Tthe Sleepover Club on the Beach by Angie Bates Read Free Book Online Page A

blank. “I do?”
    “
You
know! That thing!”
    Her eyes widened. “Oh,
that
thing!”
    Mum looked annoyed. “Lyndz, I refuse to wander around a strange town, searching for a hardware store. There are perfectly good ones in Leicester.”
    “But it’ll be too late by then—” I began.
    My mates gave me warning looks.
    “Sorry, forget it,” I said hastily. “Let’s hit the beach.”
    “Yayy!” said everyone.
    Fliss sighed with relief. “I can
finally
work on my tan,” she said.
    We had the worst struggle putting up our beach umbrella. At one point we had to chase it along the beach, like some mad peppermint-striped wheel. And the whole time I was chasing it, I was secretly starring in my own Sleepover music video. I could actually hear the music playing in my head. I wasn’t being vain, I swear. I was just really really happy.
    After we’d got the umbrella firmly planted in the sand, we did the whole seaside bit. We ducked each other screaming in the sea. We stretched out on our towels and basked in the sun like sleepy seals (we slapped on heaps of sun cream, don’t worry). We munched our way happily through the yummy picnic Auntie Roz had packed for us.
    Then all at once it felt like the sun went in (which it actually hadn’t) and the soundtrack in my head went totally off-key.
    We are SO letting ourselves down, I thought. We’ve got a mysterious bottle with a message in it. Probably our one and only crack at a real adventure, and we can’teven organise a simple corkscrew. I mean, how pathetic is
that
?
    Mum closed her book and glanced at her watch. “Are you girls still up for the amusement park?” she said. “Phil and Roz are having a barbecue for us later, so if you want to go it’s now or never.”
    And with one voice we yelled, “NOW!”
    It’s like no-one thought twice. I know I didn’t.
    Well, what would
you
have done? Put yourself in our shoes. You’ve got two choices, right? On the one hand, you can have a mad time with your mates, going on brilliant rides, and laughing yourself silly in the Fun House.
    And on the other hand? What exactly? Oh, yeah! A stray bottle washed up by the sea, a bottle with a piece of paper in it.
    An amusement park is like, a sure thing. But our message in the bottle was a totally unknown quantity. For all we knew, that piece of old paper could be blank. And like Dad says, a bird in the hand is worth two in the whatever.
    We scrambled out of our sandy swimsuits, doing all those embarrassing manoeuvreswith beach towels. And after we’d stowed our beach gear in the car, Mum took us to this really mega amusements place, where we had an absolute ball.
    We played the machines and blew loads of money. We yelled our heads off on the big wheel. We shrieked on the swingboats until we were hoarse. And on the ghost train we screamed so loud, my eardrums will probably never recover. Finally we went on a ride called the Corkscrew (yes, really!) and I was so deliciously terrified, I truly thought I’d DIE!!
    We came reeling out through the gates of the amusement park, clutching candy floss and feeling completely blissed out.
    My mates were unusually quiet on the drive back. I was feeling just a little bit sick, personally. We were practically within spitting distance of Pease Magna, when Mum said, “Mind if we take a little detour?”
    “What for?” I said in a grumpy voice.
    “Roz says Blythburgh Church has a very special roof,” Mum explained. She was using her patient playgroup leader’s voice.
    “Have we got to see it
now
?” I moaned.
    “We don’t mind, honestly,” said Rosie hastily.
    I felt a bit guilty then. I mean, we’d been doing our thing practically all day. It was only fair Mum should do hers.
    The church at Blythburgh is almost surrounded by flat green marshes. You can see its tower for miles.
    “It’s OK, you guys can stay in the car,” I said nobly. “I’ll go in with Mum.”
    Kenny frowned. “This is the church with the Civil War bullet