Everyone’s faces dropped.
“Maybe one of us could play with someone else,” Lyndz said hopefully.
I shook my head. “No, remember I said that there were seventeen of us? That means one person’s always going to be left over.”
“And it looks like that’s going to be one of us,” Kenny said gloomily, “because everyone else is already in twos.”
“What are we going to do?” Fliss asked.
“I’ll drop out,” Lyndz offered bravely. “I’m rubbish anyway.”
“You’re no worse than me,” Rosie argued.
“Or me,” I said.
“We could spin for it,” Fliss suggested, twirling her tennis racket on the ground to show us what she meant. “That’s the fairest way to choose the lucky four.”
We all nodded. So we gathered round in a circle, and Fliss spun her racket. It came to a stop, pointing at Lyndz.
“OK, Lyndz, you’re in,” said Kenny. “And now for your partner.”
The next spin left the racket pointing at Rosie.
“You two are a team then,” said Fliss. She looked really envious. I was pretty jealous too because I really wanted to play. Once we’d stopped messing about and started playing properly, I was surprised by how much I’d enjoyed myself.
“Lyndz, you spin it now,” Kenny said. “And then it’ll be fair.”
Lyndz spun the racket, and it ended up pointing at Fliss. Fliss tried not to look too pleased.
“So it’s between me and Frankie,” Kenny said.
My heart was pounding as Lyndz spun the racket again. It stopped really slowly, and pointed straight at…
“Sorry, Frankie,” said Fliss and Rosie together.
“Poor old Frankie,” said Lyndz sympathetically.
“Yeah, bad luck, Frankie.” Kenny thumped me on the back.
“It’s cool,” I said, trying not to sound like I minded too much. “You’re a better player than me, anyway.”
“Come on, girls.” Mark was calling and waving at us from another court. “You should be practising your forehands.”
We spread out across our court, and began knocking the ball to each other. I didn’t feel much like playing any more, but I didn’t want to let the others down. After all, they had to practise if they were going to beat the M&Ms.
Fliss hit a forehand drive towards Kenny, who ran forward to return it. At just that moment, Emily Berryman came charging on to our court, chasing a stray ball. Kenny bashed straight into her, and knocked the Goblin flying.
“Help!” Emily shrieked, as she fell backwards on to her bottom. “You did that on purpose, Laura McKenzie!”
“No, I didn’t,” Kenny retorted. “You got in my way.”
The Queen came stomping over to stick her nose in, as usual.
“You’re just trying to make sure we don’t win the tournament,” she snapped, hauling the Goblin to her feet. “You tried to injure Emily by pushing her over!”
“Oh, go stuff a tennis ball in your mouth!” Kenny replied. “On second thoughts, try two tennis balls – your mouth’s big enough.”
“You won’t be laughing when we win that tournament,” the Queen said threateningly, and she stalked off, dragging the Goblin behind her.
“The trouble is, they could win it,” Kenny muttered. “They’re good.”
“And did you hear Emily say that they were going to practise every afternoon at that posh tennis club?” Rosie said gloomily.
“Well, we can practise too,” I pointed out. “We don’t need a posh club. We’ve all got gardens. Or we could go to the park.”
The others cheered up a bit. Although I wasn’t going to be playing in the tournament, I reckoned it was going to be a full-time job keeping the others from getting too depressed!
We went back to practising our forehands, and then Mark called us all together again. This time he showed us how to serve properly. And guess what? Surprise, surprise (and nobody was more surprised than ME), I turned out to be quite good at it. I banged down quite a few good serves, and everyone (except the M&Ms) looked pretty impressed.
“Frankie, maybe you should be playing in the tournament,” Lyndz said, when we’d been sent off to practise on our own again. “I don’t mind dropping out.”
I shook my head. “Nope, you were all chosen fair and square.”
“I don’t think me and Lyndz have got much of a hope,” Rosie said. “I’m rubbish.”
“No, I’m worse than you,” Lyndz argued.
“No, I’m the worst player.”
“No, I am.”
“Shut up, you two,” Kenny said, giving them both a shove.
“Kenny and Fliss are in with a good chance,” I said. “Fliss is brilliant.”
Fliss turned pink with pleasure.
“What about me?” Kenny demanded.
“You’ll be all right, as long as you don’t fool around,” Fliss said sternly.
“Me? Fool around?” Kenny snorted. “Do I ever?”
“Yes!” we all shouted, and pelted her with tennis balls.
About ten minutes later, Mark announced that it was the end of the coaching session for today. None of us wanted to go home though – we could have stayed there and played all day long!
“There’s my mum and Auntie Jill,” Fliss said, as we put the tennis balls in the boxes.
“Hurry up, Emily,” called the Queen in a loud voice which just about everyone could hear. “My mum will be here soon to take us over to Green Lawns.”
“They’re really getting on my nerves, going on about that tennis club,” Kenny muttered. She did a double-take in the direction of Mrs Proudlove. “Hey, what’s the matter with your mum and Auntie Jill, Fliss? They look like they’ve won the lottery!”
Mrs Proudlove and Auntie Jill were hurrying towards the tennis courts, looking really excited. We went to meet them. So did Mark.
“We’re in!” Mrs Proudlove announced. She was waving a small piece of card in the air. “We just heard this morning.”
“In what?” Kenny asked, looking puzzled.
“The Green Lawns Tennis Club,” Auntie Jill said triumphantly, showing us her membership card. She flung her arms around Mark and gave him a hug. “Thanks for putting in a good word for us.”
“That’s great,” Mark said.
“Excellent!” Fliss beamed. “I’ll be able to practise there too, for the tournament.”
“Are you ready, girls?” Mrs Proudlove called. “Jill and I want to go to the tennis club this afternoon, and I have to take you all home first.”
Kenny nudged me. “What do you reckon?” she whispered in my ear.
I blinked at her. “What’re you talking about?”
Kenny grinned at the rest of us. “How annoyed do you think the M&Ms would be if the whole of the Sleepover Club turned up at their posh tennis club this afternoon?”
“They’d go totally mad,” I said. “But it’s not very likely to happen, is it?”
“We’re not members,” Rosie pointed out, looking puzzled. “They only let members in.”
“We’re not members.” Kenny winked at us. “But Fliss’s mum and Auntie Jill are – and you heard what Fliss said before. They can take guests!”
Fliss turned a sickly shade of white, while Rosie, Lyndz and I burst out laughing.
“Do you really think my mum is going to let us all go to the club with her this afternoon?” Fliss spluttered. “Dream on, Kenny!”
Kenny grinned. “Why not? We can ask her, can’t we?”
“You can ask her, but she won’t say yes!” I replied. “Not in a million years.”
The M&Ms were sitting on the bench near us, changing their shoes. Now they got up, and picked up their bags.
“Come on, Emily,” said the Queen, shooting us a poisonous sideways glare. “Let’s go. At least we’ll be able to have a proper game at Green Lawns without stupid people mucking about.”
Kenny gave them a cheery wave. “We’ll see you there!” she called.
The Queen’s mouth fell open as she goggled at us.
“What did you say?” she roared.
“We’re coming to the tennis club this afternoon,” Kenny retorted coolly. “We’re going to be there regularly from now on.”
Emma Hughes couldn’t think of a single thing to say. She turned bright red with rage and stomped off, with Emily scurrying along behind her.
“Oh, Kenny, what’ve you done?” Fliss moaned, looking terrified. “I am not asking my mum if she’ll take us to the tennis club!”
“Calm down, Flissy,” Kenny said breezily. “I’ll ask her myself.”