Fliss took a bit of time thinking about her wish. “We can wish for anything?” she said cautiously.
“Fliss, it’s only a game,” Frankie said impatiently. “Your fairy godmother isn’t really going to come along and wave a wand, you know!”
“I know, I know!” Fliss said crossly. “I was only asking!”
“So what’s it going to be then, Flissy?” I asked. “Nose job? Modelling assignment?” (See? I told you I could be a bit sarky, didn’t I?)
“A fairytale wedding with Ryan Scott, puke puke?” Kenny suggested, pulling a sick face.
Fliss tossed her long blonde hair back, looking a bit annoyed. “What do you mean, nose job?” she asked me. “What’s wrong with my nose?”
“Er… nothing, nothing!” I said hastily. Fliss is a bit vain, you see, and doesn’t take kindly to any criticism of the way she looks!
“I think I’d wish for £100 to spend on clothes,” she said, her eyes lighting up at the thought. “No, wait – £1,000!” she said. Then she thought about it a bit more. “I wish I had a MILLION pounds to go on the most amazing shopping spree ever!”
She was positively beaming by now, whereas we were all staring at her, horrified at such a boring wish.
“Oh, I’d buy you all something too, of course!” she said, waving a hand casually.
“Wow, thanks, Fliss,” Kenny said sarcastically. “Only if you’re sure you can spare it, of course! You can’t buy much with a million pounds these days, can you?”
Fliss looked annoyed. “Well, if you’re going to be like that, I won’t buy you anything!” she snapped. “I’ll keep it all myself!”
Frankie rolled her eyes. “It’s not a REAL wish, Fliss,” she reminded her. “You don’t really get to have your million pounds, you know!”
That’s Fliss for you, anyway. Madly in love with clothes, make-up… and mirrors! She’s the girliest one of us five and she sometimes gets on my nerves by being a bit wet and sappy, but she’s also quite a laugh because you can wind her up a treat before she realises you’re teasing her.
Kenny’s turn next. “Well, my wish would be to wish for a billion other wishes!” she said craftily. “That way I can have whatever I want – whenever I want it!”
“You can’t do that!” Fliss shouted at once. I think she was just gutted she hadn’t thought of it first.
“It’s my wish, I can ask for anything I like!” Kenny said, sticking her tongue out at her. “Just ’cos YOU wasted yours on boring shopping and boring clothes – DERRRR!”
Fliss scowled.
“No, seriously, though,” Frankie said. “What would be the one thing you’d like most of all?”
Kenny’s next answer was a tad predictable, really.
“I wish I could play for Leicester City and score the winning goal for them in the Cup Final,” she sighed longingly. “That would just be sooooo cool!”
“Er, Kenz – you’re a girl, mate,” Frankie pointed out.
“I know, I know,” Kenny said. “But that’s part of the wish – that the team spot me playing footy in the park and realise I’m so mega-talented they’ll have to bend the rules to let me play for them.”
“Sounds a bit like Babe the pig where the farmer let Babe be in the sheepdog trials because he was so good,” Lyndz said thoughtfully.
“Lyndz, if you’re calling me a pig, I’ll…” Kenny said warningly.
Lyndz giggled and put her hand up to her mouth. “I wasn’t!” she said. “Honest! But it wouldn’t have been an insult anyway – pigs are lovely!”
In answer to that, Kenny started making piggy squeals and grunts and chased Lyndz around the room, until Lyndz collapsed in a giggling fit. Then “the pig” got down on all fours, still squealing, and starting nudging Lyndz with her head.
“S-s-s-stop it!” Lyndz panted, weakly trying to push her away. “P-p-pack it in, piggy!”
Anyway, yeah, so Kenny is mad on sport, especially football and swimming. She’s captain of our netball team at school, but was really miffed when she couldn’t play cricket with the boys. She even went to the head teacher about it, saying it was unfair and sexist! I think she really wishes she was actually a boy sometimes.
Kenny has energy and enthusiasm like you’ve never seen before. Sometimes we call her “the power station” because she’s like a one-woman generator! Her and Frankie are a good match in that way. They both hate sitting still and prefer to be bouncing around somewhere outside. No wonder they’re both so skinny.
The other thing you should know about Kenny is that she’s a complete gore-hound. She just loves blood and guts and gross stuff like that. She wants to be a doctor when she’s older, like her dad. Already, she knows lots of amazing things about the way things work in your body, and loves telling us all the yuckiest stuff to try and gross us out. Fliss usually kicks up a fuss before too long as she’s mega-squeamish, and even the word “blood” makes her feel sick (so she says). I think that just encourages Kenny to find even more horrible things to tell us about, though.
I was the last one to make my wish. I just couldn’t decide. Part of me wished we had a nicer house to live in. Ours is a complete dump, ever since my dad moved out before he’d had a chance to do it up. I used to get a bit embarrassed about letting the others come round because it was so scruffy, and there’s still loads that needs doing to it even now – I mean, we still haven’t got carpets in some rooms. Me and the gang ended up decorating my room last year because I got so sick of just having bare plaster walls in there. Dad was originally going to paint my room for me, but… I guess he had other things on his mind.
“Come on, Rosie!” Lyndz was saying, elbowing me. “You’ve had ages to think about it now!”
“Yeah, what’s your gut instinct?” Kenny asked. “What was the first thing that popped into your head?”
“I wish Adam could walk,” I said straight out. Adam’s my brother and he’s in a wheelchair. He’s a really lovely brother (apart from when he takes the mickey out of me, of course) and he’s never been able to walk or talk properly. Sometimes I catch sight of his face if I’m going off on my bike, and he just has this sad look in his eyes which makes me feel really guilty that my legs work OK and I don’t even think about them. Or sometimes he’ll be watching sport on telly, and I just know that he’s thinking about how he’ll never be able to play football or rugby or… You know. I mean, I’ve grown up with him, so I’m used to it, and obviously he is, too – but it’s still sad.
The others were a bit quiet when I said my wish. Kenny’s great with Adam, she just treats him like a normal boy and has a laugh with him about stuff, but I know the others feel a bit awkward around him. Fliss, especially – I think she’s a bit scared of Adam, to be honest. I suppose if you’re not used to being around someone who’s disabled, you don’t quite know how to react at first.
“That’s a nice wish,” Lyndz said in the end. “That would be lovely if it came true.”
“Yeah,” I said. I felt a bit bad that everyone had gone so quiet and thoughtful because of me. “But I also wish my mum would find a new bloke now! A nice new boyfriend for the new year, that would be wicked. Especially if he was rich!”