Birthday Girl

by Meredith Badger

  Birthday Girl

  first published in 2006

  this edition published in 2012 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia

  eISBN: 9781742737799

  Text copyright © 2006 Meredith Badger

  Illustration and design copyright © 2012 Hardie Grant Egmont

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted

  Illustration by Aki Fukuoka

  Design by Michelle Mackintosh

  Text design and typesetting by Ektavo

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Annabelle was lying on her bed, feeling terrible. She felt terrible even though it was the weekend. She felt terrible even though it was a beautiful, sunny day. And she felt terrible even though it was her birthday party.

  In fact, her birthday party was the main reason she felt so bad.

  I’m staying in here until it’s all over and everyone’s gone home, thought Annabelle. And I’m never, ever having a party again.

  Usually Annabelle loved having parties. Her birthday was in summer and she always had a party in her backyard. Each year there was a different theme.

  One year it was ‘Hawaiian’. Everyone wore grass skirts and long necklaces made of flowers, and they drank tropical juice out of coconut shells.

  Another year the theme was ‘winter’ and they pretended it was really cold instead of really hot. There were huge fake icebergs on the lawn and Annabelle’s Uncle Bob had made an excellent life-size snowman out of foam.

  Then last year she had a ‘school pool’ party. Her friends all wore their school uniforms and brought their school bags. There had even been lessons … but fun ones! In one class they made pizzas. And in another class they decorated T-shirts with glitter paint. Then they all jumped into Annabelle’s pool.

  So Annabelle had always been pretty sure she knew what made a good party. But that all changed the day she went to her best friend Nicole’s party.

  Usually Nicole had an at-home party, too. But this time she’d had it at a rockclimbing centre.

  Nicole had invited the school gang – Dani, Chloe, Sarah, Lola and Annabelle. But she’d invited lots of other people, too. Most of their class went, even the boys. Some of Nicole’s new basketball friends were also there.

  For lunch they’d had wedges and nachos at the centre’s cafe. Then Nicole’s mum pulled out a big pink and gold box. Inside was a huge cake from the bakery, decorated with chocolate curls. Written on the top in pink icing was, ‘Happy Birthday Nicole’. It was the most beautiful cake Annabelle had ever seen.

  ‘This cake is awesome,’ said Dani, as they each munched on a slice. ‘In fact, this is one of the best parties I’ve ever been to. Rock-climbing is cool fun.’

  ‘Yeah,’ agreed Chloe. ‘I wish we could come here for every party!’

  ‘Was it a good party, Belly?’ asked her mum when she picked her up afterwards.

  ‘It was soooo much fun!’ said Annabelle, grinning.

  Then she looked at her mum. She had something to ask. It was her birthday soon. And she wanted her party to be just as good as Nicole’s had been.

  ‘Mum,’ Annabelle said nervously, ‘could I have a rock-climbing party, too?’

  ‘I thought you liked having parties at home,’ said her mum, surprised.

  Annabelle felt a bit bad. She knew her mum and Uncle Bob always put a lot of effort into her parties. And until now she’d thought her parties were great. But she couldn’t help feeling that Nicole’s party had been heaps better. A normal backyard party suddenly seemed like something for little kids. But there was no way Annabelle could say that to her mum.

  ‘Home parties are great, Mum,’ said Annabelle, in the end. ‘I just feel like doing something different this year.’

  Annabelle’s mum frowned. This meant she was thinking.

  ‘OK,’ she said, after a minute. ‘You can have a rock-climbing party.’

  ‘Yay!’ said Annabelle, bouncing on her seat with excitement.

  ‘Hang on,’ said her mum. ‘There’s a but.’ Annabelle groaned.

  Buts were never good.

  ‘If you have a party at home you can invite whoever you want. But if you have a rock-climbing party you can only invite three people.’

  ‘Only three?’ said Annabelle.

  That was a big but.

  One of the reasons Nicole’s party had been so good was because there were heaps of kids there. It wouldn’t be the same with just three.

  But Annabelle’s mum was firm.

  ‘That’s the deal,’ she said. ‘Now it’s up to you to decide.’

  By Sunday, Annabelle still hadn’t decided what to do. It would be so awesome to have a rock-climbing party. But how would she choose who to take? There was her bestie Nicole, for a start. Plus she had her second besties – Sarah, Dani, Chloe and Lola.

  Then there were her orchestra friends. Annabelle had been playing in the orchestra for a while now and she really liked Siri and Freya. And what about the kids who lived nearby? She always invited Michiko from next door and Shae who lived down the road. Plus there was no way she could leave out Sophie, who was her friend as well as her cousin.

  It was just way too hard to pick only three friends.

  As Annabelle lay on her bed thinking, her mum stuck her head around the door.

  ‘Come on, Belly. It’s time for lunch at Uncle Bob’s,’ she said.

  Annabelle and her mum had lunch at Uncle Bob’s place every Sunday. Sometimes Sophie was there, too. But some Sundays she was at her mum’s place.

  ‘Cool,’ said Annabelle, getting up.

  She liked going to Uncle Bob’s. He was an illustrator and had lots of funny drawings stuck up around the house. And this week Sophie would be there.

  I can ask her what she’d do about this whole party thing, thought Annabelle. Her cousin was good at solving problems.

  Sophie was using the computer when they arrived. She listened as Annabelle explained her problem.

  ‘I think your parties are cool the way they are,’ said Sophie. ‘But it’s up to you, I guess.’ Then she typed something into the computer. ‘Let’s visit the Party Princess website. She might be able to help.’

  Seconds later a girl appeared on the screen wearing a tiara and holding a present.

  ‘That’s the Party Princess,’ explained Sophie. ‘She knows everything there is to know about parties.’

  Sophie clicked on the WHAT’S HOT section.

  Annabelle grinned.

  ‘That’s it!’ she said. ‘I’ll have a mocktail party! Then I can invite whoever I like. And it’ll also be totally different to the sort of parties I usually have.’

  Sophie nodded.

  ‘Cool idea, Bell,’ she said.

  Over lunch, Annabelle explained her idea to her mum and Uncle Bob.

  ‘Everyone can dress up. We can have fancy drinks in tall glasses and food on silver trays,’ she said excitedly. ‘Then we can all play crock-kwit.’

  Her mum frowned for a moment. Then she laughed.


  ‘You mean croquet,’ she said, saying it ‘croak-ay’. ‘I wonder how you play it?’

  Annabelle’s face fell. She had hoped her mum would know.

  ‘You’re all forgetting the most important question!’ said Uncle Bob suddenly. ‘What sort of invitations should we make?’

  Annabelle bit her lip.

  Uncle Bob made Annabelle’s party invitations every year. For the Hawaiian party he made girls who wiggled their hips when you pulled a tab. For the winter party he’d drawn penguins wearing sparkly hats. And for the school party he’d made invitations that looked like report cards.

  But Nicole’s birthday invitations had come from a proper party shop. They had gold edges and smelt like watermelon. Annabelle really wanted invitations like that this year. But before she could say anything Uncle Bob slapped the table.

  ‘I know!’ he said. ‘We can make them look like cocktail glasses! And as you pull the straw the drink will disappear.’

  Annabelle sighed, but very quietly. There was no way she could say anything now. Uncle Bob was way too excited.

  After lunch they all set to work on the invitations. Uncle Bob designed them on the computer. Then Sophie, who was almost as good as Uncle Bob on the computer, coloured them in. Then they printed them out and everyone helped put them together. As a final touch Annabelle added red and gold glitter to the straws.

  It took all afternoon but the time passed quickly. Uncle Bob kept drawing funny things in the glasses. In one he drew a dolphin wearing goggles. And in another he added a duck doing backstroke.

  When the invitations were finished Sophie spread them out over the table.

  ‘They look so cool!’ she said.

  Annabelle nodded.

  They did look good. And seeing them there made her realise that her birthday was very soon! Annabelle felt all quivery just thinking about it.

  This is going to be the coolest party I’ve ever had, she thought.

  ‘Excellent invitation, Bell!’ said Sarah, a few days later. ‘But how come you’re not having a pool party? Your school pool party was the best.’

  ‘I just wanted to do something different this year,’ explained Annabelle. ‘Pool parties are boring.’

  ‘I don’t think they’re boring,’ said Dani. ‘Yours was awesome.’

  Annabelle smiled. She thought Dani was probably just saying that to be nice.

  ‘What should we wear?’ asked Dani.

  Annabelle thought for a moment.

  ‘Something really dressy,’ she replied.

  ‘I’ll borrow some clothes from my sister,’ said Dani excitedly. ‘She’ll have something for sure.’

  ‘Good idea,’ nodded Chloe. ‘What will you wear, Bell?’

  Usually Annabelle wore a good top with her favourite jeans or a skirt to parties. For her school pool party she had worn her school uniform over the top of her bathers. For Nicole’s rock-climbing party she’d worn leggings and a T-shirt.

  But none of these things would be right for a mocktail party. She needed something really special.

  ‘I still haven’t decided yet,’ Annabelle shrugged. ‘But it’ll be cool.’

  Then she turned to Nicole.

  ‘What about you, Nic?’ she said.

  But Nicole was looking at the invitation with a big frown on her face.

  It’s like she’s not one bit excited, thought Annabelle, feeling hurt.

  ‘The party is on the 12th?’ asked Nicole, looking worried.

  ‘Yep,’ replied Annabelle. ‘It starts at two o’clock. Why?’

  Nicole twiddled with her ponytail. She always did that when something was bothering her.

  ‘Well, the Cockatoos won the semifinal,’ she explained. ‘So now we’re in the grand final.’

  Nicole had recently started playing basketball.

  Annabelle gave her friend a hug.

  ‘That’s so great! But how come you look like you’ve just been given detention?’

  Nicole sighed.

  ‘The grand final is on the 12th.’

  Annabelle stared at Nicole.

  ‘You mean, you’re not coming to my party?’ she asked, her jaw dropping.

  ‘Of course I’m coming,’ said Nicole quickly. ‘I’ll just be a bit late, that’s all.’

  Annabelle’s heart sank.

  She didn’t know what to say. Nicole had been to every one of her parties since they were three. She was usually the first to arrive and the last to leave. She had always been in charge of choosing the music. And somehow she always managed to pick songs that everyone liked.

  Who would do the music until she arrived?

  Then there was the Happy Birthday song. Nicole always sang it the loudest. And she was the one who said, ‘Hip hip!’ so that everyone else could say, ‘Hooray!’

  If she wasn’t there, would someone else remember to do it?

  Just then the recess bell rang and the gang headed back to class.

  Annabelle and Nicole walked side by side, but without talking. Annabelle’s mind was whirling around.

  Maybe I could change the party to a different day, she thought. But it was too late to do that. Most of the invitations had been sent out already.

  Then Annabelle had a really horrible thought. It was so horrible that she screwed up her face and tried to shake it out of her head. But when she stopped shaking the thought was still there.

  Maybe Nic doesn’t want to come to my party. I bet if I was having a rock-climbing party she would miss her basketball game.

  Annabelle and Nicole arrived at their classroom. Annabelle sat down, feeling terrible. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Nicole watching her. Nicole looked like she wanted to say something, but just then their teacher walked in.

  ‘Quiet, everyone,’ Mr Clarke said. ‘No talking please!’

  But the moment he turned around, Nicole grabbed Annabelle’s hand under the desk and squeezed it tightly.

  ‘Don’t worry, Bell,’ she whispered. ‘After the game I’m going to change into my fastest running shoes and run the whole way to your place.’

  Annabelle couldn’t help smiling.

  ‘The basketball court is about twenty blocks away from my place,’ she whispered back. ‘You can’t run all that way!’

  ‘Well, my dad will probably give me a lift,’ admitted Nicole. ‘But if we get stuck in a traffic jam I’m going to jump out and run the rest of the way. I don’t want to miss any more of your party than I have to!’

  ‘Nicole!’ said Mr Clarke, turning around. ‘What did I say about talking?’

  ‘Sorry, Mr Clarke,’ said Nicole.

  But when he turned back she grinned at Annabelle.

  ‘I’ll be there in time for the cake,’ she promised.

  Annabelle grinned back. She felt much better. Of course Nicole wanted to come to her party! It was just really bad luck that the grand final was on the same day.

  But at least now Annabelle was sure that her friend would get there as soon as she possibly could.

  After school, Annabelle had orchestra practice. Her friends Siri and Freya were already there when she arrived. Siri played the viola and Freya played cello. Annabelle played violin. She’d been learning for over a year now.

  Playing in the orchestra was good fun. At the moment everyone was practising really hard because they had a concert coming up. It was at the town hall and everyone had to wear their best clothes to perform.

  Annabelle had gone shopping with her mum to buy a special outfit. They bought a purple skirt with a pink ribbon around the bottom and a silky pink shirt to match. They also bought some cute shoes with bows.

  Annabelle always concentrated really hard when she was playing in the orchestra. She knew all the violin parts really well because she practised them at home. But there were more things to think about when she played with everyone else. She had to follow the music on the page and make sure she knew which bit they were up to, even when she wasn’t playing. Otherwise she might miss her cue
to start.

  After they had played through all the pieces, Mrs Bailey clapped.

  ‘Good work, everyone,’ she said. ‘The strings section sounded particularly good.’

  Siri, Freya and Annabelle all grinned proudly at each other.

  They were in the strings section!

  During the break, Annabelle pulled out the last two party invitations.

  ‘These are for you,’ she said.

  ‘Cool!’ said Freya, looking at hers. ‘I’ve never been to a mocktail party before. Do you still play games and stuff?’

  ‘Um …’ said Annabelle.

  She hadn’t really thought about the games yet. At all her other parties they had played things like musical chairs and the chocolate game.

  At her school pool party they had played party games in the pool. Even pass the parcel! Annabelle’s mum had wrapped each layer of the parcel in a plastic bag so it didn’t get soggy. Everyone agreed afterwards that playing it in the pool was even more fun.

  But Siri and Freya were a little bit older than her other friends. They might think that those games were for little kids.

  Then Annabelle remembered what the Party Princess had said.

  ‘We’re going to play croquet!’ she said.

  Annabelle still wasn’t really sure what croquet was. But it sounded like a grownup type of game.

  ‘Oh, and guess what?’ Annabelle added. ‘All the food is going to be served on silver platters!’

  ‘How excellent!’ said Siri. ‘What kind of food?’

  ‘I’m not sure yet,’ admitted Annabelle. ‘But it won’t be anything baby-ish.’?

  ‘I can’t wait!’ smiled Freya. ‘It sounds totally cool!’

  Annabelle nodded.

  ‘Yep, it will be,’ she said.

  At least, I hope it will be, she thought.

  During the second part of orchestra practice, Annabelle didn’t play nearly so well. She missed her cues. And she played some wrong notes, too. The problem was that her head was full of party thoughts now. Like, how was she going to find out about croquet? And what kind of food should she serve?

  Then, during the final piece, Annabelle thought of something else.