Sleeping Over

by P J Denton

“There!” Taylor said, putting one last pineapple slice on top of her third cupcake. “It’s perfect.”

  “Mine, too.” Kara picked up one of her cupcakes and stared at it hungrily. “So can I eat it now?”

  The other girls laughed. Kara was always hungry.

  “Wait!” Jo said as Kara started to peel back the cupcake paper. She jumped out of her seat. “I brought the digital camera I got for my birthday. Let me take a picture of all the cupcakes before we eat them.”

  “Okay.” Taylor set down her cupcake beside the others. “But hurry up—I don’t think Kara can wait much longer!”

  When Jo returned with her camera, the girls posed with their cupcakes so she could take pictures of them. Then Taylor took more pictures so Jo could be in them too. Finally, when Mrs. Kent came in to see how they were doing, they asked her to take some pictures of all of them.

  “Okay, now it’s time to do something even more fun than decorating cupcakes,” Kara said. “Eating them!”

  The girls ate until they were stuffed. Each of them finished two cupcakes.

  “We can save the others until later,” Taylor said. “We’ll probably get hungry again, since we’re going to stay up all night.”

  “We are?” Jo looked alarmed.

  “Definitely!” Kara said. “That’s what you do at sleepovers. You stay awake playing games and telling spooky stories until the break of dawn.”

  Emily clapped her hands. “That reminds me,” she said. “I just read this really spooky story—”

  “Wait! Hold that thought, Emmers.” Taylor stood up and grabbed the plate with the leftover cupcakes on it. “Last one upstairs is a rotten egg.”

  They ran up to her room. “Let’s set out our sleeping bags before we start the stories,” Kara suggested.

  “Already? But it’s not even nine o’clock yet,” Taylor said. “You’re not thinking about going to sleep already, are you?”

  “No way,” Kara said. “But I might need to wrap my sleeping bag around me if Em’s story is too scary.”

  They all unrolled their sleeping bags, arranging them in a circle in the middle of the floor. Even Taylor had brought in a sleeping bag for herself. “I don’t want to be the only one with a bed,” she pointed out. “That wouldn’t be fair.”

  Then they settled down for some spooky stories. Emily went first. She read a lot of books, so she knew lots of stories. One of her stories was so scary, it made Kara scream.

  Then Kara took a turn. Her stories weren’t very spooky. But they were funny. Soon the others were laughing so hard, they couldn’t sit up straight.

  Emily had no idea how much time was passing as they took turns telling stories and jokes. All she knew was that she was having a wonderful time. She wasn’t even homesick!

  “Hey,” Jo said after a while. “It’s almost eleven o’clock.” She yawned.

  “Quit yawning!” Taylor warned. “We’re going to stay up all night, remember? Come on, let’s have a cupcake. That will give us energy.”

  She grabbed her last cupcake. So did Kara and Jo. But Emily just stared at hers and groaned.

  “I’m still too full,” she said. “I don’t think I can eat another one. One of you guys can have it.”

  But after finishing theirs, the other girls were too full too—even Kara. Taylor picked up Emily’s leftover cupcake and stared at it.

  “I have an idea,” she said. “The first person to fall asleep gets this cupcake stuck to their forehead.”

  Kara laughed. “That’s a great idea!” she exclaimed. “Now I know I won’t be the first one to fall asleep.”

  “Me neither!” Emily and Jo said at the same time.

  “Good,” Taylor said. “Now come on—who’s in the mood for a game of Truth or Dare?”

  That woke them all up for a while. But as midnight came and went, all four of them started yawning, even as they talked and goofed around. Emily was sure one of the others would give in and fall asleep first. After all, she was used to staying awake for hours reading by the light of her night-light.

  Soon it was past one o’clock in the morning. Then it was almost two. Taylor’s greenish gold eyes were drooping. Kara was huddled in her sleeping bag with both hands propping up her head. And Jo could hardly say two words without stopping to yawn.

  “What time is it?” Emily asked sleepily as Taylor finished another spooky story. She was so tired, she wasn’t even sure what the story had been about.

  Jo checked her watch. “It’s two twenty-five,” she said. Then she yawned.

  Emily glanced at the cupcake sitting in the middle of the circle of sleeping bags. Her eyes felt heavy, and her head seemed to be stuffed full of wool. She wasn’t sure she could stay awake much longer. She wondered what it would feel like to wake up with a cupcake stuck to her head with sticky frosting.

  Just then she heard a sound from the direction of Kara’s sleeping bag. It sounded like . a snore!

  She looked over. Kara’s head had dropped down onto her folded arms. Her eyes were closed. As Emily watched, her mouth opened and another snore came out.

  “Hey!” Emily whispered to Jo and Taylor. “Look. Kara’s asleep!”

  That made Taylor sit up and look more awake. She grinned. “You know what that means,” she whispered.

  Jo giggled. “It’s your house,” she whispered to Taylor, shoving the cupcake toward her. “You do it!”

  Taylor grabbed the cupcake. Emily wasn’t sure whether to feel sorry for Kara or to laugh. As she pictured Kara waking up in the morning with a cupcake on her forehead, she couldn’t help giggling.

  Taylor crept forward, the cupcake held at the ready. She moved it carefully toward Kara’s forehead.

  Just then Kara’s eyes fluttered open. She rolled over and looked up at Taylor sleepily. Taylor was so surprised that she froze in place, still holding the cupcake.

  “Hey, thanks,” Kara mumbled. She grabbed the cupcake and stuffed it into her mouth.

  Emily and Jo started giggling again. Taylor rolled her eyes. Kara finished the cupcake, then rolled over and closed her eyes again. Almost immediately, she started snoring softly.

  Taylor started laughing too. “Oh well,” she said. “So much for that plan!”

  “Maybe we should all go to sleep now,” Jo said groggily. “It’s late, we’re all tired. And we don’t want to end up sick or grouchy tomorrow. Otherwise, our parents might not let us do this again.”

  “That’s true,” Emily said.

  Even Taylor nodded, though she looked a little disappointed. “I guess you’re right, Jojo,” she said. “We’ll have plenty of chances to stay up late at other parties.”

  Emily smiled, glad her parents had changed their minds so she didn’t have to miss this. She snuggled down into her cozy sleeping bag, fluffing up her favorite pillow. “Long live the Sleepover Squad!” she said.

  “Long live the Sleepover Squad!” Taylor and Jo echoed.

  Emily wasn’t sure if either of them said anything else, because a second later she was sound asleep.

  The next morning Emily woke up to the delicious smell of pancakes. For a second she thought she was in her bed at home and wondered why her mattress felt harder than usual. Then she remembered where she really was and smiled. She sat up and yawned. She felt a little tired but happy.

  “Good morning,” Taylor said. She was sitting up too. “I was just going to wake you guys up. It smells like Mom is making breakfast.”

  Emily stretched her arms over her head. “It smells great,” she said. “And hey, Taylor, this whole party was really fun. I’m glad I got to come.”

  “Me too,” Taylor said. “And now that you’ve proved you can sleep away from home, I’m sure your parents will say yes next time, too.”

  Emily nodded. Taylor was probably right. “Maybe they’ll even let me host one at my house soon!” she said.

  Jo moaned and rubbed her eyes. “Is it morning already?” she asked. Her voice sounded croaky like a frog, which made Taylor and Emily
laugh.

  “Rise and shine, sleepyhead,” Taylor said. Then she leaned over and poked Kara, who was still sleeping. “Hey! Rise and shine.”

  It took a while to wake up Kara. But finally, all four of them were up. While they got dressed, they talked about the party and started making plans for the next one.

  “I was just telling Taylor, my parents might let me have one at our house soon,” Emily told Kara and Jo.

  “That would be great,” Jo said. “Your house is so much fun.”

  Taylor nodded. “We can play soccer or softball in your backyard and climb trees in the woods.”

  “Yeah. And Em’s dad is a great cook!” Kara agreed. “Maybe he’ll barbecue some hot dogs for our dinner.”

  “I can ask him,” Emily promised.

  They were all dressed by then, so they headed downstairs for breakfast. Just as they were finishing their pancakes, the doorbell rang. It was Emily’s parents, who had arrived to pick her up.

  “Good morning, sweetheart,” her mother said, bending down to kiss her on the forehead. “Did you have a nice time?”

  “The best!” Emily exclaimed. “We played all kinds of games and told stories and—Oh! The cupcakes turned out great,” she added, turning toward her father. “We took pictures.”

  “Yes, they were delicious, Mr. M,” Kara said.

  That reminded Emily of how Kara had woken up just long enough to eat that last cupcake. She glanced over at Taylor and started to giggle. Taylor giggled too. Then Jo joined in.

  Kara looked confused. “What?” she demanded. “What’s so funny?”

  They all took turns explaining. Before long even Kara was laughing. “That sounds like something I’d do,” she admitted.

  Then Emily picked up her things, which Mr. Kent had fetched from upstairs. “Bye, you guys,” she said. “Happy first official day of summer vacation.”

  “Happy first official day of summer vacation to you too, Emmers,” Taylor said. “Thanks for coming to my sleepover.”

  Kara and Jo added their good-byes. Then Emily thanked Taylor’s parents and followed her own parents out the door. Her father put an arm around her shoulders as they walked toward the car.

  “Sounds like the party was a success,” he said.

  “It was.” Emily smiled up at him. “But I missed you guys.”

  She saw her parents exchange a glance. “Really?” her mother asked, sounding a little worried.

  “Yes,” Emily said. “I definitely missed you. But not too much.” She laughed. “I can’t wait for the next slumber party!”

  Emily and the others had tons of fun decorating their own cupcakes with unusual toppings. Why not give it a try at your next party?

  Start with plain cupcakes (homemade or store-bought, chocolate or vanilla—it doesn’t really matter).

  Buy or make plain white frosting. You can add food coloring to create different colors (ask an adult to show you how).

  Then find anything you can to decorate your cupcakes! You can use normal stuff, like sprinkles or chocolate chips. Or you can go crazy-creative and try some more unusual toppings. Here are a few ideas: fresh berries; mint leaves; dried fruit; mini marshmallows; coconut flakes; walnut chunks; or pieces of candy, like gumdrops or peppermints. Use your imagination! One tip: Stick to the sweet stuff. Cupcakes topped with olives or tuna fish are just gross!

  Once your cupcakes are decorated, do as the Sleepover Squad did and savor the moment by taking pictures. Make sure everybody at the party gets to pose with her favorite cupcake. Later on, the photos will remind you not only of your fancy cupcakes, but of the whole sleepover.

  Then comes the best part of all: eating your creations! Make sure there are no leftovers . or you never know what might happen!