Vive le Sleepover Club!. Narinder Dhami

hotel was OK inside. At least it wasn’t too much like a haunted house! All the furniture and the wallpaper was really old-fashioned, but it was very clean. Fliss cheered up a bit, but her face soon fell again as Pascal led us up three dark, gloomy flights of stairs to our bedroom.

      The bedroom was quite nice. It had a double bed and three singles, all crammed in together. There were flowery quilts on the bed, and matching curtains at the window, which gave us a brilliant view over the rooftops of Paris. We could even see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

      “Who’s sharing?” Kenny asked, bouncing up and down on the double bed.

      “I’m not sleeping with Lyndz – she hiccups in the night!” said Fliss immediately.

      “I’m not sleeping with Kenny – she’s got freezing feet!” I put in.

      “I’m not sleeping with Fliss – she snores!” Frankie said. “Sometimes,” she added, as Fliss gave her a furious look.

      “I’ll share with Lyndz,” Kenny suggested. “Then if she hiccups in the night, I can put my cold feet on her and give her a shock!”

      We all agreed, so Frankie, Fliss and I bagged one each of the single beds.

      “Hey, Pascal!” Frankie called. “Say this –‘I’ve got a big spot on my bottom’!”

      “I’ve got a beeg spot on my bottom!” Pascal repeated, looking very pleased with himself. We all tried not to laugh too hard in case he caught on.

      “‘Bye!” Kenny called as he went out. “Be careful how you sit down!”

      We all fell about when the door closed.

      “I think we’re going to have some fun with Pascal!” Frankie spluttered.

      Just then the door opened again and we all sat up. The scary maid stomped in, carrying two of our suitcases as if they were as light as a feather. She looked sourly at us, dropped the cases on the floor and went out again.

      “Well, she’s a right laugh, isn’t she!” said Lyndz.

      “She’s spooky!” Fliss said with a shiver.

      “Yeah, maybe she’s really a zombie!” Kenny suggested eagerly. “Maybe she’ll creep into our room at night and—”

      “Kenny!” Fliss wailed. “Is there a lock on the door?”

      We all rushed over to have a look. But then we noticed something else. Just past our door, there was another long, dusty, winding staircase, which went up right over our heads and then wound out of sight.

      “Wow!” Kenny breathed. “That must go right up to the attic. Let’s go and take a look!”

      Fliss didn’t look too happy, and I wasn’t that keen myself. Meanwhile Lyndz was looking at a sign on the wall.

      “Entrée interdite au public” she read. “What does that mean?”

      “Maybe it means – this way to the haunted attic!” Kenny suggested, with a wicked gleam in her eye.

      “No, it doesn’t.” Frankie had gone back into the bedroom to get her phrasebook. “It means we can’t go up there. It’s private.”

      Fliss looked relieved.

      “Oh, well…” Kenny grinned round at us. “We’ll just have to wait until tomorrow night when we have our first sleepover, won’t we? Then we’ll be able to explore!”

      

      “I’m sure I heard noises coming from that attic last night!”

      Frankie sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. It was morning, and the sunshine was streaming through the windows. We all sat up in our beds and stared at her.

      “You’re making it up!” Fliss said fearfully.

      I hadn’t heard anything at all. By the time we’d unpacked and then had something to eat, we were all pretty tired and I’d slept really soundly.

      “No, I did!” Frankie insisted. “It was just after we’d gone to bed, but all the rest of you were snoring your heads off!”

      “I reckon you’re having us on,” Kenny said.

      “No, I’m not!” Frankie insisted, but we all chucked our pillows in her direction and then jumped on her.

      We were starving, so we dashed down to breakfast at eight o’clock sharp. The rest of the school party were just coming in too, along with the teachers, and there were a few other guests in the dining room, mostly Japanese and British tourists. We managed to bag a table on our own, well away from the M&Ms and the teachers.