sleepoverclub.com (4 page)

“That’s what we’ll tell them then.” Kenny grinned. “Tell them to glue it back together, and no-one’ll know the difference!”

Frankie began typing furiously. Then she clicked the Send button, and the email whizzed off, or whatever it does.

“Darlene and her mates sound as if they’re always getting into trouble,” I remarked.

Kenny pointed out, “Well, at least we can help them to get themselves
out
of it!”

“We got found out when we broke Mrs Proudlove’s ornament though,” Rosie reminded us.

“That was only because Fliss left the camcorder with the tape in it lying around,” Kenny retorted.

“If Kenny hadn’t put the ice-cubes down my neck, Frankie wouldn’t have broken the ornament in the first place!” Fliss snapped.

“Guys, guys, guys!” Frankie yelled. She was staring at the computer screen as if her eyes were glued to it. “I’ve just opened that email from Katie Shaw. I think you’d better all read it. And fast.”

We all crowded round the screen again.

To whom it may concern,
I have a computer disk which belongs to Tom Collins, and I think you might just want it back as soon as possible.

It will cost you a ransom of five pounds.

Katie Shaw

Our eyes nearly fell out of our heads. We just couldn’t
believe
what we were reading.

“It’s a wind-up, right?” I stammered. “I mean, how could this Katie Shaw, whoever she is, have Tom’s disk?”

“She can’t,” Rosie said. “We all
know
where the disk is.”

“Safely tucked away in Kenny’s pocket,” Frankie chimed in.

“Go on, Kenny,” Fliss urged. “Get the disk and show us!”

Kenny almost fell over her feet in her eagerness to grab her coat, which she’d
slung on to Frankie’s bed. Looking confident, she put her hand in her pocket. Then her face dropped. She put her hand in the other pocket, and her face dropped even further.

“Kenny!” I gasped, feeling my heart sink right down to my toes. “Where
is
it?”

“I dunno.” Looking increasingly frantic, Kenny searched through the pockets of her sweatpants. “I’m sure I had it when we left my house. Well, pretty sure…”

I was so upset, I felt like crying. “Where
can
it be?” I muttered.

Fliss put her arm round me. “Don’t worry, Lyndz, we’ll find it somehow,” she said comfortingly.

“Yeah, sorry, Lyndz,” Kenny mumbled. She looked almost as upset as I was.

“So do you think this Katie Shaw really
has
got the disk then?” Frankie asked. She was still staring at the email. “She knows it’s Tom’s. Maybe she’s read the label on it.”

We all looked at each other.

“I suppose she
might
have,” Rosie said at last.

“Or she might be trying to get five quid out of us for nothing,” Kenny said, glaring at the screen. “This is blackmail!”

“But how does Katie Shaw, whoever she is, know that we’ve lost the disk, if she hasn’t got it?” Frankie asked.

“Yeah, she
must
have it,” I agreed.

“Maybe we should ask for some proof,” Fliss suggested.

“That’s a brilliant idea, Flissy.” Kenny slapped her on the back. “Quick, Frankie, write back and say we don’t believe she’s got the disk. She’s got to prove it to us.”

Frankie quickly typed an answer.

We don’t believe you’ve got the disk. You’ll have to give us some proof.

Then she hit the Send button.

“OK, well, we’re just going to have to wait for Katie Shaw to reply,” Kenny said grimly, folding her arms. I didn’t fancy Katie’s chances much if she
had
got the disk – Kenny looked like she was ready to eat someone for breakfast!

“I can’t sit around waiting for a reply,” I wailed. “I’ll have no fingernails left!”

“Maybe we should go and look for the disk,” Rosie suggested. “We could walk back the same route we came this morning.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Frankie agreed, switching the computer off.

I don’t really think any of us thought we’d find the disk, but it was better than sitting around doing nothing. So we all dashed down the stairs again, and out of the house. Frankie’s dad was just hosing down the car. He looked really surprised to see us.

“Just going down the shop, Dad,” Frankie said quickly, “We’re out of – er – Coca-Cola.”

“Oh really.” Frankie’s dad eyeballed us suspiciously. “What happened to those three big bottles we bought at the supermarket this morning?”

“Is it the brown sort?” Kenny wanted to know.

Frankie’s dad blinked. “Of course it is. What other sort is there?”

“I can’t drink that,” Kenny said innocently.
“I’m allergic to it. I have to have that new Coca-Cola. It’s – er – green.”

“
Green
?” Mr Thomas’s eyebrows nearly shot off the top of his head.

“Won’t be long, Dad,” Frankie called, as we raced off down the road.

“Green Coca-Cola?” Fliss giggled. “Couldn’t you think of a better excuse than that, Kenny?”

“Well, I didn’t see the rest of you helping Frankie out!” Kenny grumbled. “It was the best I could think of.”

“Never mind that,” I said urgently. “Just keep your eyes peeled and see if you can spot that disk!”

We walked slowly back to Kenny’s house the way we’d come that morning. The last time Kenny had shown me the disk was just after we’d left the Proudloves, so we went all the way back to Fliss’s. But we didn’t find anything. The disk had well and truly vanished.

“We’d better go back to Frankie’s and see if Katie Shaw’s replied yet,” Fliss said at last.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Frankie yelled,
stopping dead in the middle of the pavement. “Francesca Thomas saves the day yet again!”

We all stared.

“Look, Tom doesn’t
need
the disk,” Frankie gabbled excitedly. “He’s got the poster stored on his hard drive!”

Fliss looked blank. “His what?”

“The computer’s memory,” Frankie explained. “The disk Tom made was only a copy, so he can just take
another
copy off the hard drive. Simple!”

“Great!” Kenny looked mightily relieved, and everyone started cheering and doing high fives. Except me.

“Sorry, Frankie,” I sighed. “Tom said a few days ago that as soon as he’d made a copy, he was going to
delete
it because the poster took up too much space on the hard drive. He probably did it last night.”

Everyone’s faces dropped again. Gloomily we trudged back to Frankie’s in silence. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had to get that disk back – but I didn’t have five pounds to pay Katie Shaw. I didn’t even have
five
pence
. I just hoped she didn’t really have it. But if she didn’t, then where could it be?

Mr Thomas was vacuuming the inside of the car when we got back. He looked at us suspiciously.

“Where is it then?” he asked.

“What?” we chorused.

Mr Thomas stared hard at us. “The green Coca-Cola.”

“I drank it,” Kenny chirped up. Then she did this totally realistic burp. “Oh, excuse me!”

Frankie’s dad watched us hurry into the house. “I hope you girls aren’t up to something us parents aren’t going to like,” he called after us.

“Honestly, Dad!” Frankie called back, “Would we do such a thing?”

“Yes,” said Mr Thomas.

Frankie shut the door quickly behind us, and we all ran upstairs. “Why do our parents never
trust
us?” she grumbled, switching the computer on. “It really gets on my nerves!”

“Quick, Frankie, hurry up and see if there’s a message,” I urged her.
“Hic!
Oh no, I’ve –
hic
– got hiccups!”

“You’ve been drinking too much green Coca-Cola!” Kenny grinned, slapping me on the back.

“Hic!” I tried to hold my breath. The others call me the Hiccup Queen, ‘cos I get them so often. “Are there any –
hic
– new messages, Frankie?”

“Yeah, there’s one from Katie Shaw!” Frankie replied, clicking quickly on the mouse.

The email popped open, and we all gathered round to read it.

I’ve looked at the disk, and it’s got a poster on it for a band called Aztec. The poster’s decorated in purples, greens and golds, with all this fancy writing. NOW do you believe I’ve got it??????

We stared at each other in silence.

“She HAS got it!” I gasped. At least the shock had cured my hiccups! “What are we going to do now?”

“I’ll show you!” Kenny replied furiously. “Move over, Frankie.”

Kenny plonked herself down in front of the computer and began to type furiously.

OK, game over, Katie Shaw, whoever you are. That disk isn’t yours, so you’re handling stolen goods! You’d better give it back right away or your life won’t be worth living…

The Sleepover Club

“Kenny, maybe that’s not the best thing to say—” Fliss began, but it was too late. Kenny had already hit the button, and sent it.

“That’ll show
her!
” Kenny said with satisfaction. “You wait, we’ll get a grovelling email, offering to give us the disk back straight away.”

“Look!” Rosie pointed at the screen. “She’s replied already!”

Sure enough, a new email from Katie Shaw had popped straight into our inbox. Kenny could hardly click the mouse fast enough to open it up.

The price has now gone up to six pounds. And it’s going up by a pound a day, every day.

“WHAT!” Kenny shrieked, bouncing up and down angrily in her chair. “I don’t believe it!”

“She’s got a nerve!” Frankie exclaimed furiously.

“As well as our disk!” Rosie added gloomily.

“What are we going to
do?
” I asked. “We don’t even know who she is.”

Fliss cleared her throat. “Maybe we do,” she said.

We were all moaning so much, it took a few seconds for what Fliss had said to sink in. Then we all pounced on her.

“Fliss! Do you know who it is?” Kenny demanded.

“I’m not
certain
sure,” Fliss said slowly. “But I’ve got an idea…”

“Who?” Frankie and Rosie asked together.

“Well, I’m not really sure—” Fliss began again.

“FLISS!” we all yelled, “Just tell us!”

“OK, there’s no need to shout.” Fliss looked offended. “I just wondered if it could be Catherine Shaw, you know, that girl at school.”

“Catherine Shaw!” we all chorused together. We knew exactly who Fliss meant.

“How would she know our email address?” I asked.

“Everyone at school knows about our website, remember?” Fliss reminded me. “We did that assembly about it at school when we won the competition. It’d be easy for Catherine to look it up.”

“But do people call her Katie?” Rosie asked.

“No, most people call her ‘that big bully’!” Kenny replied. “You know what she’s like…”

We all looked nervous. Catherine Shaw wasn’t just a bit of a bully, she was a pain in the neck as well. If she had our disk, even Kenny’d think twice about going after
her
…

“There she is.” Kenny nudged me, and nodded across the playground.

It was Monday morning, just before the bell rang, and we were trailing Catherine Shaw like detectives in a cop show. We’d already followed her to the shop on the corner, and seen her scoff two Twixes and a bag of Doritos. Now she was wandering round the playground, nicking sweets off some of the younger kids.

“I’d forgotten how big she is,” Fliss muttered. She was actually shivering! “I hope it isn’t her who’s got it.”

“Well, it was your idea, Flissy, and it’s the best one we’ve got so far,” Kenny retorted. “Now we’ve got to decide what we’re going to do.”

“Well, we could ask her straight out if she’s got the disk,” Rosie suggested.

“Any volunteers?” Frankie looked round at the rest of us. All our hands stayed firmly down, even Kenny’s.

“Maybe we could try and get a look in her bag,” Kenny said, staring longingly at Catherine’s black rucksack.

“Come on,” Frankie hissed, “she’s on the move again!”

We all crept round the side of the school, keeping our eyes glued to Catherine. She hadn’t noticed us following her, so far…

“What do you lot think you’re doing?” asked a gruff voice behind us. We all nearly jumped out of our skins. Guess who it was? The Terrible Twins, of course. Emily Berryman and Emma Hughes – our total worst enemies.