“It’s going to be brill sleeping outside tonight!” I said. We’d spent the last few days round at Rosie’s after school, getting everything ready for the Grand Sleepover that evening. Although the Cartwrights’ garden, like their house, was a bit of a mess, we’d hung streamers and balloons in the trees, and my dad had brought our big tent over and put it up on the grass.
“Yeah, but no horror stories, Kenny, all right?” Fliss insisted nervously.
“Nah, ’course not!” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back and winking at Frankie. I had a fab story to tell at the sleepover that night, all about a mummy, a werewolf and a haunted house. Fliss was going to wet herself!
“I wonder why Pilar and the others didn’t reply to that email we sent them the other day?” Lyndz said.
Frankie shrugged. “Maybe their teacher wouldn’t let them.”
We hadn’t heard anything from the Spanish girls for nearly two weeks now.
“Maybe they were too busy getting ready for the trip,” I suggested. “Hey, here’s the coach!”
Everyone in the classroom jumped out of their seats and rushed over to the windows, except the M&Ms. Typical. Meanwhile, Mrs Weaver had grabbed her clipboard and hurried outside.
“There’s Maria!” I yelled, as the Spanish kids began to file off the coach, looking a bit tired and crumpled. Maria was at the front, wearing her Real Madrid football shirt as usual. I banged on the glass and waved. “MARIA!”
Maria glanced over, but she didn’t wave back.
“I guess she just didn’t see me,” I said, disappointed.
“There’s Pilar!” Frankie began to bang on the glass too, but Pilar wasn’t taking any notice either. Neither were Isabella, Elena and Anna, who got off behind her.
“Maybe they don’t like you any more!” remarked Emma Hughes with a spiteful grin, but we ignored her.
We watched Mrs Weaver leading the Spanish kids and their two teachers into school, and then they came into our classroom.
“Hey, Maria!” I shouted, trying to attract her attention, but I had to shut up when Mrs W. gave me one of her mega-gruesome glares.
“Sit down, everyone, please!” she called. “Quietly!”
Although we couldn’t say anything, we kept on grinning and giving Pilar, Maria and the others thumbs-up signs. But it was really strange because they weren’t doing anything back. In fact, they were acting as if they didn’t even know who we were. They were staring straight through us.
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Frankie. “Why’re they being so funny?”
Frankie shrugged. “Maybe they’re just tired after the flight,” she suggested.
“What, too tired to smile at us?” I said.
I stared hard at Maria until I caught her eye. You know what she did? She just stared right back at me. She didn’t smile. She didn’t wink. She didn’t do anything. It was really strange.
There was definitely something very weird going on. And I was determined to find out exactly what it was…
“And this is where you’ll be sleeping!” I threw open the door of my bedroom, and grinned at Maria. “My sister Molly the Monster’s gone to camp with her school, so you’ll be sharing with me. Cool, huh?”
Maria didn’t say anything. Which wasn’t surprising really because she’d hardly said a word to me at all. We hadn’t had much time to chat at school because the home bell had rung about fifteen minutes after the coach had arrived, and then my mum turned up in the car to drive us home. I could see the other Sleepovers looking just as puzzled as I was, as they went off with their mum or dad and the Spanish girl who was staying with them. It was weird.
I’d been mega-nice to Maria in the car when my mum took us home, but she’d hardly said a word to me. I’d told her all about the special sleepover at Rosie’s and even that hadn’t made any difference. She was fine when my mum spoke to her though! And that had really got right up my nose. I was getting seriously annoyed.
“Come on,” I said, still trying to be nice. “Let’s go and kick a ball around in the garden or something.”
“No, thanks.” Maria shrugged. “I want to unpack my suitcase.”
“OK,” I said. “Do you want some help?”
“Not from you!” Maria retorted rudely, and I almost choked with fury.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I not want you to help me!” Maria glared at me, and that just about did it. I was boiling.
“You’re really starting to get on my nerves!” I hissed, clenching my fists. “What’s going on?”
“Why you ask me what is going on?” Maria snapped. We were standing nose-to-nose now like a couple of heavyweight boxers. “You start it!”
“Start what?” I asked, bewildered. I totally didn’t have a clue what she was going on about.
Maria looked like she was about to say something, but then she just stuck her tongue out at me. If Molly the Monster had done that to me I’d have grabbed my pillow and whacked her round the head with it, but somehow I managed to stop myself. Instead I stomped out of the room, leaving Maria unpacking her suitcase.
I just couldn’t understand what was going on. Up until a week or two ago we’d all been great mates. So what had gone wrong?
When I got downstairs, I picked up the phone and called Frankie.
“Hey, Franks, how’s it’s going?”
“Gruesome!” Frankie groaned. “Pilar’s being a right pain!”
“So’s Maria,” I agreed. “Did Pilar tell you why they’re acting like total morons?”
“Nah, she won’t even talk to me!” Frankie said in disgust. “I just phoned Lyndz and she said Elena’s being just as weird!”
“Right, I’ll phone Fliss and you phone Rosie,” I decided. “Somehow we’ve got to find out what’s going on, or the next few weeks are going to be a total disaster!”
“Isabella’s driving me bananas!” Fliss complained when I got through to her. “She keeps on making nasty remarks about my teddy-bear collection – she says hers is much better!”
“Never mind that!” I said impatiently. “Has she told you why they’re all being so weird?”
“No,” Fliss replied. “I just phoned Rosie and she says that Anna won’t tell her either.”
“Well, maybe we’ll find out at the sleepover tonight…”
I said goodbye to Fliss, and put the phone down. I was beginning to wonder if the Grand Sleepover we’d planned so carefully was going to be quite so grand after all…
“Er – shall we start the sleepover now?” Rosie asked, looking round at us.
We all nodded silently. Rosie opened the French windows that led out of the Cartwrights’ living-room into the garden, and we all trudged gloomily after her. What a great evening this was going to be. Since we’d all arrived at Rosie’s place, no-one