Sleepover Girls in the Ring (2 page)

That shut Molly up. She went all quiet and flounced out of the room. I called out after her:

“Ha-ha! I’m going to the circus and you’re not!”

I heard her stomp upstairs and slam our bedroom door. Yeah! One-nil!

The next morning we all met up by the poster advertising the circus.

“Well?” Lyndz asked eagerly. “Mum and Dad said they’d take us. Can you come?”

We all started chattering at once, and it took a while before we realised that everyone was up for it.

“And I’ve got even
more
news!” announced Fliss dramatically. “Mum says that we can celebrate Lyndz’s birthday at my house!”

“You mean a sleepover? Brill!”

We all started leaping about.

^“
Er wait, no!” Fliss squeaked. We all looked at her. “What Mum said was that we can have
a birthday tea for Lyndz at my place on Sunday afternoon.”

“Oh!”

It was impossible to hide our disappointment, but Lyndz recovered the quickest.

“That’s great Fliss, really kind!” she smiled. “It means my birthday’s going to last all weekend. How cool is that?”

We all laughed, but we knew that no
way
was tea at Fliss’s going to be as much fun as a sleepover. I mean, for one thing, Fliss’s mum virtually dusts us down as soon as we get through the door. It kind of takes all the pleasure out of things, if you know what I mean. And now that she’s pregnant, she’s probably even worse. (Yup – with
twins,
would you believe? But that, I guess, is another story.) Still, tea at her place was better than nothing.

We somehow managed to get through the week before the circus, and by the time Saturday came round I was dead excited. I put on my clean Leicester City football shirt
and my best pair of jeans and went downstairs to wait for Lyndz. Her parents have this great big van, so they were collecting us all on the way to the circus. Molly was downstairs too, looking anxiously out of the window.

“Don’t tell me. You’re going to rush out and tell Lyndz that I’m ill and that you’re going to take my place instead!” I teased.

“I’m going out too, if you must know!” she said smugly.

Actually, she
was
done up like a dog’s dinner: new skirt, best shoes, loads of make-up.

“You’re not going to be sad and wander about hoping that Edward Marsh will actually notice you, are you?” I chortled.

“Shut
up,
Kenny!” Molly thumped me hard on the back.

I would have flattened her, I swear, but I heard the van pull up and saw Lyndz running to the door.

The circus Big Top was amazing when we got there. I mean, it looked quite small from the
outside, but when we got in and found our seats it seemed ENORMOUS. It smelt a bit damp and earthy, but it felt surprisingly warm.

“Look how high those trapezes are!” marvelled Frankie, pointing way up towards the roof of the tent. “And there isn’t a safety net either!”

Shivers spread down my spine. I love doing daredevil things, but that looked a bit too scary, even for me. Fliss said she felt sick just looking up there.

More and more people crowded in until the tent was packed. Then there was a drum roll and a spotlight shone into the centre of the ring. A tall figure in a fancy red suit ran into it and introduced himself as the Ringmaster of Circus Jamboree. He told us a bit about what we’d be seeing – then it was on with the show!

I can’t really begin to describe everything to you, there was too much to take in all at once. There were these amazing contortionists who actually
sat on their own heads!
And whilst they were performing,
there were also acrobats doing flick-flacks and cartwheels, not just by themselves but in sort of formation. If they’d got their timing wrong, well – I don’t even want to
think
about how badly they’d have been injured. And there were jugglers who juggled with everything from chairs to balls of fire.
Amazing!
And that was only in the first half! By the time the Ringmaster announced that there was going to be an interval, I felt totally exhausted!

“Isn’t it brilliant!” gasped Rosie. “I didn’t know where to look next!”

“And did you notice that there are three performers who look about our age?” asked Fliss. “Fancy being able to do all that! It was just unbelievable!”

“Are you enjoying it, girls?” asked Lyndz’s mum. “Anyone fancy an ice-cream? I think there’s someone selling them over there.”

Frankie nudged me. “That’s not… no, it can’t be!” she said.

“Who?”

“I thought I saw Molly, that’s all.”

“
WHAT? WHERE?”

She pointed. Just in front of the woman selling ice-creams, there did appear to be someone who looked suspiciously like Molly. And she was sitting with a couple of girls I recognised from her class.

“Come on!” I urged Frankie, and I started picking my way through the crowds towards them.

“Are you going to have a word with her?” asked Frankie, following me.

“Yeah, you could say that!” I smirked.

I’d had this
great
plan. I was going to embarrass her in front of the whole circus, and particularly in front of her stupid mates. It was obvious that Molly still hadn’t spotted me, so I got down on all fours and crawled along the empty row of seats at the back of her. And as I crawled, I planned what to do. Making her jump wouldn’t be enough. I’d have to do something really loud to attract the maximum attention.

Then it hit me. What is Molly always boring us at home with? You’ve guessed it. When I was immediately behind her I stood
up and yelled at the top of my voice:

“EDWARD MARSH!”

The whole place went silent. Then a voice piped up.

“Yes! Who wants me?”

Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather. I hadn’t actually
expected
Edward Marsh to be there, I’d just wanted to embarrass Molly by shouting out his name!!

Someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“I said, who wants me?” the same boy’s voice addressed me coolly.

I turned round – and found my face covered in ice-cream.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” smirked this blond creep of a boy, holding a more than slightly splodged cone. “It must have slipped!”

Molly was sitting back on her seat again and
was spluttering with laughter. “Ignore my stupid sister, Edward,” she said, flashing a creepy smile at the boy. “She must have a personality disorder!”

“At least I’ve got a personality!” I snarled back, wiping ice-cream off my cheeks.

“Who was that boy?” squealed Fliss when we came back again. “Babe or what? Er, Kenny – did you know you had ice-cream on your face?”

That was the last thing I needed, everybody thinking Molly had got some dreamboat boyfriend.

“He’s a moron!” I snapped. “Just like my stupid sister.”

I was seething inside, and my face was still sticky from the ice-cream. I wished I’d never come to this stupid circus in the first place.

I held that thought for precisely thirty seconds, because once the performers started doing their stuff again, I was totally entranced. There were people spinning plates and people on stilts and people who combined the two. There were unicyclists
who went up and down ramps, and one who even rode on the tightrope!

But the most amazing were the trapeze artists. They were so elegant and graceful, but all the time you knew that one false move and they could be dead. We all cheered like mad when they came down and took their bow, even Fliss, and she hadn’t seen any of their act because she’d had her hands in front of her eyes all the time.

But I think my favourite act was the clowns. They were just
sooo
funny. We all still had tears streaming down our faces as we were driving home.

“That was the best birthday ever!” grinned Lyndz.

“No kidding!” I agreed. “It’s going to take some beating!”

“Well don’t forget you’ve the tea party to look forward to tomorrow!” Fliss chimed in.

The rest of us looked at each other.

“How much excitement can we handle?”

Frankie mumbled under her breath.

I was home before Molly, because apparently Edward precious Marsh’s parents had taken Molly and the other girls out for a pizza.

I was asleep before Molly came in, and I got up before she did in the morning so I didn’t have to go over the whole Edward Marsh at the circus thing. Although I was
sure
that she would have told Mum and Dad all about it anyway.

It seemed ages to wait until going to Fliss’s for tea, so I decided to practise a few circus skills. I mean, juggling a few balls couldn’t be that difficult, surely? Well, let me tell you, it’s a
lot
more difficult than it looks. I started messing about with two tennis balls, just throwing them from hand to hand. Easy-peasy. Then I tried to add a third. It was impossible. I dropped them, I threw them all at the same time, I just couldn’t get the hang of it at all. I was getting really frustrated by the time Mum called me in for lunch.

“You’d better not eat too much if Nikky’s put on a spread for tea,” Mum told me.

“Are you kidding?” I scoffed. “Fliss’s mum will have made a few sandwiches cut into
pretty little shapes and some fairy cakes. I wouldn’t even feel full if I ate everything she put out on the table!”

“Let’s hope there’s ice-cream, though,” said Dad dryly. “You like ice-cream, don’t you Laura?”

Mum, Dad, Molly and my older sister Emma all started to laugh. I don’t know what I was madder about – the others making fun of me or Dad using my horrible name. At least they weren’t going to give me a lecture about my behaviour though, which was a result.

“Just try to behave this afternoon, Kenny,” Mum said firmly as she dropped me at Fliss’s. “Nikky’s a bit delicate now that she’s pregnant, and you know what happens when she gets upset.”

Yeah, she goes into a five-star tizz, that’s what – and we didn’t want that at all. Especially as she’s expecting twins. She might go into a ten-star tizz!

So there I was on my best behaviour, and everything seemed to be going well. We all managed to smile and be polite, even when
Fliss’s mum made us take off our shoes the minute we walked through the door. We even grinned and entered into the party spirit when she made us play silly children’s games like we were three or something. I mean, it was
dead
embarrassing sitting there playing Pass the Parcel and Musical Statues. And you couldn’t really tell whether Fliss’s mum was having a laugh or whether she was practising for future birthday parties with the little baby twins. I wasn’t wrong about the tea either.

“Another little sandwich, Kenny?” Fliss’s mum asked, fluttering in front of me with a plate. “Or how about a fairy cake?”

What I really fancied was a jam doughnut, and I’d seen a plate of them on the side. Fliss’s mum must have read my mind because she went to pick up the plate. But then she put it down again.

“No, I think these might be too much after all that other food. We don’t want you being sick, do we?” She gave a little giggle. “Now, are you going to go and play quietly to let your tea settle? No running about, please.”

We all trooped out of the kitchen and into the lounge.

“Will the fun never start?” I whispered in Frankie’s ear.

“Right, what should we do?” said Fliss.

We all sat on the floor in a circle.

“I bet those kids in the circus aren’t just sitting around now,” I said wistfully. “I bet they’re walking the tightrope or something.”

“Yeah, wasn’t that cool!” Frankie agreed. “Wouldn’t it be ace to be able to do something like that? You could impress people wherever you went!”

We were in full discussion about the circus when Fliss’s mum popped her head round the door. She beamed when she saw us sitting down. She probably thought we were playing ‘ring-a-ring-a-rosies’ or something.

“I’m just going upstairs to change the beds. Andy and Callum should be back from the park soon. You will be all right, won’t you?”

“Yes Mum!” Fliss sighed. “I think we’ll manage.”

Her mum pulled a face, then closed the door behind her.

“We could always practise a few circus skills,” I suggested.