Narinder Dhami - Sleepover Girls Go Karting

Josh’s mouth fell open, and his mates looked as if they were about to faint. “What did you say?”

“You heard me!” I snapped.

“And there are loads of girls here anyway,” Frankie added, glancing round the arena. “There’s no reason why girls can’t be as good at karting as boys.”

Josh looked down his nose at us. “That just goes to show you don’t know anything about karting!” he sneered. “I’ve been karting since I was five years old, and I’m an expert!” Then he looked alarmed and took a step backwards, as I took one forwards.

“We’ll see!” I said, eyeballing him grimly.

“You’ve got no chance!” Josh retorted, and then stalked off, with his two sheep – sorry, mates – hurrying along behind him.

I turned to the others.

“Right, that’s it!” I said firmly. “We’ve got to show Mr Creep that girls are as good as boys. We’re all going to be champion karters!”

OK, so the others moaned a bit, but they didn’t really mean it. They hated Josh as much as I did. We were all determined to show him that he was talking rubbish, and that girls could be brilliant karters too.

Well, that was before we were taken off to be given driving instruction by Mike, the race director. There was so much to remember, it was almost impossible! First of all Mike took the five of us, plus some other kids, over to the beginners’ area. There, we were given a number each, as well as safety helmets, gloves and race suits.

“Mine’s too big,” Fliss grumbled, as she rolled up her sleeves. “And it’s not pink either!” she added sadly.

“Good,” I retorted, as I struggled into my own race suit. “We don’t want that idiot Josh thinking we’re all weak and feeble girlies.”

“He was the pits, wasn’t he?” Frankie said. “Hey, guys, did you hear that? The pits – you know, the pit stop? That’s a karting joke for you!”

“It’s nowhere near a joke,” I said. “It’s not even funny! Look, we’ve got to show this creep just how wrong he is. So make sure you all listen up to Mike so you know what you’re doing, OK?”

Everyone agreed, and there were lots of woo hoo! s and high fives. But when we finally got started, it was a different matter. Like I said, there was just so much to remember.

First of all, Mike showed us some of the karts. We all had the chance to sit in one and test out the pedals without actually moving.

“Now, unlike a proper car, there are only two pedals to worry about and no gears,”

Mike explained, pointing them out. “This is the brake, and that’s the accelerator.”

“I hope I don’t mix them up!” Fliss whispered to me anxiously.

So did I. I could just see Fliss trying to brake, and going smack into the kart in front, headfirst. Josh Stevens would laugh himself silly!

Fliss looked even more worried when Mike explained that the karts could go up to thirty miles an hour. He told us that the steering wheel didn’t turn very far, but turning it just a little had a big effect on how the kart moved. He also said that it was important to keep accelerating and not to slow down, as it was difficult to build up speed again. That made Fliss look even greener – I don’t think she was looking forward to going fast at all!

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