Narinder Dhami - Mega Sleepover 4

“Dunno. Something,” I shrugged.

“If you decide you don’t want it, I’ll have it,” she said, and slammed the door behind her as she went out.

That settled it. If Molly thought that the tubing was worth having, then I was going to keep it for Fliss’s present.

I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it though. I had some glitter left from the card I’d made for my Artist’s Badge. I held the tubing so there was only a short length, and poured some glitter into it. It looked brilliant, even if I say so myself. It was exactly the kind of thing that Fliss loves. So that’s when I decided to make her some glittery bracelets for her present.

When I had finished, I was well pleased with my efforts. Even Fliss should be kind of impressed. And no way would she ever suspect me of making the bracelets.

So then there was a long boring week until the Friday when we all met up again at Lyndz’s for the great birthday cake bake. And what an event that turned out to be.

If I’m honest, I wasn’t looking forward to the cooking party at Lyndz’s. I enjoy being with the others and everything. And Lyndz’s mum is great. It’s just cooking ! You know what I’m saying?

Frankie had organised which cake ingredients we should each take to Lyndz’s. I had the huge responsibility of providing the flour.

“You do know that it’s self-raising flour we need, don’t you Kenny?” Frankie asked over the phone.

“You mean it can lift itself off the shelf, all by itself?” I asked really innocently.

“You are joking, right?” she asked.

“Of course I am, dummy!” I laughed. “I may not be into baking, but I think I know what kind of flour we need for a cake!”

So, on Friday afternoon, I arrived at Lyndz’s armed with a bag of flour. I thought that at least if things got really bad, I could make flour bombs with it. Although I don’t think Lyndz’s mum would have been too thrilled about that.

I was the last to arrive. The others were already in the kitchen with their hair tied back and their pinnies on. Aw, sweet!

“Here she is! Our vital ingredient!” laughed Lyndz’s mum when she saw me.

“That’s me!” I said. “You can’t do anything without Laura McKenzie!”

I put the bag of flour down on the work surface next to the butter, the sugar, the icing sugar and the eggs.

“Have you got an apron?” Lyndz’s mum asked me. The others spluttered with laughter.

“Kenny? Wearing an apron? You must be joking!”

“I hope you don’t spoil your football shirt,” said Lyndz’s mum seriously.

“How can she spoil it when it already looks like an old dishcloth?” asked Frankie. I strutted around the kitchen as though I was modelling an expensive ball-gown in a fashion show.

Then the others went into Delia Smith mode. (I’m not going to bore you with all the details. Baking a cake isn’t the most exciting thing in the world. I’ll just give you ‘Kenny’s edited highlights’ of the afternoon, which is all you really need to know.)

After the others had weighed out the butter and sugar and put them into a bowl, Lyndz asked her mum if we could use the electric whisk.

“Yes, but be careful. Are your hands dry?” She felt all our hands. “OK. Turn it on at the mains, then turn the whisk on gently to start with and keep the beaters in the bowl. Whilst one of you does that, someone else can be breaking those two eggs into a bowl. Careful not to let any shells in. When you’ve done that give them a good whizz together with a fork. Now that’s you lot sorted, you haven’t seen Spike anywhere have you?”

Spike is Lyndz’s baby brother. I think even I would have noticed if a baby had been crawling around the kitchen floor.

“Let me have a go! Please can I use the whisk?” begged Fliss.

“What are you like Fliss?” asked Frankie. “Is using an electric whisk the biggest thrill of your life?”

Fliss does tend to get a bit excited about weird stuff like whisks!

“This is cool!” she laughed.

Lyndz’s mum disappeared again on the track of Spike. It’s usually quite easy to find him: you just follow the trail of biscuit crumbs.

I was getting a bit bored. Fliss looked very serious. The temptation was too much. I sneaked up behind her and, yelling “Gotcha!”, I tickled her under the arms. Fliss jumped a mile and forgot that she was holding the whisk. She lifted it out of the bowl and mixture flew everywhere.

“Turn it off!” yelled Frankie, who almost dropped the bowl of eggs she was beating.

“I can’t!” shouted Fliss who seemed to have completely lost control.

The whisk suddenly stopped whizzing. Lyndz had turned it off at the mains.

“You stupid idiot!” yelled Fliss, turning on me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

We looked round the kitchen. Everything was covered in tiny splatters of creamed sugar and butter.

“We ought to try and clean some of this up before your mum comes back,” said Frankie. She grabbed a dishcloth and started to wipe up the worst of the mess. The rest of us grabbed kitchen roll and started to do the same. I couldn’t help grinning to myself: an electric whisk was a pretty cool weapon.

By the time Lyndz’s mum reappeared, the worst of the mess was gone and the others were dropping tiny bits of egg into the mixture and giving it a good stir. Yawn, yawn, how boring!

Next we sieved the flour. I hadn’t helped with the baking at all so Frankie made me hold the sieve. She said that even I couldn’t get that wrong. And it really wasn’t my fault when I covered everyone in flour. It was Spike’s! He charged right into me and the sieve flew out of my hand. It was like a snowstorm! Fortunately Lyndz’s mum knew it wasn’t my fault.

But that didn’t stop the others from having a go at me – especially Fliss. Her hair was covered in flour. She looked like someone’s granny!

“If you’re not doing anything Kenny,” said Frankie, “you might as well make a start on the washing-up!” Charming!

“Right sir!” I shouted like a soldier and saluted to her. Frankie grinned.

I was up to my elbows in dirty dishes and bubbles when Lyndz’s brother Ben appeared. I didn’t see him dropping pieces of Lego into the cake mixture. I didn’t see him trying to feed it to Buster, the dog. But I did feel it on the back of my neck when he threw a handful at me.

“Oi! What are you doing you horror?” I shouted.

The others were already yelling and fishing the Lego out of the cake. They were not happy bunnies.

“Go to Mum!” Lyndz shouted. Even she can lose her cool sometimes.

The last thing we had to do was pour the mixture into the two tins. That was not as easy as it sounds, but we managed it in the end. And Buster ate all the dollops that fell onto the floor, so they didn’t really matter.

“Mum! We’re ready to put them into the oven now!” yelled Lyndz. She’s another who could be a sergeant major!

Stuart appeared.

“Mum says I’ve to put them into the oven for you,” he said. He stuck his finger into one of the tins. “Hmm. Not bad!”

“Aw Stuart!” moaned Lyndz. “We took ages smoothing the top of that. Now we’ll have to do it again.”

“Well hurry up,” grumbled her brother. “I’ve got to leave for the farm in a minute.”

“Be careful they don’t mistake you for one of the pigs, won’t you!” laughed Lyndz.

“Ha, ha!” said Stuart. “Do you want these in the oven or not?” He took the tins from Lyndz and put them on the middle shelf in the oven.