Sleepover Girls Go Splash!. Sue Mongredien

faster when you know there’s a lovely sleepover waiting for you at the end of it. And then after THAT, it’s the weekend!

      I was halfway through my breakfast when I suddenly remembered the swimming theme Fliss had suggested.

      “Mum, have you got any ideas about what I can take to Fliss’s tonight?” I asked, and then told her the whole story. My mum used to be a teacher and now runs a playgroup, so she always has lots of good ideas.

      She thought for a minute as she buttered her toast. “Does it have to be strictly swimming, or could it stretch to playing in water, do you reckon?” she said. “Because we’ve got beach balls and rubber rings and things you could take along.”

      “I’ve got Jaws on video if you want to borrow it,” said Tom, my second oldest brother. “As long as you PROMISE not to wreck it.”

      “And as long as no-one’s going to have nightmares,” Mum put in at once.

      “Hmm, maybe,” I said slowly. Even though I love all animals, sharks are a bit scary, I think – but I certainly wasn’t going to tell Tom that!

      “There are lots of silly swimming hats in the dressing-up box, too,” Mum said. “You know, the ones Auntie Vera gave us, with all the plastic flowers on them?”

      “Yeah, excellent!” I said, with a giggle. “I can just see Kenny in one of them!”

      “Come on,” she said, standing up and taking her toast with her. “Let’s see what we can find!”

      The others must all have been thinking hard about what to bring for the sleepover, too, because on Friday night, when we got to Fliss’s, there was a whole heap of weird and wonderful goodies.

      Kenny had brought flippers, face masks and a blow-up lilo.

      Frankie had a rubber ring, two pairs of arm bands and some goggles.

      Fliss had her Titanic video (surprise, surprise!) and had dug out a selection of swimming costumes for Rosie to choose from.

      And Rosie had brought along her Supa Scuba board game, plus a huge bag of mini Mars bars. “I thought we’d get hungry with all this talk of swimming,” she explained.

      “Right,” said Fliss uncertainly. “So what are we going to do with this lot, then?”

      We looked at the wacky assortment in front of us, and all five of us burst out laughing at the sight. Good point – what WERE we going to do with it all? Kenny put on a bright pink swimming hat with plastic daisies that I’d brought along and batted her eyelashes, and we all laughed even harder.

      “Suits YOU!” we all chorused, still giggling.

      Frankie was getting a familiar kind of gleam in her eye, though. The kind of gleam that said, “Idea alert!”.

      “Uh-oh – Frankie’s brain is ticking away,” I said. “Any second now she’s going to say…”

      “I’ve got an idea!” she said, grinning. “How about a dressing-up obstacle race?”

      “A what?” Rosie spluttered.

      “We’ll race against the clock, one by one,” Frankie told us. “You start off over here, by the door, yeah? Then you have to jump into the rubber ring, pull it up over your head and off again, then put on the flippers and run over to the window…”