‘I’m bored now,’ said Ching Ching. ‘Don’t you think we’ve been stuck in here long enough?’
‘Maybe,’ said Olivia doubtfully.
In fact, she felt safe in Ching Ching’s room. Outside, Mrs Adams was cross with them, and Daniel might embarrass her again. Who knew what other trouble was waiting?
In here she had Ching Ching all to herself, and they could play until her mum came to take her home.
‘We could do another magazine quiz,’ she said, but Ching Ching was already opening the bedroom door.
The smell of frying onions drifted in and Ching Ching stood with her head in the hallway, sniffing deeply.
‘Oh,’ she said with longing. ‘Hamburgers. My favourite.’
It seemed like a long time since breakfast and Olivia’s stomach growled.
‘I’d love a hamburger,’ she said. ‘But my mum’s coming to pick me up soon.’
‘Before lunch or after?’ asked Ching Ching.
‘I’m not sure.’
‘But you will stay for hamburgers, won’t you?’
‘I hope so,’ said Olivia, because the smell was getting stronger and more delicious every minute.
‘Oops,’ said Ching Ching, jumping back inside the room and shutting the door. ‘Mum’s coming.’
They scurried onto Ching Ching’s bed and pretended to be reading books just as Mrs Adams opened the door.
‘OK, you two,’ she said. ‘Lunchtime. Olivia, do you know what time your mum is coming to pick you up?’
‘No,’ said Olivia.
‘Well, you’ve got time for a burger, anyway. Your mum can join us if she gets here early. And then,’ she said more sternly, looking at Ching Ching and the mess in her bedroom, ‘you can come back here and tidy up a bit.’
Lunch was actually quite fun. They put their hamburgers together on the dining table. Olivia tried to make sure Daniel was nowhere near when she got her burger, and she avoided the tomato sauce too!
She was just putting some lettuce on her bun and trying to decide whether to have beetroot and cheese when someone beside her said, ‘Do you want some lemonade?’
Olivia looked up and froze. It was Daniel, pouring lemonade into plastic cups. Was he teasing her? Was he being rude somehow? What should she say? Daniel just smiled and passed her a cup.
‘Thanks,’ said Olivia. She didn’t know what else to say.
She suddenly thought that maybe it didn’t really matter about the tomato sauce after all.
She went out with her burger and found Ching Ching sitting under a tree, already eating.
Olivia realised her sleep-over was almost over. Part of her felt glad. It would be nice to be back home where she knew all the rules and liked all the food.
Another part of her, though, felt sad because she would miss Ching Ching. She would even miss the things that frightened her — Mrs Adams when she was angry, Daniel, and the brave and lonely feeling she had sleeping on the top bunk.
Mr Adams called down from the back door. ‘Olivia! Look who’s here!’
Olivia looked up, and there was her mum. She looked very short next to Mr Adams, and Olivia had forgotten how pretty she was.
‘Oh, bum,’ said Ching Ching. ‘Now you’ll have to go home, I suppose.’
‘Yeah,’ said Olivia, and she couldn’t tell if she was happy or sad.
They wandered back towards the house.
‘Hi, Mum,’ said Olivia.
‘Hi, baby,’ said her mum.
Olivia didn’t want to hug her in front of everybody. Luckily her mum seemed to know this.
‘Have you had a good time?’ asked her mum.
‘Yeah,’ said Olivia.
‘Have you behaved yourself?’
‘Um, yeah,’ said Olivia, looking side ways at Mrs Adams.
Mrs Adams laughed.
‘She’s been a peach,’ she said. ‘They’ve been up to a few tricks, but nothing too terrible.’
Olivia smiled with relief.
‘Have you packed?’ said her mum.
‘Not yet.’
‘Go on, then. I’ll stay and chat with Mrs Adams while you do.’
In Ching Ching’s room, Olivia found the box of chocolates as she packed her pyjamas.
‘Oh, I forgot to give these to your mum,’ she said.
‘Let’s keep them,’ said Ching Ching. ‘Or we could tell Mum she can only have them if she promises you can sleep over next weekend.’
‘Or you could sleep over at my house,’ said Olivia. ‘I could make French toast again for breakfast.’
Ching Ching dragged Olivia’s bag to the front door. For some reason it didn’t seem to zip up as well as it had the day before. Olivia’s pink and green pyjamas stuck out the top, but now she didn’t care who saw them.
‘Thank you for having me,’ she said to Mrs Adams, giving her the chocolates.
‘Oh, lovely,’ said Mrs Adams. ‘These will be even better than strawberries after dinner tonight.’
Olivia blushed. She took her bag from Ching Ching and followed her mum out the front door.
‘Bye,’ she said, waving.
She felt happy and brave and somehow more grown up than yesterday.
‘I’m glad you had fun,’ said her mum as they got into the car.
‘Yes,’ said Olivia. ‘I really did.’
Sleep-over Page 3