And when the curtains opened again, the applause was deafening. The gang watched from the wings as all the players bowed and curtsied, waving their tails to their mums and dads. The grown-ups were enraptured.
Then, amidst the cheering and bowing, Keith, producer of the play, ran up on to the stage. And smiling broadly, he held up his hands until the applause finally died down.
“I’d just like to say,” he began, “that none of this would have been possible without the help of Cuddington Juniors and especially Year Six.”
More applause.
“They raised enough money to buy these lovely curtains…”
Cheers, whoops and hoorays.
“And I’d like to present the winners of the fundraising competition with the Cuddington Players Prize.” He held up a bronze statue of a toad. “This most handsome Toad. Come on up, Sweetcakes!”
Yes, Sweetcakes had won. Their efforts at cup cakes and sugar snap biscuits had every sweet tooth in Cuddington stocking up on supplies.
The Sleepover Gang, along with all the other groups, had to accept defeat. After all, we’d done our best, and it wasn’t our fault that we’d got the dreaded chicken pox. Besides, as Mrs Weaver said, we’d raised a huge amount and if we’d been able to continue at that rate we’d probably have won. As it was, we were second on the graph. But the Little Angels? Well, they were in third place tied with Hot Wheels.
Boy, were they crushed!
“And I’d like to make another announcement,” continued Keith to everyone’s surprise. “There’s one group of helpers who, behind the scenes, have been working their little bunny tails off…”
There was chuckling as everybody took this in.
“They raised money with their wonderful beautifying. (And I don’t think anyone escaped their fashion advice…)” There was laughter and a murmur of agreement, as the gang and I looked at one another in wonder.
Mr Collins was going on. “I’d never have believed anyone could look so charming in shorts!” Everybody laughed and laughed at that. Yes, he was definitely talking about our Swap the Head competition where Dishy Dave’s head had been stuck on to Mr Short’s knobbly knees. We were all getting more and more excited as he continued. “But they couldn’t have made anyone more beautiful than these lovely woodland animals…Sooo…come on up, Sleepover Gang!”
It was like a dream.
Suddenly, there we all were, Kenny, Rosie, Frankie, Lyndz and I stumbling on to the stage in a riot of noise and lights.
Everyone was clapping furiously and I could see my brother Callum cheering with my mum and Andy in the front row. Mum and Andy each had a twin standing in their lap and Hannah and Joe were waving to me.
Beaming away, I waved back at them.
“Gaaa, gaaa!” went Hannah, pointing at me and the whole audience laughed.
Then Keith shook our hands one by one, and gave Lyndz a special hug as he thanked us. He handed each member of the gang a little bronze animal figure. Frankie’s was a weasel, Kenny’s a rabbit, Lyndz’s was a hedgehog, Rosie’s a squirrel and mine was a sweet little fieldmouse.
“He’ll look great in my collection,” said Frankie, stroking her little weasel affectionately.
“Mine’s the best,” said Kenny, kissing her rabbit’s bottom.
“No, mine is.”
“Mine!”
“They’re all perfect,” sighed Lyndz happily.
And they were. It was the best night. Everyone felt it. Mums and dads were laughing and exchanging hilarious Makeover stories and joking about the Swap the Heads challenge.
Oh, and talking of heads – across the school hall I could see Alana Banana’s dopey head nodding away, with her crazy hair sticking out like some great frizzy halo.
And it was all thanks to the Sleepover Makeover.
Personally, I think she looks dead cute (sort of like Lyndz’s hedgehog, in fact). But the way she’s pointing out the Sleepover Gang’s hairdresser, Kenny, to her outraged mum, I don’t think she agrees. Er…I think it’s time to bring down the curtains and make a quick exit…
SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
Have you been invited to all these sleepovers?
The Sleepover Club at Frankie’s
The Sleepover Club at Lyndsey’s
The Sleepover Club at Felicity’s
The Sleepover Club at Rosie’s
The Sleepover Club at Laura’s
Starring the Sleepover Club
Sleepover Girls go Pop!
The 24-Hour Sleepover Club
The Sleepover Club Sleeps Out
Happy Birthday Sleepover Club
Sleepover Girls on Horseback
Sleepover in Spain
Sleepover on Friday 13th
Sleepover Girls go Camping
Sleepover Girls go Detective
Sleepover Girls go Designer
The Sleepover Club Surfs the Net
Sleepover Girls on Screen
Sleepover Girls and Friends
Sleepover Girls on the Catwalk
The Sleepover Club Goes for Goal!
Sleepover Girls go Babysitting
Sleepover Girls go Snowboarding
Happy New Year, Sleepover Club!
Sleepover Girls go Green
We Love You Sleepover Club
Vive le Sleepover Club!
Sleepover Club Eggstravaganza
Emergency Sleepover
Sleepover Girls on the Range
The Sleepover Club Bridesmaids
Sleepover Girls See Stars
Sleepover Club Blitz
Sleepover Girls in the Ring
Sari Sleepover
Merry Christmas Sleepover Club!
The Sleepover Club Down Under
Sleepover Girls go Splash!
Sleepover Girls go Karting
Sleepover Girls go Wild!
The Sleepover Club at the Carnival
The Sleepover Club on the Beach
Sleepover Club Vampires
sleepoverclub.com
The Sleepover Club on the Farm
Sleepover Girls go Gymtastic!
Sleepover Girls on the Ball
Sleepover Club Witches
Sleepover Club Ponies
Sleepover Girls on Safari
Sleepover Club Makeover
Sleepover Girls go Surfing
Sleepover Girls go Treasure Hunting
Sleepover Kit List
1. Sleeping bag
2. Pillow
3. Pyjamas or a nightdress
4. Slippers
5. Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap etc
6. Towel
7. Teddy
8. A creepy story
9. Food for a midnight feast: chocolate, crisps, sweets, biscuits. In fact anything you like to eat.
10. Torch
11. Hairbrush
12. Hair things like a bobble or hairband, if you need them
13. Clean knickers and socks
14. Change of clothes for the next day
15. Sleepover diary and membership card
Copyright
The Sleepover Club ® is a
Registered trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2003
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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London W6 8JB
The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is
www.harpercollinschildrensbooks.co.uk
2
Text copyright © Jana Novotny Hunter 2003
Original series characters, plotlines and settings © Rose Impey 1997
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, d
ecompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN 9780007404827
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.
Conditions of Sale
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