45

Sleepover

Matt drove me to Kara’s sleepover. As we pulled up outside her house I nearly chickened out.

‘If everyone’s horrible to me, you will come and get me, won’t you?’ I said.

‘Yup. You can call International Rescue any time!’ he joked, in a terrible American accent. Then he added in his own voice, ‘But you won’t need to. It’ll be fine.’ So I gathered up my sleeping bag and pillow, my overnight bag and my courage, and headed in.

I’d never been to Kara’s house before. It’s dead modern and quite big. Bigger than ours anyway. Just as well, since she’d literally invited all the girls in our class. I was one of the last to arrive, and by the time I’d got there the kitchen was full of people all chattering away and helping themselves to Coke and pizza and stuff.

When Kara saw me hovering in the hall she yelled, ‘Dump your stuff in the living room!’ and pointed. So I did. Then I went to find Lily. She was dancing with Nadima and the others in the conservatory. The music was OFF THE SCALE! Kara’s phone was plugged into these huge speakers and the noise literally bounced round the room, along with the multicoloured flashes from the disco lights. Lily’s face lit up when she saw me, and she pulled me over to dance with them. Nadima carried on dancing and messing around with Chloe and Elly. They were pretending Elle’s Coke can was a mic and singing away and laughing their heads off. Honestly, you’d think Nadima had known everyone forever, the way she just fitted in.

After a while we all went off to get a drink. It was much quieter, and cooler, in the kitchen. But it was still pretty crowded and I ended up shoved in a corner, with Nadima.

It was the perfect chance to talk to her – and to try to make up. So I smiled at her and she smiled back. But I suddenly couldn’t think of anything to say. I couldn’t remember all the things we used to talk about. All I could think to say was, ‘It’s a good party, isn’t it?’ (Groan. How lame was that?)

She nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘The music’s a bit loud though!’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Is very loud.’

After that I couldn’t think of anything to say. And she didn’t say anything to me. So we stood there awkwardly, until Kara came and dragged Nad off to dance.

Well, I’d tried. I tried talking to her and she was polite, but she wasn’t friendly like she used to be. You can’t make someone be friends with you, can you? If she didn’t want to be friends any more then that was her choice.

I suddenly wanted to go home. I got my phone out to call International Rescue but just then Lil grabbed me.

‘Come on!’ she squealed. ‘You love this song!’ and she dragged me back into the conservatory to dance. So I stayed, because I didn’t want to upset Lily.

After it had got properly dark, Kara’s stepdad called everyone out onto the patio.

‘Stay by the house!’ he yelled, heading off down the garden.

‘What’s going on?’ Kara asked him. ‘What are you doing?’

‘It’s a surprise!’ he called. We clustered round, giggling excitedly. Seconds later he came back to stand next to us, and then, all of a sudden … WHOOSH, sparkle, sparkle! A row of Roman candles burst into life, against the back fence. Silver and purple sparkles fizzed and cracked, brittle and bright.

‘Ooooooh!’ we all cried.

He’d bought one of those big tubs of fireworks where you only have to light one fuse and they all go off one after the other. It must’ve cost a fortune! He obviously wanted the sleepover to be a big hit, no matter what Kara thought of him.

WHOOOOSH! A rocket suddenly shot up into the dark and then … BANG! it exploded, scattering coloured sparks against the sky. We all screamed and clung to each other, pretending to be scared.

Except Nadima.

She screamed. But then she carried on screaming, and screaming and screaming, with her hands pressed against her face and her eyes wide with terror.

WHOOOSH … BANG!

Another rocket went off.

Nadima turned and fled into the house.