Sue Mongredien - Sleepover Girls on the Catwalk

When Mum gets that cross note in her voice, you kind of do what she says, and fast – unless you enjoy serious amounts of getting told off, that is.

We pelted back upstairs and put our Brownie uniforms on again.

“Typical of that nerd to interrupt,” I grumbled, fastening my belt. “I was enjoying that.”

“Yeah, we could tell,” Frankie said.

“I wouldn’t mind being a model,” I told them. “It must be brilliant, having everyone make a fuss of you all day, and wearing lots of gorgeous, expensive clothes in the fashion-shoots.”

“I can’t think of anything more dull,” Kenny said in a muffled voice, as she pulled her Brownie dress over her head.

“It’d be OK having lots of wicked make-up on, and having hair stylists doing loads of mad things with your hair, I suppose,” Frankie said thoughtfully.

“Wedding dresses would be good…” I said.

“What, with Ryan Scott modelling the groom’s outfit?” Rosie said, elbowing me in the ribs. “I get it!”

The others started making kissy noises and saying “Oh, Ryyyan !” in silly voices, and I felt myself going a bit red.

“Well, he is good-looking enough to be a model,” I protested. I mean, he really is!!

“Oooh, Fliss, got it all planned, have you?” Lyndz said, giggling.

“Here comes the bride, all fat and wide!” Kenny sang. Well, I say “sang” but Kenny’s got one of the worst singing voices I’ve ever heard.

“I am not all fat and wide!” I said crossly, sticking my tongue out at her. “I’m the perfect size for my age, the doctor told my mum, so there!”

“Ooh, get you!” Frankie said. “Ooh, I so wish I could be as perfect as Fliss!”

“Girls! Time to go!” Andy shouted up the stairs. Just as well – I was getting a bit sick of this conversation.

“Go on, model, lead the way,” Rosie said.

“Go for it, gorgeous,” Frankie added.

I ignored them, and swished out of the room, nose in the air. Still… it had got me thinking.

It had got me thinking that suddenly I really reeeeally wanted to be a model!

I like Brownies. I even like the uniform, even though brown’s my worst colour by miles. We always have good fun, and it’s brilliant getting badges. Kenny gets all the sporty ones, and Frankie and Rosie like the arty-farty ones, but I prefer getting the badges where you have to use your brain a bit more, like Safety in the Home, which is very useful. I think it’s sensible to know about things like that. I’ve got more badges than anyone in my Six, actually.

This week, I was wondering what we were going to do next. Our whole pack had just gone for the First Aid badge, and we’d all passed it the week before. It was good, apart from when they talked about blood and things like that, which made me feel a bit sick. Surprise, surprise, that was gore-monster Kenny’s favourite bit…

Anyway, like I was saying, I was kind of wondering what Brown Owl was going to get us doing next. Usually we do lots of things in our Sixes or play games, all together. But there’s always something that the pack work on as a group – often a badge we’re all doing, or our Brownie Highway stuff.

Brown Owl had us sitting in a ring as usual, and we all paid our subs into the toadstool in the middle, and said the Brownie promise. Then Brown Owl stood up in the middle and looked serious.

“Tonight, I want us to think about holidays,” she said. “Obviously you’re all off school at the moment for the summer holidays, and some of the luckier Brownies may be going away on holiday soon, or have already been. What does holiday time mean to you?”

“Going abroad and getting a good tan!” I said straightaway. I only meant to mutter it to myself because I’m not normally the sort to speak up in front of the whole Brownie pack like that. Frankie and Kenny are usually much louder than me, but because I’d been thinking about it, it just kind of burst out of me, louder than I meant it to.

“Thank you, Felicity. Hands up, please,” Brown Owl said. “Rosie?”

“No school!”

Everyone started shouting things out.

“Going to the beach!”

“Going to see my cousins!”

“Going to Disneyworld in Florida!” Emma Hughes yelled out, just so everyone could hear. Such a show-off.

“Staying up late!”

“Good, good,” said Brown Owl. “So we all enjoy holidays, don’t we?”

“Yeeeah!” everyone shouted.

“Right,” Brown Owl said. “Well, now I want us to think about the people who aren’t as lucky as you lot – who can’t go abroad, or to the beach – who might not have any family to go with, even if they could.”

We’d all gone quiet, wondering what was coming next.

“I’m talking about the old people’s home in town,” Brown Owl told us. “Some of the people there never get to leave Cuddington. They’re old, and some of them get very lonely. I want you to think about how it must feel to be an old lady, living in a home like that.”

GRIM!!! I couldn’t help shuddering as Brown Owl said that. What an awful thought! Being wrinkly and ancient and stuck inside all the time. I couldn’t think of anything more depressing.

“That’s why I’ve decided that our Brownie pack is going to give them a bit of a treat,” Brown Owl said with a big smile. “We’re going to put on a show for them at the end of this month – and you Brownies are going to decide just what sort of a show we’re going to do!”

“How about working out some dance routines?” Emily suggested loudly. Just because she reckoned she was an ace dancer. Ugh, no thanks – who’d want to be bossed around by one of the Gruesome Twosome? Not likely!

“Magic tricks!” Frankie shouted, trying to drown her out.

“ A fashion show! ” I blurted out. It was a brilliant idea, I knew it!!! And I could be the star model!!

“A gymnastics display!” Kenny shouted out straight afterwards. I should have known she wouldn’t be keen on my idea!

It was getting a bit chaotic – everyone was shouting things out at once. In the end, Brown Owl blew on her whistle – screeeee! – and the hall fell silent.

“Thank you!” she said. “Well, I’m glad you’ve got lots of ideas between you – that’s an excellent start. It’s probably best if we put on a few different acts – rather like a talent show. So, first things first, let’s sort out which Six is going to do what.”

“We’re doing a fashion show,” I told my Six. After all, I was a Sixer so I was the boss.

“That’s not fair,” Kelly Morgan, my Seconder said. “Me and Jacinta play recorder – we want to do a song, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” said Jacinta.

“Well… well, you can’t,” I said. Now I had my sights set on a fashion show, I was desperate to do it.

“Why not?” Kelly answered.

“Because… because I said so!” I told them, feeling my face go a bit hot. I don’t like arguments, but couldn’t bear the thought of losing my fashion show.

All round the hall, similar conversations were going on. Not one Six could decide what to do without having a row over it.