Sleepover Girls Go Karting (5 page)

“Oh, rats!” I groaned, as I shot across the finishing line in second place. I’d had a great drive and done well, but I needed to be first in the heat to qualify for a place in the final. I’d just missed out – and so had Rosie, who was in the same heat as me. She was just coming in, in fourth place.

“Bad luck, Kenny,” Rosie panted, as we took our helmets off. “You were so close!”

“I know,” I said gloomily.

“Never mind, at least we’ve got a good chance in the team competition tomorrow,” Rosie pointed out, as we went over to join
the others. “We’re all doing much better today.”

It was true. Fliss and Lyndz had gone in the heat before us, and Lyndz had come third and Fliss was actually second. Mind you, I could have sworn I saw Lyndz stroking her kart before the race started, and whispering things to it.

Snooty Stevens had gone through to the final, of course, and so had his mate Robin. Alana Banana had crashed out of her heat though, and had nearly taken half the other karts with her!

We only had one chance left to get into the final, and that was Frankie. But my heart sank when the drivers lined up in their karts, and I saw that she was in the same heat as Weedy Alex, Josh’s mate. Alex wasn’t quite such a good karter as Josh, but he wasn’t bad.

“Come on, Frankie!” I muttered, as the karts revved up, waiting for the flag. It would give us all a boost for the team race tomorrow if one of us got through to the final today.

The race began, and the karts shot away. Frankie didn’t get a very good start, so she was only in fourth place as they all completed the first lap. Weedy Alex was first. It was the same for the next three laps. But by the fifth lap, Frankie suddenly began to move up a bit. The driver in front of her didn’t take one of the sharp bends very well, and Frankie swept round the side of him, and moved up into third place.

We all cheered and clapped and did loads of high fives. In fact we were so busy doing high fives that we almost missed Frankie moving up into
second
place! She’d put her foot down on the accelerator, and somehow managed to get round the kart right in front of her. Now, on the tenth lap, she was gaining fast on Alex.

“She’s going to catch him!” Rosie squealed, grabbing Lyndz round the neck and nearly choking her.

“Come on, Frankie!” Fliss yelled, jumping up and down like a mad thing.

“OW!” That was me. Fliss had just stepped on my toe. “Go, Frankie!”

We all started chanting “Go, Frankie! Go, Frankie! Go, Frankie!” at the top of our voices. There were only two laps to go now, and Alex and Frankie were almost neck and neck. Then Frankie managed to pull level.

“There’s only one lap to go!” Lyndz shrieked.

“Don’t let him get past you, Frankie,” Fliss wailed.

“I can’t watch!” I groaned, and buried my head in my hands. ’Course, I went and missed the most exciting bit, didn’t I?

“SHE’S OVERTAKEN HIM!” Rosie shouted in my ear. “Look!”

I couldn’t believe it. I looked up just in time to see Frankie roar across the finishing line with Alex right behind her. She’d won her heat, and at last we had a Sleepover in the final!

We all went completely crazy. We were hugging each other and slapping each other on the back and jumping up and down, and when Frankie got out of her kart and ran over to us, we started doing it all over again.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Frankie protested, as we all tried to hug her at once. “It was only
the heat. I’ve still got to race in the final!”

“Yeah, but you
won
,” Rosie pointed out breathlessly. “You might win the final too!”

Frankie grinned. “Well, I’ll have a good try anyway.”

I glanced across at Josh Stevens. He looked absolutely furious, and he was giving poor old weedy Alex a good telling-off.

“That really wound Bighead Stevens up,” I said with satisfaction. “You can beat him, Frankie, I know you can.”

Josh happened to look over at us right at that moment, so we all waved smugly.

“Looks like some girls
are
better at karting than some boys!” I called pointedly.

“Huh! That was just beginner’s luck!” Josh snorted. He glared at Frankie. “You don’t stand a chance of winning the final.”

“We’ll see,” Frankie said coolly. She didn’t look nervous at all. What a star!

That was the last heat, so we didn’t have to wait very long before the karts that were in the final were flashed up on the display screen. We all gathered round Frankie to wish her good luck.

“Now watch that bend at the far end of the track,” I instructed her. “It can be really tricky.”

“And remember, don’t look over your shoulder, even if you think someone’s about to overtake you,” Rosie chimed in anxiously.

Fliss added her bit. “Don’t forget not to brake when you go round the corners.”

“And don’t be nervous,” Lyndz said kindly.

“I wasn’t before,” Frankie replied, picking up her helmet. “But I am now!”

We all slapped palms, and then Frankie went over to her kart. I couldn’t sit still as we waited for the race to start. I was jumping around like I had ants in my pants – I wanted her to win
sooo
badly and show Josh Stevens just how stupid he was!

The commentator’s voice boomed out of the loudspeaker above our heads. “And the karts are all lined up ready for today’s final. I wonder who’s going to win?”

“FRANKIE!” the four of us yelled. Everyone looked at us, but we didn’t care.

We were all nearly wetting ourselves when the marshall lifted the flag to start the race.

Fliss was hanging on to my arm, and I was holding on to Lyndz’s hand, and Rosie was leaning on Lyndz’s shoulder. If one of us had tried to move suddenly, we’d
all
have fallen over!

There was a roar of engines as the flag fell, and the karts took off from the starting grid like rockets. We all strained our eyes impatiently to see where Frankie was, and there she was – in front!

“She’s beating Josh!” Fliss squealed, looking as if she was about to faint with excitement.

“Calm down, Fliss!” I yelled, even though my own heart was pounding with adrenalin. “There’s fourteen laps to go yet!”

“Look at Josh,” Rosie said gleefully. “He can’t
stand
being behind Frankie!”

She was right. The black and gold kart was on Frankie’s tail, and was constantly twisting and weaving, trying to find a way through. But Frankie wasn’t letting him. The question was, how long could she hold out?

We soon found out. As they raced towards a hairpin bend, Snooty Stevens made his
move. He pulled up alongside Frankie, and, as he did so, he gave her kart a little nudge with his own.

“Did you see that?” I yelled furiously. “He bumped Frankie out of the way! That was a definite foul, ref!”

“Kenny, this isn’t a game of footie,” Lyndz pointed out.

“I think we should complain!” Fliss muttered, her face red. “Mike said we shouldn’t bump into anyone on purpose – it’s against the rules.”

Our hearts sank right down into our shoes as we watched Josh overtake Frankie on the inside and zoom off into the lead. He waved as he went round her – probably pretending he was apologising, but we all knew he’d done it on purpose.

“Yeah, but Mike also said that sometimes you can’t
help
bumping into people,” Rosie pointed out. “Smelly Stevens would only say it was an accident.”

“And he didn’t get a black flag, so he’s got away with it,” I said, clenching my fists. “Come
on
, Frankie!”

We all fixed our eyes on Frankie’s kart, willing her on. If the whole building had collapsed right at that minute, we wouldn’t even have noticed!

“She’s catching him up!” Fliss shouted suddenly.

Frankie was now right behind Josh Stevens. She was so close their karts were almost touching.

And then it happened.

Suddenly Frankie’s kart smashed right into the back of Josh’s. Both karts locked together, spun out of control and ended up crashing into the side barriers with a loud BANG!

We all stared with our mouths open for a good few seconds. We just couldn’t
believe
it. A couple of the race marshalls had to rush on and pull the karts apart because they were stuck together, and Frankie and Josh Stevens had to leave the track. They were both out of the race.

“What happened?” I asked the others urgently. “It looked like Frankie smashed into Josh on purpose!”

The others were looking as sick as I felt.

“I know,” Fliss groaned. “And Frankie
knows
that bumping isn’t allowed!”

Frankie and Josh Stevens were standing by the side of the track yelling at each other. We couldn’t hear what they were saying, but, from the way they were both waving their arms around, it wasn’t nice. We rushed over to them, but before we got there, Josh had stomped off in a complete fury.

“Frankie, are you OK?” Lyndz asked.

“I’m fine,” Frankie muttered, although she was as white as a sheet. “Sorry, guys. I really messed up out there.”

“Never mind,” I said quickly, “As long as you’re OK…”

“What happened?” Fliss asked. “Didn’t you remember that bumping someone else’s kart isn’t allowed?”

Frankie looked a bit sheepish. “Yeah, I did… But Josh’d just done it to me, so I thought I’d get him back.”

“Get him back!” Rosie said. “You nearly blasted him off the track!”

“Yeah, I don’t know how that happened,”
Frankie frowned. “I only meant to give him a little tap. Then next minute – kaboom!”

Just then one of the race marshalls came over to Frankie. “Mike wants to have a word with you,” he said.

Frankie groaned. “I bet I’m going to get a right telling-off!” she muttered in my ear.

“Oh, well.” I turned to the others and tried to look on the bright side. “At least now we know we’ve got a great chance in the team races tomorrow, what with Frankie doing so well
before
the crash.”

“Yeah, she’s our star driver,” Lyndz agreed.

“But we’re all doing pretty OK,” Fliss chimed in.

“Even me!” Rosie added.

Frankie came back over to us. Her face was as long as the wettest weekend ever.

“What’s up?” I asked with a frown.

“Josh has complained about my driving,” Frankie told us gloomily. “I’ve been banned from taking part in the team races tomorrow…”

“
WHAT!
” we all shrieked.

“Josh made a right fuss about me being a dangerous driver,” Frankie went on. “I tried to tell them I didn’t mean to bump him so hard, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“This just isn’t
fair
!” I raged. I glanced over at Josh Stevens, who was standing chatting to his pathetic mates. He looked well pleased with himself, and when he saw me staring, he gave me a smug grin. “I’m finally going to tell that little toad exactly what I think of him!”

“Hold on, Kenny.” Frankie grabbed my arm. “If you go and thump Josh, you’ll get
banned as well!”

“Yeah, Kenny, and we’re already one team member down,” Rosie pointed out.

I stopped and thought about that. Apart from the fact that Frankie was our best driver, you had to have five people to take part, and now we only had four.

“Maybe we should just drop out of tomorrow’s race,” Lyndz suggested. “It won’t be half such a good laugh without Frankie anyway.”

“Yeah, Lyndz is right,” Fliss agreed gloomily.

But Frankie was shaking her head. “I don’t want you guys to lose out,” she said bravely. “If you can find someone else to take my place, you should just go for it.”

Just then Charlie came running over to us.

“I just heard about what happened from one of the race marshalls,” she said breathlessly. “Bad luck, Frankie. I’m really sorry.”

“I didn’t mean to bump Josh that hard,” Frankie said in a wobbly voice. “I just don’t know how it happened.”

Charlie frowned. “Well, Josh probably guessed what you were going to do, and put
his brakes on slightly, right at the last second. That would mean you’d hit him a lot harder than you thought you would.”

“I bet he did that on purpose so he could complain, and get Frankie banned from tomorrow’s race!” I said furiously.

“Yeah, and Mike’s just given in to Josh because Dad owns the track,” Charlie added angrily. “They wouldn’t have done it for anyone else.”

“What shall we do, Charlie?” Fliss asked anxiously.

“I’ll have a go at Josh and see if I can get him to withdraw his complaint,” Charlie replied. “But don’t hold your breath.”

“Couldn’t your dad do something?” Lyndz asked hopefully.

“He could, but he’s just gone to Hong Kong on business,” Charlie sighed. “He won’t be back till next week.”

“Hey, wait a minute!” I yelled. I had a brill idea. “Charlie, couldn’t
you
be in our team instead of Frankie?”

“That’s a great idea!” Frankie agreed, looking a lot more cheerful, and the others
nodded. It looked like our problem was solved!

But Charlie still looked glum.

“Sorry, folks, I’m too old to race on the junior track,” she replied. “But I’ll ask around, and see if I can find you someone else. Look, come along tomorrow anyway.” She slapped Frankie on the back. “I might be able to persuade Josh to change his mind.”

“Yeah, and pigs might fly!” I muttered, as Charlie went off. “What are we going to do now?”

“If you need a driver, I could be in your team tomorrow,” said this dozy voice behind us.

We all turned round. Alana Banana was standing there. She must have overheard everything we were saying.

“What?” I spluttered.

“I haven’t got a team to race with tomorrow,” Alana said helpfully. “I could take Frankie’s place.”

“Aren’t you racing with your brother?” Rosie asked.

“Kevin doesn’t want me in his team.” Alana looked puzzled. “I don’t know why.”

“I can take a guess!” I muttered to Fliss.

“Well?” Alana Banana looked at us eagerly. “Am I in or what?”

“Over my dead body—” I began, but I shut up when Lyndz nudged me in the ribs.

“Er – we’ll let you know, Alana,” Fliss said quickly.

Alana Banana nodded, and wandered off, bumping right into one of the other drivers and nearly knocking him over.

I groaned. “She can hardly drive
herself
in a straight line, let along a kart!”

“But if we can’t get anyone else…” Fliss didn’t finish the sentence.

She was right. Either we got Frankie back into the team, or we had to go with whoever else might be free to take part when we arrived at the track tomorrow. And that just might mean dopey Alana Banana Palmer…

“Well, what about Callum?” Fliss said, for the sixth time. “He might be OK.”

“He’s a bit young,” I said doubtfully. “And he’s a bit – well, you know…”

“A bit what?” Fliss’s eyes started flashing
dangerously. I’d been about to say that Fliss’s brother was a bit weedy – even weedier than Alex and Robin, in fact – but I decided not to. We were all feeling stressed out, and I didn’t want to start a row with Fliss.

It was quite late at night, and we were round at Lyndz’s house for our sleepover. We were supposed to be having a great old time, making our T-shirts and discussing race tactics, but instead we were sitting around in Lyndz’s bedroom being miserable. We’d started off being really positive. We’d even started painting our T-shirts with fabric paint. We’d done silver stars round the necklines, and a big purple heart in the middle. Then we were going to write
Sleepover Club Forever!
underneath in silver paint – until Fliss pointed out that whoever took Frankie’s place wouldn’t be a Sleepover Club member. That had depressed us in a major way, so we’d left the T-shirts half-finished.

“I was just going to say that Callum’s a bit inexperienced,” I said, crawling over Lyndz’s bed to grab a Wispa bar. We were having our midnight feast and we were all starving
because we’d been too depressed to eat much dinner. “You said he’s never karted before.”

“Yeah, but at the moment he’s our only hope,” Fliss pointed out.

She was right. Callum was the only one of our brothers and sisters who was under eleven, but old enough to take part.

“Maybe Charlie can persuade Josh to let Frankie race,” Lyndz said hopefully. She had her black kitten, Zebedee, on her lap and he was purring away like an engine.

“No way,” I said. “Josh knows we’ve got a great chance of winning the team race with Frankie. Without her, we’re dead.”

“No, you’re not,” Frankie butted in. She was lying on the floor, eating a Snickers bar. “You might turn up at the track tomorrow and find someone really brilliant to be in the team.”

“Like who?” I snorted. “Anyone who’s any good will be in a team already. No, we’re more likely to end up with someone who’s never raced before, or a complete dork.”

“Like Alana Banana,” Rosie muttered.

“We might as well not bother entering the race if we have to go with Alana Banana,” I

said firmly. “I’d rather let Zebedee drive for us!”

“Maybe we just shouldn’t bother turning up tomorrow,” Fliss suggested.

“That might be the best thing,” I agreed. I couldn’t
bear
to think of Josh Stevens being all smug because he’d beaten us.

“But what if Charlie’s found someone else to be in our team?” Lyndz pointed out.

We all sighed. We just couldn’t make our minds up.

“I think we should vote on it,” Frankie suggested. “Let’s write down what we think in our diaries.”

So we all grabbed our Sleepover diaries and got writing. Then we passed them round and read each other’s. Lyndz’s was covered in cat hairs, and read:

I think we should go to the track tomorrow just in case Charlie’s persuaded Josh to change his mind, And if she hasn’t, we’re sure to find someone else to be in our team. It won’t be the same as having Frankie, though
.

Mine said:

If Frankie’s not in our team, I can’t see much point in taking part. I mean, we’re supposed to be the Sleepover Club team. But if everyone else wants to go, I will.

Fliss’s said:

I think we should definitely ask Callum. But if he’s rubbish, then I’ll get the blame. Maybe we shouldn’t go at all. Oh, I don’t know… Help!

Rosie’s was:

I think we should go to the track tomorrow and find another driver. Charlie can help us to get someone good, not dopey Alana Banana.

And Frankie wrote:

I’d feel really bad if everyone pulled out of the race because of me. I think you should give it a go.

So it was three votes to two. We were going to take part in that team race, with or without Frankie.

“Looks like we’re gonna be back at the track tomorrow then, folks,” I said slowly.

The others all looked at me solemnly and nodded.

“Let’s just hope we find someone good to take Frankie’s place…”