Narinder Dhami - Vive le Sleepover Club!

Lyndz looked a bit worried. “Why? How much is that?”

“About five pounds!” Frankie said with a grin.

“OK, ten francs then!” Lyndz said firmly.

Well, that made it a bit more interesting!

We all started looking at the roadsigns then, checking how many more kilometres it was to Paris. As we got closer and closer, we were all straining our eyes to get that first important look at the Eiffel Tower.

“There it is!” shouted Fliss, Lyndz and Kenny together as suddenly the Tower appeared in the distance!

Paris looked amazing. We couldn’t stop yelling and pointing out things to each other.

“Look!” Fliss squealed. “Look at all the shops! Look at all the designer labels!”

“There’s the Eiffel Tower again!” Kenny yelled, bouncing up and down in a frenzy.

“Where?” we all yelled back.

“There’s the River What-do-you-call-it!” I pointed out.

“The River Seine, actually!” Emma put in snootily, but we ignored her.

By the time we got to the hotel where we were staying, we were all well excited. Mrs Weaver was shooting everyone some pretty fierce glares as we drew up outside the hotel, and Mr Tate, who was driving the minibus,looked a bit of a nervous wreck. The traffic in Paris was pretty awesome!

“Right, our hotel should be just down here,” Mrs Weaver said.

We peered down the narrow side-street -and then we all did a double-take, including the teachers. The hotel was a tall, scary-looking old house with big high windows, and a massive wooden door. It looked like something out of The Addams Family.

“Is that it?” Fliss gasped. “It looks horrible!”

“Maybe it’s ha-au-au-au-aunted!” Kenny grinned and winked at the rest of us.

“I’m sure it’s very nice,” said Mrs Weaver firmly as the minibus drew to a halt. “No, stay where you are, please! I’m going to tell the owner, Madame Dupont, that we have arrived.”

“I wish we were staying somewhere else,” Fliss shivered as Mrs Weaver climbed off the coach. You know what Fliss is like about scary, spooky places and stuff!

“Nah, it’ll be good!” Kenny assured her.“I bet there’s some old attics right at the top of the house – we might find a brilliant place to have a big sleepover party!”

Fliss groaned, and Lyndz wasn’t looking too thrilled either. Neither was I, actually. The house really did look spooky.

Just then, a woman in a maid’s uniform came outside to put a bag of rubbish in the bin. Frankie giggled.

“Check her out!”

The maid looked like one of the Addams Family! She was tall and bony, with a grim face and bushy black eyebrows. She saw us all sitting on the minibus, but she didn’t smile. She just dropped the rubbish in the bin, and stomped back inside.

“I don’t like it here!” Fliss whispered, looking even more panicked. Right at that moment, though, Mrs Weaver came out again.

“Stay where you are until I call your names, please.” She consulted her clipboard. “Laura, Frankie, Felicity, Lyndsey and Rosie, you get off first, please.” Grinning smugly at the M&Ms, we picked up our bags and rushed off the minibus.

“You’re in a room together on the top floor,” Mrs Weaver went on, and we all glanced at each other in delight. Being in a room together would make it really easy to have a brilliant sleepover! Only Fliss didn’t look too thrilled.

“The top floor?” she said in a wobbly voice. “We’re not in an old and dusty attic, are we?”

Mrs Weaver frowned. “Of course not, Felicity! Now here’s Pascal, who’s the son of the owner…”

A boy with dark hair came out of the hotel entrance. He was about a year or so older than us, and quite good-looking, I suppose -if you like boys!

“He’s going to show you the way to your room.”

“Oh, right!” said Fliss, brightening up a bit. She pretends she doesn’t like boys that much, but she’s not a very good fibber!

“Bonjour” said Pascal.

“Bonjour,” we all chorused. That was about all the French we knew!

“At least he looks normal!” Kenny remarked as we followed him into the big hotel lobby. “Not like that scary maid with the caterpillar eyebrows!”

“Ssh!” Lyndz nudged her. “He might understand what you’re saying!”

“Oh, I bet he doesn’t speak English.” Kenny winked at us, then turned to Pascal. “Do you speak English?”

Pascal shrugged. “Je ne comprends pas.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“You know English?” Kenny repeated, waving her hands around.

Pascal shook his head.

“He doesn’t!” Kenny said triumphantly. “Maybe we should teach him some. Hey, Pascal! Say ‘Leicester City are the best football team in the whole world’!”

Pascal grinned. “Leicester Ceety…” he began, then he stopped and looked puzzled.

“That’s too hard for him, Kenny!” Frankie said impatiently. “Hey, Pascal, say ‘Emma Hughes stinks’!”

“Emma Yoos steenks,” said Pascal obediently, and we all roared with laughter.

The hotel was OK inside. At least it wasn’t too much like a haunted house! All the furniture and the wallpaper was really old-fashioned, but it was very clean. Fliss cheered up a bit, but her face soon fell again as Pascal led us up three dark, gloomy flights of stairs to our bedroom.

The bedroom was quite nice. It had a double bed and three singles, all crammed in together. There were flowery quilts on the bed, and matching curtains at the window, which gave us a brilliant view over the rooftops of Paris. We could even see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

“Who’s sharing?” Kenny asked, bouncing up and down on the double bed.

“I’m not sleeping with Lyndz – she hiccups in the night!” said Fliss immediately.

“I’m not sleeping with Kenny – she’s got freezing feet!” I put in.

“I’m not sleeping with Fliss – she snores!” Frankie said. “Sometimes,” she added, as Fliss gave her a furious look.

“I’ll share with Lyndz,” Kenny suggested. “Then if she hiccups in the night, I can put my cold feet on her and give her a shock!”

We all agreed, so Frankie, Fliss and I bagged one each of the single beds.

“Hey, Pascal!” Frankie called. “Say this –‘I’ve got a big spot on my bottom’!”

“I’ve got a beeg spot on my bottom!” Pascal repeated, looking very pleased with himself. We all tried not to laugh too hard in case he caught on.

“‘Bye!” Kenny called as he went out. “Be careful how you sit down!”

We all fell about when the door closed.

“I think we’re going to have some fun with Pascal!” Frankie spluttered.

Just then the door opened again and we all sat up. The scary maid stomped in, carrying two of our suitcases as if they were as light as a feather. She looked sourly at us, dropped the cases on the floor and went out again.

“Well, she’s a right laugh, isn’t she!” said Lyndz.

“She’s spooky!” Fliss said with a shiver.

“Yeah, maybe she’s really a zombie!” Kenny suggested eagerly. “Maybe she’ll creep into our room at night and—”

“Kenny!” Fliss wailed. “Is there a lock on the door?”

We all rushed over to have a look. But then we noticed something else. Just past our door, there was another long, dusty, winding staircase, which went up right over our heads and then wound out of sight.

“Wow!” Kenny breathed. “That must go right up to the attic. Let’s go and take a look!”

Fliss didn’t look too happy, and I wasn’t that keen myself. Meanwhile Lyndz was looking at a sign on the wall.

“Entrée interdite au public” she read. “What does that mean?”