We all sat up when we heard that! Well, I was going to make sure that if Maria or the others were in any of the races I was in, I was going to beat the pants off them!
“And now for the Summer Fair on Wednesday afternoon,” Mrs Weaver went on. “As you know, it’s organised by some of the parents…”
We all started nudging Lyndz, because her mum, Mrs Collins, was in charge of the Parents’ Association.
“… and this year it’s our class’s turn to help out.” Mrs Weaver glanced round the room. “Everyone, including our visitors, will be given a job to do, and please try to do it sensibly. You’ll have plenty of time to have a look at the stalls and enjoy yourselves, but the parents who are organising the fair are relying on your help as well.”
“I hope we get to do something good!” I whispered to Frankie.
Mrs Weaver glanced at the list she was holding. Then she frowned and glanced at us. “Francesca, Laura, Felicity, Lyndsey and Rosie – Mrs Collins has suggested that you be in charge of the tombola.”
“Excellent!” I muttered to Frankie.
“I just hope I can trust you to behave yourselves,” Mrs Weaver said sternly, fixing us with her beadiest stare. “You know that the Mayoress is coming to open the fair, and we don’t want anything going wrong.”
“No, Miss,” we said virtuously. The tombola was one of the best stalls to be on, so we were all pretty excited. We were even more pleased when the M&Ms got the boring job of selling programmes, and Pilar and the others were put down to help Lyndz’s mum with the cake stall! That was one in the eye for them!
“And don’t forget that we have our class trip to the theme park next Monday.” Mrs Weaver had to raise her voice because the bell had gone for break time and everyone was talking again. “Plus the fancy-dress competition on the last day of term. I hope you’re all busy making your costumes!”
“Oh, yes, Miss!” said Emma Hughes in a treacly voice. “I’m working really hard on mine!”
“So am I, Miss!” said Emily Berryman.
“We can’t let those creeps win again!” I said, as we went outside. “They’ve walked off with the prizes the last three times!”
“Still, we got the best job at the Summer Fair!” said Lyndz. “I had to nag my mum for ages to give us the tombola!”
“Nice one!” I said, as we all crowded round Lyndz and slapped her on the back. “Hey, maybe we can fix it so we win all the prizes!”
“What about Sports Day tomorrow?” Rosie asked. She hadn’t been to Sports Day at our school before. “Do you get a prize if you win?”
“Yeah, book tokens usually,” said Frankie.
“Let’s see how many the Sleepover Club can win!” I said.
“I tell you – none at all!” Maria said scornfully. We hadn’t heard the Spanish girls come up behind us, and now they were giggling and sticking their tongues out at us.
“We’ll win every race we’re in!” I snapped. “Just wait and see!”
Fliss looked a bit nervous at that. She’d made it into the skipping race, but only because Ryan Scott had tripped over his rope and knocked over three other kids, including Frankie, in their heat.
“We win more than you!” Pilar retorted. “We are better at sport!”
“No way!” Frankie cut in.
“Then we have competition, yes?” said Maria. “We see who wins the most prizes. If you win – we give you all our prizes. If we get more, you give us your prizes!”
“OK – but this is just between us, not the M&Ms as well!” I said firmly. Maria nodded, and I stuck out my hand, and we shook. She tried to crush my fingers but I was ready for her, and I crushed hers instead! “You’re on!”
“I wish we weren’t having this stupid contest!” Fliss moaned for about the millionth time as we changed into our sports kit the following afternoon. Sports Day was due to start in the next half hour, and we were all up for it! At least, I thought we were…
“Stop saying that, will you!” I poked her in the back. “We’ve got to win, so I hope you’ve been practising your skipping!”
Fliss didn’t look too happy. “Well, sort of…” she muttered. “But Pilar’s in the skipping race too, and Isabella says Pilar’s really good at skipping so—”
“Hang on a minute!” I grabbed Fliss’s arm. “What did you say?”
Fliss turned bright red. “Nothing.”
“You said Isabella told you!” I stared hard at Fliss. “Have you been talking to her?”
“No. Well. Yes. A bit.” Fliss looked even more flustered.
“I don’t believe you, you traitor!” I snapped. “What’re you talking to our enemies for?”
“Well, she’s sharing my bedroom, and we just got talking last night,” Fliss defended herself. “I think she wants to be friends with us again!”
“I bet it’s some sort of con!” I said crossly. “And you fell for it, Fliss! You’re such a wally!”
“I am not!” Fliss snapped.
“Yeah? Well, you’re the only one of us who wants to make friends with them after what they did!” And I looked round at the others.
Lyndz had gone a bit pink, and was clearing her throat and shuffling her feet.
“Um – me and Elena sort of got talking last night too,” she confessed.
“What!” I glared at her. “What did she say?”
“She said she wished we were all friends again,” Lyndz muttered, “But that Maria and some of the others were still mad at us.”
“There you are then!” I said triumphantly, as Mrs Weaver began to round everyone up to take us over to the sports field. “They don’t like us and we don’t like them!”
Lyndz and Fliss looked doubtful, and so did Frankie and Rosie! I was really beginning to lose my cool now.
“Well, if Isabella and Elena want to be friends,” Frankie said slowly, “maybe we should all give it a go—”
“No way!” I cut in firmly. “Look what they did to us – they can’t get away with that!” Secretly I was a bit annoyed that Maria hadn’t said she wanted to make friends with me again. We’d got on really well in Spain… But if she was going to be mean, then so was I – and I could be a lot meaner than she could! “Anyway,” I went on, “we don’t want to be mates with them while they’re hanging round with the M&Ms, do we?”
The others shook their heads, although Lyndz and Fliss still looked a bit uncertain.
“Come on, line up in twos, please,” Mrs Weaver called. “When we get to the field, I want you sitting in rows ready for your races, just like we practised last week.”
We all lined up by the classroom door. Rosie went over to get something from her locker – and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I