dad.

  “I always knew you were a bighead, but this is ridiculous!” I giggled.

  “Cool, isn’t it?” Kenny said proudly. “There was no way I was going to wear anything girly!”

  “I thought Sikhs wore turbans, not Hindus,” Rosie pointed out.