Free Sleepover Girls on the Range by Fiona Cummings

McAllister. “How can you possibly have lost them?”
    Then Kenny suddenly piped up, cool as you like:
    “Erm, Mrs McAllister? I can see something floating in the middle of the brook down there. And it looks like a couple of hard hats!”
    I thought Mrs McAllister was going to blow a fuse. I really did.
    “What!
she yelled. Then she went closer to the brook to investigate.
    Sure enough, caught up in a tangle ofweeds in the middle of the water were two very soggy riding hats.
    “How on earth did they get there?” Mrs McAllister fumed. “No, don’t answer that! The most important thing is getting them out, and I know who’s going to do that!”
    She gestured for the M&Ms to follow her, and walked with them downstream until they were level with the hats. She took a stick and tested the water with it.
    “Well, luckily for you two it’s quite shallow here,” she told them. “Now, in you go and mind your step – the pebbles on the bottom can be quite slippery.”
    For one moment, I thought Emma Hughes was going to tell her that she wouldn’t go in. But she took one look at Mrs McAllister’s face and thought better of it. Very gingerly, she stepped into the brook and waded out into the middle. It was deeper than it looked, and by the time she could reach the hats, the water was up to her knees. Emily Berryman picked her way behind Emma, and was so busy trying to keep her balance that she didn’t see that her friend had stopped.
    We nearly wet ourselves when we saw what happened next. Emma turned round with the hats and knocked into Emily, who was caught completely off-balance and slipped over. And as if
that
wasn’t funny enough, Emily started flailing around – and knocked Emma over as well!
    You ought to have seen them flapping about in the water. It was class! Mrs McAllister didn’t seem to think so, because she had to wade in after them in case they drowned or something. When she hauled them out they were covered in weed and awful scuzzy slime!
    “Nice one, Emma!” Kenny started to clap.
    “Enjoy your trip?” jeered Frankie.
    The rest of us were just creased up. Fliss was laughing so much that I thought she was going to fall off Snowflake. Unfortunately, Mrs McAllister was still not amused.
    “That’s enough!” she snapped. “The sooner we get back to the stables, the better. Miranda, you’d better walk back with these two.” She gestured to the M&Ms. “They can’t ride back in that state. The rest of you comewith me and stick together.”
    She swung herself back on to Sinbad and we set off.
    All the way back we kept spluttering at the thought of the M&Ms in the brook. It had even been worth that uncomfortable night under the horse blankets!
    We got back to the stables
ages
before the M&Ms. And by the time they appeared over the horizon, we’d taken all the tack off the horses and were packed up and waiting for Dad. They looked furious
and
uncomfortable by the time they came dripping into the stable yard.
    “I’m going to tell my mum about this!” whimpered Emily Berryman.
    “Good!” Mrs McAllister appeared out of one of the stables. “Because I intend to tell
both
your parents what disruptive influences you are. I should have known better than to let you come on the pony trek to start with. It was you two who caused all that trouble at my Stable Fun Day last year, wasn’t it?”
    The M&Ms looked guiltily at the groundand began to shuffle their feet in embarrassment.
    “Well, I don’t want to see either of you anywhere near these stables again. Is that understood?” Mrs McAllister was eyeing them sharply.
    The M&Ms had bright pink cheeks by this time, and looked as though they were about to burst into tears at any minute.
    “Is that understood?”
Mrs McAllister repeated.
    They both nodded.
    “Good!”
    Mrs McAllister took the horses from Miranda and led them into one of the stables. The rest of us looked at each other. The M&Ms had been so totally humiliated there didn’t seem to be