Read Sleepover Girls on the Range for Free Online

to join us.
    “You’re not watching a
Western,
are you?” Rosie’s mum sounded horrified.
    I flashed the others a look, and launched into Phase Two of the Plan.
    “Wouldn’t it be great to be a cowboy!” I said dreamily. “Riding the range on a horse all day …”
    “Rounding up cattle …” Kenny continued.
    “And cooking round a campfire at night,” Frankie added.
    “Yes, you’re right there. No worries about anything,” agreed Dad.
    “No money worries,” Andy added. “Just you, your horse and the open country. What could be better?”
    Fliss looked as though she was going to get all huffy about her and her mum being better than that, but I shut her up with a glare.
    “So, do you fancy cooking round an open fire then, Dad? And maybe telling some of your stories?” I asked innocently.
    “Well, not now, Lyndsey,” Dad laughed. “But I’d love to do it another time.”
    “What about you, Dad?” Frankie asked. “Would you do it? And you too, Dr McKenzie?”
    “Are we talking about one of your sleepovers?” Dad asked cautiously.
    “Sort of. Will you do it? Please!” I begged.
    “I dare say we could rustle up some good campfire grub, couldn’t we?” My dad looked at the other dads. “What do you say? Should we live like cowboys for an evening?”
    “I don’t see why not!” the others agreed, coming over all macho.
    “Thanks Dad!” I leapt up from the settee. “You’ve just agreed to cook at the Open Day for Mrs McAllister’s stables. You’re a star!”
    I hugged my dad and Frankie, Kenny and Fliss hugged theirs (well, Andy isn’t Fliss’s dad quite yet – he and her mum are getting married next month).
    Rosie’s mum burst out laughing and started to clap.
    “Well done, girls! That was a fine piece of feminine trickery!”
    The dads sighed and looked very sheepish.
    “We were done there, good and proper!” Dad laughed. “Well, it’s in a good cause I suppose!”
    I took the poster down to the farm the next day, and was just giving it to Mrs McAllister when Mrs Chandri turned up. I was sure that she was going to find fault with it when I showed it to her, but she seemed really impressed. Ruth the line-dance caller had apparently already been in touch about the line-dancing, and Mrs Chandri asked me to give Stuart her number so that he could pass on the details of the Bucking Bronco.
    “You’ve done very well!” she smiled. “And the posters will look stunning. I’ll get them printed up as soon as possible. Shall I arrange to put them up, or do you want to do that?”
    “No you can if that’s OK,” I smiled back at her. I remembered all too clearly the problems we’d had putting up posters in the past …
    “Right then. I’ll get in touch with you nearer the time, and we’ll go over the details,” she told me. “I think this Open Day is going to be a big success. Well done!”
    Right up until the Open Day itself, all the planning went smoothly.
Too
smoothly. Mrs Chandri had estimated how many people she thought would turn up, and had bought food and drink at a discount rate. She’d sorted out prizes for the competitions and we’d helped to build the enormous campfire with our fathers. (I think they were still a bit miffed that we’d conned them like that, but they were kind of excited about it too, you could tell.) Ruth had checked out the stable yard and told Mrs Chandri where she wanted to put her stuff for the line-dancing, and they’d even rigged up a special sound system too. And Stuart had delivered the Bucking Bronco and a whole pile of crash mats to land on. Did this sound too easy or what?
    The night before the Open Day, we all went down to the stables. The whole thing looked pretty awesome.
    “This is going to be
so
cool!” we giggled.
    “And don’t forget we’ve got the sleepover to look forward to as well,” I reminded the others. “So don’t forget all your sleepover goodies, will you?”
    As if!
    The next day we got to the stables by two