Fiona Cummings - Party Time

“I don’t think so. I’m supposed to be learning how to be a big sister,” I explained. “Mum already knows how to be a mum, so asking her to babysit a doll would be a bit pointless.”

“The whole thing’s pointless if you ask me,” grumbled Kenny. “Well, are we going to the shops or not?”

To start with, I made a sort of sling with my scarf and kept Izzy snuggled under my jacket. The December wind was pretty fierce and I didn’t want her to get cold.

“You are sad, sad, sad,” chanted Kenny, as I kept fussing beneath my jacket.

“At least no one can see the doll,” said Fliss. “You just look fat!”

“Thanks very much!” I said, feeling a bit miffed.

But it soon got uncomfortable having Izzy in one position so I started wriggling and jiggling, trying to move her about. It didn’t help that her arms and legs weren’t all sguidgy like a real baby’s. They were rigid plastic and kept digging into me.

“Don’t do that, Frankie!” Rosie reprimanded me. “You look as though you’ve got ants in your pants or something. People are looking at you.”

It was true. There were hundreds of people about doing their Christmas shopping, and I could sense that most of them were glancing at me and frowning.

“Maybe I should just show them Izzy,” I suggested, unzipping my jacket.

“Don’t do that!” the others all yelled together.

“That would be a major embarrassment for all of us,” hissed Kenny.

“Hey, what’s that poster?” Fliss suddenly shouted at the top of her voice. She was being so OTT, it was obvious that she was trying to divert our attention. She sort of galloped over to the noticeboard at the end of the high street. The rest of us cracked up and galloped after her. It wasn’t easy with a doll poking you in the chest with every step, I can tell you.

“It’s advertising a New Year’s Eve party at the church hall,” explained Fliss, standing in front of the poster. “Do you think we’ll be able to go?”

“Not a chance,” said Rosie. “My mum’s only ever let me stay up to see the New Year in once, and that was because I was sick.”

“I’m not sure I’d want to go anyway,” Kenny said. “It’ll be full of boring old duffers who we don’t even know. It’d be much better to have a New Year’s Eve party of our own.”

“Yes!” we all screamed. “Why don’t we? It’d be so cool!”

“We should try to organise a special New Year’s Eve sleepover,” I suggested. “I mean, we’re usually awake till well past midnight when we’re together anyway. It would be great to stay up properly. Everyone else’ll be up too, so who could object?”

We were so excited we started doing a little dance together on the pavement. And that’s when Izzy fell out of my jacket and bounced on to the ground.

“Oh no!” I screamed, picking her up. “I’ve killed her!”

“Erm, earth to Frankie!” hooted Kenny. “It is only a doll, you know!”

“But it’s supposed to be my baby sister,” I spluttered. “What if I do that to her?”

“Don’t be crazy!” shrieked Lyndz. “Do you think your parents would really let us loose in charge of their baby? I don’t think so!”

“But even so,” I wailed. “I was supposed to take care of Izzy and I haven’t. I’m going to be a useless sister!”

Fliss led me over to a nearby bench and we all sat down.

“You’re going to be a great sister, Frankie,” she reassured me. “That was just an accident when you forgot about the d… I mean, Izzy.”

“But what if I forget about the real baby when I’m supposed to be looking after it?” I asked.

“Believe me, you never forget when you’ve got a baby around,” Lyndz grinned. “They never stop crying. And they usually smell disgusting too!”

I was rocking Izzy in my arms and the others were all bending over her, just like she was real.

“Well I’ve seen everything now!” boomed a loud voice.

We looked up quickly, but with sinking hearts we already knew who it was. Why had the M&Ms picked that exact minute to walk past us?

“Aw, has Francesca got a baby? Diddums,” said Emma Hughes in a stupid voice.

“Does she like playing with her dolly then?” cooed Emma’s sidekick Emily Berryman.

“I always knew you were a big baby, Thomas!” cackled Emma. “I grew out of dolls when I was about four. You lot have never grown up, have you?”

Kenny was seething, I could sense it.

“Frankie’s taking part in some scientific research, if you must know,” she said in her weariest voice. “Not that you’d understand.”

“Oh right, that’s the first time I’ve heard playing with dolls called ‘scientific research’,” sneered Emily. “Why don’t you face it? You’re a load of little kids!”

They both screamed with laughter and tottered down the high street on their platform wedges.

“I don’t believe that!” Fliss had her head in her hands. “Of all the people to see us with that stupid doll!”

“They’ll never let us forget it,” moaned Rosie. “It’ll be all round the school on Monday!”

“Not if I’ve got anything to do with it,” fumed Kenny through gritted teeth.

And when Kenny spoke like that the rest of us knew that it meant trouble. Trouble with a capital T!

To be honest with you, seeing those two galumphing gorillas put a real damper on our whole weekend. We didn’t even discuss the New Year sleepover again, so you can tell how bad we were feeling. And Kenny went totally weird. I mean, even weirder than usual. When the rest of us were panicking about the M&Ms, she was like, lost in a trance. Then she suddenly leapt up and announced that she had to go to the shop to buy some – get this – JELLY CUBES. I mean, here we were, facing doom and disaster from our biggest rivals, and Kenny’s planning a party tea! But she just had this crazy look on her face and kept saying that she needed jelly cubes to make everything all right. I prefer chocolate to cheer myself up actually, but each to their own, as my gran always says.

Anyway, before we said goodbye to each other on Saturday, we arranged to meet outside school on Monday morning. That way we could all face the Gruesome Twosome together.

I had a really bad feeling as I walked to school that morning. Doom and panic whizzed about in my stomach like one of Kenny’s disastrous cooking experiments. Fliss and Rosie were already standing together by the wall, and they looked as green as I felt. Only Lyndz seemed as bright and breezy as usual. I swear that if that girl was any more laid back, she’d be permanently asleep!

“Oh come on, we’ve taken flak from the M&Ms before,” she reasoned. “How bad can it be this time?”

Nobody answered.

When we got to the gate we could see the M&Ms in a little huddle with their stupid mate Alana ‘Banana’ Palmer.

“I wonder where Kenny is? She ought to be here by now,” mumbled Fliss. Her teeth were chattering, and I don’t think it was because of the cold.

Rosie stuck her tongue out and pulled gruesome faces at the M&Ms – well, at their backs, to be precise. Then she mumbled something no one could understand.

“What?”

Rosie stopped pulling faces. “I said ‘I don’t know but she seemed really mad on Saturday’!” she explained.

Just before the whistle went, Kenny came flying up to us, holding tightly on to her school bag. She didn’t look mad now. In fact, she looked positively perky.

“What’s up with you?” I asked her suspiciously.