Frankie made another snorting noise, but Lyndz patted Fliss’s arm. “We could come and collect you,” she said. “I could ask my mum to drive us both to Kenny’s house.”
Fliss looked a lot happier. “That would be great,” she said.
I wasn’t really taking much notice. I was thinking that things were getting better by the minute. Friday 13th – no Molly – a spooky sleepover – and now a burglar on the loose! What more could we ask for?
“Hey!” I said. “Maybe we could hunt down the burglar and catch him! Is there a reward, Fliss?”
Lyndz gave me a push. “Shut up!” she hissed, because Fliss was staring at me in her rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights kind of way. Catching burglars was about the last thing she would think of as fun.
“Just kidding,” I said, but I didn’t look at Frankie. I was pretty sure that she was thinking the same as me. But we didn’t have time to discuss the sleepover any more, because the bell for registration rang.
At lunchtime we got into a huddle to talk about the food, and Fliss was a lot more cheerful. She said she’d make a green cake, and when Rosie said she hoped it would be green inside, as well as having green icing, Fliss giggled and said, “Of course it will.”
I wondered if Fliss would have green hair ribbons to match.
“Bags I make the green spaghetti,” Rosie said. “I’ll put currants in it, and they’ll look like dead flies.”
“Or spiders without legs!” said Fliss, and we all laughed.
Lyndz said she’d already had an idea for a scary pizza. “What?” Frankie asked, but Lyndz shook her head and wouldn’t say. She’s completely brilliant at cooking so we didn’t make her tell us. If she had a good idea it was worth waiting for!
“I don’t mind doing the green slime and the jelly spiders and worms,” I said. “But what are you going to do, Frankie?”
Frankie rolled her eyes. “Wait and see!” she said. “Slugs and snails and puppy dog’s tails!”
“Yuck!” said Fliss, but she didn’t look totally grossed out.
You know I said how my jaw kept falling open so I looked like a gasping goldfish? Well, it happened again. As I staggered in through our front door that afternoon, I met Emma coming out with some girl I didn’t know.
“Hi,” I said, although I didn’t expect a reply. Sometimes Emma pretends I’m invisible when she’s with someone. Either that, or she talks to me as if I’m about six and she’s my ageing aunt. Today I was lucky, this time it was the ageing aunt.
“Hi,” she said, and ruffled my hair. She knows I hate it, but she still goes on doing it. “Look, Jade – this is my kid sister, Laura.”
Jade gave me the sort of look you’d give a passing beetle. “Oh,” she said.
“She’s got loads of funny little friends,” Emma said. “They have a club, and they all sleep over at each other’s houses. Cute, isn’t it?”
Jade didn’t look as if she agreed, but she nodded anyway. “Yeah. Cute.”
Emma ruffled my hair again. “You can really have fun on Friday, little sister,” she said. “I’m going to stay with Jade for the weekend. And she and the strange girl walked off.
I stood and stared after them, my jaw doing its thunking thing. Emma was going away for the whole weekend. Wow! And an idea crept into my head, and once it was there it grew and grew and grew: if I put all Molly’s things in Emma’s room, I could clear my room right out! For the first time ever we could have loads and loads of space!
I could just imagine it. No Molly hanging around telling us not to touch her things. No squeezing three extra sleeping bags onto the tiny bit of floor between my bed and Molly’s. I could push Molly’s bed right against the wall, push the dressing table back… or we could move the beds the other way… I dashed to the phone to tell Frankie, and to ask her to come round as early as she could on Friday to help.
Frankie was just as pleased as I was. Then she said something that I’d been thinking. I’d been thinking it, but not saying it on purpose. I suppose I was being superstitious – you can’t be too careful around Friday 13th, can you? But then Frankie came right out and said it.
“It all seems too good to be true,” she said. “Isn’t Friday 13th meant to be an unlucky day?”
So I’m blaming all the things that happened after that on Frankie.
I woke up really early on Friday 13th. Molly was still fast asleep with her mouth wide open. Gross! I thought about seeing if I could flip something in, but I decided not to. After all, she was going to be away for the night of our sleepover. Maybe if I was nice to her she’d go away again…
I decided to start fixing up some of the booby traps and tricks ready for the evening. Frankie was coming home with me after school to make our scary tape and to help move the bedroom furniture… but I thought there was no harm in getting started. And anyway, I had to plan something special for Frankie! I slid out of bed and tiptoed out of the room.
Down in the kitchen I had a good look round. I knew exactly what I wanted to do – I wanted to arrange something so that Frankie had a fright. Yes, I know she’s my very best mate – but she wouldn’t be angry with me, she’d just think it was really funny. Besides, I had a sneaky feeling that she might have a plan or two up her sleeve for me, too.
I stared at the cupboards, hoping for inspiration. It didn’t help much, so I opened a few doors and peered in. Flour? Could be useful. Sticky syrup? Maybe. I opened a jar of raisins, and ate some. Looking at them made me giggle – they looked just like mouse droppings! A few in the corner of my room might be fun… Fliss might be fooled for a minute or two! But what could I do that Frankie wouldn’t expect? She was bound to be suspicious of drawers and cupboards in my room… I needed a much more cunning idea! I ate a few more raisins and climbed on a stool to look in the top cupboard… and then it happened.
Whoooooosh!
I nearly died of fright. Something soft and dusty and furry flew straight at me. I fell off the stool with a crash. My heart was pounding and my knees had turned to jelly as I stared wildly… at my old hot-water bottle!
OK, OK, I know. hot-water bottles are pink and rubbery. But remember when you were little and relatives gave you furry, cat-cover hot-water bottles, and brown, teddy hot-water bottles, and cosy clown hot-water bottles? One Christmas I had four! Talk about boring. And I hate hot-water bottles anyway – I’m always worried they might burst and splurge boiling water all over me while I’m asleep.
So Mum had put them away. And obviously this was one of them. I picked it up. It was a furry black cat, but it was totally covered in dust – it must have been in the top cupboard for ages and ages. Then, while I was looking at it, a ginormous light bulb switched itself on in my head. This was it! This could be my special surprise for Frankie! After all, it had scared me silly; I was still feeling fluttery inside. As it had done that to me – wouldn’t it do just the same to Frankie? Yes! I said to myself. Yes! Yes! Yes!
I was about to put the cat back exactly how it had been, when I had another thought. I grabbed the bag of flour and gave it a thorough dusting… just for that little extra effect. Then I climbed back on the stool. I could see why the cat had sprung out the way it did. The cupboard was so small I had to bend the hot-water bottle to fit it in, which made a natural spring! I grinned happily as I wiped my hands and put the