The Sleepover Club Down Under. Narinder Dhami

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СКАЧАТЬ nose with her fingers, and said, “Hello? Who is this please?” in this really posh voice.

      “It’s the doorman at the theatre!” she hissed at us, covering the mouthpiece. Then she pinched her nose again and said grandly, “This is Brad Martin’s aunt speaking. I need to get in touch with him, so kindly tell me where he lives!”

      Meanwhile the rest of us were rolling around on Fliss’s bed, stuffing our hands in our mouths to stop ourselves from laughing.

      “I see,” Kenny said after a moment or two. “Well, thank you very much.” And she put the phone down.

      “Did he give you the address?” I asked eagerly.

      “Is Brad staying in Cuddington?” Rosie chimed in.

      “Or is he in Leicester?” Lyndz asked.

      “Don’t keep us in suspense, Kenny!” Fliss begged.

      “The doorman said I was about the tenth person to ring today trying to find out where Brad was staying, and to stop pestering him!” Kenny said.

      Our faces fell.

      “So how can we find out?” Rosie asked.

      “Well, we can’t do anything now,” I pointed out. “Anyway, aren’t we supposed to be having a sleepover?”

      But it turned out that the sleepover was pretty much a wash-out after that, because all we did was talk about whether or not Brad could really be staying in Cuddington. We had a sort of half-hearted pillow fight and we had a midnight feast and we wrote in our diaries and we did all the kinds of things we normally do, but we weren’t really interested. There was only one thing we wanted to know. Where was Brad Martin? By this time, I think we were all convinced that Rosie had seen him – even Kenny!

      It was only when we were in our sleeping bags on Fliss’s floor that I started to have second thoughts. We’d just sung our sleepover song, and everyone was getting a bit drowsy.

      “Maybe I didn’t see Brad after all,” Rosie said suddenly in a low voice. “Maybe it was someone else…”

      But I don’t think anyone heard her except me.

      Wait until you hear what happened when we got to school on Monday morning. It was really weird!

      We all met up in the playground as usual, and we were still going on about Brad Martin, and where he might be staying in Cuddington. We’d spent most of Sunday on the phone to each other too, discussing the very same thing, until our parents put their feet down. My dad had said that he’d gag me if I didn’t shut up about it!

      “I reckon we should go over to Buckingham House after school and check it out,” Kenny suggested as we all sat down on the playground wall. “We might see Brad leaving for the theatre.”

      “Don’t let Mrs Windsor catch us though,” Fliss said, looking alarmed.

      “Why?” Kenny said with a grin. “Are you scared of her, Flissy?”

      Fliss blushed. “A bit,” she muttered

      “Well, she can’t stop us hanging around outside her house,” I said firmly. “It’s a public footpath!”

      “Yeah, and if Brad’s there, we’ll soon find out!” Kenny added, and we all cheered. Except Rosie.

      “Um – maybe it wasn’t Brad,” Rosie muttered, looking embarrassed. “Maybe I got it wrong after all…”

      “Well, there’s no harm in trying to find out, is there?” I said quickly, not wanting Rosie to feel bad about it.

      “I’ve brought my autograph book,” Lyndz added. “It’ll be nice to get a proper autograph in it, I’ve only got you lot so far!”

      “Flippin’ cheek!” Kenny snorted. Then she winked at us. “Sssh! Don’t say anything about Brad in front of the Gruesome Twosome!”

      The M&Ms, Emma Hughes and Emily Berryman, were walking across the playground in our general direction. They’re in our class, but that’s about all we’ve got in common with them – we’re not snooty, stuck-up snobs! Nobody likes them except Alana ‘Banana’ Palmer, and that’s because she’s just about the doziest person in Cuddington Primary. But the weird thing was that today, the M&Ms were being followed across the playground by a huge crowd of kids, tagging along behind them as if they were the bee’s knees.

      I frowned. “Why are all those kids following the Queen and the Goblin?”

      “Maybe Emma’s been nice to someone at last,” Kenny suggested. “That’d draw a crowd!”

      The M&Ms were looking well smug. They saw us sitting on the wall and grinned at each other in that incredibly sly way they have.

      “We know something you don’t know!” Emily Berryman (the Goblin) chanted in her gruff voice.

      “I know lots of things you don’t know, Emily,” Kenny retorted. “That’s because you’re really, really thick!”

      We started giggling, and so did the whole crowd of kids. The Goblin turned purple and the Queen stuck her nose in the air like she always does.

      “Oh, you think you’re so clever, Kenny!” Emma Hughes sniffed. “Well, we do know something you don’t know and we’re not going to tell you, so there!”

      “Hey, Kenny,” said Alana Banana, strolling up next to the Queen. “Did you know that Emily saw that surfer guy from South Beach in Cuddington yesterday?”

      I glanced at the others. So the Goblin had seen him too! That was why all those kids were following her. It was true – Brad was in Cuddington!

      “You mean Brad Martin,” I said as coolly as I could.

      “Yeah, that’s him,” Alana agreed.

      The Goblin was now the colour of an aubergine. “What did you tell them for, Alana?” she howled.

      “Everyone else knows.” Alana Banana pointed at the crowd of kids behind them. “You said you wanted to tell everyone.”

      “Yes, but not them!” Emma Hughes snapped, looking as if she was about to rip Alana Banana’s head off.

      “Bet you didn’t really see him anyway!” called someone in the crowd.

      “Yeah, it’s a wind-up, isn’t it, Emily?” added Ryan Scott. He was with his mate Danny McCloud, who’s also in our class.

      “Well, I saw him too—” Rosie began. “OW!”

      I didn’t see what happened, but I guessed Kenny had elbowed her to shut her up. After all, why should we help the Gruesome Twosome out?

      “I did see him!” the Goblin snapped.

      “Well, did you get his autograph?” Danny demanded.

      “No, СКАЧАТЬ