thought I saw Molly, that’s all.”
“WHAT? WHERE?”
She pointed. Just in front of the woman selling ice-creams, there did appear to be someone who looked suspiciously like Molly. And she was sitting with a couple of girls I recognised from her class.
“Come on!” I urged Frankie, and I started picking my way through the crowds towards them.
“Are you going to have a word with her?” asked Frankie, following me.
“Yeah, you could say that!” I smirked.
I’d had this great plan. I was going to embarrass her in front of the whole circus, and particularly in front of her stupid mates. It was obvious that Molly still hadn’t spotted me, so I got down on all fours and crawled along the empty row of seats at the back of her. And as I crawled, I planned what to do. Making her jump wouldn’t be enough. I’d have to do something really loud to attract the maximum attention.
Then it hit me. What is Molly always boring us at home with? You’ve guessed it. When I was immediately behind her I stood up and yelled at the top of my voice:
“EDWARD MARSH!”
The whole place went silent. Then a voice piped up.
“Yes! Who wants me?”
Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather. I hadn’t actually expected Edward Marsh to be there, I’d just wanted to embarrass Molly by shouting out his name!!
Someone tapped me on the shoulder.
“I said, who wants me?” the same boy’s voice addressed me coolly.
I turned round – and found my face covered in ice-cream.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” smirked this blond creep of a boy, holding a more than slightly splodged cone. “It must have slipped!”
Molly was sitting back on her seat again and was spluttering with laughter. “Ignore my stupid sister, Edward,” she said, flashing a creepy smile at the boy. “She must have a personality disorder!”
“At least I’ve got a personality!” I snarled back, wiping ice-cream off my cheeks.
“Who was that boy?” squealed Fliss when we came back again. “Babe or what? Er, Kenny – did you know you had ice-cream on your face?”
That was the last thing I needed, everybody thinking Molly had got some dreamboat boyfriend.
“He’s a moron!” I snapped. “Just like my stupid sister.”
I was seething inside, and my face was still sticky from the ice-cream. I wished I’d never come to this stupid circus in the first place.
I held that thought for precisely thirty seconds, because once the performers started doing their stuff again, I was totally entranced. There were people spinning plates and people on stilts and people who combined the two. There were unicyclists who went up and down ramps, and one who even rode on the tightrope!
But the most amazing were the trapeze artists. They were so elegant and graceful, but all the time you knew that one false move and they could be dead. We all cheered like mad when they came down and took their bow, even Fliss, and she hadn’t seen any of their act because she’d had her hands in front of her eyes all the time.
But I think my favourite act was the clowns. They were just sooo funny. We all still had tears streaming down our faces as we were driving home.
“That was the best birthday ever!” grinned Lyndz.
“No kidding!” I agreed. “It’s going to take some beating!”
“Well don’t forget you’ve the tea party to look forward to tomorrow!” Fliss chimed in.
The rest of us looked at each other.
“How much excitement can we handle?”
Frankie mumbled under her breath.
I was home before Molly, because apparently Edward precious Marsh’s parents had taken Molly and the other girls out for a pizza.
I was asleep before Molly came in, and I got up before she did in the morning so I didn’t have to go over the whole Edward Marsh at the circus thing. Although I was sure that she would have told Mum and Dad all about it anyway.
It seemed ages to wait until going to Fliss’s for tea, so I decided to practise a few circus skills. I mean, juggling a few balls couldn’t be that difficult, surely? Well, let me tell you, it’s a lot more difficult than it looks. I started messing about with two tennis balls, just throwing them from hand to hand. Easy-peasy. Then I tried to add a third. It was impossible. I dropped them, I threw them all at the same time, I just couldn’t get the hang of it at all. I was getting really frustrated by the time Mum called me in for lunch.
“You’d better not eat too much if Nikky’s put on a spread for tea,” Mum told me.
“Are you kidding?” I scoffed. “Fliss’s mum will have made a few sandwiches cut into pretty little shapes and some fairy cakes. I wouldn’t even feel full if I ate everything she put out on the table!”
“Let’s hope there’s ice-cream, though,” said Dad dryly. “You like ice-cream, don’t you Laura?”
Mum, Dad, Molly and my older sister Emma all started to laugh. I don’t know what I was madder about – the others making fun of me or Dad using my horrible name. At least they weren’t going to give me a lecture about my behaviour though, which was a result.
“Just try to behave this afternoon, Kenny,” Mum said firmly as she dropped me at Fliss’s. “Nikky’s a bit delicate now that she’s pregnant, and you know what happens when she gets upset.”
Yeah, she goes into a five-star tizz, that’s what – and we didn’t want that at all. Especially as she’s expecting twins. She might go into a ten-star tizz!
So there I was on my best behaviour, and everything seemed to be going well. We all managed to smile and be polite, even when Fliss’s mum made us take off our shoes the minute we walked through the door. We even grinned and entered into the party spirit when she made us play silly children’s games like we were three or something. I mean, it was dead embarrassing sitting there playing Pass the Parcel and Musical Statues. And you couldn’t really tell whether Fliss’s mum was having a laugh or whether she was practising for future birthday parties with the little baby twins. I wasn’t wrong about the tea either.
“Another little sandwich, Kenny?” Fliss’s mum asked, fluttering in front of me with a plate. “Or how about a fairy cake?”
What I really fancied was a jam doughnut, and I’d seen a plate of them on the side. Fliss’s mum must have read my mind because she went to pick
