by Ginny Deals
We looked a pretty sorry sight, trailing behind Dad. The manager’s door was looming closer and closer… Then it was so close that I could read the manager’s name on the door plate – “R. Keating”. I giggled at the thought of the Boyzone singer running Animal World.
Suddenly I had the strangest deja-vu. Keating? I knew that name from somewhere else as well…
Then it hit me. Totally simple. Totally brilliant.
I pulled Dad down to me and whispered something in his ear.
“Right, are we ready for the ordeal?” said Mr Collins with a grin.
“You’ll all feel better in the long run,” advised Andy. “Trust me.”
“I’m sure Animal World will understand,” said Rosie’s mum. “Which is more than I do, to tell the truth,” she added.
“Come on, Gwyn,” said Dr McKenzie, buttoning up his coat. “Lead the way.”
“Um,” said Dad.
“Is there a problem, Gwyn?” asked Mrs Collins with a frown.
One of the guards came up to us. “Shall I take that little blighter, then?” he said with a grin.
“Lyndsey, give the piglet to the guard,” said Dad. He’d gone a very strange colour, sort of blotchy red.
“But I thought you said—” began Lyndz.
Dad’s face got redder. “Forget what I said. Just hand it over, will you? Then we can go.”
Forget it? Everyone stared.
“There is a reward, sir,” said the guard with a smile. “Mr Keating the manager would be delighted to—”
“No, honestly, no need for a reward,” said Dad. “Give it to charity or something.” His face was verging on purple now. “Come on, everyone. Off we go, back home now.”
Everyone was so surprised that they let Dad hustle them out of the door and into the car park.
All my mates started talking at once. They were absolutely bursting to know what I’d whispered to Dad.
“Frankie, what—” hissed Kenny.
“Tell us what you said, Frankie, or I’ll have to kill you,” Rosie threatened.
“Please put us out of our misery,” Fliss pleaded.
“My lips are sealed,” I said solemnly.
“Frankie, we’re your mates!” begged Lyndz. “I can’t believe you’d be so mean not to tell us!”
“Listen,” I said. “I made a pact, OK? You know about pacts – we make them all the time. And they mean silence forever, don’t they?”
Everyone nodded reluctantly.
“Even under torture, right?” I continued.
Everyone nodded again, even more reluctantly. I think they could tell that I was serious.
“Well, whatever you said, mate, I owe you one,” said Lyndz with a huge sigh. “I think you really just saved my life in there!”
“S’pose,” said Rosie grumpily.
“At least we don’t have a criminal record,” said Fliss.
Kenny snorted. “Yeah, and I was really looking forward to that bit!”
I linked arms with Rosie and Kenny. “We should just be grateful that we’ve got out of it.”
“Never look a gift horse in the mouth,” added Lyndz.
“Well, you wouldn’t do that anyway, would you mate?” I said cheerily. “Come on, let’s go home.”
Kenny didn’t try to make me talk on the way home in the car. I think she knew she was on to a total loser. Dad didn’t say a single word all the way home, either. So it was just Dr McKenzie making conversation. He kept saying things like, “Well, I’m sure you had your reasons, Gwyn”, and then staring out of the window a lot.
Dad dropped Kenny and her dad off, and then drove me straight home. When we got in, he just said “Go to your room.” Then he disappeared into the kitchen, where I could hear Mum moving around. It was Thomas Conference Time.
I didn’t get as far as my room. I settled down on the stairs, to wait for news of my fate. Pepsi came to join me after about ten minutes, so we both sat there together, watching the hall clock. Tick tock, tick tock…
Mum stuck her head round the kitchen door. She had this strange, scrunched-up look on her face, which could have been either a frown or a really desperate attempt not to laugh.
“Frankie, will you come downstairs, please?”
Down I trotted, all obedient, with Pepsi following close behind.
Dad was waiting by the kitchen table. He cleared his throat.
“Frankie,” he said. “Your mother and I have been talking. And I think we agree that you should be grounded for two weeks.”
Two weeks? Hmm, not great – but not bad either, I decided. I waited to see what else Dad would say.
“We think you have probably learned your lesson,” Dad continued hurriedly, “so let’s consider this the end of the matter. I don’t want to discuss it again.”
And that was it! I wasn’t totally banned from seeing my mates, I wasn’t given any chores. Jammy or what?
You’re dying to ask what I whispered to Dad back at Animal World, aren’t you? Well, I know I told the others I swore a pact and everything, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t. I just didn’t want to tell them about this, because it’s really pretty private. The Sleepover Club respects pacts, you see. Tell you what. Why don’t we make a pact now? OK, repeat after me:
“From the top of the mountain to the bottom of the sea, I’ll never tell a soul what you’re gonna tell me!”
There. I can tell you now.
Remember I recognised Mr Keating’s name? He’s one of Dad’s old clients – his name made me laugh then too, that’s why it rang a bell. And you remember how Dad goes on and on about his reputation? Well, I just put two and two together. I pointed out Mr Keating’s identity, and I said – come close now, I don’t want anyone to overhear us – I said: “Dad, you’re a lawyer. How’s it going to look if you own up to pignapping in front of a client?”
I think Dad was grateful, in a furious kind of way.
There! I’ve finished my choker for the party. Do you like it? I’m going to creep reeeallly quietly down to Dad and ask him if I can go to the party now. The rest of my mates are going to be there – they got grounded, like me, but nothing too major. And I can’t miss out on anything that includes the rest of the Sleepover Club, can I?
See you around!
HAVE YOU BEEN INVITED TO ALL THESE SLEEPOVERS?
The Sleepover Club at Frankie’s
The Sleepover Club at Lyndsey’s
The Sleepover Club at Felicity’s
The Sleepover Club at Rosie’s
The Sleepover Club at Kenny’s
Starring the Sleepover Club
The Sleepover Girls go Spice
The 24 Hour Sleepover Club
The Sleepover Club Sleeps Out
Happy Birthday, Sleepover Club
Sleepover Girls on Horseback
Sleepover in Spain
Sleepover on Friday 13th
Sleepover Girls at Camp
Sleepover Girls go Detective
Sleepover Girls go Designer
The Sleepover Club Surfs the Net
Sleepover Girls on Screen
Sleepover Girls and Friends
Sleepover Girls on the Catwalk
The Sleepover Club Goes for Goal!
Sleepover Girls go Babysitting
Sleepover Girls go Snowboarding
Happy New Year, Sleepover Club!
Sleepover Club 2000
We Love You Sleepover Club
Vive le Sleepover Club!
Sleepover Club Eggstravaganza
Emergency Sleepover
Sleepover Girls on the Range
The Sleepover Club Bridesmaids
Sleepover Girls See Stars
Sleepover Club Blitz
Sleepover Girls in the Ring
Sari Sleepover
Merry Christmas, Sleepover Club!
The Sleepover Club Down Under
Sleepover Girls Go Splash!
Sleepover Girls Go Karting
SLEEPOVER KIT LIST<
br />
1. Sleeping bag
2. Pillow
3. Pyjamas or a nightdress
4. Slippers
5. Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap etc
6. Towel
7. Teddy
8. A creepy story
9. Food for a midnight feast: chocolate, crisps, sweets, biscuits. In fact anything you like to eat.
10. Torch
11. Hairbrush
12. Hair things like a bobble or hairband, if you need them
13. Clean knickers and socks
14. Change of clothes for the next day
15. Sleepover diary and membership card
COPYRIGHT
The Sleepover Club ® is a
registered trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2001
Collins is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith,
London, W6 8JB
The HarperCollins website address is
www.harpercollins.co.uk
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Text copyright © Ginny Deals 2001
Original series characters, plotlines
and settings © Rose Impey 1997
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN 9780007387403
The author asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of the work.
Conditions of Sale
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