Frankie whacked me round the head with a pillow. “Cow!” she yelled at me.
“Leech-brain!” I yelled back, whacking her so hard I toppled over and landed on her.
Somehow we had totally forgotten it was the middle of the night and we were meant to be quiet. Soon all five of us were having this free-for-all pillow fight in the dark. Ever done that? It is so funny! You don’t know where anyone is, and you’re just whacking away, hoping to get someone – and now and then you hear a scream and know you’ve hit a target!
Suddenly – crash! The door was flung open and there was Lyndz’s dad standing in the doorway.
“It’s a giant leech!” Lyndz yelled and we all screamed hysterically.
Lyndz’s dad switched the light on and blinked at the mess everywhere. Pillows thrown all over the place, sleeping bags tangled up where we’d scrambled out of them – and the five of us all out of breath and looking a bit spooked! Lyndz’s dad is a teacher at the comprehensive, so he’s a pro at telling kids off if he’s narked. He was a bit cross ’cos we’d woken baby Sam up. Uh-oh…
So sometimes my horror stories get us into trouble – but most of the time we can get away with it!
Anyway, back to this story. Ready? Tell you what – why don’t we go and sit in my garden while I tell you the whole lot? We can swing on the swings while I’m telling you – and then we can do some of those flying swing jumps off when we get really high. Come on – this way. Then I’ll tell you EVERYTHING!
Right. Story. Well, I suppose it started on a Saturday. It was the beginning of November, and of course Fliss the Virgo wanted us all to go Christmas shopping. No offence if you’re a Virgo or anything, but they’re just a bit too organised for me. You should see Fliss’s bedroom – everything’s arranged in neat little piles or hidden away in storage units, and everything matches. Pink. Very pink. Personally, my “storage unit” is the space under my bed, where I stuff everything. At least that way if I lose something, I’m pretty sure where it will be.
But anyway, Felicity “Miss Organised 1999” Sidebotham wanted us to go Christmas shopping, even though Christmas was absolutely weeks and weeks away. Christmas shopping’s for Christmas Eve, that’s what I say, but sometimes you just can’t argue with Fliss. She gets that stubborn look on her face, and you know that’s it! You’ve got to go along with her.
Rosie talked me into it in the end. “I’m not going to be buying anything either, ’cos I’m skint,” she said, frank as ever. “But we could go Christmas wish-shopping – where we look for things we want as presents from other people!”
Ooh! I liked the sound of that much more. “Brilliant one, Rosie,” I said. “The new sports shop it is, then!”
The others all groaned. “Ooh, surprise us,” said Frankie, rolling her eyes. “Let me guess… Could it possibly be something to do with…”
“Football!” everyone yelled out together.
I grinned. Did I mention that I love football?!
Ahh. I already told you.
“C’mooooon you Foxes!” I shouted, jumping up and down. “I want to have a look at the new strip – I mean, we’re three months into the season and I haven’t even got the new top yet!”
Us five always have a good laugh in town – even if Fliss does drag us round every single clothes shop most of the time. YAWWWWWN! First of all, we went into Boots because Lyndz wanted to get some bubble bath for her mum. Fliss spent ages examining every type of nail varnish while we were in there, leaving me, Frankie and Rosie in front of this shelf of all sorts of yucky things like wart cream and sprays for smelly feet.
“OK, who can find the grossest thing?” Rosie said. “We should club together and buy it for someone we don’t like.”
“How about these drops for hard ear wax?” Frankie suggested. “That’s pretty gross.”
“Here’s some athlete’s foot powder,” I said, and started reading from the label. “For flaky, itchy feet. Yuck!! No thanks!”
“What about this spray for bad breath?” Rosie giggled. “Ugh! Just imagine how embarrassing it would be, buying that!”
Lyndz came up just then. “What are you lot all sniggering about?” she asked. “Fliss wants us to help her choose some perfume – she’s going to ask her mum for some for Christmas.”
I couldn’t help groaning. “Poo, you won’t catch me wearing any stinky perfume,” I said, as we started walking to the perfume counter. “It all smells horrible!”
“What – even this one?” Frankie said – then grabbed a tester bottle and sprayed this yucky sickly perfume all over me.
“Aaaargh!” I shouted, coughing and choking. It really was foul! “Right, Frankie Thomas,” I said, “you’ve asked for it now!” And I grabbed another tester bottle and squirted her with it. “Now you stink too!”
Fliss was so embarrassed, she dragged us out of the shop. As we all walked along the street, people kept giving us funny looks. We really did pong!!
Then I stopped dead on the pavement. “My turn!” I said. “We’re going in here next.”
The others groaned as I led them into the new Mega Sports shop that had just opened in Cuddington. I’d been badgering my mum and dad all week to take me into town to check it out – and at last I was going to get to see it.
Woweee! It was a wicked shop. Heaven! I wanted to move in! Loads and loads of footy stuff, which of course I checked out straightaway. Loads of nice trackie tops and trainers – definitely a few to put on the Christmas wish-list there…
And then I found this whole surf and ski section at the back of the shop, which was just awesome. Lots of boards and all the gear – and there were these three tellies on the wall showing snowboarding videos. The sight of the snowboarders skimming down impossible slopes, doing jumps and turns, just made my legs go wobbly with excitement. It looked f-f-fantastic!!
“Hey, Frankie, check this out!” I shouted, waving some snow goggles in the air. “Snowboarding!”
I think I must have shouted quite loudly – me? Loud? Impossible! – because suddenly this guy appeared next to me.
“Ahh, a snowboarding fan!” he said. He sounded like someone off Neighbours so I guessed he had to be an Aussie.
“I wish,” I said to him. “I’ve never tried it, but it looks wicked.”
“Oh, it’s the best,” he said, enthusiastically. “It is so cool! You go so fast, the world’s like a blur – and then once you get in the half-pipe, you can really start having some serious fun.”
“Wow,” I breathed. I wasn’t quite sure what he was on about, but it sounded good.
“Yeah, it is pretty wow!” he laughed. “You should try it – get out on those slopes. It’s the most exciting thing you can get into. Believe me, I’m an addict!”
“Mega!” I said, just as Frankie wandered over.
“Well, it’s quite easy to pick up,” he said. “You should give it a go. All you need is good balance, good co-ordination – and nerves of steel!”
“And snow,” I pointed out.
“Snow helps,” he agreed. “Fingers crossed we get some soon, eh?”
“Fingers crossed,”