Sleepover Club Vampires (2 page)

When I got to school the next day, Frankie was in the middle of a kickboxing frenzy. I had to dive out of her way pretty sharpish otherwise I’d have had my teeth kicked out.

“Hey Buffy, slow down there! I’m not a vampire that needs slaying, you know!” I grinned, leaping on to her back. We’ve been best friends forever, me and Frankie. The Sleepover Club kind of came along later. It was at times like this that I felt like we were about four again!

“Ha-
ya
!” She flung me on to the ground. “How do I know that? Appearances can be deceptive!”

“Well I haven’t got pointy teeth for a start…”

“That’s a matter of opinion!” grinned Rosie.

“…and blood is definitely
not
my drink of choice!” I continued. “I much prefer Dr Pepper!”

“Aha! You mean you enjoy quaffing a medico’s vital juices!” Frankie hovered over me menacingly. “Interesting!”

“Hey Lyndz, Fliss, help me out, would you?” I called over to them. “Buffy here’s gone into overdrive!”

But neither Lyndz nor Fliss moved. They carried on leaning against the wall. We could tell just by looking at their faces that something was seriously wrong.

“Wassup?” Frankie, Rosie and I raced over to them.

Lyndz just shook her head and started to sob.

“It’s Lyndz’s mum,” Fliss told us quietly. “She went ballistic again last night, then started to cry and couldn’t stop. She said she didn’t know why she was so upset, she just felt miserable.”

“Is she OK today?” Rosie asked sympathetically.

“She said she was going to go and have a chat with a friend,” Fliss continued, not giving Lyndz the chance to reply. “I think that should make her feel better, don’t you?”

“Oh yeah!” Frankie nodded. “My gran always says, ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’. She’ll probably be feeling much better by tonight Lyndz, you’ll see.”

“I hope so,” Lyndz sniffed. She looked so miserable.

We all gave her a big hug, and for the rest of the day we made sure that we did whatever Lyndz wanted. If she was having a rough time at home, the least we could do was cheer her up at school.

I know that as the afternoon wore on, Lyndz started to feel pretty churned up at the thought of going home. But when we saw her mum at the school gates in their big van she smiled and waved at us like she always used to.

“Your mum does look a lot brighter.” Fliss gave Lyndz’s arm a little squeeze.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine now!” Frankie reassured her.

Lyndz gave us a little grin and ran to the van. As we waved her off, Rosie whispered:

“I hope she will be OK. I hate seeing her so down.”

I thought about Lyndz all the way home. And spookily, the first thing Mum said to me as I got through the door was:

“Have you got a minute, Laura? I want a word about Lyndz.”

“Crikey Mum, how long have you been able to read minds?” I asked her. Although actually that was a pretty silly question – Mum
always
seems to know when I’ve done something wrong.

Mum ignored me. “Lyndz’s mum came to see me today. I think things are getting a bit on top of her at the moment.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“Well,” Mum continued, “I’ve had a word with your father and he agrees with me. What Patsy needs is a complete rest – away from the house, away from the chores, away from Cuddington.”

Now if Dad suggested that, I knew it must be right. Dad’s a doctor and he always knows what he’s talking about. I’m going to be a doctor just like him when I’m older – after I’ve finished playing for Leicester City of course!

“Yeah, that sounds like a sensible diagnosis!” I agreed, stroking my chin in a serious doctor-type gesture.

“Well that’s good,” laughed Mum, “because I was thinking about asking Lyndz’s family to come up to Scotland with us for the week. Uncle Bob has plenty of rooms, and according to your dad he just loves having a house full of people. What do you think? I wanted to run it by you first before I phoned Patsy.”

“That’s a great idea!” I ran over to Mum and gave her one of my Kenny Specials (that’s when I hug someone so tightly they go red in the face and start gasping for air!).

“Phew! I’m glad you’re so pleased,” Mum spluttered, releasing herself from my grip. “I think it will do them all the world of good. I’ll go and phone Patsy now.”

As she was dialling the number, she added, “And it means that you’ll have a friend there too, seeing as Molly’s taking Carli.”

“She’s WHAT?” I screamed. “Since when?”

“Since last night when she asked me. Is there a problem? Oh, hello there, Patsy…”

A
problem
, she says! Not much! Molly the horrible Monster is bad enough on her own, but when she’s with her gruesome best mate Carli it’s Nightmare City!

Still, at least if I had Lyndz with me it would be two against two. And I was sure that with all our devious Sleepover tricks we could get the better of them!

Actually, just thinking that made me a bit sad. I wished ALL the Sleepover gang could come up to Scotland with us. I mean, I really really like Lyndz and everything, but it seemed a bit mean going away with just one of my friends. I felt guilty somehow, as though I’d sort of betrayed the others.

“Pull yourself together, McKenzie!” I told myself sternly. “The others won’t see it that way. They’ll just be glad that Lyndz is going to have a good holiday!”

Boy was I wrong about that!

The next morning when I got to school, Lyndz was as frisky as a new puppy. She was laughing and joking and larking about.

“What’s got into you?” Frankie was teasing her as I walked up to them. “Has someone put happy sugar in your Ready Brek or something?”

“Kenny! Kenny! I’m so glad you’ve arrived!” Lyndz rushed up to me and almost swung me off my feet. “I didn’t want to say anything until you were here too.”

The others looked at me questioningly.

“Isn’t it great?” Lyndz gushed. “Kenny’s mum rang last night to see if we’d all like to go up to Scotland with them at half-term. Isn’t that brill?”

“Fantastic!”

“Excellent!”

The others all started leaping about too. They were taking the news better than I’d expected.

“Where will we stay?” Rosie wondered.

“What kind of clothes will I have to bring?” Fliss demanded.

Whoa, girls!

“Erm, no, I think you’ve got it wrong,” I mumbled. “Mum asked Lyndz and
her family
.”

“Mrs McKenzie told Mum we’d be doing her a favour because she could do with some sensible adult company,” Lyndz explained quietly, suddenly aware that she’d just rammed her great size nines into her gob. “But Stuart and Tom aren’t coming,” she carried on, as if that made the slightest bit of difference. “Mum’s sister Lorraine is going to stay at our place to keep an eye on them.”

“Kenny?” Frankie stared at me. “Why didn’t you tell us about this?”

“I-I-I didn’t know until yesterday,” I stammered. “I didn’t really…”

My voice trailed off as I suddenly saw Lyndz looking very troubled.

“I’m really glad you’re coming, Lyndz,” I told her truthfully. “We’ll have a great time. IT’LL DO YOU GOOD!” I added meaningfully, looking at the others.

The whistle went for the start of school, and I’ve never been as glad to hear it in my life! I felt bad about the others, but I couldn’t help thinking that they were being a bit mean to poor old Lyndz.

During the morning when we had to split up into groups for project work, Fliss, Rosie and Frankie quickly huddled together, leaving Lyndz and me by ourselves. Even Mrs Weaver our teacher raised her eyes at that. And at breaktime, although they hung round with us they kept making catty remarks about how they were going to have the “best sleepover ever” during half-term.

“What a pity you two won’t be there to join in!” Fliss told me and Lyndz sarcastically. “But you obviously prefer each other’s company nowadays.”

By lunchtime Lyndz was a dithering wreck. We were all sitting on a bench when she announced:

“Look, I’m going to tell Mum that we can’t come away with you, Kenny. It’s my fault that we’ve all fallen out and I can’t bear it!”

Her chin started to tremble and her eyes filled with tears.

“Right then, are you satisfied now?” I turned on the others angrily. “Lyndz needs a holiday more than anyone. It just so happens that it’s going to be with me. If there was a way to invite you all up to Scotland I would, believe me. But Great Uncle Bob’s about ninety or something. I don’t think it would be very good for his health if we
all
descended on him, do you?”

The others shook their heads and looked suitably ashamed. They gave Lyndz an extra big hug.

“Sorry for being so mean,” Frankie told her. “You go and have fun – just not
too
much, OK?”

At least we were all friends again, which was the main thing. But my big speech back there had got me thinking. Why couldn’t we all go up to Scotland? Uncle Bob wasn’t
really
ninety, and Dad had already said that he had loads of rooms and loved having his house full of people. What could be better than having it full of my friends? I knew that Mum would be speaking to him that night to confirm the arrangements, so I’d have to ask her if the rest of the gang could come with us before she phoned.

All afternoon I rehearsed how I would ask her. The only problem was that as far as Mum was concerned, us Sleepover girls together meant only one thing – TROUBLE. And it was one thing coping with that in your own home, but quite another transporting it hundreds of miles up into the wilds of Scotland.

I decided to just grab the bull by the horns and ask Mum straight out as soon as I got home. But it was just my luck that she was tackling Dad’s paperwork. Now if there’s one thing I’ve learnt in my ten years on this planet, it is
never
to disturb Mum when she’s got her business-head on. The fall-out can be pretty spectacular – I still have the scars to prove it! And it was the worst luck ever that she had her business-head on all through dinner and all through the rest of the evening. In fact she only snapped out of it when the phone rang.

“Oh Uncle Bob!” she spoke crisply into the receiver. “I was just about to ring you.”

Drat, drat and double blooming drat covered in bogies. I was too late – there was no way that the rest of the Sleepover gang could come up to Scotland with us now!

Whilst Mum chatted to Great Uncle Bob, I sat on the stairs and put my head in my hands. I’d let my chums down big time. I know that they weren’t expecting to go to Scotland with us or anything, but I’d kind of got used to the idea in my head.

I’d never been to Great Uncle Bob’s house before, but I imagined it was like this enormous castle overlooking a lake. I figured that it would have about fifty bedrooms and they’d all have four-poster beds and jacuzzi baths just like the one Fliss has, only much bigger. I imagined the five of us swimming in the lake. Well, maybe Fliss wouldn’t actually swim in the lake, she’d just hover at the edge looking pretty…

“…Laura! Laura! For goodness sake, stop daydreaming! Uncle Bob wants a word with you!” Mum was holding out the receiver to me and looking very impatient.

What on earth could he want with me? I hadn’t been listening to Mum’s conversation at all, so I didn’t know what she’d told him about Lyndz and her family. Maybe he was going to explain to me why they couldn’t stay with us after all. I braced myself for the worst.

“Er, h-hello?” I stammered, taking the phone from Mum.

“Kenny! How are you?” a warm chuckly voice asked.

Now any adult who calls me Kenny instead of my stupid proper name is all right by me.

“Fine thanks!” I grinned.

“So I’m finally going to meet you
and
one of your friends – two for the price of one, eh?” he guffawed.

“Erm yes, thanks for letting Lyndz come too, Great Uncle Bob,” I said. “We really appreciate it.”

“The more the merrier. How are the rest of your Sleepover chums?” he asked.

Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather! How on earth did he know about
them?

“Erm, fine thanks,” I whispered. I was beginning to see why Mum thought the guy was a bit strange.