I pushed back the duvet and swung my legs out of bed. Then I stopped. I’d just noticed something. There was a piece of paper lying on the floor. Someone had pushed another message under our door in the middle of the night!
“Hey, wake up you lot!” I yelled as I dived across the room and grabbed the piece of paper.
“Urgh!” Kenny mumbled, pushing the duvet off her head and sitting up.
“Oh, shut up, Rosie!” Frankie yawned.
“It’s not time to get up, is it?” Fliss moaned.
“That cheese has given me a stomachache!” Lyndz groaned.
“Be quiet, you lot!” I gabbled, as I read the note through quickly. “The prisoner in the attic has sent us another note!”
That got them all going!
“What!” Kenny and Lyndz both jumped out of bed and collided slap-bang with Frankie and Fliss who were already charging across the room towards me.
“Yeah, she pushed it under our door last night while we were asleep!” I waved the piece of paper at them.
“She?” Lyndz repeated, “Who is it then?”
“Listen!” I read the note aloud. “Hello, my friends. My name is Jeanne. I am a prisoner in the attic, and I am only set free during the day when everyone is out and at night time when everyone is asleep. I have to do all the cooking and cleaning round here. Come to the attic tonight at midnight. Please help me – you are my only hope!”
We all stared at each other in amazement.
“We’ve got to help her!” I said.
“We will,” Kenny said firmly. “We can’t let that horrible Chantal get away with this!”
“Maybe we should take the note to Mrs Weaver,” Fliss suggested for the third time.
“Fliss could be right,” Frankie agreed solemnly. “This is getting pretty serious!”
“Mm, but we ought to check it out first,”Kenny insisted. “We’ll look pretty stupid if it turns out to be a fake!”
“Kenny’s right,” Lyndz said. “And we’re not exactly Mrs Weaver’s favourite pupils at the moment either…”
“I don’t think it is a fake.” Frankie studied the note carefully.
Kenny nodded. “Neither do I. Look, all we’ve got to do is check it out first. If it’s true, then we’ll have to let the teachers know.”
“OK,” we all agreed.
“What are we going to do then?” Fliss asked, her teeth chattering.
“We’ll go up to the attic again tonight,” Kenny said grimly. “And this time nothing’s going to stop us. Not even Scary Chantal…”
We were all feeling pretty fired up about going to the attic to rescue Jeanne that night, so we were a bit rowdy at breakfast. It wasn’t until Mrs Weaver gave us the evil eye a few times that we calmed down! Anyway, there wasn’t anything we could do until the evening, so we just tried to enjoy ourselves and forget about it for a bit.
Until the M&Ms came in and sat down at the table next to us, that is.
“I wonder where the Westwood Street actors will be filming today,” the Queen remarked in a loud voice as she nibbled a croissant.
“Miles away from wherever we are, I hope!” the Goblin said gruffly, and they both roared with laughter as if Emily had just made the joke of the century.
Kenny groaned, and buried her nose in her glass of orange juice.
“I’d almost forgotten about the bet, what with all that stuff last night!” she said. “Remember, you lot, we’ve got to keep our eyes open for the film crew!”
We all nodded.
After breakfast everyone piled into the minibus again for another day’s sightseeing. Mr Tate drove us to Montmartre, which is a really pretty part of Paris. It had lots of little streets, and a big white church called Sacre-Cœur, which we were allowed to go into and look around. We were allowed to go shopping too, and we bought loads of souvenirs and postcards. Then we all got back on the minibus, and we were taken to the most famous museum in Paris, the Louvre. It was so big that we were only going round bits of it.
“Right, you’ll all recognise this famous picture,” Mrs Weaver announced as she led us into one of the rooms. We couldn’t see much though, because there was a big crowd of tourists round the famous picture, whatever it was.
“I can see it!” Frankie announced excitedly. She’s a right beanpole, so she could just about see what was hanging on the wall if she stood on her toes. She looked over the heads of a big crowd of Japanese tourists. “It’s the Mona Lisa!”
“Well done, Frankie,” said Mrs Weaver approvingly. “Yes, it is the Mona Lisa.”
“What’s Lisa moaning about now?” Kenny giggled, nudging me in the ribs.
“Oh, very funny!” I nudged her back as some of the other tourists moved away and we managed to edge our way forward. “But you’re right – she doesn’t look very happy, does she?”
We looked at some of the other stuff in the museum, including a statue of a lady with no arms that Mrs Weaver said was the Venus de Milo. Then we were taken into a park to eat the packed lunches the hotel had prepared for us. We were starving, so we all got stuck in. All except Fliss, who started opening her sandwiches and peering into them as if she expected to find a slug or something!
“What are you doing, Flissy?” Kenny asked in amazement.
Fliss looked nervous. “What if it was Chantal who made the sandwiches?”
“What if it was?” Frankie asked, looking puzzled.
Fliss looked around, and lowered her voice. “Well, she might be trying to poison us!”
“Don’t be daft, Fliss!” said Frankie. Lyndz and I giggled, but Kenny frowned.
“You could be right, Fliss! Come to think if it, I’m feeling a bit funny – urgh!” Kenny clutched her throat and fell over backwards, sprawling out motionless on the grass. Fliss squealed, and the rest of us howled with laughter.
“Oh, very clever!” Fliss poked Kenny in the stomach, and Kenny sat up, laughing her head off.
“No sign of the film crew yet today,” remarked Emma Hughes smugly as she and Emily Berryman went past us. “Looks like you won’t be getting that autograph after all, Kenny.”
Kenny stopped laughing and stuck her tongue out at the Queen’s back. “The Queen’s right, for once,” she said gloomily. “I just hope we catch up with the filming again soon …”
Guess what? We did! After lunch we went to see the famous cathedral, Notre Dame. We’d seen it from the boat the day before, but now we had a chance to look at it properly, and go inside. It was a really big, impressive building with lots of funny gargoyles and other carvings on the front. But the very first thing we noticed was that the film crew were there again, along with the actors Danni Hart and Liam Darcy. And they were shooting a scene outside the cathedral!
“Cool!” Kenny exclaimed in delight. She pulled a face at the Queen and the Goblin, who’d also spotted the film crew and were looking like thunder. “This is where I really rub Emma’s nose in it!”
“Kenny, I don’t think you should be the one who gets the autograph,” Frankie said firmly as Mrs Weaver and the other teachers ushered us over to the cathedral entrance, keeping us away from the filming.
“What?” Kenny said with a frown. “Why not?”
“If Mrs Weaver catches you, you’re dead,” Frankie explained. “And if Danni Hart recognises you, you’re dead too.”
“Frankie’s right,” I chimed in. “One of us had better do it.”
“No way!” Kenny said crossly. “It’s my bet!”
Just then Mrs Weaver looked round an fixed Kenny with a grim stare. “Laura, I don want to see you going anywhere near the film crew today. Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, Mrs Weaver,” Kenny muttered.
“See?” we all chorused.
Kenny shrugged. “Weaver wouldn’t see me if I—”
“Do you really want to miss the trip to Disneyland and stay in the hotel all day writing lines?” Fliss interrupted her in severe voice.
Kenny pulled a face. “No.”
“Come on, Kenny!” said Lyndz. She an Fliss each took one of Kenny’s arms and dragged her off. Kenny went very reluctantly but she went. Most of the others had already gone inside, except for Mr Tate who was rounding up the stragglers, and the M&Ms, who were obviously hanging around to see what was going to happen.
“So you’ve chickened out, have you, McKenzie!” Emma Hughes gloated as Kenny, Fliss and Lyndz went past them into the cathedral. “I knew you didn’t have the nerve!”
“I haven’t chickened out!” Kenny retorted. “Frankie and Rosie are going to get the autograph!”
The Queen looked superior. “That wasn’t the bet – the bet was that you were to get it! That means you’ve lost!”
“No way!” Kenny retorted. “Do you want this autograph or not?”
We all looked at the Queen, who was obviously thinking about what she was going to do. In a way, she was right. She had made the bet with Kenny, so we were breaking the conditions. But I could easily tell what Emma Hughes was thinking. She was thinking that this was a great chance to get some of the rest of the Sleepover Club into trouble, and still win the bet!
“All right,” Emma Hughes said at last.
“So you agree that Frankie and Rosie can get the autograph?” Kenny asked.
The Queen and the Goblin both nodded. Then they turned round and grinned evilly at me and Frankie. “This I’ve got to see!” said Emma Hughes smugly.
“Come on, Rosie.” Frankie gave me a nudge, and we slipped away from everyone else.
“Did you see that smug smile on the Queen’s face?” I muttered. “She really thinks that we’re going to mess this up!”
“I know,” Frankie replied. “And this could be our last chance, so we’ve got to get it right!”
Frankie and I quickly scurried out of sight behind a big group of Japanese tourists so that we could check out the lie of the land. Mr Tate was still trying to get everyone inside the cathedral, but he hadn’t noticed us. He was too busy sorting out an argument between Ryan Scott and Danny McCloud. Meanwhile, Danni Hart and Liam Darcy, who played her boyfriend in the soap, were walking along in front of the cathedral hand in hand, being filmed. Then they stopped to kiss and hug each other.
“OK, cut!” shouted someone. “That’s a wrap. Well done, everyone.”
As Frankie and I watched closely, Danni Hart began to complain about something. We couldn’t hear what she was saying, but we could tell she wasn’t happy. She was waving her arms about and looking really mad.
“I don’t like her one bit now!” Frankie whispered to me.
“I know, she’s a right pain in the behind!” I whispered back. “Do you think she’ll give us her autograph?”
It didn’t look too hopeful. Danni Hart was red in the face and looked as if she was going to explode any minute!
“We’ve got to try,” Frankie said. “Come on!”
We were about to go over to the film crew when it happened. All of a sudden we were surrounded by a big crowd of Japanese tourists, all smiling and holding their cameras out to us and talking in Japanese. We were so hemmed in, we couldn’t move.
“What are they saying?” I asked Frankie nervously.
“How should I know?” Frankie gasped. “I don’t speak Japanese!”
Just then one of the women shoved her camera into Frankie’s hands and pointed at the cathedral and then at herself.
“Oh, I think she wants me to take her photo!” Frankie said with a grin.
“Hurry up then!” I said urgently. “We’ve got to get that autograph!”
Then an old man shoved a camera at me too, so I took his picture standing outside the cathedral while Frankie was taking the woman’s. Then all of a sudden, another tourist was pushing a camera into my hand!
“No, I can’t!” I said helplessly.
But it was no good. They didn’t understand what we were saying! Frankie was in the same mess too. As fast as we snapped one person, another camera was pushed straight into our hands. We must have taken about thirty photos!
Then suddenly Frankie let out a wail. “Oh no!”
I looked up just in time to see Danni Hart and Liam Darcy get into a big black car and speed off. The filming had finished.
“We’ve missed them!” I groaned. “Oh, rats!”
“Frankie! Rosie!” called Mr Tate impatiently from the cathedral entrance. “I’m waiting for you to come inside, please!”
Frankie and I managed to get away from the Japanese tourists, and we went gloomily over to Mr Tate.
“Well done, girls,” he said. “That was very kind of you, taking all those photos.”
Frankie and I just looked at each other as he ushered us inside the cathedral. Yes, the tourists had got all their photos all right – but we’d missed getting that precious autograph!
The cathedral was beautiful inside, but we weren’t really in the mood to appreciate it. We looked around for the others, and spotted them at the same time as they saw us.
“Well?” Kenny, Fliss and Lyndz came over as fast as they could without actually running. We were in a church, after all! “Did you get it?”
Wearily Frankie and I shook our heads.
“No!” Kenny exclaimed in horror.
“We got ambushed by a gang of Japanese tourists who wanted us to take their pictures,” Frankie explained.
“And by the time we got away, the filming had finished,” I added gloomily.
Suddenly there was a muffled snort from behind us. We turned round to see the Queen and the Goblin stuffing their hands in their mouths to stop themselves from laughing.
“Oh, shut up!” Kenny hissed. “The bet’s not over yet!”
“Only two more days to go!” Emily Berryman said gloatingly. “And you might not see the film crew again anyway!”
“We will!” Kenny said firmly, but we could tell that she was getting a bit depressed about it. I mean, for all we knew, filming in Paris could have finished and Danni Hart might be heading back to England right at this very minute!
“Yeah, we would have got the autograph today for sure if it hadn’t been for all those tourists wanting their picture taken!” I said, to back Kenny up.
Emma and Emily almost turned purple trying not to laugh. Suddenly I got very suspicious.
“Did you two tell those tourists that Frankie and I would take their pictures?” I asked furiously.
“Now why would we do a thing like that?” the Queen asked airily, and she and Emily sauntered off, smirking.
“They did?” I said. “It was all their fault!”
“Well, it’s too late to worry about that now,” Frankie said solemnly. “Let’s just hope we see the film crew again before the holiday’s over…”
“Quiet!” Frankie ordered us as we all tiptoed over to the bedroom door. It was five minutes to midnight, and we were on our way to rescue Jeanne! “Don’t make a sound. Don’t even breathe! We don’t want Chantal to catch us again like she did last night!”
“I’m scared!” Fliss moaned as Frankie opened the door.
“Oh, don’t worry, Fliss!” Kenny said confidently. “There’s five of us and only one of Chantal!”
“Yeah, but if she’s a vampire, she’ll have magic powers!” Fliss muttered, unconvinced.
“Never mind, I’ll sort her out, just like Buffy the Vampire Slayer!” Kenny grinned, and pretended to karate-kick the door. Her foot hit the handle, and we all nearly died.
“QUIET, Kenny!” Frankie hissed. “Or you can stay behind!”
“Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t all go anyway,” Fliss said eagerly. “It’d be much quieter if only one person went.”
“Does anyone want to go on their own?”Frankie asked, peering round the door up the dark staircase. It looked even more scary than the night before!
We all glanced at each other. Even Kenny didn’t loo
k too keen.
“OK, we all go then!” said Frankie firmly. “Is that all right with everyone?”
We all nodded, and followed her out of the room. Kenny, who was last, pulled the door shut with a gentle click.
“Just in case Chantal comes nosing around!” she said.
“Right, don’t step in the middle of the first two stairs,” Frankie instructed us as she switched on her torch. “They creak, remember?”
We all linked hands, and set off up the stairs as quietly and quickly as we could. All we had to do was get to the curve in the staircase, and then we’d be round the corner and out of sight from our landing. We’d feel a lot safer then. It was only about fourteen steps to get there, but it seemed to take us hours. At last Kenny followed the rest of us round the corner and we all slumped against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief.
“OK, we’d still better be quiet,” Frankie said in a low voice, as she played the beam of her torch up the stairs ahead of her. “Chantal might be up in the attic with Jeanne, for all we know!”
“Hold on,” I whispered. “What are we going to do if she is?”
We all looked at each other. “I told you, I’ll do my Buffy act!” Kenny said, but that didn’t make any of us feel much better.
“Maybe we should just all rush in at once,” Lyndz suggested. “She can’t catch all of us at the same time!”
Fliss gave a little squeal. “I’ll die if she catches me!”
But we’d gone too far to turn back now! We carried on up the stairs for a little way. Then the staircase ended, and we came out on to a dark, narrow landing. There was only one door up there – a big, thick, wooden one. A large, old-fashioned key hung on a rusty nail on the wall beside the door.
“This is it!” Kenny whispered. “This must be the attic!”
My heart was thumping and I was shivering, even though it wasn’t cold. Fliss looked absolutely petrified, Frankie was pale, Lyndz’s eyes were as big as dinner plates and even Kenny was shaking a bit.
Kenny reached out for the key, but Frankie grabbed her arm. “Let’s knock on the door first,” she suggested.
“No!” Hiss moaned. “What if Chantal’s in there?”
Vive le Sleepover Club! Page 4