Emergency Sleepover

by Fiona Cummings

  And with that, we all split.

  By the time the others arrived the next morning I’d been up for hours and was raring to go. So were they – apart from Fliss, who’d been panicking all night in case the whole thing turned out to be a disaster.

  “Come on, it’s going to be fun!” I reassured her. “Besides, when it’s all over, we’ve got a sleepover to look forward to!”

  At least that perked her up a bit. Once everyone had dumped their sleepover gear in my room, we made our way to school.

  As soon as we got there, we set to work draping bunting over the school gates and hanging up a huge poster we’d made, which said SCAVENGER HUNT STARTS HERE! in huge letters.

  “Well at least no-one will be confused about where they have to start from, even if they never make it to the finish!” giggled Rosie.

  When Mrs Poole appeared, she seemed in great form.

  “It’s probably because there’s no school for a week!” whispered Frankie.

  “This is all very impressive!” Mrs Poole said admiringly. “You’ve all shown great initiative to get this organised!”

  Fliss spluttered a bit, but the rest of us managed to keep our cool until she disappeared to see if anyone had arrived to take part.

  “I hope she doesn’t say that again,” giggled Lyndz. “I just know I’m going to laugh in her face!”

  “You won’t be laughing in anyone’s face when you see what I’ve just seen,” warned Rosie grimly.

  We all turned to see what she was looking at. You’ll never guess who had appeared. Only the M&Ms and their stupid friends, that’s all!

  “Ah, girls. It’s good to see you’re showing your schoolfriends some support!” cooed Mrs Poole. “Francesca will take your money, and we’ll wait for the other teams to arrive.”

  They smarmed up to Frankie and handed over a five-pound note.

  “We just thought we’d see what a pathetic shambles you’ve made of this, losers!” spat Emma Hughes. Her stupid cronies tittered.

  I was seething. I just knew they were out to cause trouble, but with Mrs Poole watching us so carefully, there was nothing we could do. Besides, more people were turning up.

  “Do you think we’ve left enough clues everywhere?” asked Fliss anxiously. “There might be more than ten teams taking part.”

  “Nah, I think we’ll be all right,” said Frankie confidently. “It’s almost five to ten and only six teams have registered so far. Oh look Lyndz, here comes your mum!”

  “What?” squealed Lyndz. “Mum! What are you doing here?”

  “We’re taking part in the scavenger hunt, thank you very much, young lady!” retorted Mrs Collins, grabbing hold of Ben’s hand and holding tight on to Spike’s buggy. “Isn’t my five quid good enough for you, then?”

  “’Course,” squeaked Lyndz.

  “And this is my friend Carol and her son James,” her mum continued. “They’re going to be the rest of our team!”

  Lyndz turned to us, red in the face. “I haven’t told Mum the route, honestly. She doesn’t even know about Dad’s pots!”

  I looked around the playground. It seemed full of people of all ages. There were loads of people I didn’t recognise, but there were quite a few kids from school too – including Ryan Scott and Danny McCloud. And there was someone waving to me frantically from a wheelchair. It was Jake from the hospital. He gave me a big grin and a thumbs-up sign. He was with a couple of women and a girl I was sure I’d seen before. It took me a while to work out that it was Mr Hicks’ daughter Katie. I recognised her from the photograph on his desk.

  “Good morning, ladies and gentleman. It’s good to see so many of you here…” Mrs Poole was off on her welcome speech. “Fundraising blah, blah, blah… Children’s Ward blah, blah, blah… Laura McKenzie, Francesca Thomas…”

  Everyone was clapping, so we sort of made a little bow and felt really stupid.

  “The rules of the scavenger hunt, blah, blah, blah… whichever team is the first to arrive at the correct destination at 11.15am with all the correct clues will be the winners. I have your first clues here. May the best team win!”

  Mrs Poole blew a whistle, and there was a mad scramble as everyone rushed up to her, almost knocking her over. Then they all scattered, huddling in small groups to make sense of the clue. Lots of people seemed to rush from the playground at once, and the M&Ms were among the first to go.

  “We’ve got to stop the Gruesome Twosome from winning!” I warned the others. “Let’s each go to one of the clues and try to put them off the scent. Meet back at Pricebusters at ten to eleven, OK?”

  By some amazing coincidence, we all seemed to know where we should be going… We started running in different directions, leaving Mrs Poole to gather up the money and shout after us that she would see us at the supermarket later.

  I headed for Dad’s surgery and hung around. Before too long, there was a whirlwind of activity at the other end of the High Street. All these people seemed to be flying towards me, some clutching Pricebusters carrier bags, others clutching their clues. Some weren’t clutching anything, but were running hell for leather towards me. And in the middle of the pack were the dreaded duo.

  “This was a bit of an obvious clue, wasn’t it McKenzie?” sneered Emily Berryman in her gruff voice. Meanwhile Emma Hughes had barged past me and rushed into the surgery. A few minutes later she hurried out clutching a piece of Dad’s headed notepaper and the next clue. It was the one Fliss had written. It read:

  COLUMBINE CLOSE is the place to

  be If BEAUTY’S your thing there you will see

  The latest treatments and products too

  So give it a go and NAIL your next clue.

  “Columbine Close?” puzzled Berryman. “Isn’t that where your whingey mate Felicity Bigbottom lives?”

  “Ooh, aren’t you clever to have worked it out so fast!” I pretended to sound really pleased for them. “Go on, you’d better hurry before the others work it out too!”

  Emma Hughes and her mates looked at me in amazement. I grinned at them and turned to go. As I was leaving I heard one of them say:

  “It can’t be right if McKenzie said it was. She’d neuer tell us the right answer!”

  I couldn’t help laughing to myself. That’s exactly what I’d wanted them to think. I am a genius!

  I hurried off to Pricebusters and was the first one there. The others were still out spotting the M&Ms. I went over to speak to Frankie’s mum, who was still there.

  “It seems to be going well, Kenny!” she assured me. “I think Mr Hicks is looking for you. He’s wheeled a huge tub and loads of baked beans over there. I take it that’s for your grand finale!”

  “Sure is!” I called over my shoulder, and ran to where I could see Mr Hicks unloading some boxes. This was going to be so cool!

  I’d started to help him when Fliss joined me.

  “Those M&Ms are unbelievable!” she stormed. “They were so rude to Mum, saying that if her business was any good she’d have a salon in the High Street. Mum was furious!”

  “Oh, they got there then,” I sniffed. “Pity. Did you see anyone else?”

  “Only Ryan Scott. He looked dead embarrassed when he saw me!” she smiled. “But I don’t know who else is in his team because I only saw Danny McCloud.”

  “Wotcha!” Frankie ran up behind us. “I’m afraid I never saw the M&Ms. I thought I’d better come back and help you with these baked beans. Time’s running out so we’d better get this lot open. Where’s the tin opener, then?”

  “Oh, PANTS!” I yelled. “I knew there was something I’d forgotten!”

  “You stupid ’nana!” shouted Frankie. “How could you forget something so important?”

  “Well, I didn’t see any of you reminding me!” I yelled back.

  “It wasn’t our idea to sit in a bath of baked beans!” snapped Fliss.

  I didn’t need all that aggro, I really didn’t. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did. M
olly appeared. She was skulking along behind Mum, who’d come to see how everything was going. But as soon as Molly clocked the situation, there was no stopping her.

  “I always knew you were an idiot!” she guffawed. “You’ve talked about nothing but this stupid baked-bean stunt for weeks, and then you forget your vital piece of equipment. I mean, derr!”

  She pointed to her head and crossed her eyes.

  “Just shut up, OK!” I yelled. I was beginning to wish the ground would swallow me up when Mr Hicks appeared.

  “Haven’t you started opening the tins yet?” he asked. “I thought you were planning to have your bath as soon as the scavenger hunt had finished.”

  “Well there’s just a teeny little problem…” I began.

  “My stupid sister’s forgotten the tin-opener!” shrieked Molly.

  “Oh dear,” Mr Hicks looked at me sympathetically. “I’m sure I can rustle up a few from the store, hang on!”

  He rushed inside, and was back in a couple of minutes carrying four new tin-openers.

  “There we are. With four of you on the job, you should be finished in no time!” he laughed, handing them out to Frankie, Fliss, Molly and me.

  “Hang on a minute. This is nothing to do with me!” squealed my stupid sister.

  “Oh, but I think it is,” Mum said firmly. “It’s the least you can do after embarrassing poor Kenny like that!”

  Class!

  We got blisters and everything opening so many tins, but it was worth it just to see Molly moaning and grumbling as she emptied tin after tin into the tub! Even when Rosie and Lyndz finally appeared, Mum made Molly carry on. Which was just as well, as the other two couldn’t speak for laughing.

  “It was brilliant, you ought to have been there!” gasped Rosie, clutching her sides. “The M&Ms were in my garden rummaging about and they picked up one of the pots with the clues in…”

  “But Ben and Spike appeared with Mum and they recognised Dad’s pots, didn’t they?” Lyndz continued. “So they rushed up to the M&Ms…”

  “… and grabbed their pot from them, screaming that they were stealing it and it didn’t belong to them!” spluttered Rosie. “It was so funny, I thought I was going to wet myself! That’s why we’ve been so long.”

  “Well, at least it should have slowed down the creeps,” I said. “Do you think it’ll be long before the first team gets…”

  I couldn’t finish because there was a whole load of screaming and shouting. We looked round – and Ryan Scott and his team were tearing towards us, closely followed by the M&Ms.

  “Quick, where’s the banner we made for the finishing line?” yelled Frankie. “You didn’t forget that as well, did you Kenny?”

  “I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking after it!” I yelled back.

  “I knew this would be a disaster,” whimpered Fliss.

  “Hey, look it’s OK!” Lyndz shouted excitedly and pointed to the table where Frankie’s mum had given out the first clues. “Mrs Poole must have brought it with her from school because she’s put it up over there.”

  We hared towards it, just as the two teams were hurtling by the trolleys in front of the supermarket. They were neck and neck. I saw Emma Hughes try to push Ryan Scott out of the way, but he held his own and kept her off. Danny McCloud was running and holding his little brother’s hand. Behind him were two older women, both bright red in the face and huffing and puffing a bit.

  “They’re with their mums!” I squealed.

  It was impossible to say who was in the front, and Emma and Ryan both seemed to slap their carrier bags on the table at the same time. Everybody looked confused and Emma Hughes and her team were all bent double trying to get their breath back.

  “We won, didn’t we?” Emily Berryman panted at last.

  “Nah,” I said confidently. “I’m sure I saw Scotty put his bag down first.”

  Everyone looked at me.

  “I’m not so sure, Laura,” Mrs Poole told me. “I think I’m going to have to examine all their clues and see if they have picked up the correct things.”

  By that time most of the other teams were back, laughing and shouting.

  “That was great fun!” said a voice behind me. “I’m sure Posh Spice couldn’t have organised anything better!”

  It was Jake.

  “Glad you enjoyed it!” I grinned.

  Mr Hicks had come over to see Katie and his wife, who’d both been on Jake’s team.

  “Give me a shout when you want me to announce your grand finale!” he said and winked at me.

  “Oh, so it’s you who’s going into the bath of baked beans!” Jake guffawed. “I might have guessed. Katie’s been telling me all about it. Well, at least you’ll get that stupid Leicester City shirt dirty!”

  “I’d rather have a dirty Leicester City shirt than a clean Manchester United shirt!” I grinned back at him.

  Then Frankie charged over to me and leapt on my back.

  “You’ll never guess what’s happened!” she shrieked. “Mrs Poole’s only disqualified the M&Ms for having the wrong colour of nail varnish on their clue, hasn’t she?!”

  Apparently Fliss’s mum had got so ticked off with them that she’d accidentally on purpose given them Plum Pudding instead of Mango Sorbet! Wicked!

  “Way to go, Mrs S!” I yelled.

  I was definitely up for my baked-bean bath now. I gave the signal to Mr Hicks and he went inside. In a couple of minutes there was a crackling over the speakers, and then he announced:

  “Congratulations to the winning team in the scavenger hunt. The Scotts and the McClouds will be having their prize of a minute’s trolley dash round Pricebusters at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. But now, I urge you to go outside and give generously as Kenny McKenzie is going to sit in a bath of baked beans. All money raised is for the Children’s Ward Appeal at Queen Mary’s Hospital. Thank you!”

  You should have seen all the people streaming out. Some had bags full of shopping with them, others seemed to have abandoned their trolleys inside.

  “Well, you’ve certainly got a big audience!” smiled Frankie.

  “Yeah, you’d better grab those collecting buckets because I’m going to raise loads of dosh!”

  Now, you know me. If I’m going to do something, I do it to the max. I stepped up to the bath and shouted:

  “Drum roll please!”

  Ryan Scott and Danny McCloud started drumming on the table.

  I stepped one foot into the bath. It was really yucky and squidgy, like wading through maggots. I pretended to be posing in a beauty contest. Then I pretended to be a muscle-man. And all the time the crowd was whooping and laughing and loving it.

  I meant to lower myself gently into the beans, taking as long as possible. But somehow I missed my footing. My legs slid from under me and suddenly – WHOOSH! I was submerged and thrashing about in the beans as though I was trying to fend off a shark! Beans were everywhere – in my eyes, in my ears, up my nose, down my throat. It was awful. I started coughing and spluttering, but that just made everybody laugh even more.

  I had to thrash about and splutter for quite a few minutes before people started drifting away back to their shopping.

  “That was brilliant!” shrieked Frankie when the last person had gone. “We raised loads of dosh, look at this!” She rattled her bucket full of money in my face. “The others have collected heaps too!”

  “I don’t care!” I gasped. “Just get me out of here!”

  None of the others would touch me. They just made being-sick faces when they saw how icky and slimy I was. It wasn’t until Mum came over, armed with carrier bags to use as gloves, that I was able to get out.

  “Crikey Kenny, what a state!” squealed Rosie.

  The others were all bent double with laughter, and Lyndz was laughing so much that she started hiccuping. Then they all got in a huddle.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded.

  They laughed some more, and took their buckets and emptied
the money into a canvas sack that Mrs Poole had given them. Then they all started running to the side of the supermarket.

  “Where are you going?” I demanded.

  “It’s the last scavenger clue!” they giggled.

  “Childish!” I tutted and tried to get rid of some of the gunk which had collected in my ears. I was so busy doing that that I didn’t hear them come back. One minute I was covered in dried-on tomato sauce, the next… SPLOSH! I was wet and slimy all over again. Those so-called mates of mine had filled up their buckets with water from the car-wash and thrown it over me!

  “Right, I’m going to get you!” I yelled, and started to chase them towards the front entrance of the supermarket.

  Customers looked terrified as four girls came tearing towards them pursued by a gunge-covered monster. Frankie, Fliss, Rosie and Lyndz dived through the main doors. I knew I shouldn’t follow them in, but I couldn’t help myself.

  “Not so fast, young lady!”

  I felt someone grab hold of my collar. I’d been nabbed by the store detective! Or maybe it was Mr Hicks? Trembling I turned round.

  “Dad! You nearly gave me the shock of my life!”

  “I should think so too. Shoppers would have been keeling over in fear if you’d gone tearing in there looking like a swamp monster. Sometimes I despair of you, Kenny, I really do.”

  By that time my friends had come out to find me.

  “We’ve just had a close encounter with Mr Hicks!” Frankie gasped. “We had to pretend that we’d rushed in there to thank him for all his help before we went home.”

  “So how did it go?” asked Dad, wiping his hands clean on his handkerchief. “Did you make lots of money?”

  “The money!” we all shrieked together.

  We’d left the sack full of coins next to the bath of baked beans when we went chasing off. We dashed back as fast as we could. But it had disappeared!