Sleepover Girls Go Camping. Fiona Cummings

few days.

      “Wow, isn’t this cool!” yelled Kenny. “What’s that over there?” She was pointing to something in the distance.

      “That’s the tower for the abseiling and the climbing wall,” explained Brown Owl.

      The minibus stopped.

      “Right, can you please get off the minibus quickly and quietly,” said Brown Owl, “and remember to collect all your bags.”

      We pushed and shoved our way off as quickly as we could. Apart from Fliss, who always has to check anywhere a million times to make sure she hasn’t left anything behind.

      We were all hyper, laughing and joking as we looked around – it was awesome. But we also realised that the dreaded moment had finally arrived.

      “What are you so excited about?” Fliss asked, when she finally joined us.

      Together, we pointed at the sign in front of us, which said, in huge letters: ASSAULT COURSE THIS WAY.

      

      Poor Fliss! I’ve never seen anyone go as white so quickly. It was as though someone had sucked all the blood out of her face with a straw.

      “Are you all right, Felicity?” Brown Owl asked anxiously.

      But Fliss could only mumble and point to the sign.

      “Assault course does sound a bit grim, doesn’t it?” laughed Brown Owl. “But don’t worry, because it’s not going to be the assault course for much longer. I’ll explain when the other Brownies get here.”

      Another minibus was driving towards us. When it stopped, the Brownies from 12th Cuddington spilled out. We recognised a few of them from school. We certainly recognised Regina Hill and Amanda Porter, who headed straight for the M&Ms and Alana ‘Banana’. They stood in a silly little huddle screeching and chattering like chimps in a zoo.

      As soon as they had settled down, Brown Owl explained what she had meant about the assault course. This camp was going to have the theme of children’s TV programmes, so the assault course was going to be referred to as Blue Peter, the kitchen would be Grange Hill, and the toilet and shower blocks would be called Arnold and Doug!

      There were twenty Brownies altogether, eleven from our pack and nine from the other. So there were going to be four tents of five, plus a tent for the grown-ups. The Sleepover Club were in a tent together and we didn’t have to share with anyone else which was great. The M&Ms were sharing with Alana Palmer, the awful Amanda Porter and Regina Hill. Then there was a tent of Brownies from 12th Cuddington and another tent with girls from both packs, but it was OK because they all knew each other.

      Brown Owl called each group a ‘patrol’ and we all had a name. We were Rugrats, the M&Ms and their group were Teletubbies, the group just from 12th were The Simpsons and the mixed group were Wombles. Pretty cool, huh? We really laughed when Brown Owl said that we had to call her Tom and the Brown Owl from 12th, Jerry!

      A group of forest rangers had already started to put up our tents. Jerry said that three of them would be staying with us for the rest of the camp and we had to call them Paddington, Garfield and Scooby Doo!

      I wondered how I would ever remember all those new names.

      “Isn’t this great?” I said to Rosie, as we took our stuff over to the tents.

      “Yeah, but I don’t think Fliss is very happy,” she replied. I looked across at Fliss. She looked really sulky and miserable.

      “Right, Rugrats, this will be your tent,” said Brown Owl. “This is Paddington and her ranger friends. You can help them finish putting up your tent, but you must do exactly as they say.”

      The rangers were really cool and fun. And actually I think they were quite pleased with us, because Kenny and I are used to putting up tents. We go camping a lot with our families, you see. We helped tighten the ropes and everything, while Frankie and Rosie tried to calm Fliss down. I just couldn’t understand how anyone could get so freaked out over an assault course – especially one that was called Blue Peter. Still, Fliss does a lot of stuff that I don’t understand.