Mega Sleepover 7: Summer Collection. Narinder Dhami

fed up with all this rain!” I moaned as we trailed back into school when the lunch hour was over. “I wish it was summer.”

      “Yeah, so do I,” said Fliss. “EEEK!”

      Ryan Scott, who’s in our class, had just gone past and flicked his wet scarf at her.

      “He fancies you, Fliss!” Frankie remarked, winking at me.

      Fliss turned pink. “Oh, don’t be silly!” she said, but you know what Fliss is like. She’s had a thing about Ryan Scott for ages.

      “I don’t think we’re going on holiday this year,” Frankie sighed. “Not with the baby and all that.” (Frankie’s mum’s having a baby, remember?)

      “Nor are we,” Lyndz added gloomily, “but my gran and grandpa might be coming to stay with us.”

      “My dad says he’s going to pay for us to go on holiday,” Rosie muttered, “but I’ll believe that when I see it!” (Rosie’s dad says a lot of stuff, but he doesn’t always get round to doing it.)

      “Did I tell you—” Fliss began eagerly.

      “Yeah, about fifty million times!” I said, taking off my coat.

      Fliss looked offended. “You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”

      “I’ll take a guess.” I grinned at her. “We’re going to Majorca and it’s going to be great!”

      Fliss had nearly sent us all bananas going on and on about her holiday to Majorca. Secretly though, I was a bit jealous. My mum and dad love going to places like Scotland and Wales, and although I like being out of doors, I don’t mind a bit of sun either.

      “Well, it is going to be great!” Fliss said crossly. “I can’t wait!”

      “Remember when we went to Spain?” Frankie said as we trooped into the classroom. “That was brilliant!”

      We all looked out of the classroom window at the rain coming down in sheets and felt even more miserable. That school trip to Spain was everyone’s best holiday ever. The weather had been scorching, the beaches were fab and best of all we’d made friends with five Spanish girls called Pilar, Maria, Isabella, Elena and Anna. At first we’d hated each other – that was sort of my fault. OK, it was my fault. But then we’d got over it and had a brilliant time together. We’d told the girls all about our Sleepover Club and they’d started one for themselves. Since we’d got back from Spain we’d kept in touch by emailing them every week from our class computer.

      “Come on everyone, sit down quickly.” Mrs Weaver came in, glancing round the room and glaring at anyone whose bottom wasn’t firmly on a seat. “Emma and Emily, didn’t you hear what I said?”

      “Sorry, Miss,” Emma Hughes said in a sugary-sweet voice. “Emily and I thought the bookshelves were looking a bit messy, so we were just tidying them up.”

      “Oh, thank you, girls,” said Mrs Weaver.

      I just looked at the other Sleepovers and pulled a face like I was about to be sick. The M&Ms always have that effect on me!

      The M&Ms, in case you’ve been asleep for the last zillion years and don’t remember, are our biggest enemies. They’re also known as the Queen and the Goblin because Emma Hughes just thinks she’s so cool, and Emily Berryman’s small and has got this really gruff voice. We totally hate them, and they hate us. Oh hang on a sec, I didn’t tell you what happened at Katie’s party last week, did I? It was so coo-ell!

      Katie Dawson, who’s in our class, had a birthday party last week and she invited just about everyone, including us and the M&Ms. It was a really brill party with loud music and masses of food. Katie’s mum had ordered loads of pizzas from the pizza place in the High Street, so we were all well pleased.

      Then the M&Ms had to go and spoil it by putting a piece of squishy tomato on Fliss’s chair. So when Fliss sat down on it, it stuck to the white jeans she was wearing and ruined them. Fliss went totally ballistic, so I decided it was time for the Sleepover Club to get their revenge.

      I strolled over to the M&Ms, as cool as anything.

      “Looks like Fliss has had a bit of an accident!” Emily was chortling in that stupid deep voice of hers.

      “Yeah, Fliss, you’re supposed to eat tomato, not wear it!” Emma called, laughing her head off.

      “Talking of wearing things, Emma,” I said, grabbing the nearest pizza from the table, “is this your size?”

      And I turned the plate over and dropped the pizza on to Emma’s head. Toppings side down.

      Oh, what a laugh that was! Emma just sat there open-mouthed for a second or two. Then all this cheese and tomato and onion started dripping down her face. The other Sleepovers were in hysterics.

      ‘Course, we all got told off and sent home, but it was totally worth it just to see the look on Emma’s face! Anyway, now the M&Ms hate us more than ever, and they’re sure to try and get back at us somehow. We’ve got to watch our backs for a bit.

      “Right, I’ve got some good news for you,” Mrs Weaver said, after she’d taken the register. “It’s particularly good news for those of you who went on the school trip to Spain a while back.”

      We all sat up, ears flapping.

      “I’ve been in touch with the teachers of some of the Spanish students we met while we were over there,” Mrs Weaver went on. “And we’ve arranged for eleven of the pupils to come over to visit Cuddington in July.”

      The Sleepover Club started nudging each other and whispering. What we all wanted to know was, were our friends going to be coming over on that trip or not? So I put my hand up.

      “Yes, Laura?”

      “Miss, are those girls we made friends with coming?” I asked.

      Mrs Weaver asked their names, then checked the piece of paper in her hand. “Yes, they’re all down on the list.”

      I turned to the others. “Ex-cellent!”

      “It’ll be great to see them all again!” Rosie gasped.

      “I can feel a gi-normous sleepover coming on!” Frankie whispered.

      “Quiet for a moment, please,” Mrs Weaver said, glancing over at us. “The students and their teachers will be arriving on Friday July 12th and staying until the end of the summer term, Tuesday 23rd. I know it’s only April now, but we have to find them places to stay. If anyone would like one of the Spanish pupils to board with them, please take one of these letters home tonight, and see me tomorrow morning after you’ve checked with your parents.”

      We were all getting pretty excited now. It would just be so cool having our Spanish friends staying with us! I really hoped that Maria would want to come and stay with me – we could talk about football all night!

      “Right, get out your books for silent reading, please,” Mrs Weaver told us.

      Everyone started talking then, and we all got our books out as slowly as possible so we had more time to natter about what Mrs W. had just told us.

      “They’re coming at the end of the summer term – that’s brill!” Lyndz exclaimed. “There’s always loads of stuff going on then!”

      “Yeah, there’s Sports Day and the Summer Fete,” I pointed out.

      “And we’ll hopefully get a class trip to WonderLand, that fab new theme park!” Frankie added.

      “Oh, and don’t forget the fancy-dress competition on the last day of term!” Fliss squealed.

      Rosie was looking a bit put out. “Yeah,” she said pointedly, “and there’s something else too!”

      “What?”