Sleepover Club Goes For Goal!. Fiona Cummings

that kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. I know that boys would never say it straight out, but this was like them admitting that they thought I was good at football.

      I did look round to see if Frankie or the others were there before I joined in, I really did. But they weren’t. So of course I went over to play footie. Bad move! The others went ballistic with me when I finally caught up with them in the classroom.

      “We always meet up before the start of school,” Fliss kept whingeing, like I’d just poisoned her goldfish or something.

      “I expect you’ll be dropping us at break times now as well!” sniffed Frankie as soon as I’d sat down.

      “Yeah, and playing with your new boyfriends,” added Rosie.

      “They are not my boyfriends,” I told them angrily.

      And to be honest, I didn’t think I’d be asked to play with the boys again anyway, because when Ryan Scott had turned up he didn’t exactly seem thrilled that I was playing football with his mates.

      Sure enough, when lunchtime came, all the boys went to play football and walked past me as though I wasn’t even there. Except for Danny McCloud. He just shrugged his shoulders like he was apologising or something.

      “Looks like they were just using you after all!” sneered Fliss with a told-you-so smirk plastered all over her face.

      “Well, maybe I was using them to kill time until you lot turned up!” I snapped back at her.

      “You didn’t exactly notice us when we did appear!” moaned Rosie.

      “Yeah, well, I’m sorry about that. You know what it’s like when you’re busy playing something.”

      “You mean you’d rather play with the boys than play with us!” Fliss exploded. “Well that’s charming, isn’t it?”

      “Shut up for goodness sake!” I yelled. “They were playing football and I just happened to join in. That’s not a crime, is it?”

      “Oooh, get her!” the others piped up.

      “Chill out Kenny, for goodness sake!” laughed Frankie.

      “Yeah, chill out!” shrieked Lyndz and Rosie together. They ran up behind me and started to tickle me all over. In seconds I was writhing in a heap on the ground with tears streaming down my face.

      “I’m going to get you for this!” I eventually managed to gasp.

      “Oh yeah?” giggled Rosie. “Prove it.”

      I struggled up from the ground and managed to grab hold of Fliss. I bundled into her and started barging her over to the grass outside our classroom. She was dead scared at first, you could tell, but then she realised I was playing one of our Gladiator games and started to barge me back. Just when I thought I’d got the upper hand, Frankie grabbed hold of my arm. She spun me round faster and faster like one of those crazy fairground rides. It was wicked! When our legs finally gave way we collapsed in a heap on the ground.

      “Now come on Kenny, admit it!” she gasped when she’d got her breath back. “You have much more fun with us than with some stupid boys, don’t you?”

      “Yeah, sure!” I agreed, but inside I was still feeling kind of annoyed. I mean, I was getting all this earache about one little kick-around. It was like the others thought they owned me or something. And besides, if they’d bothered to come along to the five-a-side practice with me in the first place, they could have joined in with the footie too. Then they might not have been so jealous.

      I was still feeling pretty annoyed with them by afternoon break. So when Danny McCloud came over and asked if I wanted to join in their football game, I leapt at the chance. You ought to have seen the others’ faces. I swear that Fliss could have swallowed a bus, her mouth was so wide open. Ryan Scott wasn’t too thrilled about it either, but one of the other boys had had to go home with a bad stomach ache so he really didn’t have much choice.

      It was well cool. You see, it was great to be actually playing football with someone. Usually I have to practice my skills by myself in the garden. Molly the Monster, my stupid sister, wouldn’t be seen dead playing football. Neither would Emma my eldest sister, and Mum and Dad are just too busy.

      I had a great time. Even Ryan Scott wasn’t too bad after a while. He’s a totally different person when he’s playing football – he’s almost normal. But of course my friends weren’t happy at all. They kept trying to make out that if I liked them so much I shouldn’t really need to play football as well. Crazy.

      Anyway, from then on I tried a sort of compromise. I played football with the boys during morning and afternoon breaks, and stayed with my mates at lunchtime. But they were still mad at me. Especially as the more I played football and the more I went to the five-a-side practices, the more I found that I was sharing jokes with the boys in class. And of course the others couldn’t join in. I felt bad, I really did, but I must admit that I was enjoying myself too. I know that it’s not going to sound too good admitting this, but it felt great to be so popular with the boys. I could more than hold my own in their rough games and they sort of respected me for that. I think they accepted me as one of them, which was great because any of my friends will tell you what a tomboy I am.