Free Dance-off! by Harriet Castor Page B

tables.
    “Yeah, and some of them look really cool,” added Frankie. Then she dug me in the ribs and nodded towards the door. I spun round – just in time to see the M&Ms stalking into theroom wearing nasty matching crop tops and gross stripey leggings. Frankie and I looked at each other. “Not!” we said together, and burst out laughing.
    Frankie, Lyndz, Kenny, Fliss and I were in our Sleepoverbabes gear, of course, and looking so ace it was all we could do to stop ourselves admiring each other the whole time. But there was plenty of other stuff to grab our attention. For a start, we all had our families there. Mum and Adam had come, and I was really surprised that Tiff had tagged along too at the last minute.
    “Though I don’t know why I’m bothering, cos it’s bound to be really naff,” she’d said in the car.
    “Take no notice, Rosie,” Mum had said, winking at me.
    “No fear!” I’d grinned. Even grouchy Tiff couldn’t spoil this party, I knew that right from the start!
    Nikki and Andy were there as well, and Nikki was looking amazing in a tight sequinny dress.Everyone got a good look at it, too, because when the first raffle was drawn her ticket was the winner and she went up on stage to collect the prize.
    “Oooh, champagne! My favourite!” she cooed, as Sean handed her a great big bottle of the stuff and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Nikki went bright pink – just like Fliss does when we tease her about Ryan Scott – and everyone clapped and cheered.
    After Nikki had come down from the stage I spotted Kenny stalking towards her, looking grim and determined. She talked to Nikki for quite a while, and Nikki put her arm round her and smiled a lot as she answered.
    “What was all that about?” I said, catching hold of Kenny’s elbow as she pushed her way back through the crush towards the crisps-and-sarnies table.
    “I wanted to give Fliss’s mum a kind of formal apology,” said Kenny, looking mightily relieved. “For ruining their skiing holiday andstuff. She was really nice about it. You know what she said?”
    “What?”
    Kenny was grinning wickedly. “She said getting a bottle of champagne and a kiss from Sean made it all worthwhile – especially the kiss from Sean!”
    Not long after that it was time for the dance routines. Lorna introduced Ryan’s group first, explaining about the competition and how we’d all been so good they’d had to pick two groups as winners.
    The RnB routine went down really well, though most people stood and watched rather than joining in the dancing.
    “Us next, us next, us next,” Lyndz kept muttering nervously as the five of us waited at the side of the stage for the routine to finish. She was squeezing my hand so tightly I thought I wasn’t going to have a drop of blood left in it!
    A second later Lorna was back on stage, calling on everyone to “… give a big, warm,Cuddington Primary welcome to the Sleepoverbabes!” Lyndz seemed rooted to the spot with nerves, so I gave her a gentle shove in the back and followed her on to the stage.
    If I didn’t seem nervous myself it was a total act. I could happily have turned round and legged it right out of the hall. But it wasn’t long before I found myself grinning so much my face hurt. There was I, Rosie Maria Cartwright, with my four best friends in the world, dancing on stage in front of a big cheering crowd. It felt totally awesome – like we were real pop stars. What could be better?
    And the more I felt myself relax and enjoy it, the easier the steps became. It was like my arms and legs knew what to do all by themselves. I didn’t make a single mistake. Spooky!
    “Yo!” shrieked Kenny next to me, wiggling her shoulders, then whipping round in a slick turn.
    We were having such a fab time up there it must have been infectious, because by the time we were half way through the routine everyonewas bopping along. In amongst the crowd I could see Mum and Tiffany (who didn’t seem to think the party