Sleepover Girls Go Camping

by Fiona Cummings

  “Hey, Fliss, look!” Rosie dragged Fliss away.

  “Daisy chains!” screamed Frankie, in an over-the-top kind of way. “Let’s make daisy chains with those younger children.”

  “Yes!” I said, trying my best to sound enthusiastic. “Let’s!”

  After that narrow escape we just had to stay out of the M&Ms way for the rest of the afternoon. It was a huge relief all round when school finally broke up. And it was even more of a relief when Fliss turned up at the next Brownie meeting with the form and her money. There was no going back now – assault course or not!

  There were only two weeks between us handing in our forms and actually going away to camp. You can imagine how excited we were. We never seemed to talk about anything else.

  “I can’t wait!” laughed Kenny.

  We were all sitting in her room a couple of days before the camp. “There’ll be so many cool things to do! I’ve always wanted to have a bash at abseiling!”

  “Yeah, ‘having a bash’ is probably right!” laughed Frankie. “Knowing you, you’ll probably try to do it too fast and splat! – you’ll be squashed on the wall.”

  Fliss sort of shivered.

  “We’re only joking Fliss,” I reassured her. “It won’t be like that – there’ll be lots of fun stuff. It’s going to be brilliant!”

  “Do you think we ought to start practising for the Challenge?” Fliss asked.

  We all stared at her with our mouths open.

  “What, you mean you know?” asked Rosie.

  “Yes,” said Fliss slowly, as though we were all dummies. “And I really think we should practise so that the M&Ms don’t beat us.”

  “Cool!” shouted Kenny. “Maybe we should go outside now and start climbing a few trees or something. What about press-ups, they’re good.”

  I started to shake my head at Kenny, because I could see Fliss’s shocked face.

  “How will climbing trees help us to sing the best songs round the camp fire?” she asked.

  Kenny looked blank. It wasn’t often that she was speechless.

  “It’s something to do with opening your lungs properly.” Frankie leapt to her rescue. “I’ve heard that you should exercise before you sing.”

  Rosie and I rolled our eyes at each other, and I tried not to giggle.

  It was a relief when we were finally on the minibus heading for Foxton Glen. We knew that we couldn’t keep the assault course a secret from Fliss for much longer, but we figured that we’d cope with it when it happened. Besides, we already had enough to worry about, dealing with the low-down behaviour of the M&Ms.

  We’d all been lining up to get on the minibus, when they barged past us and nabbed the seats right in the middle. Alana Banana sat on the seat opposite them, which meant that we couldn’t all sit together. So Kenny and Frankie sat in front of the Gruesome Twosome, Rosie and Fliss sat behind them and I sat in front of Alana Banana with – get this – Brown Owl. So we had an excellent journey to Foxton Glen – not! And it was all the fault of those selfish M&Ms. We were determined that they’d pay for it over the next few days.

  “Here we are, girls!” Brown Owl called out, as we finally swung off the main road onto a twisty track. We all pressed our faces up to the windows so that we could see where we’d be staying for the next few days.

  “Wow, isn’t this cool!” yelled Kenny. “What’s that over there?” She was pointing to something in the distance.

  “That’s the tower for the abseiling and the climbing wall,” explained Brown Owl.

  The minibus stopped.

  “Right, can you please get off the minibus quickly and quietly,” said Brown Owl, “and remember to collect all your bags.”

  We pushed and shoved our way off as quickly as we could. Apart from Fliss, who always has to check anywhere a million times to make sure she hasn’t left anything behind.

  We were all hyper, laughing and joking as we looked around – it was awesome. But we also realised that the dreaded moment had finally arrived.

  “What are you so excited about?” Fliss asked, when she finally joined us.

  Together, we pointed at the sign in front of us, which said, in huge letters: ASSAULT COURSE THIS WAY.

  Poor Fliss! I’ve never seen anyone go as white so quickly. It was as though someone had sucked all the blood out of her face with a straw.

  “Are you all right, Felicity?” Brown Owl asked anxiously.

  But Fliss could only mumble and point to the sign.

  “Assault course does sound a bit grim, doesn’t it?” laughed Brown Owl. “But don’t worry, because it’s not going to be the assault course for much longer. I’ll explain when the other Brownies get here.”

  Another minibus was driving towards us. When it stopped, the Brownies from 12th Cuddington spilled out. We recognised a few of them from school. We certainly recognised Regina Hill and Amanda Porter, who headed straight for the M&Ms and Alana ‘Banana’. They stood in a silly little huddle screeching and chattering like chimps in a zoo.

  As soon as they had settled down, Brown Owl explained what she had meant about the assault course. This camp was going to have the theme of children’s TV programmes, so the assault course was going to be referred to as Blue Peter, the kitchen would be Grange Hill, and the toilet and shower blocks would be called Arnold and Doug!

  There were twenty Brownies altogether, eleven from our pack and nine from the other. So there were going to be four tents of five, plus a tent for the grown-ups. The Sleepover Club were in a tent together and we didn’t have to share with anyone else which was great. The M&Ms were sharing with Alana Palmer, the awful Amanda Porter and Regina Hill. Then there was a tent of Brownies from 12th Cuddington and another tent with girls from both packs, but it was OK because they all knew each other.

  Brown Owl called each group a ‘patrol’ and we all had a name. We were Rugrats, the M&Ms and their group were Teletubbies, the group just from 12th were The Simpsons and the mixed group were Wombles. Pretty cool, huh? We really laughed when Brown Owl said that we had to call her Tom and the Brown Owl from 12th, Jerry!

  A group of forest rangers had already started to put up our tents. Jerry said that three of them would be staying with us for the rest of the camp and we had to call them Paddington, Garfield and Scooby Doo!

  I wondered how I would ever remember all those new names.

  “Isn’t this great?” I said to Rosie, as we took our stuff over to the tents.

  “Yeah, but I don’t think Fliss is very happy,” she replied. I looked across at Fliss. She looked really sulky and miserable.

  “Right, Rugrats, this will be your tent,” said Brown Owl. “This is Paddington and her ranger friends. You can help them finish putting up your tent, but you must do exactly as they say.”

  The rangers were really cool and fun. And actually I think they were quite pleased with us, because Kenny and I are used to putting up tents. We go camping a lot with our families, you see. We helped tighten the ropes and everything, while Frankie and Rosie tried to calm Fliss down. I just couldn’t understand how anyone could get so freaked out over an assault course – especially one that was called Blue Peter. Still, Fliss does a lot of stuff that I don’t understand.

  When our tent was up we took our stuff inside. The tent itself was like a bell and had one big pole in the middle. We arranged our sleeping bags so that they fanned out like the spokes of a wheel. We would sleep with our heads in the middle by the pole, and our feet pointing out to the sides. It was a bit weird, but exciting, too.

  I kind of like sleeping in a tent because it’s all sort of squashed and cosy. But Fliss didn’t like it at all. “There’s just no room!” she kept wailing.

  “Oh Fliss, shut up, will you!” snapped Kenny. “You knew it wasn’t going to be The Savoy!”

  Fliss’s lip started to quiver a bit. The last thing we needed was any waterworks.

  “Come on, Fliss, you’ll get used to it!” I reassured her. “We’re Rugrats, remember!”
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br />   “I wonder which Teletubbies the M&Ms are!” laughed Frankie.

  “I don’t know, but Amanda Porter definitely looks like one!” said Kenny and did and impression of her waddling along. We all laughed – even Fliss!

  Brown Owl poked her head through the tent flap. “I’m glad to see that you’re settling in,” she said. “I expect you’re all itching to get out and start doing things. So, go to Arnold if you need to, then I’ll meet you at Blue Peter in five minutes!”

  “Great!” yelled Kenny.

  She flew out of the tent, but the rest of us hung back. Fliss had started to do her impression of a quivering jelly again.

  “I’m sure you won’t have to go on the assault course if you don’t want to,” I told her.

  “I’m rubbish at stuff like that, too,” Rosie reassured her. “We’ll go on it together. If we don’t like it, we can always get off.”

  Fliss looked a bit brighter.

  “And I’ll stay with you, too,” I told them. I quite like assault courses and things but I felt sorry for Fliss, and I thought that if Rosie really did want to have a proper go on it, I could look after Fliss.

  “C’mon you lot. What’s keeping you?” yelled Kenny. She rushed back into the tent all out of breath. You could tell that she was itching to go on the assault course.

  “I’ll go with action man here,” said Frankie. “One of us had better keep an eye on her!” And she ran after Kenny.

  The rest of us took our time. We went to the loos and when Fliss had played about in there as long as she possibly could, we made our way over to the assault course.

  To be honest with you I didn’t really know what to expect. I suppose I’d imagined scramble nets about six metres high and nothing but mud all around. But it wasn’t like that at all. Actually it looked really pretty – there were big bushes on each side and it followed a sort of loop, so you could see where you started and finished but you couldn’t see all the bits in between. It looked vast, but that was only because instead of there being one obstacle, there were two of the same kind next to each other. I guessed that that was so teams could compete against each other. Which reminded me about the Challenge on the last day.

  “At last!” called Brown Owl when she saw us. “I thought Arnold must have swallowed you up!”

  Two Brownies from The Simpsons ran past us. They were giggling together and looked as if they were having a great time. I couldn’t wait to start.

  “Fliss is a bit nervous about the assault—I mean, about Blue Peter,” Rosie explained.

  Fliss looked really annoyed with her.

  “There’s nothing to be worried about,” Brown Owl reassured us. “Jerry and I are here to help you and the rangers are on the course, too. Just take your time and have fun.”

  “Come on, Fliss!” smiled Rosie. “We might as well have a go on it now we’re here.”

  “Look, I’ll go first, then you just follow me,” I suggested.

  Fliss nodded, so I set off. First you had to jump over a hurdle, then there was a ditch with a tree trunk over the top. The Brownies in front of me balanced on the trunk as though it was a tightrope. They moved along it really slowly so that they didn’t fall into the mud underneath. I just copied what they did. It was great. I could hear Kenny and Frankie ahead of me, but I couldn’t see them. I turned round. “Are you OK?” I shouted back.

  Rosie gave me the thumbs-up sign and Fliss was actually laughing.

  “You see,” I called back. “There was nothing to worry about, was there?”

  Once I knew that they were all right I just did my own thing. There were lots of things I’d seen people do on the television, like running through two rows of tyres, which was much more difficult than I’d thought it would be. But the hardest thing was getting over the top of the scramble nets and climbing down the other side. It took a while to get used to swaying about while you were climbing, but it was really exciting.

  From the top of the nets, I could see the rest of the course. There was Emily Berryman slumped by the side of the underground crawl-through tunnel. She looked as though she was about to be sick. Amanda Porter was stuck in the swinging tyres and Kenny was pretending to be Tarzan on the rope swing. I climbed down the netting as fast as I could. I was desperate to have a go on the rest of the course.

  I was just coming up to the underground tunnel when I heard screaming. It didn’t register at first, but then I realised it was Fliss. I ran back and there she was – stuck at the top of the scramble nets.

  “I can’t move!” she cried. “I’m too scared.”

  Rosie was at the other side trying to coax her down. I climbed up to Fliss and tried to reassure her.

  “You’ve done the worst part,” I said. “All you’ve got to do now is reach over and pull yourself over to the other side.”

  “Easy for you to say!” Fliss squeaked.

  I climbed up and showed her what to do, but it was no good, she just wouldn’t move. When she’d been there for what seemed like hours I said, “There’s Scooby Doo over there, talking to the M&Ms. I’ll call her over, shall I?”

  As soon as I said that, Fliss flung herself over the top of the nets and sort of slid down the other side. Rosie and I scrambled down after her. Fliss was lying in a heap at the bottom.

  “I told you I hated assault courses!” she sobbed.

  “Don’t worry, you won’t have to go on it again,” I told her.

  Me and my big mouth!

  When Fliss had recovered enough, we all walked round to the end of the assault course, where everyone else had gathered.

  “Have a little problem, did you?” Emma Hughes asked Fliss cattily.

  Fliss blushed.

  “Had a few little problems yourselves!” retorted Kenny, looking from Emily Berryman to Amanda Porter. Then it was their turn to look embarrassed.

  “We’ll still beat you bunch of losers in the Blue Peter Challenge!” said Emma Hughes angrily.

  “Blue Peter Challenge?” whimpered Fliss, as the truth suddenly hit her. “You mean the Challenge is over the assault course?”

  Kenny ignored Fliss and faced the M&Ms full on. “There’s absolutely no way you’re going to beat us!” spat Kenny. “And that’s a promise!”

  The rest of us looked at each other. When Kenny wants something badly enough, the rest of us have to suffer for it. But we didn’t know then just how badly Kenny wanted to beat the M&Ms.

  After we’d all had a go on the assault course, Brown Owl took us to look round some of the other activities we’d be doing at Foxton Glen. Kenny was still mad at the M&Ms. I thought she’d never get over it. She didn’t even perk up when we walked over to the climbing wall and the abseiling tower.

  “What’s up with her?” I mouthed to Frankie. But she just shrugged her shoulders.

  And Fliss wasn’t a bundle of laughs, either. She was still all twitchy about the assault course and kept saying there was no way that she was ever going on it again, Challenge or not. That of course just made Kenny madder still.

  It didn’t help that Emma Hughes and her stupid friends kept whispering together, then looking over at us and giggling.

  “They’re really getting on my nerves!” said Rosie.

  “You and me both,” I replied.

  We were all a bit on edge because we were expecting Kenny to have a go at them at any moment. But luckily she didn’t. She just kept giving them evil looks.

  We were walking back towards our tents when Rosie pointed to something and asked Brown Owl what it was.

  “That’s one of the nature ponds,” Brown Owl explained. “There are a few frogs and things in it, so we can look at the creatures in their natural habitat.”

  “They won’t get into our tents, will they?” asked Fliss anxiously.

  “No, Felicity, they won’t hop that far!” laughed Brown Owl. “And we won’t be eating frogs’ legs for supper either. But we will be eating pasta and Teletubbies are on kitchen duty, The Simpsons will be waitresses and Rugrats
are going to be our orderlies. Wombles, you can be on litter patrol – you should be good at that!”

  We all laughed.

  “So, Emma,” Brown Owl continued, “when we get back to the tents could you and your patrol get yourselves ready for a bit of action in the kitchen. The rest of you will be playing games with Jerry and the rangers until supper.”

  Kenny had been very quiet while we were out, but when we got back to our tent she started leaping about.

  “Looks like the old Kenny’s made a comeback!” laughed Frankie.

  “I’ve got a plan. It’s totally brilliant and it’s going to finish off the M&Ms once and for all!” she told us.

  “Well go on then – spill!” I commanded.

  “No way! I’m going to keep this one quiet. But you’ll hear about it soon enough!” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “All I want you to do is cover up for me if anyone notices I’m missing.”

  “Charming!” said Fliss. “You won’t tell us what you’re going to do but you want us to cover for you. That doesn’t sound very fair!”

  The rest of us rolled our eyes. Fliss is very big on things ‘being fair’.

  “Just do it, OK!” commanded Kenny in a tone of voice which told us that we shouldn’t mess with her plans.

  In our bags we’d all brought enough goodies for three midnight feasts. Kenny had brought hers in a large ice-cream carton. She went over to her bag, took it out, and tipped everything in it onto her sleeping bag. Mini Mars bars, jelly babies, lollipops and Black Jacks spilled everywhere. She scooped them back into her bag and skipped out of the tent with the ice-cream carton.

  “What on earth is she going to do?” asked Frankie, staring after her.

  “You know what she’s like,” said Fliss.

  “Do you think we should follow her to make sure she’s not doing anything stupid.”

  “She’d kill us if she spotted us,” said Rosie.

  “We’ll just have to do as she says and cover for her,” I said. “I can hear the others outside. Come on, let’s go and play some games!”

  We ran outside and joined The Simpsons, Wombles and the rangers. Then we had a cool time playing an enormous game of Cops and Robbers. When someone asked where Kenny was, we just said that she had a stomach ache and was lying down. But then of course Jerry thought she ought to go and check on her, so I had to think fast.