Sleepover Girls in the Ring. Fiona Cummings

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      Before we split up to go our separate ways, Lyndz said, “Remember to ask whether you can come to the circus next week.”

      “Will we be having a sleepover afterwards too?” Rosie asked expectantly.

      The smile disappeared from Lyndz’s face and she shook her head. “Na-ah. Dad’s doing some work on the side of the house, so there’s a great gaping hole in one of the walls and part of the roof’s off. Mum doesn’t want the responsibility of anyone coming and injuring themselves. Sorry!”

      To tell you the truth, that kind of put a damper on things. We always have a sleepover to celebrate our birthdays. But we didn’t want to go on about it too much because Lyndz looked dead upset.

      “Never mind. We’ll have a great time at the circus, won’t we?” giggled Frankie, pretending she was a clown juggling with imaginary balls.

      “What are you doing?” I ribbed her. “You look like a performing seal, and there aren’t any of those in this circus, remember?”

      She whacked me on the back and, laughing, we all went our separate ways.

      When I got home I was dying to tell Mum all about the circus, but Molly was already there, boring her to death about something Edward stupid Marsh had done.

      You remember my brain-dead sister, don’t you? And how she has absolutely nothing interesting going on in her life? Well, now she spends all her time talking about this new boy in her class. He’s called Edward Marsh, and we hear his stupid name about a million times a day. “Edward Marsh said this…” “Edward Marsh did that…”. Bo-ring! To listen to Molly you’d think he was some kind of god.

      Anyway, when I did manage to get a word in, I told Mum all about Circus Jamboree. But before Mum could say anything, Molly piped up:

      “Edward Marsh told me about that. He said it’s supposed to be really brilliant.”

      “Bully for Edward Marsh,” I spat back. “If he’s so wonderful I’m surprised he’s not starring in the circus. All by himself. He could manage that, couldn’t he?”

      “Well actually, he’s—”

      I groaned. I didn’t want to listen to any more about Edward Marsh, so I yelled over the top of her: “Mum! Is it OK if I go to the circus next Saturday for Lyndz’s birthday?”

      That shut Molly up. She went all quiet and flounced out of the room. I called out after her:

      “Ha-ha! I’m going to the circus and you’re not!”

      I heard her stomp upstairs and slam our bedroom door. Yeah! One-nil!

      The next morning we all met up by the poster advertising the circus.

      “Well?” Lyndz asked eagerly. “Mum and Dad said they’d take us. Can you come?”

      We all started chattering at once, and it took a while before we realised that everyone was up for it.

      “And I’ve got even more news!” announced Fliss dramatically. “Mum says that we can celebrate Lyndz’s birthday at my house!”

      “You mean a sleepover? Brill!”

      We all started leaping about.

      ^“Er wait, no!” Fliss squeaked. We all looked at her. “What Mum said was that we can have a birthday tea for Lyndz at my place on Sunday afternoon.”

      “Oh!”

      It was impossible to hide our disappointment, but Lyndz recovered the quickest.

      “That’s great Fliss, really kind!” she smiled. “It means my birthday’s going to last all weekend. How cool is that?”

      We all laughed, but we knew that no way was tea at Fliss’s going to be as much fun as a sleepover. I mean, for one thing, Fliss’s mum virtually dusts us down as soon as we get through the door. It kind of takes all the pleasure out of things, if you know what I mean. And now that she’s pregnant, she’s probably even worse. (Yup – with twins, would you believe? But that, I guess, is another story.) Still, tea at her place was better than nothing.

      We somehow managed to get through the week before the circus, and by the time Saturday came round I was dead excited. I put on my clean Leicester City football shirt and my best pair of jeans and went downstairs to wait for Lyndz. Her parents have this great big van, so they were collecting us all on the way to the circus. Molly was downstairs too, looking anxiously out of the window.

      “Don’t tell me. You’re going to rush out and tell Lyndz that I’m ill and that you’re going to take my place instead!” I teased.

      “I’m going out too, if you must know!” she said smugly.

      Actually, she was done up like a dog’s dinner: new skirt, best shoes, loads of make-up.

      “You’re not going to be sad and wander about hoping that Edward Marsh will actually notice you, are you?” I chortled.

      “Shut up, Kenny!” Molly thumped me hard on the back.

      I would have flattened her, I swear, but I heard the van pull up and saw Lyndz running to the door.

      The circus Big Top was amazing when we got there. I mean, it looked quite small from the outside, but when we got in and found our seats it seemed ENORMOUS. It smelt a bit damp and earthy, but it felt surprisingly warm.

      “Look how high those trapezes are!” marvelled Frankie, pointing way up towards the roof of the tent. “And there isn’t a safety net either!”

      Shivers spread down my spine. I love doing daredevil things, but that looked a bit too scary, even for me. Fliss said she felt sick just looking up there.

      More and more people crowded in until the tent was packed. Then there was a drum roll and a spotlight shone into the centre of the ring. A tall figure in a fancy red suit ran into it and introduced himself as the Ringmaster of Circus Jamboree. He told us a bit about what we’d be seeing – then it was on with the show!

      I can’t really begin to describe everything to you, there was too much to take in all at once. There were these amazing contortionists who actually sat on their own heads! And whilst they were performing, there were also acrobats doing flick-flacks and cartwheels, not just by themselves but in sort of formation. If they’d got their timing wrong, well – I don’t even want to think about how badly they’d have been injured. And there were jugglers who juggled with everything from chairs to balls of fire. Amazing! And that was only in the first half! By the time the Ringmaster announced that there was going to be an interval, I felt totally exhausted!

      “Isn’t it brilliant!” gasped Rosie. “I didn’t know where to look next!”

      “And did you notice that there are three performers who look about our age?” asked Fliss. “Fancy being able to do all that! It was just unbelievable!”

      “Are you enjoying it, girls?” asked Lyndz’s mum. “Anyone fancy an ice-cream? I think there’s someone selling them over there.”

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