The Sleepover Club Sleep Out

by Narinder Dhami

  “Kenny’s right,” said Fliss. “We can’t give up now.”

  If I hadn’t already been sitting down, I think I would have fallen down with shock. Fliss was the last person I would’ve expected to back me up.

  “Thanks, Fliss!” I said, giving her a friendly punch on the arm.

  “Ow!” Fliss clutched her elbow. “Do you mind!”

  “D’you think we can get away with it?” Lyndz asked doubtfully.

  “Yeah, I think we should go for it!” I said. “Leave it to me. I’ll think of something that’ll completely trash the M&Ms, and fool all the grown-ups.”

  The others grinned.

  “OK, then, Kenny,” said Frankie. “But it’d better not be anything too wild, because if my mum finds out we’re up to something, I’m dead.”

  From the moment the coach pulled up outside Armfield Museum, and we all piled out, I was on the look out for possibilities. The museum’s a big place – it’s in a kind of old country house with lots of rooms – and I was pretty sure that, sooner or later, I’d get a brilliant idea. I didn’t know what yet, but I’d know when I did. If you see what I mean.

  We all followed Mrs Weaver into the museum, where we left our bags in the cloakroom.

  “Get into your groups now, please,” called Mrs Weaver. “The museum’s Education Officer is going to give us a guided tour.”

  There was a lot of pushing and shoving and giggling as everyone tried to get back into their groups. All the parents were fussing, and trying to get the kids who were with them to stand in rows and shut up. Frankie’s mum didn’t fuss, though. She just looked us over, said, “Everyone all right?”, and then left us alone.

  “Your mum’s so cool, Frankie,” Lyndz whispered. “For a mum, I mean.”

  “Yeah, but she won’t be so cool if she figures out we’re planning a raid on the M&Ms,” Frankie whispered back. “She’ll be steaming mad.”

  “We’ll have to make sure she doesn’t find out then, won’t we?” I said with a wink.

  The museum Education Officer, Mrs Saunders, took us on the guided tour. She made it pretty interesting by telling us loads of stories and jokes about the different things the museum had, but I wasn’t really listening. That was because 1) I’d been on the guided tour about a zillion times before, and 2) I was busy keeping my eyes open for something I could use to blow the M&Ms away.

  At first I didn’t see anything. We went into the Costume Rooms, the Doll Gallery, the Roman Room and all the other rooms, and I was starting to get worried. Maybe I’d made a mistake thinking that the museum would be a good place to play a trick on the M&Ms!

  It wasn’t until we went into the last room, which was the Egyptian Room, that things really started to hot up. There were loads of glass cases round the wall with things in them like old pots, gold jewellery and big stone cats. And right in the middle, lying on a platform, were six big, painted mummy cases. One of them had glass in the top, and if you looked through it, you could see the bandaged mummy lying inside. Mrs Saunders started telling us about how the Egyptians used to make dead bodies into mummies by taking out all their insides, and using a special liquid, so the bodies didn’t rot away. Fliss didn’t like that one bit. She turned green, and went to hide behind Frankie’s mum. I knew all about mummies, but I didn’t mind hearing it again, because it was so gruesome. So it took me a little while to suss out that Fliss wasn’t the only one who was looking a bit icky. I nudged Frankie.

  “Look at the M&Ms,” I whispered in her ear.

  Emma and Emily were both looking a bit sick. Not only that, they both looked scared, and they were standing really close to Mrs Weaver. They were both staring at the mummy cases as if they expected a mummy to jump out there and then, and grab them, like something in a horror film.

  “They look like they’re wetting themselves,” Frankie whispered back.

  “They are,” I said. “And I think I’ve just sussed out our plan of revenge.”

  “What?” asked Rosie eagerly.

  I opened my mouth to tell them, saw Frankie’s mum looking at us and decided to wait till later. We were taken off to the museum café to have some juice and biscuits, and Frankie’s mum left us on our own, while she went to talk to Mrs Saunders. That gave us a chance to get stuck into our plans.

  “I’ve had this radical idea,” I said, after I’d looked over my shoulder to check that the M&Ms (and Mrs Weaver) were nowhere around. “Did you see how freaked out the Gruesome Twosome were by the mummies?”

  Fliss shook her head. “I didn’t notice.”

  “That’s because you were hiding behind Frankie’s mum,” said Lyndz.

  “Well, anyway, they were dead scared,” I went on. “And I reckon that’s how we can get our own back on them.”

  “How?” said the others together.

  I hadn’t really sussed out the details yet, but I’d had one idea which I thought was excellent.

  “Well,” I said, “I thought I could hide inside one of the mummy cases and –”

  I didn’t get a chance to say any more, because the others nearly had a fit.

  “Get serious, Kenny!” said Frankie. “Those mummy cases are worth loads of money! If you damage one of them –”

  “We’ll be paying for it out of our pocket money for the next zillion years,” Lyndz finished off.

  Fliss was almost fainting with fear.

  “And what if you got stuck inside?” she gasped.

  “Yeah, you’d probably suffocate,” Rosie pointed out anxiously.

  “Oh, all right!” I said crossly. I guess I hadn’t really thought this thing through. “OK, stupid idea. But I still think we can use the mummies to get back at the M&Ms…”

  And I was right. After we’d finished our juice and biscuits, Mrs Saunders took us to the activities room. There were paints, paper, glue and scissors on the tables, as well as loads of big cardboard boxes.

  “We’re going to make some masks,” announced Mrs Saunders. “You can choose to make a mask of anything you’ve seen in the museum today, and I’ve got some postcards here to help you. If anyone would like to copy one of the painted faces of the Egyptian mummies, that would make rather a good mask.”

  And then, like a light bulb being switched on above my head, THAT was when I got my brilliant idea.

  I couldn’t tell the others about my totally brilliant plan straightaway, because everyone was rushing round the room, grabbing cardboard boxes and glue and scissors. There was also a fight over the postcards, because almost everyone wanted to make a mummy mask, so Mrs Saunders had to go off to the museum shop to fetch some more. That all fitted in nicely with my plan.

  “OK, Kenny,” Frankie said, when we were all sitting round our worktable, heaped with model-making materials. “You’ve been grinning all over your face for the last five minutes. What’s going on?”

  “I’ve got it!” I said, lowering my voice, just in case. There was more noise going on in the room than in the monkey house at the zoo, but it was best to be on the safe side. “I’ve thought of something that’s going to send the M&Ms off their heads!”

  “What?” the others asked eagerly.

  I shrugged. I was enjoying keeping them in suspense.

  “Tell you later,” I said. “I’m going to make my mask first.”

  The others looked disappointed.

  “Oh, go on, Kenny, tell us!” begged Fliss.

  “I bet she hasn’t really thought of a plan, anyway,” said Frankie.

  I grinned, and stuck my tongue out at her.

  “Oh, yes, I have, Francesca Thomas. But, like I said, I’ll tell you later.” I turned to Lyndz. I was going to need help to get my plan going, and I reckoned Lyndz would be best. “Let’s work together, Lyndz.”

  “All right,” Lyndz agreed cheerfully. “Which mask do you want to make then?”

  “This one.” I showed her the postcard I’d chosen. It was one of the painted mummy faces, the one which I thought was the scariest. It had a gold and blue h
eaddress, and big, staring eyes, which were outlined in black.

  “Oh, that’s gross!” Fliss shuddered. “I wouldn’t make one of those for a zillion pounds. I’m going to make a mask of one of the Victorian dolls in the doll gallery.”

  “Me and Frankie’ll help you,” Rosie offered.

  Frankie pulled a face. “I’d rather make a mummy mask, like Kenny and Lyndz.”

  “OK, you can help us, then.” I picked up a cardboard box, and put it over my head. It was so big, it covered my top half down to my shoulders. “I reckon this’ll do, for starters.”

  “It suits you,” Frankie said. “But maybe we ought to get on with the mask.”

  “Ha, ha,” I said from inside the box. “I mean, we can make the mask out of this.”

  I lifted the box off, just as the M&Ms were walking past our table.

  “Ooh, Emily!” Emma Hughes squealed, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Look at that horrible mask Kenny’s wearing!”

  “No, I think that’s just her face, isn’t it?” said Emily with a stupid grin, right on cue, and they both started laughing like drains.

  “You two are so funny,” I said. “If you want a really good laugh, why don’t you take a look at yourselves in a mirror?”

  That wiped the grins off their faces, and the others began to giggle.

  “Hey, Emma,” The Queen was determined to have the last word, “what’s Kenny’s favourite food?”

  “Oh, that’s got to be Kentucky Fried Chicken,” burbled The Goblin, and the two of them walked off, flapping their arms and squawking.

  “I hope this plan of yours is totally brilliant, Kenny,” said Frankie, clenching her fists, “Because the Gruesome Twosome are getting well out of control.”

  “Oh, it is,” I said confidently. “Come on, let’s get on with our mask.”

  Even with Frankie helping me and Lyndz, it was a bit of a rush to get the mask finished. But by the time Mrs Thomas told us to start tidying up because it was time to eat, the mask was just about ready. I’d wanted Lyndz to help me because she’s totally coo-ell at arty stuff, and she’d done all the cutting and sticking of the cardboard box, to make it into the shape of the mummy’s headdress. Frankie’s not bad at art either, and she’d painted the mummy’s face on. It looked just like the real thing. I’m pathetic at anything like that, so I’d stuck to the easy bits, painting the blue and gold stripes on the headdress.

  “Hey, that’s excellent,” said Rosie, when she and Fliss came over to take a look. “Can I try it on?”

  I shook my head. “No, the paint’s still a bit wet.”

  Fliss shuddered. “It looks just like the real one,” she said.

  “I know,” I said. “If you saw it in the dark, in the middle of the night, you’d be dead scared, wouldn’t you?”

  Fliss nodded. “I think I’d die!”

  I grinned. “I reckon that mask would scare anybody!” I looked round at the others to see if they’d picked up what I meant. But they were all staring at me blankly.

  Then Frankie grinned. “You’re going to use the mask to frighten the M&Ms out of their skins!” she said.

  “Right first time,” I agreed. I looked round at the others. “Is that a totally ace plan or what?”

  “That’s brilliant!” said Rosie and Lyndz together. Only Fliss looked a bit nervous.

  “Kenny, I don’t think that’s a very good idea –” she began, but she didn’t get a chance to say any more, because Mrs Weaver called for silence.

  “Leave your masks on the tables to dry, and you can take them home with you tomorrow morning,” she said. “Now we have to decide which groups are sleeping where tonight.” Everyone started muttering and whispering in excited voices. As far as I could make out, almost every kid in the class wanted to sleep over in the Egyptian room with the mummies.

  Mrs Weaver picked up her clipboard, and studied it.

  “Would any group like to sleep in the Doll Gallery?” she asked hopefully.

  The M&Ms’s hands went up. So did Fliss’s. Well, it did until Frankie grabbed her wrist, and pulled it down.

  “Emma, I think your hand was up first,” said Mrs Weaver. “Your group can go and get your bags, and take them to the gallery now.”

  Fliss glared at Frankie. “I wanted to sleep in the Doll Gallery,” she moaned.

  We all ignored her.

  “Who’d like to sleep in the Egyptian room?” Mrs Weaver went on.

  My hand flew up into the air, and so did about twenty-five others.

  “Kenny, I think you were first,” said Mrs Weaver. Everyone else in the class groaned loudly. “Your group can go and collect your bags.”

  “Go and get your things, girls,” said Mrs Thomas, coming up behind us. “I’m going to the café to have a cup of tea.”

  We went to the cloakroom to get our stuff, and then we carried it down the corridor to the Egyptian room. We dumped them in a corner, and I pulled the door shut, so that we were finally on our own, away from all the interfering grown-ups.

  “Right!” I said. “Now we can talk about Operation Gruesome Twosome!”

  Fliss was looking nervously around the room.

  “I’m never going to get to sleep in here!” she muttered.

  “Don’t worry, Fliss,” said Frankie, “the mummies don’t make any noise.”

  “No,” I agreed, “except when they’re moaning and wailing and trying to frighten people to death.”

  Fliss groaned. “Stop it, Kenny!”

  “So, what’s the plan, Kenny?” asked Lyndz.

  I already had it all worked out.

  “We wait till Frankie’s mum’s asleep, then we sneak out, get the mask and take it to the doll gallery.” I grinned round at the others. “Then we tap it against the window, and frighten the M&Ms out of their stupid little skins!”

  Everyone started giggling.

  “What about Mrs Weaver?” asked Lyndz. “She’s going to be in with the M&Ms, isn’t she?”

  I shrugged. “I’ll have the mask on, so even if she wakes up, she won’t know it’s me. The rest of you will have to make sure you keep out of sight.”

  “Won’t Mrs Weaver recognise your mask?” asked Rosie.

  I shook my head. “No, about half the class have made the same mask we did. Anyway, it’s going to be pretty dark.”

  “What about Frankie’s mum?” asked Fliss. “She might wake up when we sneak out.”

  “We’ll have to risk it,” I said. “The other thing is, we’ll have to wait until we’re sure everyone’s asleep, not just Frankie’s mum.”

  “I’ll never be able to keep awake,” said Fliss.

  “I could set my watch alarm,” offered Rosie.

  “Yeah, and have Frankie’s mum wake up as well?” I pointed out.

  “Oh, I can wake everyone up,” Lyndz said confidently. “I’ve got this brilliant system for getting myself up without an alarm clock. You just bang your head on your pillow six times if you want to wake up at six o’clock, and it works. It’s magic!”

  “Right, let’s make it two o’clock then,” I said. “Now we’re set!”

  But this is the Sleepover Club, right? And nothing’s ever that simple!

  I opened my eyes, and blinked. For a minute, I couldn’t remember where I was. Then, through the darkness I saw the shadows of the mummy cases all lined up on the platform. I wasn’t scared, though. I mean, I have to look at Molly-the-Monster’s ugly face every morning. So why should I be scared of a load of old mummies?

  I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep, but Lyndz hadn’t woken us up yet, so it couldn’t have been very long. I looked round at the others. They were all asleep, curled up in their sleeping bags. We were all lying in a row next to the platform which had the mummy cases on. Guess who was the furthest away? Yeah, go to the top of the class. Flissy Baby wasn’t taking any chances, just in case one of the mummies fancied a midnight feast.

  I raised myself on my elbow, and looked cautiously across the room. Frankie’s
mum was over the other side of the platform, and it looked like she was fast asleep, too. She’d been a bit surprised last night that we were so keen to go to bed, and that we didn’t want to stay awake for ages chatting, like everyone else was doing. Still, I don’t think she suspected anything was going on!

  The museum was dead quiet now, though. Everyone had to be asleep, even Ryan Scott’s group, who were in the Roman Room next door. They’d kept trying to frighten us after lights out by tapping on the wall. Boys. They’re s-o-o-o-o pathetic.

  I rolled over, and picked up my watch, and my eyes nearly popped right out of my head. Half past four!!! What had happened to Lyndz’s ‘brilliant’ system to wake everybody up? I leaned over and shook Frankie, who was lying next to me. When she opened her eyes, I waved my watch in front of her face.

  “It’s half-past four!” I mouthed silently, pointing at the door.

  Frankie nodded, and shook Rosie, who was next to her. Rosie woke Lyndz up, and Lyndz sat up, yawning and looking puzzled.

  “It’s not two o’clock, is it?” she whispered.

  “No, it’s half-past four!” I whispered back. “Great waking-up system, Lyndz!”

  “We’d better go,” Frankie said, sliding out of her sleeping bag. “It’ll be getting light soon.”

  Lyndz rolled over, and poked Fliss. Fliss opened her eyes, took one look at the mummy cases, and let out a little scream. Lyndz lunged across and tried to stop her, but it was too late.

  We all froze, waiting for Frankie’s mum to sit up and ask us what was going on. But she didn’t. We heard her roll over in her sleeping bag, and then there was silence.

  We didn’t even dare sigh with relief. Instead we just got to our feet, and tiptoed over to the door, which was so heavy, Frankie and I had to hold it open to let everyone slip silently out. When we were all safely outside in the corridor, we sighed with relief.

  “Sorry,” Fliss said shakily. “The mummies nearly scared me to death.”

  “From now on, we’ve got to be really quiet,” I whispered. “If anyone wakes up, we’re dead.”

  We had to get the mask first, so we tiptoed down the dimly-lit corridor to the activities room, hardly daring to breathe. We had to go past the Roman Room, where Ryan Scott’s group were sleeping, and past the Art Gallery, where Alana Banana’s group were with Miss Hill. Luckily, the doors were closed.