Sleepover Girls Go Designer

by Narinder Dhami

  “Well,” said Dr McKenzie, but he didn’t get the chance to say any more, because just then the telephone rang. I glanced along at the others. Fliss looked as if her knees were knocking together, and even Kenny looked a bit sick.

  “Yes, hello, Mrs Dixon,” said Dr McKenzie. “Yes, yes, I know. Yes, I will. Thank you for calling. Goodbye.” He put the phone down and looked at us. “That was the sixth phone call I’ve had in the last twenty minutes,” he said. “They were all from people who were in the High Street this afternoon.”

  We looked at each other, puzzled. What was going on?

  “Apparently you girls stood up to some boys who were cycling on the pavement, and impressed a lot of people who were watching!” Dr McKenzie smiled at us, and we all nearly collapsed with relief. “You helped an old lady who nearly got knocked over too, didn’t you?”

  We all nodded dumbly. We were too surprised to say anything.

  “Well, she’s called Mrs Grahame and she’s one of my patients,” Dr McKenzie went on. “She called me too. Said you were all a credit to your parents!”

  We grinned at each other.

  “I wouldn’t mind betting your mums and dads have had a few calls too.” And Dr McKenzie glanced at me, Fliss, Lyndz and Frankie.

  “See, Dad?” Kenny said proudly, “We don’t mess up all the time!”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” her father said with a twinkle in his eye.

  “So can we have our sleepovers back?” Kenny asked.

  “Don’t push it, Laura.” Dr McKenzie reached for the phone again. “I’ll think about it. Now off you go, I’ve got a few calls to make.”

  We all piled out of the study, chattering excitedly.

  “I reckon we’re back in!” Kenny muttered in a low voice. “Our parents are going to be dead pleased now – they love it when other people think we’re cool!”

  “D’you really think so?” I asked eagerly.

  “You bet!” said Frankie. “Kenny’s right – I think we’ll get our sleepovers back double-quick!”

  “Not this week-end though,” Lyndz pointed out. “We’ve still got to clean up Rosie’s bedroom!”

  “Wow! This looks gruesome!” Frankie muttered, as I flung open the door to my bedroom and let everyone in. “It looks even worse than I remember!”

  “Mind the paint,” I said, pointing at the floor. “Some of it’s still a bit sticky.”

  It was Friday evening. Everyone had come over to my house and changed into old clothes to start cleaning up the mess. There was no way we would finish it tonight though – it was probably going to take us most of the week-end. Still, our parents had been so pleased with all the phone calls they got from the people in the High Street, telling them how wonderful we were for standing up to those boys, that they’d decided to lift the sleepover ban. So we were all pretty happy, even though we wouldn’t have time for a sleepover that week-end.

  “Well, I reckon that wallpaper looks OK,” Kenny said, squinting at it. “You can hardly even notice that some of the pieces are upside-down!”

  “Sorry,” I said, grabbing a piece that wasn’t stuck down properly and beginning to peel it away from the wall. “Every single bit has got to come off!”

  “Hello, girls.” My mum popped her head round the door, and grinned at us. “Have you made a start yet?”

  “Not yet,” I said.

  “Well, have you got room for a few more helpers?” she asked, and opened the door wide. We could hardly believe our eyes as in came Frankie’s mum and dad, Kenny’s mum, Lyndz’s dad and Fliss’s mum, all wearing old clothes and smiling at us.

  “What’s—what’s going on?” I gasped.

  “Well, we thought that you deserved a bit of help, after you were all so heroic last Monday!” said Frankie’s mum.

  “Yes, but I don’t know much about DIY!” said Fliss’s mum anxiously. “So you’ll have to give me something easy to do!”

  “Hm, this is a bit of a mess!” said Lyndz’s dad, looking round with a practised eye. “But we’ll soon get it cleared up.”

  “There’s something else…” my mum said, looking at me. “We’re not just going to clean up the mess – everyone’s kindly offered to help us decorate it too!”

  “What?” I blinked, not quite believing my ears.

  “We’re going to get your room done once and for all!” My mum gave me a hug. “If we all work really hard, we might be able to get it finished this week-end too.”

  “Do you mean it?” My legs went all wobbly then, and I had to sit down on the bed. The others cheered loudly, and rushed over to thump me on the back.

  “Excellent!” said Kenny. “Don’t let my mum do anything too difficult though – she’s hopeless at DIY!”

  “What a cheek!” said Mrs McKenzie indignantly. “At least I wouldn’t have put the wallpaper on upside-down!”

  “Thanks, Mum and Dad!” Frankie said gratefully. “But what about the baby?”

  “I don’t think the baby’s going to mind if I do a bit of painting!” Mrs Thomas said. “Come on, let’s get started.”

  Lyndz’s dad was already scraping the sticky paint off the floorboards, and getting Mrs Sidebotham to do the same. Fliss’s mum, who was wearing a completely spotless pair of white dungarees and a pink tee-shirt, looked as if she’d rather be anywhere but here, but she was doing her best.

  “We’re going to need some more wallpaper and paint,” my mum said as we began to strip the wall. “Do you want the same again, Rosie, or do you want to choose something new?”

  I shook my head. I’d just had a really radical idea. “I don’t want to choose it,” I said. “I want them to!” And I pointed at Lyndz, Kenny, Frankie and Fliss, who all turned and stared at me.

  “What are you going on about?” Frankie asked.

  “I want you lot to design my bedroom for me!” I gabbled excitedly. “I want you to choose the wallpaper and the paint and all that – and I won’t see it till it’s finished! It’ll be just like Designer Rooms!”

  The others grinned at me.

  “Awesome!” Kenny exclaimed. “That’s an excellent idea!”

  “Are you sure, Rosie?” Fliss asked a bit doubtfully. “What if you don’t like it?”

  “Yeah, remember some of the people on Designer Rooms throw a fit when they see their house again!” Lyndz added.

  “I trust you!” I said. “I know you’ll do a great job!”

  “I’ve got some brill ideas already!” Kenny began, but Frankie elbowed her in the ribs. “We’re not having anything to do with football!” she said, and Kenny’s face fell.

  “Hey, we ought to get on with designing it right now!” Frankie suggested, dropping the cloth she was using to mop up the spilt paint. “Come on, you lot!”

  “Hey, where are you going?” called Frankie’s dad, as Frankie, Kenny, Fliss and Lyndz all bolted for the door. “Trust you to disappear when there’s work to be done!”

  “Sorry, Dad!” Frankie called back over her shoulder. “We’ve got something much more important to do!”

  I grinned to myself. I couldn’t wait to see my new bedroom – and I knew the Sleepover Club wouldn’t let me down!

  Everything was so exciting, it was like being on the real Designer Rooms! For a start, Frankie and the others wouldn’t let me even get a sniff of what they were planning. They shut themselves in the living-room that evening, muttering in low voices. My brother Adam was in there with them and I could hear him talking, but I couldn’t tell what he was saying. Because of his cerebral palsy, he uses a computerised voicebox to help him speak, and it was difficult to hear him through the door.

  “You mean we can put our designs on your computer, and work on them there?” I heard Kenny say. “Mega!”

  They all charged over to the door then, and I had to run for it. They went to Adam’s bedroom, and I hung around outside for a bit, trying to find out what was going on. Kenny came out and saw me, so then Adam put his stereo on really loudly and I couldn’t hear a
thing.

  Next morning, my mum made me shut myself in the bathroom when everyone arrived, but I just caught a glimpse of them carrying lots of bags and boxes of stuff, before she shut the door. I hung around in the bathroom for about ten minutes, and when I came out, I found that they’d pinned a curtain over my bedroom door, so I couldn’t see in.

  “Go away, Rosie!” said Kenny, poking her head round it. “You know you’re not allowed to see it until it’s finished!”

  “But it’s killing me!” I protested.

  “Tough!” Frankie looked round the curtain then too, and I noticed she had gold paint on her hands.

  “Are you doing it in gold?” I asked eagerly, but they just stuck their tongues out at me, and disappeared.

  It was terrible. I was dying to see how my bedroom was coming along, but I couldn’t. Then I started to wonder what would happen if I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t be able to say so, because I’d hurt the others’ feelings, so I’d be stuck with it. I was getting pretty worried by this time, so I went to the park with Adam in his wheelchair and Jenny, just to get out of the house.

  That evening, after everyone had gone home, I did try to sneak a quick look. I was sharing Tiffany’s room, but I crept along the landing when everyone else was asleep, just to see if I could get a peek. I pulled the curtain aside, but when I tried the door, it was locked. I was disgusted. Fancy locking the door! Didn’t they trust me or something?

  Everyone came back bright and early the next morning, and after a while, I could hear the sound of furniture being moved about, which drove me crazy. If they were putting the furniture back into place, they had to be close to finishing, I told myself hopefully. But it seemed ages until I heard footsteps on the stairs, and Fliss, Frankie, Kenny and Lyndz burst into the living-room, beaming all over their faces.

  “We’ve finished!” they chorused.

  “Really?” I jumped out of my seat, my heart beginning to pound. I just hoped I liked it! And if I didn’t, I hoped I could fool everyone into thinking I did…

  The others dragged me upstairs, where our mums and dads were waiting outside the room. Everyone was covered in gold and purple paint, so I guessed those were the colours they’d used. I was feeling pretty jittery by now, so I took a deep breath.

  “Can I go in?”

  Kenny and Fliss pulled the curtain aside for me, and I stepped into my new bedroom.

  It felt like walking into a place I’d never been to before, because it just looked so totally different. The walls were papered in purple and gold, and everything had been painted to match, even my cupboards. There were big gold flower stencils on my wardrobe doors and above the picture rail, and billowy white curtains at the windows. My bed had been painted gold and purple too, and stencilled, and someone had fixed a white canopy to the ceiling which hung over the head of the bed. A matching purple and gold throw lay across the duvet. There was a purple paper lampshade, and a bunch of purple and gold flowers in a vase in the fireplace. I stared and stared. I just couldn’t take it all in.

  “Do you like it?” Kenny asked anxiously.

  I found my voice at last. “I love it!” And I wasn’t pretending either! It was the most gorgeous bedroom I’d ever seen in my whole life!

  “Oh, good!” Fliss sounded relieved. “Do you like the stencils? They were my idea!”

  “I painted the bed,” Lyndz chimed in.

  “With a little help from me!” said her dad with a grin.

  “I painted the cupboards,” Frankie added. “And Kenny – well, Kenny just got in the way, as usual!”

  “Zip it, Frankie!” Kenny gave her a shove. “I’ve got pretty good at wallpapering!”

  “I think you’ve all done a brilliant job!” I said happily. “Now the next thing we’ve got to do is have our very first sleepover in it…”

  We aren’t usually allowed to have sleepovers on Sunday nights because of school the next day and all that, so we had to nag our parents a bit, but eventually they gave in. The others dashed home to clean up and get their sleepover stuff, and a few hours later we were all sitting round my new bedroom in our pyjamas, scoffing our midnight feast.

  “I think I ought to buy some purple and gold pyjamas to match my room!” I said, nicking one of Kenny’s crisps.

  “Get you!” Kenny elbowed me in the ribs. “You’ll be too posh for the Sleepover Club at this rate!”

  “Yeah, maybe we should all design and decorate our bedrooms now!” Frankie suggested, munching a chocolate biscuit.

  “I don’t reckon our parents would be up for that,” Fliss said. “My mum got home and went straight to bed! She said she was never doing any decorating ever again!”

  “What shall we do now?” Lyndz asked as she snaffled the last few crisps. “Shall we play a game or something?”

  “No, er – I want to say something first,” I muttered. I stood up, and cleared my throat. “Um – I just wanted to say thank you for designing my bedroom, and I think you’re the coolest friends in the whole world—aargh!”

  I saw Kenny pick her pillow up, but I wasn’t quick enough to dodge it. It hit me full in the face, and I screamed.

  “You twit, Kenny! I’m going to get you for that!” I grabbed one of my pillows, and charged across the room.

  “Brill – a pillow fight!” yelled Frankie, catching hold of the other pillow and swiping Fliss across the backside with it. Fliss scuttled across the room to get her own pillow, and got attacked by me and Kenny on the way. Meanwhile Frankie and Lyndz were doing their best to knock each other off my bed.

  We were right in the middle of the action, when my mum put her head round the door, the cordless phone in her hand.

  “Rosie? Your dad’s just got back from Majorca, and he wants to talk to you.”

  I scrambled across the room and took the phone, managing to avoid a swipe round the head from Frankie’s pillow. “Hello, Dad?” I gabbled breathlessly.

  “Hello, Rosie,” my dad said. He sounded a bit apologetic. “Listen, love, I’m sorry about letting you down last week. I was thinking of coming over tomorrow to make a start on your bedroom. What do you say?”

  I began to laugh. I couldn’t help it. “Yeah, come round tomorrow, Dad!” I said, and switched the phone off. He was in for a big surprise!

  So that’s the story of how I got my new bedroom! I bet you’ve been just as fed up as the others, listening to me moaning about it all the time, haven’t you? Not any more though. My new bedroom’s the business! Why don’t you come round sometime and see for yourself?

  Got to go now.

  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

  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 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 1999

  Collins is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

  77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith,

  London, W6 8JB

  The Harper Collins website address is

  www.harpercollinschildrensbooks.co.uk

  1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

  Text copyright © Narinder Dhami 1999

  Original series characters, plotlines

  and settings © Rose Impey 1997

  The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

  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 © JUNE 2012 ISBN 9780007400836

  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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