‘I’m not sure,’ Sophie said quietly. ‘I mean, do we only get to have one leader all the way through?’
‘Sophie means, does someone else get to lead the challenges, or would it always be Bonnie?’ Annabelle explained.
‘Hmmm,’ Lola said, as she re-read the handout. ‘There’s nothing in the sheet that says we should have different leaders for each challenge.’
‘But there’s nothing to say that we shouldn’t,’ Lucy said.
‘Well, I don’t think it would be very fair if Bonnie got to be the leader of everything,’ Chloe suggested. ‘Like, for example, she wouldn’t really be the right person to lead the performance challenge.’
Bonnie drew in a quick breath. Sometimes, Chloe could be a bit mean.
Bonnie already knew she wasn’t any good at dancing and singing!
‘We don’t have to worry about that right now, Chloe,’ Lola said. ‘Let’s just take a vote for the overall leader of the team. Hands up if you want Bonnie.’
Lola put her hand up very high. Lucy’s hand shot up too. Bonnie smiled. It was nice to be supported like that. And she had to admit, she really did want to be the leader of the group.
Bonnie watched as Chloe lifted her hand. She didn’t look super convinced about Bonnie being the leader. But a vote was a vote, even if it wasn’t very enthusiastic.
Then she looked at Annabelle and Sophie. Annabelle was writing something on the handout. She quickly showed it to Sophie, but before anyone else could see, she scribbled over the top of it.
‘Annabelle,’ Lucy said crossly, ‘do you vote for Bonnie or not?’
‘Yes, yes,’ Annabelle answered. ‘We both do.’
Bonnie felt Lucy’s hand lifting her own high up in the air. ‘Then Bonnie is the winner!’ Lucy declared.
Bonnie really felt like a winner! And it was so exciting to think that there were four challenges coming up to compete in. It would be totally, completely fantastic to be the leader of the winning team. And with a team as cool as hers, they couldn’t lose.
‘Don’t we have to decide on a name for our team?’ Chloe asked, interrupting Bonnie’s thoughts.
‘I’ve got an idea –’ Sophie said, sitting up straight.
Ding, ding, ding!
The bell rang through the speakers of the multi-purpose room, interrupting Sophie.
Kids started racing noisily out the doors to get lunch. Mr Paul’s head popped over the top of the stairs to the loft. ‘Hop to it, girls,’ he said, smiling. ‘Lunchtime.’
Bonnie was almost sad to have to break up the group for lunch. Plans for how they could win each challenge raced around her head. She was so excited that she didn’t notice Sophie biting her lip. And she didn’t notice that Chloe was just about to step on Mr Paul’s head in her hurry to catch up with Dani.
‘Did you choose a leader?’ Mr Paul asked as the girls packed up.
Bonnie stretched her body up proudly. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m the leader!’
Bonnie held on tightly to the lunch-order basket as she did a little skid across the slippery floor of the corridor. The smell of yummy hot pies and sausage rolls wafted up to her nose.
Ms Diamond had been nice to let her collect the lunch orders from the canteen. Especially since last time there had been a little bit of a disaster! It wasn’t Bonnie’s fault, though – the cleaner must have really polished up her favourite skidding spot that day. Anyway, Bonnie thought pies and sausage rolls tasted the same whether they were squashed or unsquashed.
‘Hey, Boomer. Nice skid.’ Luke was carrying the lunch-order basket for Mr Paul’s class.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. ‘Could you stop calling me that?’ she asked nicely.
‘Sure, Boomer,’ Luke stirred. ‘Hey, did you see where Clarkey put the plaquey?’
Bonnie covered her mouth to hide a little smile. Mrs Clarke would definitely not like being called Clarkey!
‘No, where is it?’ she asked.
Luke pointed around the corner. Bonnie knew too well that he was pointing very close to Mrs Clarke’s office.
‘Wanna see where my name’s going to go?’ Luke asked, as he bumped the basket against his legs.
‘It won’t be your name,’ Bonnie snorted. ‘It will be mine … and my team’s.’
Luke laughed loudly, as though this was one of the funniest jokes he’d ever heard. ‘Yeah, right, Boomer,’ he said. ‘You’ve got a good imagination. As if. An all-girls team! How weak is that?’
Luke threw his head back and laughed again. Bonnie thought that he looked like he was about to choke.
‘I know what you girlies can do for the Get Active challenge,’ he teased. ‘How about Monopoly?’
‘How about soccer?’ someone said. It was Lola, on her way back from picking up the lunch orders for Mr Stavros’s class. ‘Come on, Bonnie. Let’s go and look at our plaque.’
Bonnie grinned as she and Luke followed Lola up to the plaque. ‘Soccer?’ she whispered to Lola. ‘That’s a great idea! It would be a very cool way to start the challenges. And I really think we could have a great team!’
Bonnie knew she was good at soccer. She also knew that Lola was a bit of a soccer star. She had been practising a lot with her new stepbrother Will.
As they rounded the corner, Bonnie sneaked a look inside Mrs Clarke’s office. Snippy and Snappy were crawling around in their tank. But luckily Mrs Clarke was out of the office.
The three of them stared up at the plaque. Even Loudmouth Luke was quiet as they looked at it.
‘Do you think we should put our names up there in alphabetical order?’ Lola asked, giving Bonnie a nudge.
‘Definitely,’ Bonnie giggled.
‘So, you really want to choose soccer for the Get Active challenge?’ Luke said. ‘You’re totally sure you don’t want to play something easier, like Hungry Hippos?’
Bonnie put her hands on her hips, ready to tell Luke off. But Luke just held up his hand in a stop sign.
‘That’s fine, Boomer,’ he said. ‘In fact, our team has already chosen soccer for the first challenge. So I guess we’ll be playing you. Or actually, we’ll be beating you!’
Suddenly, Luke was dancing around like a total loony. ‘Devils! Devils! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!’ he chanted. Then he paused and stared at Bonnie with squinty eyes. ‘That’s our team name,’ he said, way too loudly. They weren’t supposed to be hanging around in the corridor. ‘You’re probably called something stupid like the Fairy Chicks,’ he added.
Bonnie and Lola looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Luke was definitely the most annoying boy in the universe!
‘Our team name is fabulous, and it’s also top-secret,’ Bonnie told him. ‘For us to know, and you to find out.’
Lola gave her a funny look, but Bonnie just shook her head.
It’s not really a fib, Bonnie thought to herself. Our team name will be fabulous … as soon as we think of one!
Luke was too involved in his silly dance moves to even respond. He was also too busy to realise that Mrs Clarke had appeared in the corridor behind him.
Bonnie and Lola snorted back giggles as Mrs Clarke paused, watching Luke. Their giggling seemed to make him even crazier. He moonwalked over the slippery floor, sliding his feet in a way that was actually quite impressive …
‘That’s a very interesting method of delivering lunch orders, Luke,’ Mrs Clarke said sternly.
Bonnie watched as Luke froze midmoonwalk. He s-l-o-w-l-y turned around to face Mrs Clarke.
‘Um, sorry, Mrs Clarke,’ he faltered. ‘I’m just going back to class. In fact, I’d better go right now.’
Mrs Clarke nodded. ‘That’s a good idea,’ she said, looking around at Lola and Bonnie in a way that said they had better get moving, too!
The three of them turned and headed up the corridor towards their classrooms.
‘Oh, and Luke?’ Mrs Clarke called out with one hand on her office door.
Luke turned back. ‘Yes, Mrs Clarke?’ he asked.
‘Nice moonwalk,’ Mrs Clarke said, entering her office and closing the door.
Luke grinned. He did a little moonwalk slide up the corridor. Then he turned around one more time. ‘No chickening out, girls,’ he said. ‘The Devils are going to thrash you at soccer.’
When Luke had disappeared around the corner, Lola did her best ‘isn’t Luke a total lunatic?’ face. But Bonnie didn’t laugh.
‘What’s up, Bon?’ Lola asked.
Bonnie bit her lip. ‘We probably should have asked the others before we challenged Luke,’ she said. ‘Do you reckon they’ll be OK to play soccer against the Devils?’
‘Of course they will,’ Lola said, picking up her lunch-order basket and heading towards her classroom. ‘You’ll just have to convince them, that’s all.’
Bonnie laid bowls of chips and dip all around the table. It almost felt like she was setting up for a party. It had been a good idea to get all the girls around to her house after school for a team meeting. They needed more time to get organised – they still hadn’t chosen a name for their team. Plus, Bonnie and Lola had to let the team know about the soccer challenge they’d agreed to!
Bonnie put a bottle of lemonade in the centre of the table, with six cups placed neatly around it in a circle, and stepped back to look. This meeting was going to be perfect.
Bonnie checked the clock on the wall. It was four o’clock. By five o’clock, their team would be well on its way to victory!
The doorbell rang. Bonnie started out of the lounge room to answer it. At that moment, her brother Shane swooped past towards her beautifully laid table.
‘Leave everything alone, Boofhead!’ Bonnie called out as she opened the front door. She looked back at her brother. Shane had lifted the lemonade bottle up to his mouth – and he was drinking directly out of it!
‘You are so incredibly gross!’ Bonnie exclaimed. Suddenly, she remembered the open door.
Chloe had changed out of her school uniform. She was wearing a long skirt and a white, frilly top. ‘What do you mean?’ Chloe asked, looking down at her outfit.
Uh-oh, thought Bonnie. ‘Oh … I wasn’t talking to you, Chloe,’ she said quickly.
Chloe screwed up her nose, as though she didn’t know whether to believe her.
Bonnie grimaced. It was kind of weird how the only girl she didn’t really get along with had shown up first. A little shudder of doubt ran through her body. This was not the perfect start to a perfect meeting!
Luckily, all the other girls started turning up at the same time. Lucy – who was around at Bonnie’s place all the time – walked straight inside, and the others followed.
‘Let me guess,’ Lucy said, as she looked at the table. The half-empty lemonade bottle was on its side, and the bowls of food were all messed up. ‘Boofhead has been here,’ she giggled.
Bonnie looked at Lucy and smiled. It was so good to have her here! Lucy knew almost everything about Bonnie’s life, including how annoying her twin brothers, Shane and Tom, could be.
‘So, should we get started?’ Chloe said, as they all sat down.
Bonnie realised that everyone was looking at her. ‘Um … yes,’ she said, picking up the Team Terrific handout. ‘Firstly, we have to choose a team name. Does anybody have a suggestion?’
Annabelle cleared her throat. ‘How about the Freaky Fairies?’ she said.
Lola crunched on a chip and shook her head. ‘I don’t think we should have fairies in our name,’ she said slowly. Bonnie could tell that Lola was thinking of what Luke had said about their team name being something girly, like the Fairy Chicks.
Annabelle stared at Lola. ‘Why not?’ she asked in a gruff voice. ‘What’s wrong with fairies?’
Lola was just about to answer when Lucy butted in. ‘How about the All Stars?’ she suggested.
Annabelle shook her head. ‘No way,’ she said. ‘Nicole’s team is called the Super Stars. It’s too similar and –’
‘Dani told me her team is called the Zebras,’ Chloe interrupted, ‘and Stephanie’s team is called the Dogaroos, so no animal names.’
‘Don’t forget about the Thunderbolts,’ added Lucy.
We’re not getting anywhere! Bonnie thought to herself. ‘Would anyone like a lemonade?’ Bonnie offered loudly, trying to quieten everyone down.
‘Could I please have a glass of water?’ Chloe asked. ‘I’m not that into fizzy drinks.’
Bonnie nodded, and got up to walk to the kitchen. She looked in the fridge, wondering if they had any bottled water. She felt as though Chloe might roll her eyes if she got ordinary tap water. She couldn’t find any, so she put some ice in the glass, hoping that would be good enough.
As she filled up the glass from the tap, Bonnie could hear the girls arguing from the lounge room.
Bonnie felt a little sigh escape from her lips. Being the leader wasn’t as much fun as she had expected it to be. She hadn’t thought there would be this much work!
Bonnie walked back into the lounge room, balancing the water and a fresh bottle of lemonade, just as Annabelle pushed back her chair and stood up.
‘Sophie has an idea,’ Annabelle said. ‘You know how the boys’ team is calling itself the Devils?’
‘Oh, yeah. About the Devils …’ Lola said, standing up and talking over the top of Annabelle.
Oh no, thought Bonnie, Lola is going to spill the beans about the soccer challenge!
It was kind of funny – usually it would be Bonnie rushing in to tell the other girls the news. But, as the leader, she knew she had to be careful. She couldn’t just jump in and tell everyone what to do.
Bonnie had been thinking all day about how to introduce the idea of playing a soccer game against the Devils. Bonnie tried to give Lola a look that said stop! but Lola didn’t look in her direction.
‘Bonnie and I told Luke that we’d play the Devils in a soccer game for the Get Active challenge,’ she said. ‘Isn’t that going to be so cool?’
Suddenly, the lounge room fell silent. The atmosphere was eerily tense.
Bonnie bit her lip. She looked back at the clock. It was five minutes to five.
So far, they had no team name. And now it looked as though the girls were definitely not happy about the soccer challenge.
Bonnie held her breath as everyone stared at her. This meeting had definitely not gone as planned.
‘You absolutely cannot choose a sporting challenge without talking to the rest of us!’ Annabelle said in a loud voice. ‘Some of us may not even know how to play soccer,’ she said, looking at Sophie.
Bonnie glanced at Sophie and her heart sank. She hadn’t even thought that someone in her team might not be able to play soccer.
For once, Bonnie didn’t have a clue what to say. Maybe she and Lola had made a mistake challenging the Devils. But pulling out now would be too horrible. She could just imagine Luke gloating!
Bonnie looked at Lucy, hoping for some support. But even her best friend seemed a little cross.
‘It’s pretty late, Bon,’ Lucy said with a sigh. ‘My mum is picking me up for dance class soon. I should go and wait outside.’
Bonnie turned to Lola. Lola put her hands up and shrugged.
‘Sorry, Bonnie. I’ve got a karate class,’ she said. ‘I guess we’ll just have to have another meeting?’
Within seconds the doorbell rang. It was Sophie’s dad, arriving to pick up Sophie and Annabelle.
Bonnie saw them all off and then walked back to the lounge room as slowly as she could. Chloe was the only one left. So far, she hadn’t said a word about the soccer challenge. But Bonnie felt sure she was going to hear what Chloe thought about it!
Chloe was perched on the edge of an armchair. ‘My mum’s a bit late,’ she said, looking uncomfortable.
‘That’s OK,’ Bonnie said, secretly hoping she would hear a car pull up any second. She sank into the armchair next to Chloe’s and crossed her arms tightly.
‘I think it’s fine,’ Chloe said, suddenly. For a moment, Bonnie though
t she had heard wrong. But then Chloe spoke again. ‘I’m not that good at it, but I really like soccer.’
Bonnie lifted her head up. ‘Really?’ she asked tentatively.
Chloe nodded. ‘Yep. And it will give us a chance to beat the Devils!’ Chloe lifted her skirt a little, and made kicking motions with her feet.
Bonnie scratched her nose. ‘I know I should have checked with everyone first,’ she sighed. ‘But Luke was being such a pain! He said an all-girls team should play Monopoly or Hungry Hippos!’
Chloe shook her head. ‘Luke is so annoying,’ she laughed. ‘Being a leader is really hard, though,’ she continued. ‘You have to make lots of decisions really quickly. I’m already worried about leading the performance in the Be Creative challenge. Like, I know some great dance moves … but it will be hard choosing a song to dance to, if we can’t even choose a team name.’
Bonnie felt her heart rattle around in her chest. The team hadn’t even agreed that they would pick a different leader for each challenge. Bonnie knew the other teams weren’t doing it that way. And even if their team did decide to do it that way, it wasn’t certain that they would do a dance routine or that Chloe would get to be the leader. Lucy was really good at dancing and singing, too …
Bonnie bit her lip. It didn’t really matter right now. She was getting along with Chloe at last, and she was definitely not going to say anything to ruin things.
Just then, a car pulled up in the driveway. It was funny. Five minutes ago, Bonnie was wishing for Chloe’s mum to turn up but now she actually felt disappointed.
‘Hey,’ Bonnie said, as Chloe got up to go, ‘thanks.’
Bonnie felt a lot better after her chat with Chloe. At least Lola and Chloe were on her side. And Bonnie knew Lucy wouldn’t stay cross with her for long. Now there was just the problem of Annabelle and Sophie to solve.
If Sophie didn’t have a clue how to play soccer, perhaps they could teach her? And if they did that, then perhaps Annabelle would agree?
Angels Page 2
