by Rose Impey
By the time Fliss’s mum put her head round the door twenty minutes later, we were all tucked up. Fliss and Rosie were in the two beds, and Kenny, Lyndz and I were in our sleeping bags between them on the floor.
“Goodnight, girls,” she said. “Sleep tight.”
“Goodnight.”
She closed the door. We lay there in the dark and counted up to twenty-five, then we switched our torches on.
“What shall we do first?” Fliss asked.
“Eat!” the rest of us said.
I don’t know why we bother calling them midnight feasts, because we never make it to midnight. We always seem to be starving the moment we switch our torches on.
“This is the best bit of sleepovers,” said Lyndz, handing round some chocolate biscuits.
“Yeah, this is the real sleepover, what’s happening now. It’s a pity we can’t film it,” said Kenny.
And of course, that’s where the disaster really started…
So there we were having our midnight feast, and Kenny had just said that it was a shame we couldn’t film the stuff we did after lights out. Everybody agreed with her, but nobody really thought much about it at the time. Instead, we ate all the crisps and chocolates we’d brought (and Fliss ate most of Rosie’s popcorn), and then we wrote in our diaries.
“What shall we do now?” Lyndz asked, when we’d finished writing.
“We could tell jokes,” I suggested.
“No, let’s have stories,” said Kenny. “Horror stories.”
“No,” Fliss wailed. “They give me nightmares.”
“I think we should do what Fliss wants,” said Rosie. “After all, it’s her sleepover.”
“I want to practise our dance routine for next Friday,” Fliss said firmly.
We’re always working out dance routines. It’s one of our best skives because we get to practise them in the school hall when all the other kids have been chucked out to play in the cold. Mrs Poole, our headteacher, lets us do the routines in Friday assembly, which is always a great laugh.
“Good idea,” said Lyndz.
So we all got out of our beds and sleeping bags, and lined up in the space between the two beds. Fliss’s bedroom isn’t very big, so we had to stand on top of the sleeping bags. When we were all standing next to each other, there wasn’t room to move our arms, never mind our legs, but we had a go. Then we got bored with trying to dance in such a tiny space, and instead we started pushing each other off the floor and onto the beds. Once you were bounced onto a bed, you were out. Eventually there was just me and Rosie left, and I really had to give her a mighty shove to get her off the floor. She bounced onto Fliss’s bed, and landed right on top of Kenny.
“Oi!” Kenny spluttered. “Do you mind!” She picked up the nearest pillow, and hit out at her. Rosie ducked smartly, and the pillow thwacked Lyndz round the head instead. It was like something out of a silent movie.
By this time we were all laughing so hard, my sides really hurt.
“Sssh!” Fliss pleaded between giggles. “You’ll wake my mum up!”
“Oh, that was excellent,” I said, flopping down on the bed next to Kenny. “I wish I had a picture of Lyndz’s face when Kenny hit her with that pillow!”
“We would have had a picture of it if we were filming with the camcorder,” said Kenny.
“OK, OK,” said Fliss impatiently. “But I don’t know what you expect me to do about it.”
I could see Kenny’s eyes glinting wickedly in the light of my torch.
“Well, we could film ourselves…”
Fliss turned so white, she looked like a ghost. So did Rosie. Even I was a bit taken aback, and I’m used to Kenny’s mad ideas.
“What?” said Lyndz, who’s sometimes a bit slow on the uptake. “How could we do that?”
“Simple,” said Kenny. “Fliss borrows the camcorder, and then we can film ourselves doing real Sleepover Club things.”
“NO,” said Fliss.
“OK, OK, don’t get in a razz,” said Kenny. “If you don’t know how to work the camcorder, just say so.”
“It’s not that,” said Fliss quickly. She hates us to think that she can’t do anything and everything. “Andy showed me how to use it when he wanted me to film him and mum doing the garden.”
Kenny shrugged.
“So what’s the problem then?”
Fliss opened her mouth, then closed it again. I guessed that what she’d been about to say was that she wasn’t allowed to touch the camcorder unless her mum or Andy were around to supervise.
“Camcorders are really expensive,” said Rosie. “I don’t think Fliss’s mum would be too pleased if we used it without her permission.”
Fliss shrugged. “I can do it, no problem,” she said airily. “I’ll fetch it now.”
“Nice one, Fliss!” Kenny began applauding, and so did Lyndz. I was pleased too. After all, the official sleepover video had been about as interesting as watching paint dry so far. But I couldn’t help hearing my mum’s voice faintly in the back of my mind. “Remember if anything happens to that camcorder, you and your friends will be paying for it out of your pocket-money for years to come…”
I pushed the thought away.
“Come with me, Frankie,” Fliss was saying nervously. “I don’t want to go on my own.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To the spare bedroom. That’s where my mum keeps the camcorder.” Fliss picked up her torch, and gave the others a warning look. “The rest of you be quiet until we get back.”
Fliss and I went out onto the dark landing. Fliss’s mum and Andy were in bed, and so was her brother Callum. I have to say, it gave me a really funny feeling to be creeping about someone else’s house in the dark in the middle of the night. I felt like a burglar.
“This is the spare room.” Fliss stopped so suddenly that I bumped right into her. “We’ve got to be careful. The door squeaks like mad.”
I reached for the handle and pushed the door open a little way. It gave a loud, frightening creak, the kind of noise you’d expect if you were entering a haunted house. My heart began to bump, and my hands felt clammy.
“Sssh!” Fliss whispered.
“I couldn’t help it,” I hissed back. I gave the door one more tiny shove, so that it was just open wide enough for us to squeeze in. It gave another ear-splitting creak, and we held our breath. But no-one came to see what was going on.
We slipped inside.
“Hold the torch while I get the camcorder out of the cupboard,” Fliss said in my ear.
Curiously I played the torch around the room while Fliss was getting the camcorder. I’d never been in the spare bedroom before, and it didn’t look anything like our spare bedroom at home. Our spare room is full of junk and bits and pieces like headless Sindy dolls, old newspapers and cookery books no-one uses. But Fliss’s spare room was done up like a house in a magazine. There were flouncy blinds at the windows which matched the cover on the bed, and there were cupboards built all along one wall. There was also a headless person standing in the corner.
I couldn’t help gasping, even though I clapped my hand over my mouth to muffle the sound. Fliss jumped a mile into the air, and nearly dropped the camcorder box.
“What’s the matter with you?” she said under her breath.
“Did you know there’s a headless person over there in the corner?” I said breathlessly.
“That’s my mum’s dress-making dummy, you idiot.” Fliss pushed me towards the door. “Come on. If anyone wakes up, we’re dead.”
We hurried back to Fliss’s bedroom. As soon as we got there, the others crowded round us as Fliss put the camcorder box carefully on the bed.
“Excellent!” said Kenny. “Come on, let’s get started.”
“Just a minute,” said Lyndz. “Fliss’s mum is going to know we borrowed the camcorder, isn’t she?”
“What do you mean?” asked Kenny.
“Well, when we watch the video tomorrow morni
ng, she’s going to see all the bits we record now, when we’re supposed to be asleep,” said Lyndz.
We all looked at each other.
“Oh, rats,” said Kenny. “What do we do now?”
“Easy,” said Rosie. “We take the film out of the camcorder when we’ve finished, and put in a new blank tape. Then Andy and Fliss’s mum will think it didn’t record for some reason.”
We all stared admiringly at Rosie. My mum says I’m devious, but I’m just a beginner compared to Rosie.
“Excellent idea,” said Kenny. “Fliss, you have got a spare blank tape, haven’t you?”
Fliss nodded.
“We’ve got loads.”
“Great.” Kenny gave a sigh of relief, and opened the camcorder box. “OK, let’s get started!”
“We’ll have to put the light on,” I said. “Our torches won’t be bright enough.”
“What if someone sees the light under my door?” Fliss said nervously.
“Oh, you just put some clothes or a towel down to block it out,” said Rosie. “I do it all the time when I want to read late. My mum never knows.”
It was right at that very moment that we heard footsteps coming softly down the hall.
“Quick!” hissed Lyndz. “Someone’s coming!”
For a second we were all frozen to the spot. Then we turned off our torches, and leapt for our beds and sleeping bags. Because Fliss’s room is so small and we were so panicked, we kept bumping into each other in the dark before we managed to grope our way to our beds. It took me a few seconds to fold all my arms and legs in, and it was only when I was safely inside with my eyes tight shut that I remembered the box with the camcorder in it. But it was too late now.
Someone was opening the door…
It was Fliss’s mum. She put her head round the door and whispered, “Are you girls asleep?”
No one made a sound. I don’t know about the others, but I was holding my breath so hard my lungs were bursting. Fliss’s mum stood there looking into the room for what seemed like hours. Then she shut the door gently, and we could hear her footsteps going down the landing. We waited until we heard her bedroom door close. Then we all sat up, and Kenny crept across the room and flipped the light switch on.
“Wow, that was close,” she said. “We only just made it.”
“I thought she’d see the camcorder on Rosie’s bed, and we’d be done for,” said Lyndz. “She must have heard Fliss and Frankie walking around.”
Fliss was as white as a sheet.
“Thank goodness my mum didn’t notice the camcorder!”
“By the way, where is the camcorder?” I said.
We all looked at Rosie’s bed. We’d left the camcorder box sitting right there on the pink bedcover. But it wasn’t there now.
“Don’t panic,” said Rosie calmly. She threw back her duvet cover, and there was the box nestling underneath. “I managed to grab it just before Mrs Sidebotham came in.”
Fliss almost collapsed with relief.
“Thanks, Rosie,” was all she could manage to say.
“Come on, then, are we going to make a video or what?” Impatiently Kenny grabbed the box, and began pulling the cardboard flaps open.
“Be careful!” Fliss hissed under her breath. “Let me do it!”
We all waited expectantly as Fliss unwrapped the camcorder from its box as carefully as if it was the Crown Jewels.
“We ought to decide what we’re going to do,” said Lyndz.
“Oh, don’t be so boring,” said Kenny. “Let’s just mess around. What do you reckon, Rosie?”
“Yeah, that sounds cool,” Rosie agreed. “As long as Fliss doesn’t mind,” she added quickly.
Fliss was too busy fiddling with the camcorder to hear.
“Right, I’m going to start recording,” she announced, putting the machine up to her eye. “I’m starting now.”
Kenny immediately leapt forward and stuck her face right up to the lens.
“Welcome to the Sleepover Club!” she said with a huge grin.
Fliss leapt backwards as if she’d been bitten.
“You nearly frightened me to death, Kenny!” she said, while the rest of us rolled around in fits of laughter. “Do it properly, or I’ll put the camcorder away right now.”
“OK, Mum,” said Kenny. “How about this then?”
She grabbed a hairbrush from Fliss’s dressing-table, and spoke into it as if it was a microphone.
“We’d like to welcome you all to this very special meeting of the Sleepover Club. My name is Kenny, and if you ever call me Laura MacKenzie, I’ll thump you.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” Fliss said between giggles, “or the camera will shake too much.”
“Let me introduce you to the other members,” Kenny said into her hairbrush. “This is Lyndsey Collins, known as Lyndz.” Kenny pointed at Lyndz, who was sitting on Fliss’s bed. “She’s the nicest person I know, and she’s always got the hiccups.”
“Oh, don’t, Kenny!” Lyndz said in between giggles, as Fliss turned the camera on her. “Don’t start me off!”
“Well, you ought to be hiccuping,” said Kenny. “It won’t be a proper sleepover if you don’t. Come on, can’t you manage just one little hiccup for the camera?”
Just for once, Lyndz couldn’t. She was laughing so hard she had to hide her head under Fliss’s pillow.
“Over here, Fliss.” Kenny pointed at me. “Frankie next. Come on, Fliss, do I have to be the director as well as the star?”
“Give me a chance,” Fliss moaned, turning the camera slowly in my direction.
“This is Frankie, my best mate,” said Kenny. “No, you’re not seeing things. She really is as tall as a house. We reckon her parents water her with liquid manure every night.”
“Shut up, lamebrain,” I said, and chucked a pillow at her.
“And this is Rosie…” Kenny waited for Fliss to turn slowly in her direction. “Rosie’s got loads of good ideas for fooling parents. She’s really cool.” Kenny chucked the hairbrush onto the bed, “OK, that’s everyone.”
“What about me?” Fliss wailed from behind the camera.
“Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot about you. Here,” Kenny held out her hand, “give me the camera and I can film you. Then we’ll all be in it.”
“No way,” said Fliss. “No one’s doing any videotaping except me.”
Kenny shrugged. “Please yourself.” She picked up her hairbrush again. “Sorry, I missed out Fliss. Fliss is the Queen of the Sleepover Club, because this is her sleepover and her camcorder, and she’s letting us use it, which is really excellent.”
Fliss grinned.
“That’s better,” she said. “Now stop hogging the camera, Kenny. Let someone else have a go.”
“It’s a shame we’ve eaten our midnight feast,” said Lyndz. “We could have filmed ourselves stuffing our faces.”
“Never mind, you can talk about it instead,” said Kenny, and she pushed the hairbrush into Lyndz’s hand.
Lyndz began to giggle as Fliss turned the camera on her.
“Um – OK, midnight feasts. We always, always have a midnight feast when we sleepover—”
“More like a ten-thirty feast,” I butted in.
“Sssh!” Kenny slung one of Fliss’s cuddly toys at me. “Lyndz is talking.”
Lyndz wasn’t, actually. She was still giggling.
“Stop it, Lyndz!” said Fliss. “Say something interesting.”
So Lyndz did. She gave a huge hiccup. We all burst out laughing, and had to bury our heads in our pillows to muffle the sound.
“Don’t just – hic! – sit there – hie! – laughing!” said Lyndz. “Someone – hic! – help me!”
We’ve tried all the usual ways of getting Lyndz’s hiccups to stop, but the best way is for someone to press down hard with their thumbs on the palm of her hand while she holds her breath. Don’t ask me why this works. It just does.
The others were laughing too hard to be of any use, so I
grabbed Lyndz’s hand, and pressed down hard. Lyndz held her breath for so long, she started to turn crimson, but when she finally breathed out, her hiccups were gone.
“Thanks, Frankie,” she said, gulping in a huge lungful of air.
“Come on,” said Fliss impatiently. “I’m wasting loads of tape when you’re not doing anything interesting.”
“What about our sleepover song?” said Lyndz.
“Yes, let’s sing it,” said Rosie.
“But we don’t sing that till we’re about to go to sleep,” Kenny groaned.
“We don’t have to go to sleep,” Lyndz argued. “We can just sing it so Fliss can video us.”
“Go on then,” said Fliss. “Don’t bother with the actions, just do the song.”
When we do our sleepover song, we’re usually all tucked up in our sleeping bags with our torches on. When we get to the end of the song, the first one of us to lie down flat turns her torch off, and then we carry on till everyone’s out.
“You three do the song,” said Kenny. “I’m going to have a rest. I’m tired out.” She put her hand up to her head and said in a fake American accent, “Being a star is so exhausting.”
“Get her,” I scoffed. “Come on, let’s do the song then.”
So we started singing:
“Down by the river there’s a hanky-panky
With a bullfrog sitting on the hanky-panky—”
I could just see Kenny looking in her sleepover bag out of the corner of my eye.
“—With an Ooh Aah, Ooh Aah,
Hey, Mrs Zippy, with a One-Two-Three – OUT!”
Just before we got to “OUT!”, which is when we try to be first to lie down if we’re doing the actions, Kenny popped up behind us. When we sang “OUT!”, she belted Rosie with her teddy bear.
“Ow!” Rosie jumped onto her bed. “I’ll get you for that, Kenny!” She grabbed her own teddy bear, and waved it round her head. “Come on then, if you think you’re hard enough!”