Narinder Dhami - The Sleepover Club Sleep Out

“Awesome! The Armfield Museum!” Frankie said, just a bit sarcastically. “I’m s-o-o-o glad we’re not going to Alton Towers or some other boring old theme park where we might have some fun.”

“Oh, me too!” I joined in. “Who wants to go on a pathetic log flume when they could be looking at a load of broken old pots?”

Rosie was looking a bit blank.

“What’s the Armfield Museum?” she asked. Rosie’s fitted in so well into the Sleepover Club, that we keep forgetting she hasn’t been here that long.

“Funnily enough, it’s a museum,” I grinned.

“It’s OK, really,” said Lyndz. “It’s got loads of spooky stuff like Egyptian mummies.”

“Yeah, but when you’ve seen one mummy, you’ve seen them all,” said Fliss gloomily, and she looked so depressed, the rest of us started to giggle.

“When you’ve quite finished,” said Mrs Weaver, glaring round at everyone. The whole class shut up and looked at her again.

“This trip to the museum will be very different from other visits,” Mrs Weaver went on. “We’ll be having a guided tour, and workshop activities, but we will also be taking sleeping bags and sleeping overnight in the museum galleries.”

Well, that did it. The whole class went bananas, including the Sleepover Club.

“Awesome!” Frankie said again, but this time she meant it. “A sleepover in a museum!”

“The Sleepover Club sleeps out!” Lyndz said. “Excellent!”

“D’you think they’ll let us sleep in the room with the Egyptian mummies in it?” I asked eagerly. Then I clocked Fliss, who was looking a bit pea-green. “What’s biting you, Flissy?”

Fliss was looking as if she was going to be sick.

“I don’t think I want to sleep over in a museum,” she mumbled. “It’ll be scary.”

“You bet it will,” I said. “That’s why it’ll be excellent.”

Fliss looked even more spooked, and Frankie stuck her elbow in my ribs.

“Ow! What I mean is, it won’t be scary, Fliss. Not really. We’ll all be there to look after you.”

“Anyway, you can hold hands with Ryan Scott if you get scared, Fliss,” Lyndz said wickedly.

Fliss turned pink. We think boys are mostly pretty r-e-e-e-volting, but Fliss has a bit of a thing about Ryan Scott, who’s in our class.

“Ssshh!” Fliss whispered, glancing round at Ryan who sat at the table behind us. “He might hear you!”

“I never thought we’d be going to a sleepover with boys,” I said, which started us all giggling.

“Or teachers,” Rosie pointed out.

“Or the M&Ms,” Lyndz said.

That stopped us laughing. We all looked across the classroom at the Gruesome Twosome, who saw us staring, and stuck their noses in the air. I put my hands behind my ears, and waggled them at Emma, who turned purple with rage.

“We won’t have to sleep in the same room as them, will we?” Rosie asked anxiously.

“I’d rather sleep with the Egyptian mummies,” said Fliss. She was deadly serious too, which set us all off again.

Mrs Weaver had been trying to get us quiet again for the last five minutes, and now she’d just about managed it.

“I’ve got some letters for your parents with more details about the trip, which I’ll give out tonight.” Some people were still fidgeting with excitement and whispering to each other, and Mrs W glared at them until they stopped.

“And now it’s time to settle down and get on with some work. Blue and Green groups – Maths, Yellow and Red groups – topic workbooks. Oh, and Kenny—”

I jumped. I’d been daydreaming about Armfield Museum and wondering if I’d get a chance to shut the M&Ms inside one of those big mummy cases.

“Yes, Mrs Weaver?”

“It’s your turn to use the computer.” Mrs Weaver had to raise her voice because everyone else was already moving round, collecting their work from their lockers. “You’d better get on with that story you started last week.”

“OK, Miss.” I was well pleased. I love using the computer. The only thing is, it’s over the other side of the classroom, right next to the M&Ms’ table.

“Hey, Emily,” Emma said as I walked past them to get to the computer, “have you noticed that there’s a really horrible smell around here?”

“Oh, p- lease !” I said, sitting down at the computer desk. “I think I’ve heard that one before. You two have got no imagination!”

The M&Ms both turned red.

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you!” Emma spluttered.

I grinned at her.

“By the way, Mrs Weaver’s watching you two,” I said under my breath.

The M&Ms both jumped, looked scared and quickly opened their maths books. I nearly died laughing. Mrs Weaver was actually writing on the blackboard, and had her back to the class.

“One up to me!” I said, and I licked my finger and drew a ‘I’ in the air. Then I turned my back on the Gruesome Twosome, and switched the computer on. I could hear them muttering to each other behind me, but I ignored them.

I found my work, and read through what I’d already written. It was a really ace story about the Loch Ness monster, and I was looking forward to finishing it and reading it at the sleepover tonight. It was so bloodthirsty, it would probably frighten Fliss into fits!

After a quarter-of-an-hour, though, I’d only written three words. Three words! At this rate I wouldn’t finish the story till next Christmas. The trouble was, it was impossible to concentrate. Everyone was supposed to be working quietly, but they were so excited about the museum sleepover, that they just couldn’t stop talking about it. However hard Mrs Weaver tried, she couldn’t shut the class up. To make things worse, one of the maths groups was measuring all the furniture in the classroom, and they kept accidentally whacking each other with the metre sticks, like actors in a silent movie.

Like I said, it was impossible to concentrate. But I can always concentrate better when I’m using the computer if I’m eating at the same time. That was when I remembered the Opal Fruits in my jacket in the cloakroom. There were a couple of lime-green ones in there with my name on them! My mouth began to water.

I looked round. Mrs Weaver had disappeared into the book cupboard, and Ryan Scott and his sidekick Danny McCloud were fighting a duel with their metre sticks. No-one would notice if I just ducked out for a moment, and got my sweets. No, of course we aren’t supposed to leave the classroom without permission, but then we’re not supposed to eat sweets in class either!

“Where’re you going?” Fliss asked as I sprinted over to the classroom door. That girl’s got eyes in the back of her head, I swear.

“To get my Opal Fruits,” I muttered, one eye fixed firmly on the book cupboard.

“Have you asked Mrs Weaver?” Fliss said sternly.

“Oh, sure,” I said, “like I really want a detention that much.”

“But, Kenny—” Fliss began, looking shocked. I ignored her. I was out, and back inside the classroom with my Opal Fruits hidden up my sleeve in one minute flat. Fliss looked outraged, but I winked at the others, who started laughing. Mrs Weaver had come out of the book cupboard, but she was busy examining Danny McCloud’s eye where Ryan Scott had poked him with the metre stick, so she didn’t notice me. I hurried back to the computer, and sat down. And that was when I got a BIG shock.

The first thing I saw was that my story had gone. Vanished. In its place was just one sentence. A single sentence repeated over and over again, from the top of the computer screen right down to the bottom.

Mrs Weaver stinks.

My jaw hit the floor. I was so shocked, I sat there staring at the computer screen, wondering what had happened. Then I realised in a flash – the M&Ms! Those nasty little nerds had done this. I just hoped I could get my story back, but first I had to get rid of the stuff on-screen before anyone saw it. I reached for the mouse, but I was already too late. I heard a voice behind me.