Sleepover Girls on Safari Read Free Page B

have known we wanted her to go away, but for some reason she just went on standing there, looking incredibly uncomfortable.
    If you’d taken a photograph at that moment, we’d have probably looked like we were all playing a peculiar game of musical statues.
    “Is there anything you want, Emma?” Frankie asked sweetly. “Like a nice empty coffin to crawl into?”
    Emma always looks really stressed. This is partly her hairstyle. She pulls her ponytail sotight, it literally makes her eyes bulge. But I’ve never seen her look so scared before.
    “I just, erm, wanted to let you know that Kirstin’s coming with us to Gawdy Castle on Friday,” she mumbled.
    Frankie shrugged. “Are we supposed to jump up and down?”
    “No, I just thought you might—”
    For a minute I thought Emma was going to burst into tears in front of us. She pulled herself together and tried again. “The thing is, Kirstin seems to think you guys are fun, so I was wondering if…” Emma couldn’t quite bring herself to finish her sentence.
    “Yes, your nose is too big,” Kenny sniggered. “Oh, sorry, Emma, that is what you were wondering, isn’t it?”
    “Ha ha! Very funny.” Emma was just plain angry now. “I didn’t want to ask you losers in the first place. It’s Kirstin who wanted me to.” With that, she stormed off.
    This might sound disloyal, but I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Emma. I know how it feels when your best friends are off school. One time there was this nasty bug going around. Absolutelyeveryone caught it, except for me. Frankie, Rosie, Kenny and Lyndz were all off school for three whole days. I still remember how I felt sitting by myself in the dining hall. Every night I prayed to catch that bug. At least then I’d have some teeny-weeny microbes for company.
    Being ill is horrible but loneliness is much, much worse. Emma obviously felt so exposed and vulnerable without Emily that she was even prepared to risk total humiliation by talking to us.
    Kenny looked baffled. “The poison dwarf was acting well weird.”
    Lyndz had a listening expression. “Good, they’ve gone finally.” Her hiccups, she meant. “So what do you think Emma was going on about?”
    “You don’t think she’s just trying to be friendly?” I suggested.
    Frankie knocked on my skull. “Are you feeling OK, Flissie?”
    “She could have changed,” I said nervously. “People do.”
    The others stared at me then went into complete hysterics.
    “They do,” I protested. But my friends refused to take me seriously.
    On the way home, Rosie and I lagged behind the others.
    “I’m a useless friend,” I told her miserably. “I’ve been racking my brains, but I still can’t think of anything.”
    Rosie tried to smile. “Thanks for trying, Flissie. Just promise not to tell the others. I’d hate them feeling sorry for me.”
    “I won’t,” I told her earnestly. “But for what it’s worth, I don’t think they would pity you. They’d want to help.”
    Rosie shook her head. “I’m not a charity case. It’s bad timing, that’s all. Mum had to fork out for new equipment for Adam. I can’t exactly begrudge him that.”
    I gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Of course you can’t. But we’re your friends, Rosie-posie. You’d help us, if it was the other way round. I think you should give them a chance.”
    I could tell she wasn’t convinced and decided I had to try harder.
    “Remember that time Mrs Weaver said my project on the Ancient Romans needed morework? I had just about killed myself drawing those togas. I was gutted. And what did you guys do to cheer me up?”
    “We baked you a batch of our special, best friend, triple chocolate chip cookies,” Rosie mumbled.
    “You see!” I told her.
    “It’s not the same. I can’t expect you guys to pay for my school trip. How embarrassing would that be?” Her voice was gritty with despair.
    “We couldn’t give you all the money anyway. I worked it out last night. Even if we all