“We’ll be studying Diwali in more detail over the next few days, including a visit to a Hindu temple next Monday,” Mrs Weaver said, “but you might be interested to know that, as Diwali is coming up too, we thought we’d have a joint Bonfire Night / Diwali celebration at school.”
Everyone started muttering and nudging each other then, and Mrs Weaver had to give us one of her super-special laser stares to shut us up.
“We’ll be having fireworks and a bonfire as usual,” she went on, “but there will also be samosas and curry on sale, as well as the usual baked potatoes and soup, and we’re hoping to get an Indian dance group to perform. Also, if any of you would like to come dressed in Indian clothes—”
This time poor old Mrs Weaver was really drowned out as everyone began talking again.
“Oh, cool!” Fliss squealed. “I’ll be able to wear my new bangles and a bindi!”
Fliss has got about a million bindis! Her mum buys them for her from a sari shop in Leicester.
“Do you think Mrs Chopra would lend me one of her saris?” I asked Kenny. “She’d have to put it on for me, though.” I’d met Mrs Chopra before. She was small and plump and really jolly. I reckoned she’d be up for it, no problem.
“Yeah, but one of her saris would go round you about a hundred times, Beanpole!” Kenny grinned, elbowing me in the ribs.
“Maybe Mrs Chopra could lend us some of those nice floaty scarves too,” Lyndz added.
“I could ask my sister Tiff to do us some henna tattoos!” Rosie suggested, and we all nodded eagerly.
“I’m WAITING!” Mrs Weaver called, tapping her foot impatiently. Honestly, teachers! They tell you some really cool news and then expect you to sit there quietly and not make a sound! But we all quietened down a bit, and waited to hear what was coming next.
“We’re also running some competitions,” Mrs Weaver went on. “There’ll be a prize for the best Diwali card, and one for the best rangoli pattern. I’ll bring some examples of both of those to show you tomorrow when we start work on our Diwali topic.”
Everyone started talking again, and this time Mrs Weaver gave up, told us to get our maths stuff out and left us to it.
“Mega-cool!” Kenny exclaimed. “I’ve got a great idea for a Diwali card!”
“You can’t put Leicester City Football Club on the front of it!” I teased her. Kenny is LCFC crazy!
“I don’t even know what a rangoli pattern is!” Fliss moaned.
“What is it, Kenny?” Lyndz asked.
Kenny thought for a bit. “It’s sort of like a pattern,” she said at last, and we all groaned.
“What kind of pattern?” I asked, giving her a shove as we went to collect our maths books.
“Don’t worry about it,” came the Queen’s snooty voice from behind us. “None of you lot are going to win the competitions anyway!” And she and Emily grinned smugly at each other.
“Oh yeah?” Kenny eyeballed Emma nose to nose. “You wanna bet on that?”
Mrs Weaver suddenly looked over in our direction. Emma scuttled off immediately (she’s such a teacher’s pet), and we were able to grab Kenny and drag her away.
“Don’t make any bets with the Queen, Kenny!” Fliss grumbled. “Remember what happened when we were in France!”
Boy, did we remember! The M&Ms had nearly crushed us after Kenny made a stupid bet with Emma on our school trip to Paris, but luckily we’d managed to turn things around and get one over on them. It was a close thing, though.
“OK, it’s cool, no bets.” Kenny winked at us. “But wouldn’t it be excellent if we won all the Diwali competitions and the M&Ms didn’t win any?”
“Maybe Mrs Chopra could help us design our Diwali cards and rangoli patterns,” Kenny suggested. It was the end of the day, and we were all on our way to Kenny’s house to do our homework together. “Then we could really rub the M&Ms’ noses in it!”
“Who do you reckon’s got a good chance of winning?” Rosie asked.
“Lyndz,” I said immediately.
“Frankie,” Lyndz said at exactly the same moment.
“Me!” Fliss said confidently – I dunno why, she’s pretty hopeless at art!
“You lot don’t stand a chance!” Kenny scoffed. “Not when I get Mrs Chopra to draw my rangoli pattern for me!”
“That’s cheating, Kenny!” Fliss said sternly.
“I know,” Kenny grinned, as we got to the McKenzies’ house, “but it’d be worth it to stuff the M&Ms!”
“Can you imagine the Queen’s face if we won the competitions?” Rosie said.
“Yeah, she’d put on that stupid snooty look of hers!” And Kenny pulled a face like she’d sucked a lemon, and stuck her nose in the air. It was exactly how the Queen looked when we got on her nerves!
We were still killing ourselves laughing when Kenny’s mum opened the door.
She immediately looked suspicious.
“What have you girls been up to now?”
“Nothing!” we all chorused. Honestly, adults are just so uncool. Anyone would think the Sleepover Club were in trouble all the time!
“Good, I’m glad to hear it.” Mrs McKenzie opened the door wider. “Come and say hello to Mrs Chopra. She’s just popped in to have a word with you all.”
“See?” Kenny whispered as we followed Mrs McKenzie down the hall, “Mrs Chopra’s come round to beg me to let her do my rangoli pattern! I brought her here with the power of my mind!”
“What mind?” I snorted, and we all started giggling again.
Mrs Chopra was sitting at the McKenzies’ kitchen table. I always really liked the clothes she wore, and today she had on a bright turquoise blue sari with this fantastic silver and emerald green embroidery. It looked fab. Even her glasses, which were silver and blue, matched! Maybe Mrs Chopra would let me borrow the sari for the Diwali / Bonfire Night thing next week. I was dying to try it on!
“Oh, hello, girls, how are you?” she said, beaming at us. “I’ve got a big favour to ask.”
Kenny raised her eyebrows at the rest of us, and I had to bite the inside of my mouth to stop myself from laughing. I could see that the others had to do the same.
“My niece Asha is coming over from India at the end of this week to visit us,” Mrs Chopra went on. “She’s going to be staying for a month, so she’ll be attending Cuddington Primary while she’s here.”
“That’s not much of a holiday!” Kenny began, then shut up as her mum glared at her.
“A month is too long to go without school!” Mrs Chopra said with a twinkle in her eyes. “Asha’s the same age as you, so she’ll be in your class, and I was wondering if you’d look after her while she’s here?”
We all nodded eagerly. We’d have said yes even if we hadn’t wanted Mrs Chopra’s help with our Diwali competition, because we liked her.
But if we’d known then what we know now, maybe we wouldn’t have been quite so keen…
“Hey,