Hang on, though – I’m getting ahead of myself, ’cos to start with no one danced much at all. There were loads of people there: pupils and teachers, mums and dads, kid brothers and sisters, grans and grandpas – all ages from the babies to the wrinklies.
“Wow, lots of people have dressed up,” Lyndz said as the hall started filling up, with everyone congregating round the food and drink tables.
“Yeah, and some of them look really cool,” added Frankie. Then she dug me in the ribs and nodded towards the door. I spun round – just in time to see the M&Ms stalking into the room wearing nasty matching crop tops and gross stripey leggings. Frankie and I looked at each other. “Not!” we said together, and burst out laughing.
Frankie, Lyndz, Kenny, Fliss and I were in our S Club 5 gear, of course, and looking so ace it was all we could do to stop ourselves admiring each other the whole time. But there was plenty of other stuff to grab our attention. For a start, we all had our families there. Mum and Adam had come, and I was really surprised that Tiff had tagged along too at the last minute.
“Though I don’t know why I’m bothering, ‘cos it’s bound to be really naff,” she’d said in the car.
“Take no notice, Rosie,” Mum had said, winking at me.
“No fear!” I’d grinned. Even grouchy Tiff couldn’t spoil this party, I knew that right from the start!
Nikki and Andy Proudlove were there as well, and Nikki was looking dead slinky in a tight sequinny dress. Everyone got a good look at it, too, because when the first raffle was drawn her ticket was the winner and she went up on stage to collect the prize.
“Oooh, champagne! My favourite!” she cooed, as Sean handed her a great big bottle of the stuff and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Nikki went bright pink – just like Fliss does when we tease her about Ryan Scott – and everyone clapped and cheered.
After Nikki had come down from the stage I spotted Kenny stalking towards her, looking grim and determined. She talked to Nikki for quite a while, and Nikki put her arm round her and smiled a lot as she answered.
“What was all that about?” I said, catching hold of Kenny’s elbow as she pushed her way back through the crush towards the crisps-and-sarnies table.
“I wanted to give Fliss’s mum a kind of formal apology,” said Kenny, looking mightily relieved. “For ruining their skiing holiday and stuff. She was really nice about it. You know what she said?”
“What?”
Kenny was grinning wickedly. “She said getting a bottle of champagne and a kiss from Sean made it all worthwhile – especially the kiss from Sean!”
Not long after that it was time for the dance routines. Lorna introduced Ryan’s group first, explaining about the competition and how we’d all been so good they’d had to pick two groups as winners.
The hip-hop went down really well, though most people stood and watched rather than joining in the dancing.
“Us next, us next, us next,” Lyndz kept muttering nervously as the five of us waited at the side of the stage for the routine to finish. She was squeezing my hand so tightly I thought I wasn’t going to have a drop of blood left in it!
A second later Lorna was back on stage, calling on everyone to “… give a big, warm, Cuddington Primary welcome to S Club 5!” Lyndz seemed rooted to the spot with nerves, so I gave her a gentle shove in the back and followed her on to the stage.
If I didn’t seem nervous myself it was a total act. I could happily have turned round and legged it right out of the hall. But it wasn’t long before I found myself grinning so much my face hurt. There was I, Rosie Maria Cartwright, with my four best friends in the world, boogying on stage in front of a big cheering crowd. It felt totally awesome – like we were real pop stars on Top of the Pops. What could be better?
And the more I felt myself relax and enjoy it, the easier the steps became. It was like my arms and legs knew what to do all by themselves. I didn’t make a single mistake. Spooky!
“Yo!” shrieked Kenny next to me, wiggling her shoulders, then whipping round in a slick turn.
We were having such a fab time up there it must have been infectious, because by the time we were half way through the routine everyone was bopping along. In amongst the crowd I could see Mum and Tiffany (who didn’t seem to think the party was so naff after all) taking it in turns to spin Adam round in his wheelchair. It made him shriek as loud as Kenny.
At the end everyone started chanting “Encore! Encore!” louder and louder.
“Does that mean they want us to do it again?” I asked Kenny.
“Sure does, gal!” Kenny laughed.
“Before they start…” yelled Lorna above the cheering, flapping her hands to get everyone to quieten down. “Before they start – how about Felicity teaches us her hand-jive moves? Then we can all join in!”
A big roar of “Yeeeeaaaah!!” went up from the crowd. Fliss looked chuffed, and nervous, and embarrassed – all at once.
She’d come up with a name for each move, so she shouted them out as she demonstrated.
“Mashed potato!” she yelled, hitting her fists one on top of the other.
“Mashed potato!” echoed a hallful of people, copying her.
“See ya later!” called Fliss, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.
Then – “Twizzle sticks!” – she rolled her hands round each other.
And – “Pancake flips!” – she shimmied her hands, flat, over and under each other.
It was a scream. Second time around, as Fliss’s bit of the music came up she screamed, “Hand-jive! C’mon everybody!” and suddenly we were faced with the amazing sight of everyone in the hall doing our routine.
When our track came to an end Fliss’s mum, who was down at the front right by the stage, put two fingers in her mouth and gave an enormous whooping whistle. I was gobsmacked – Fliss’s mum usually tries to be so ladylike!
“Looks like she’s having a good time, huh?” said Kenny, coming up behind me and sticking her chin on my shoulder.
“And then some!”I said.
We were so hot from the dancing that when we jumped down from the stage we made straight for the drinks table. And that was when I spotted you, and I just knew I had to race over straight away and tell you about all the mad things that’ve been happening!
Phew, we’ve been sitting here gassing for ages! D’you want to come and have a boogie? We’ve been missing loads of great music. I dare you to dance near Kenny. Look at her – she’s a hazard, that girl!
What’s that? Fliss – where? Oh blimey, you’re right. Lorna’s signing her plaster cast. And look, there’s Fliss’s mum, talking to Sean again. Her face is a picture – totally starstruck!
Hey, you know what? I’ve just had a wicked idea. We should get Ryan Scott to sign Fliss’s cast – don’t you think? She’ll blush as red as her plaster! Oh listen, that’s Frankie, yelling for me. I bet you anything she’s just had the same idea. I’d better go – but I’ll catch you later!
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
Sleepover Girls go Pop!
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 go Camping
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
Sleepove
r Girls go Snowboarding
Happy New Year, Sleepover Club!
Sleepover Girls go Green
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
Sari Sleepover
Merry Christmas Sleepover Club!
The Sleepover Club Down Under
Sleepover Girls go Splash!
Sleepover Girls go Karting
Sleepover Girls go Wild!
The Sleepover Club at the Carnival
The Sleepover Club on the Beach
Sleepover Club Vampires
sleepoverclub.com
SLEEPOVER KIT LIST
1. Sleeping bag
2. Pillow
3. Pyjamas or a nightdress
4. Slippers
5. Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap etc
6. Towel
7. Teddy
8. A creepy story
9. Food for a midnight feast: chocolate, crisps, sweets, biscuits. In fact anything you like to eat.
10. Torch
11. Hairbrush
12. Hair things like a bobble or hairband, if you need them
13. Clean knickers and socks
14. Change of clothes for the next day
15. Sleepover diary and membership card
COPYRIGHT
The Sleepover Club ® is a
registered trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2000
Collins is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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London, W6 8JB
The HarperCollins website address is
www.harpercollins.co.uk
Text copyright © Ginny Deals 2000
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition ©AUGUST 2012 ISBN 9780007390403
Original series characters, plotlines
and settings © Rose Impey 1997
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.
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Sleepover Girls Go Dancing Page 7