Sari Sleepover

by Narinder Dhami

  “We wear them too sometimes,” Dr Chopra chimed in, and Kenny looked pleased.

  “Good, because I’m not taking it off!” she said. “It took me an hour to put it on!”

  We all started to move towards the hall. The double doors into the playground stood open, and we could see that the lights had been dimmed slightly and that the divas had all been lit. The clay lights looked lovely lined up along the windowsills.

  “Try to keep your auntie away from my mum,” I whispered to Asha as we all went in. “Or my mum might remember Fliss wearing that necklace at the sleepover!”

  “OK,” Asha whispered back. “Auntie,” she said loudly, taking Mrs Chopra’s arm, “Come and see the divas we made.” And she led her aunt and uncle off across the hall.

  “Come and have a look at our classroom, Mum,” I said, leading her off in the opposite direction. “We’ve done loads of work on Diwali, and it’s all up on the display boards.”

  “What was Mrs Chopra saying about her necklace?” my mum asked as we went down the corridor.

  “Oh, I think she’s lost one of her favourite necklaces or something,” I said vaguely. “She’s been a bit upset about it. Look, that’s my picture of the Hindu temple.”

  My mum didn’t say anything else about Mrs Chopra’s necklace – thank goodness! We spent about half an hour in the classroom looking at our Diwali work, and Kenny, Fliss, Lyndz and Rosie and their parents came to join us.

  “This turban’s really heavy,” Kenny grumbled. “It’s giving me a headache!”

  “Never mind that,” I said urgently, as our parents stood around chatting. “Has anyone seen the Queen? Is she wearing the necklace tonight or not?”

  Right at that very moment the Queen sailed through the classroom door as if she owned the place, along with Mrs Hughes, Mrs Berryman and Emily. It was sickening, but she looked quite nice in a long orange and pink skirt with gold embroidery and a little crop top. Meanwhile, Emily Berryman looked even more like a goblin than ever in a green shalwar kameez!

  We all stared at the Queen, and sure enough, she was wearing the necklace. Kenny groaned.

  “Doesn’t she ever take it off?”

  “As long as Mrs Chopra doesn’t spot it, we’re OK,” Rosie said in a low voice.

  “Yeah, there’s so many people around, maybe she won’t notice Emma at all,” Lyndz said hopefully.

  Just then Mrs Weaver popped her head round the door. “The prize-giving is just about to start in the hall,” she told us.

  We all filed back into the hall, which was pretty packed by now. Mrs Chopra was safely away from my mum, up on the stage with Mrs Poole, ready to give out the prizes, and Asha and Dr Chopra came over to join us. Meanwhile, the M&Ms muscled in right in front of us with their mums, and gave us all a fright. But luckily Dr Chopra was chatting to Dr McKenzie and didn’t notice that the necklace round the Queen’s neck looked rather familiar!

  Mrs Poole stood up and made a speech about how pleased she was that so many people had come, and how important it was to respect other religions’ festivals. Then they started giving the prizes out. They started with Years Three and Four, so we had to wait for a while before they got to us.

  “And now the prize for the best Diwali card in Mrs Weaver’s class,” Mrs Poole announced. “The winner is – Rosie Cartwright!”

  Rosie looked completely stunned. “Me?” she gasped. “But I’ve never won anything in my whole life!”

  “You have now!” Kenny said, giving her a shove which made her turban wobble. “Go on!”

  Looking completely flustered, Rosie hurried up on to the stage, where she shook hands with Mrs Chopra and got her book token. We were all cheering like mad, especially because the Queen and the Goblin looked disgusted!

  “And now the prize for the best rangoli pattern.” Mrs Poole looked down at the piece of paper in her hand. “That goes to – Emma Hughes!”

  We all looked at each other in horror! Kenny was so annoyed, her turban nearly fell off. With our hearts in our mouths, we watched the Queen march smugly towards the platform to collect her prize from Mrs Chopra. In a few moments, our secret would be out – Mrs Chopra would recognise the necklace and that would be that…

  Asha groaned and closed her eyes as Emma went up the steps. So did Fliss, who looked as white as a sheet. Rosie was clutching Lyndz’s arm, and Kenny was glaring at the Queen from under her enormous turban.

  And that was when I saw it!

  It was the necklace!

  It was lying on the floor of the hall where the Queen had been standing, looking all shiny and golden, and no-one had noticed it except me.

  Quickly I let my gold scarf fall off my shoulders. It floated down to the floor and covered the necklace, and then I bent down and scooped it up. No-one was watching me as I slid the necklace into the pocket of my coat, which I was carrying over my arm.

  Meanwhile Emma Hughes was coming down the platform steps again, looking flushed and smug, carrying her book token. And Kenny, Lyndz, Fliss, Rosie and Asha were all staring at each other, hardly able to believe their luck.

  “What’s going on?” I heard Kenny whisper. “Why didn’t Mrs Chopra see the necklace?”

  “Look! Emma’s not wearing it any more!” Rosie hissed, as the Queen went back to join her mum and the Berrymans.

  “Well, where is it, then?” Asha asked anxiously. “She had it on a minute ago!”

  I grinned to myself. I was dying to tell them that the necklace was safe and sound in my pocket, but I wanted to wait until there was absolutely no chance of any of our parents overhearing.

  “The fireworks will start out on the main playing field in ten minutes,” Mrs Poole announced. “And after that, food will be served in the canteen.”

  Everyone began to move towards the doors. As our parents went on ahead, I grabbed Asha’s arm and pulled her back. “I’ve got the necklace!” I hissed.

  Asha looked at me as if I’d gone crazy. “What?”

  “The necklace!” I put my hand in my pocket and pulled it out. “It must have come loose somehow, and Emma dropped it! I saw it on the floor when she went up to get her prize.”

  Asha just stared at it as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. Meanwhile the others crowded round us, looking totally relieved.

  “Well done, Frankie!” Kenny slapped me on the back.

  “Yeah, nice one!” Lyndz grinned.

  “Maybe now we can enjoy ourselves,” Fliss said thankfully.

  “Yeah, let’s go and watch the fireworks and eat loads of samosas!” Rosie suggested.

  As we followed everyone else outside, I heard the Queen’s voice behind us. “But I was wearing it just now!” she wailed. “It must have fallen off. Quick, Emily, look for it!”

  We all grinned at each other. There was no way the Queen was going to find the necklace this time!

  “How are we going to make sure Mrs Chopra gets it back?” Rosie asked.

  “Leave that to me,” Asha replied. As we walked through the darkness to the field, she took the necklace from me and stopped under one of the outside lights to have a quick look at it. “Look, the clasp is faulty,” she said, showing it to the rest of us. “I think it works itself loose after a while.”

  “Maybe that’s what happened when Fliss was wearing it,” Lyndz suggested, “and it fell into her bag.”

  “Don’t remind me!” Fliss shuddered. “I’m just glad it’s all over!”

  “Hey, the fireworks are starting!” Kenny yelled, and we all legged it over to the barriers to watch.

  The fireworks were excellent. There were loads of rockets, shooting up into the sky and then exploding into gold, silver, green, pink and blue stars, as well as cartwheels and Roman Candles. There were even a few loud bangs, which pleased Kenny. The last thing at the end of the display were words made out of fireworks which read:

  Everyone clapped and cheered when they were set off. Then we all made our way over to the canteen to get some food because we were starving. O
n the way we passed the Queen, who was arguing with her mum.

  “But, Mum, can’t we have a look for the necklace again?” Emma was saying sulkily.

  “No, Emma, we’ve already missed most of the fireworks,” Mrs Hughes said irritably. “Now just forget about it. After all, it wasn’t worth anything.”

  “If only they knew!” Kenny murmured as we walked by, and we all grinned at each other.

  We were stuffing ourselves with samosas, baked spuds, soup and curry in the canteen when Mrs Chopra came over to us. “I can see you’re enjoying yourselves, girls!” she said. “But don’t eat too much, because we’ve invited you and your parents round to our house afterwards for a Diwali celebration, and I’ve prepared lots of food.”

  “Oh, cool!” Kenny said, reaching for another samosa. “Thanks, Mrs Chopra.”

  “This is the best Diwali I’ve ever had!” Asha declared, and winked at us.

  Mrs Chopra sighed. “I’d feel a lot happier if I could find my necklace. But –” she forced a smile “– I won’t mention it again tonight. Let’s enjoy ourselves!”

  We intended to! After the food was all gone, we all piled out of the canteen and drove over to the Chopras’ house. Mrs Chopra wasn’t kidding when she said she’d prepared lots of food! There were four different curries, nan bread, poppadoms, vegetable rice, mango chutney, pakoras, samosas and Indian sweets, all laid out in the dining room. Our eyes nearly popped out of our heads when we saw it all.

  “I hope you’re still hungry,” Mrs Chopra said anxiously.

  “Yeah, starving!” Kenny said, grabbing a poppadom.

  “If you don’t watch out, your tummy will soon be as big as your turban!” I told her.

  While the oldies were grabbing plates and doling out curry, Asha nodded at us and we followed her out of the room.

  “I’m going to put the necklace in the kitchen, down the side of the fridge,” she whispered.

  “Will your aunt find it there?” Fliss asked.

  “I hope so,” Asha replied, “or I’ll have to ‘find’ it for her!”

  We went into the kitchen, and Asha knelt down and pushed the necklace up the side of the fridge, leaving just a tiny trail of gold sticking out. “Auntie will be bending down to get drinks out of the fridge,” she said. “So she’s bound to see it.”

  We all hurried back to the dining room. No-one had taken much notice of the fact that we’d all disappeared for a few minutes. Except my mum.

  “Where’ve you lot been?” she asked.

  “Up to Asha’s room,” I replied innocently. “She wanted to show us her new shalwar kameez.”

  “Right, I’ll just go and get some drinks,” Mrs Chopra said, checking that everyone had a plateful of food, and she went out to the kitchen.

  “Funny.” My mum stared hard at me. “I didn’t hear you all going up the stairs.”

  I shrugged and began to eat my potato and pea curry, hoping she wouldn’t ask any more awkward questions. Suddenly there was a shout of joy from the kitchen.

  “My necklace!”

  We all looked up as Mrs Chopra charged into the room. She was beaming all over her face and clutching the necklace in both hands.

  “What, you mean you’ve found it?” Kenny’s mum asked.

  Mrs Chopra nodded. “It had fallen down the side of the fridge. I don’t know how it got there, but at least I’ve got it back. I can’t believe it!”

  “That’s fantastic news!” Dr Chopra smiled. He looked almost as pleased as his wife. He’d probably been fed up hearing her going on about it all the time!

  “I’m not surprised you’re glad to have it back again,” said Mrs Proudlove. “It’s beautiful. Look, Fliss, isn’t it gorgeous?”

  “Yeah,” Fliss muttered. I think she was sick of the sight of that necklace by now – I know I was! After all, it had caused us soooo much trouble!

  “Can I see it?” my mum asked. She took a close look and then handed it back to Mrs Chopra, who was hovering around anxiously as if she thought my mum was going to run off with it. “It’s lovely. It looks just like one I’ve seen recently.”

  I gulped.

  “I’m never going to let it out of my sight again!” Mrs Chopra declared, fastening the necklace round her neck.

  “Lucky it’s turned up just like that,” my mum remarked, staring hard at us girls. We all looked innocently back at her. “Didn’t I hear Emma Hughes complaining about losing a necklace at school tonight?”

  “Did you, Mrs Thomas?” Kenny asked.

  My mum raised her eyebrows. “Is there anything I should know, Frankie?”

  “No, Mum,” I said brightly, “Nothing at all.”

  My mum nodded and went back to her plate of curry.

  “She’s on to us!” Kenny whispered as we went over to the other side of the room to get away from my mum’s probing gaze.

  “Maybe she suspects something, but she can’t prove it,” I said confidently, “And she’s a lawyer, so she won’t say anything unless she’s sure!”

  “Well, everything’s OK now – at last!” Asha sighed. “Auntie’s got her necklace back and I’m not going to boarding school and now I can relax and enjoy the rest of my holiday.”

  “Just don’t get into any more trouble!” Rosie warned her.

  “I won’t,” Asha replied confidently, stepping back and knocking a big bowl of chicken curry off the table and on to the floor.

  “Move your hands like this,” Asha instructed us, waving her fingers gracefully through the air. She was trying to teach us some Indian dancing, but it was really difficult! “No, Kenny, don’t flap them around like that!”

  “I’m not flapping them!” Kenny said indignantly, but she was. She looked like a baby bird trying to fly!

  “Look, just copy me,” Asha said, and went spinning off around the room, doing these really complicated hand and feet movements.

  We all followed her, but then Kenny tripped over the edge of the rug and banged into Fliss, who squealed, and stuck her elbow in Lyndz’s eye.

  “Ow!” Lyndz staggered round the room with her hand clamped to her injured eye, and trod on Rosie’s toe. Rosie jumped out of her way and knocked into me. I collapsed on the bed, laughing my head off.

  Asha turned the tape of Indian music off and grinned at us. “You need a lot more practice,” she told us. “I think we’d better have our midnight feast now!”

  We all piled on to Rosie’s bed and unpacked our food. It was a few days later, and we were having our usual weekend sleepover. We’d decided to have a Diwali sleepover, but we weren’t allowed to have any candles, so we’d brought our torches and Rosie had collected up all the lamps she could find around the house. They were dotted around the room, and we’d put our torches on and stood them on the windowsill. They didn’t look much like divas, but it was the best we could do.

  “I really like this room, Rosie,” Asha said. “I love the colours.”

  Rosie looked round her purple and gold room proudly. “My mates decorated it for me,” she explained. “And their parents helped a bit too!”

  “I wonder if Emma Hughes is still searching for the necklace,” Kenny said lazily.

  “She was looking round the playground again yesterday,” Lyndz remarked. “I saw her.”

  “Wouldn’t she be as sick as a pig if she knew it was worth a thousand quid?” I grinned.

  “I wonder if we should tell her,” Kenny said thoughtfully, rolling over on to her stomach. “Wouldn’t it be brill to see her face?”

  “I don’t think I’d want to see Auntie’s face if she found out what we’d done!” Asha grinned, and nicked one of my crisps. “Wasn’t she nice about that bowl of curry I knocked over, though? I thought she was going to go mad when it went all over her expensive rug!”

  “I think she was too pleased about her necklace to be mad about anything,” Lyndz said, handing round a bag of fun-size Mars Bars.

  “You’d better stay out of trouble from now on, Asha!” I warned her.
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br />   “Oh, that reminds me…” Asha bounced off Rosie’s bed and picked up her bag. “Is anyone good at jigsaws?”

  “What?” we all said.

  “Well, I broke that big Chinese vase in my aunt’s living room today,” Asha confessed sheepishly, pulling a bulging carrier bag out of her rucksack. “I’ve got the bits here, and I was wondering if you could help me stick it together again?”

  We all looked at each other and burst out laughing. We laughed so much that Rosie’s mum had to come in and tell us to shut up.

  I hope we manage to keep Asha out of trouble for the rest of her stay!

  I’ll catch you later and tell you all the goss.

  ’Bye!

  Have you been Invited to all these Sleepovers?

  The Sleepover Club at Frankie’s

  The Sleepover Club at Lyndsey’s

  The Sleepover Club at Felicity’s

  The Sleepover Club at Rosie’s

  The Sleepover Club at Kenny’s

  Starring the Sleepover Club

  The Sleepover Girls go Spice

  The 24 Hour Sleepover Club

  The Sleepover Club Sleeps Out

  Happy Birthday, Sleepover Club

  Sleepover Girls on Horseback

  Sleepover in Spain

  Sleepover on Friday 13th

  Sleepover Girls at Camp

  Sleepover Girls go Detective

  Sleepover Girls go Designer

  The Sleepover Club Surfs the Net

  Sleepover Girls on Screen

  Sleepover Girls and Friends

  Sleepover Girls on the Catwalk

  The Sleepover Club Goes for Goal!

  Sleepover Girls Go Babysitting

  Sleepover Girls Go Snowboarding

  Happy New Year, Sleepover Club!

  Sleepover Club 2000

  We Love You Sleepover Club

  Vive le Sleepover Club!

  Sleepover Club Eggstravaganza

  Emergency Sleepover

  Sleepover Girls on the Range

  The Sleepover Club Bridesmaids

  Sleepover Girls see Stars

  Sleepover Club Blitz

  Sleepover Girls in the Ring