“We’re just going to look at some books!” Emma ‘the Queen’ Hughes said crossly, and they both stalked past us to the book corner.
We settled down again and made loads of lists. Nearly everything we could think of that was important in our lives had been invented since 1900. We looked things up in books and on the computer, and the time flashed past. We even talked about the work over break too, which is very unusual for us. Well, the rest of us talked about it – Kenny didn’t. She kept trying to see whether the M&Ms had their bags with them. They didn’t.
When we got back into the classroom after break, Mrs Weaver said that she wanted some idea of what we would all be contributing to our play. I could see the M&Ms huddled together with their cronies. They kept flashing looks over to our table, then whispering and giggling together.
“Well, what are we going to do?” I asked the others. “Any ideas?”
“Fashion!” Fliss piped up. “Please let’s! It’d be dead cool.”
“I don’t want to get involved in a stupid fashion show!” grumbled Kenny.
“It won’t be a fashion show, it’s history. Please, pretty please!” Fliss pleaded.
The rest of us looked at each other.
“Oh all right!” we agreed, but Kenny looked pretty disgusted.
“Right then, who’s going to start?” asked Mrs Weaver.
Emma Hughes stuck up her hand and started waving it about. She always has to get noticed. And with Mrs Weaver, it usually works.
“Yes, Emma, what have you got planned?”
“Well, we thought we’d trace the history of fashion since 1900,” she said, ever so sweetly.
“But that’s what we were going to do!” squealed Fliss. “That’s not fair, she’s copied us!”
Poor Fliss was quite red in the face and angry.
“Now, Felicity, there are lots of exciting ideas to cover,” soothed Mrs Weaver. “I’ll give your group a few more minutes to think of another topic. Well done, Emma, that’s a splendid idea.”
I thought Fliss was going to cry, I really did. Especially when we turned round and saw the stupid M&Ms and their awful cronies grinning at us.
“We’ll get you!” Kenny mouthed to them menacingly.
“What should we do?” I whispered to the others.
“What about television and radio – stuff like that?” suggested Rosie.
But just then Ryan Scott announced that they were covering television.
“I don’t believe it!” grumbled Rosie.
“What about computers, then?” I suggested.
“OK!” the others agreed, but you could tell that they weren’t very enthusiastic.
“We’re going to look at the way computers have altered our lives,” piped up Kevin Green, who’s a real swot.
We all groaned. Mrs Weaver thought that we were being rude about Kevin Green and turned to us crossly.
“Well, Francesca, what is your group going to entertain us with?”
My mind went blank. I couldn’t think of a thing.
But then Kenny piped up, cool as you like, “We’re going to look at medical developments since 1900.”
“What?” shrieked Fliss. Blood and gore are just not her thing at all.
“It’ll be cool, Fliss, trust me!” Kenny grinned.
“Excellent!” smiled Mrs Weaver, clapping her hands. “Books out everyone, it’s time to do some maths!”
Kenny nudged me. “Watch this!” she hissed.
Everyone bent down into their bags…and a few seconds later, there was this terrifying scream! Emma Hughes ran for the door with awful slime dripping from her hands. Her friend wasn’t far behind.
We immediately turned to Kenny.
“Wicked, isn’t it? I made up some of our sleepover slime last night,” she whispered, grinning madly. “And it was great because it felt just like snot. But the best bit is, I added some of Merlin’s droppings as well!”
Fliss shuddered. She hates even the thought of Kenny’s pet rat.
“That’s gross!”
“And you poured it into the M&Ms’ bags?” squeaked Lyndz. “Fab!”
Mrs Weaver had gone to investigate. When she came back into the classroom, she was mega mad. And so were the M&Ms, who were following behind her.
“I hope that no one in here is responsible for that ridiculous prank,” Mrs Weaver barked.
We all looked suitably shocked.
“Because I warn you, I’m going to come down like a ton of bricks if I find anybody engaged in such childish behaviour.”
I swear that she looked right at Kenny as she said that. But Kenny just nodded in a really serious way, like she was agreeing with everything Mrs Weaver said. She’s got a nerve, that girl!
When we were finally getting on with our work, Rosie whispered:
“We haven’t had a slime-fest like that at our sleepovers for ages. We ought to do it at our next one!”
And then I remembered. We hadn’t actually planned our next sleepover. And it was going to be the BIG ONE – our New Year’s Eve sleepover! I couldn’t believe that those stupid M&Ms had made us forget about it! I felt all excited at the thought. But of course, I didn’t know then just how exciting it was going to turn out to be!
The others went into mega-planning mode when I reminded them about the New Year sleepover.
“I can’t believe we actually forgot about it!” sguealed Lyndz. “We’ve never forgotten about a sleepover before.”
Kenny narrowed her eyes and looked menacingly across the playground. “Those M&Ms have a lot to answer for!”
“Chill out, for goodness’ sake!” said Rosie, leaping on Kenny’s back. “Our sleepover’s more important than them. Where are we going to have it? And what are we going to do? We’ve got to make it really special. Hey, Kenny! Stop! Put me down, NOW!”
Kenny had gone racing across the grass outside our classroom with Rosie clinging furiously to her back. The rest of us creased up – they looked hilarious. Only Rosie didn’t seem to think so when Kenny finally came back and dumped her on the ground next to us.
“You really are a nutcase!” she fumed. “You could have killed me!”
Rosie can still be a bit too serious sometimes, so there was nothing for it but to tickle her until she begged for mercy.
“But what are we going to do for the sleepover?” asked Fliss at last. “Can’t we do something a bit, I don’t know – grown-up? I mean, it is kind of special seeing in a new year.”
We all agreed that we should do something different, but I knew that we wouldn’t be able to agree on anything more than that.
“Look, let’s ask our parents if we can have a sleepover on New Year’s Eve first,” I suggested.