Sleepover Club 2000 by Angie Bates Read Free Book Online Page B

Kenny marched out, all clean and shiny in blue stripy cotton pyjamas. She saluted. “Next!” she grinned.
    It was a good thing we had Kenny’s stopwatch. As it was, it was almost quarter to ten by the time we’d all had baths and changed into our sleepover things!
    Rosie was wearing the sweetest little sleepsuit, which her big sister Tiffany got her for Christmas. Shorts and a floppy vest top, with the cutest embroidery around the hem. I was dead jealous!
    We tossed a coin to see who was sleeping in my spare bed. (Having two beds is dead handy for sleepovers!) Frankie won the toss that time. She was suddenly looking really worn out.
    The others busily spread out their sleeping bags on my carpet.
    “Hey everyone,” said Lyndz excitedly. “This is it! Sleepover 2000. Durn durn
durn
!”
    “Yikes!” said Rosie. “I’ve got millennial butterflies, haven’t you?”
    “I’ve had them for DAYS!” I said. “You have no idea.”
    “Relax,” yawned Frankie. “You and your mum did a great job.”
    I felt myself go red. “Oh, thanks,” I said.
    “We should DO something,” said Kenny. “To celebrate.”
    Frankie groaned. “Is this celebrating going on all year, or something? A snow picnic and an ecological protest in the same sleepover ought to be enough for anyone!”
    “I wasn’t suggesting we, like, bungee-jump out of Fliss’s window,” Kenny said crossly. “I meant, do something people can, like, LOOK at in the future, so they’ll know we were actually HERE, tonight.”
    “You mean, like a time capsule?” I said.
    Lyndz sat bolt upright. “Fliss, that’s such a COOL idea!”
    My mum came in with our toasties. “Everyone happy?” she said.
    Suddenly Frankie took a big breath, like she was diving underwater.
    “Sorry if I was rude earlier, Mrs Sidebotham,” she gabbled. “And I’m not trying to wriggle out of it, but none of us gets much sleep at our house. You know, since my little sister was born. And sometimes I – well, you know.”
    Look, don’t tell the others, because it’s not something I’m exactly proud of. But sometimes I don’t know if I
like
Frankie very much. But just when I decide I really can’t STAND her, that girl does something which knocks my socks off.
    I didn’t realise it, but apparently the whole time we were at Browses Piece, Frankie was feeling terrible about hurting Mum’s feelings. I think she was dead brave to apologise in front of everyone like that, don’t you?
    Luckily Mum was really chilled about the whole thing.
    “Rude?” she said, like the idea never even occurred to her. “Well, it’s very sweet of you to apologise, Frankie, but I honestly didn’t notice. So, I’ll see you all tomorrow, shall I? Unless you need anything?” There was a hopeful gleam in her eye.
    I shook my head. “Uh-uh,” I said firmly. “Good night, Mum.”
    After we’d polished off our toasties, we had a mega argument about what to put in our time capsule.
    Kenny said we all had to donate something especially precious.
    Rosie pointed out that no-one in their right mind would want to stick their most precious possession in the ground for, like,
decades.
    “I mean, you wouldn’t bury your Leicester City scarf, Kenz, would you?” she said.
    “No WAY,” said Kenny. She sounded shocked!
    “Well, there you go,” said Rosie sensibly.
    Everyone looked depressed.
    “So what are we going to do now?” Frankie asked. “Put in things we totally hate, or something?
That
makes sense. NOT!”
    “I know,” I said. “Suppose we don’t write our normal sleepover diaries tonight. Suppose we write special millennium letters for our time capsule instead.”
    Frankie groaned. “If I have to hear that M-word one more time,” she threatened.
    “A letter?” said Lyndz. “Who to?”
    “Whoever finds it in the future,” I said. “You know, a future person.”
    Frankie perked up. “Hey!” she said. “We can put in one of those Polaroid photos of us that your mum took in the