Fiona Cummings – Sleepover Club Vampires (страница 2)
We all had to agree with that.
And I just couldn’t get that thought out of my head as Dad was telling us about Great Uncle Bob’s marvellous party. I just wished there was some way that I could cheer up Lyndz. And her mum.
When I got to school the next day, Frankie was in the middle of a kickboxing frenzy. I had to dive out of her way pretty sharpish otherwise I’d have had my teeth kicked out.
“Hey Buffy, slow down there! I’m not a vampire that needs slaying, you know!” I grinned, leaping on to her back. We’ve been best friends forever, me and Frankie. The Sleepover Club kind of came along later. It was at times like this that I felt like we were about four again!
“Ha-
“Well I haven’t got pointy teeth for a start…”
“That’s a matter of opinion!” grinned Rosie.
“…and blood is definitely
“Aha! You mean you enjoy quaffing a medico’s vital juices!” Frankie hovered over me menacingly. “Interesting!”
“Hey Lyndz, Fliss, help me out, would you?” I called over to them. “Buffy here’s gone into overdrive!”
But neither Lyndz nor Fliss moved. They carried on leaning against the wall. We could tell just by looking at their faces that something was seriously wrong.
“Wassup?” Frankie, Rosie and I raced over to them.
Lyndz just shook her head and started to sob.
“It’s Lyndz’s mum,” Fliss told us quietly. “She went ballistic again last night, then started to cry and couldn’t stop. She said she didn’t know why she was so upset, she just felt miserable.”
“Is she OK today?” Rosie asked sympathetically.
“She said she was going to go and have a chat with a friend,” Fliss continued, not giving Lyndz the chance to reply. “I think that should make her feel better, don’t you?”
“Oh yeah!” Frankie nodded. “My gran always says, ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’. She’ll probably be feeling much better by tonight Lyndz, you’ll see.”
“I hope so,” Lyndz sniffed. She looked so miserable.
We all gave her a big hug, and for the rest of the day we made sure that we did whatever Lyndz wanted. If she was having a rough time at home, the least we could do was cheer her up at school.
I know that as the afternoon wore on, Lyndz started to feel pretty churned up at the thought of going home. But when we saw her mum at the school gates in their big van she smiled and waved at us like she always used to.
“Your mum does look a lot brighter.” Fliss gave Lyndz’s arm a little squeeze.
“Yeah, she’ll be fine now!” Frankie reassured her.
Lyndz gave us a little grin and ran to the van. As we waved her off, Rosie whispered:
“I hope she will be OK. I hate seeing her so down.”
I thought about Lyndz all the way home. And spookily, the first thing Mum said to me as I got through the door was:
“Have you got a minute, Laura? I want a word about Lyndz.”
“Crikey Mum, how long have you been able to read minds?” I asked her. Although actually that was a pretty silly question – Mum
Mum ignored me. “Lyndz’s mum came to see me today. I think things are getting a bit on top of her at the moment.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“Well,” Mum continued, “I’ve had a word with your father and he agrees with me. What Patsy needs is a complete rest – away from the house, away from the chores, away from Cuddington.”
Now if Dad suggested that, I knew it must be right. Dad’s a doctor and he always knows what he’s talking about. I’m going to be a doctor just like him when I’m older – after I’ve finished playing for Leicester City of course!
“Yeah, that sounds like a sensible diagnosis!” I agreed, stroking my chin in a serious doctor-type gesture.
“Well that’s good,” laughed Mum, “because I was thinking about asking Lyndz’s family to come up to Scotland with us for the week. Uncle Bob has plenty of rooms, and according to your dad he just loves having a house full of people. What do you think? I wanted to run it by you first before I phoned Patsy.”
“That’s a great idea!” I ran over to Mum and gave her one of my Kenny Specials (that’s when I hug someone so tightly they go red in the face and start gasping for air!).
“Phew! I’m glad you’re so pleased,” Mum spluttered, releasing herself from my grip. “I think it will do them all the world of good. I’ll go and phone Patsy now.”
As she was dialling the number, she added, “And it means that you’ll have a friend there too, seeing as Molly’s taking Carli.”
“She’s WHAT?” I screamed. “Since when?”
“Since last night when she asked me. Is there a problem? Oh, hello there, Patsy…”
A
Still, at least if I had Lyndz with me it would be two against two. And I was sure that with all our devious Sleepover tricks we could get the better of them!
Actually, just thinking that made me a bit sad. I wished ALL the Sleepover gang could come up to Scotland with us. I mean, I really really like Lyndz and everything, but it seemed a bit mean going away with just one of my friends. I felt guilty somehow, as though I’d sort of betrayed the others.
“Pull yourself together, McKenzie!” I told myself sternly. “The others won’t see it that way. They’ll just be glad that Lyndz is going to have a good holiday!”
Boy was I wrong about that!
The next morning when I got to school, Lyndz was as frisky as a new puppy. She was laughing and joking and larking about.
“What’s got into you?” Frankie was teasing her as I walked up to them. “Has someone put happy sugar in your Ready Brek or something?”
“Kenny! Kenny! I’m so glad you’ve arrived!” Lyndz rushed up to me and almost swung me off my feet. “I didn’t want to say anything until you were here too.”
The others looked at me questioningly.
“Isn’t it great?” Lyndz gushed. “Kenny’s mum rang last night to see if we’d all like to go up to Scotland with them at half-term. Isn’t that brill?”
“Fantastic!”
“Excellent!”
The others all started leaping about too. They were taking the news better than I’d expected.
“Where will we stay?” Rosie wondered.
“What kind of clothes will I have to bring?” Fliss demanded.
Whoa, girls!
“Erm, no, I think you’ve got it wrong,” I mumbled. “Mum asked Lyndz and
“Mrs McKenzie told Mum we’d be doing her a favour because she could do with some sensible adult company,” Lyndz explained quietly, suddenly aware that she’d just rammed her great size nines into her gob. “But Stuart and Tom aren’t coming,” she carried on, as if that made the slightest bit of difference. “Mum’s sister Lorraine is going to stay at our place to keep an eye on them.”
“Kenny?” Frankie stared at me. “Why didn’t you tell us about this?”
“I-I-I didn’t know until yesterday,” I stammered. “I didn’t really…”
My voice trailed off as I suddenly saw Lyndz looking very troubled.
“I’m really glad you’re coming, Lyndz,” I told her truthfully. “We’ll have a great time. IT’LL DO YOU GOOD!” I added meaningfully, looking at the others.
The whistle went for the start of school, and I’ve never been as glad to hear it in my life! I felt bad about the others, but I couldn’t help thinking that they were being a bit mean to poor old Lyndz.
During the morning when we had to split up into groups for project work, Fliss, Rosie and Frankie quickly huddled together, leaving Lyndz and me by ourselves. Even Mrs Weaver our teacher raised her eyes at that. And at breaktime, although they hung round with us they kept making catty remarks about how they were going to have the “best sleepover ever” during half-term.
“What a pity you two won’t be there to join in!” Fliss told me and Lyndz sarcastically. “But you obviously prefer each other’s company nowadays.”