Free Sleepover Girls on Safari by Angie Bates Page B

genuinely disappointed.
    Frankie leaned across to Emma and tapped lightly on her skull. “Hello! Anyone at home?” She laughed. “Poor Emma. She’s losing it, aren’t you, Emma? I can’t believe she forgot to tell you.”
    “Forgot to tell her what?” said Emma nervously, obviously suspecting some new insult.
    “Duh! We’re sleeping over at Fliss’s tonight, dummy! We’ll see you guys there, won’t we, Fliss?”
    My head was spinning with surprise. “Oh, yeah,” I croaked. “Erm, don’t forget to bring sleeping bags.”
    “And a spooky story and food for your midnight feast, right?” grinned Kirstin. “Emma’s told me all about it.”
    “I don’t believe you did that, Frankie Thomas,” Kenny burst out, as Emma and Kirstin went off in Emma’s mum’s car.
    “YOU can’t believe I did it! I’m not going to sleep a wink, knowing I’m under the same roofas that girl.” Frankie looked genuinely panicky. “I’m really, really sorry guys. I just didn’t know what else to do.”
    “No, you did right, Spaceman,” Kenny comforted her. “It’s not Kirstin’s fault Emma’s been telling all these lies.”
    “Anyway, how bad can it be?” said Rosie bravely.
    “Just don’t go leaking any crucial Sleepover Club secrets,” Kenny warned.
    But our fears proved totally groundless. When Emma’s mum’s car stopped outside our house later that evening, just one girl got out.
    I ran to the door to let Kirstin in. “Where’s Emma?”
    “It’s such a shame! She couldn’t come. She’s really not feeling well.”
    “Don’t say she’s caught Emily’s nits after all?”
    Kirstin shook her head. “She’s just got a chill. She did get a bit of a soaking.”
    Maybe Emma’s illness was genuine. But I also think she was scared. She must have known she couldn’t keep up the pretence ofbeing a bona fide member of the Sleepover Club. Not once she was on our territory.
    Emma really did us a big favour. We agreed later that our safari sleepover would have been seriously stressful if she’d been there, with her prissy voice and her pulled-back ponytail.
    But we didn’t say any of this to Kirstin. We were too busy stuffing ourselves with the Cheesy Doritos she’d brought, and reminiscing about our mad experiences at Gawdy Castle.
    Kirstin told us she’d half-sussed that Emma wasn’t exactly our big bosom buddy, like she’d claimed in her e-mails. But she was truly astonished when we explained that Emily Berryman was Emma’s real friend. “She never even mentioned her! I wonder why?”
    “You’d have to know Emily to understand that,” said Kenny darkly.
    Kirstin has to be one of the coolest girls I’ve ever met. She had no illusions about Emma, but she totally refused to diss her. “Emma has some good points,” she said. “And she’s obviously nuts about you guys.”
    I thought about that a lot as I finally snuggled down in my sleeping bag. We didn’tdo the tent thing in the end, by the way. Even Frankie agreed that we’d had more than enough excitement for one day.
    I could hear Andy upstairs talking soothingly to one of the twins, or he could have been reciting his list of builders’ tools. But it still sounded comforting and homey.
    As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered why Emma really told Kirstin those stories about her imaginary sleepover experiences. We’d never know. Next term Emily would be back at school and everything would be back to normal. But I couldn’t help wondering. Had it all just been acting like Frankie said, or did Emma Hughes really want to be our friend?

Copyright
    The Sleepover Club ® is a Registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
    First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2003
    Collins is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
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    London W6 8JB
    The HarperCollins website address is www.harpercollins.co.uk
    Text copyright © Angie Bates 2003
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