I nodded. ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Cool,’ Zi said, then lay down on the rock and shuffled forward to hang her head over the edge.

  ‘Zi!’ Abbie squealed. ‘Don’t stick your head over like that!’

  ‘Relax,’ Zi said. ‘You reckon I don’t know how to sit on this rock? We’ve been coming here forever.’

  ‘Abbie’s right,’ Naira said. ‘You’re too close to the edge. MOVE BACK!’

  Zi rolled her eyes but wriggled back a tiny bit. Naira didn’t use her loud voice often, so when she did we listened.

  ‘I like it,’ Mackenzie said. ‘It sounds great, Vi.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I’m just trying to think of how to end it. Any ideas?’

  ‘What if they see a real ghost and run away screaming?’ Abbie suggested.

  ‘Or maybe they could become friends with a ghost?’ Naira added helpfully.

  Mackenzie gasped. ‘What if they realise one of them is actually a ghost?’

  ‘Ooh, they’re all great ideas,’ I said.

  ‘Wait!’ Abbie cried. ‘What if they all discover that they’re in an actual horror movie? Plot twist!’

  ‘Yeah, that’s pretty cool.’ I nodded.

  ‘Won’t we need to get props and stuff?’ Mackenzie asked. ‘And where are we going to rehearse?’

  ‘Luke from the caravan park is going to loan us camping stools for the set,’ I said. ‘And Bill is letting us rehearse in the function room at the surf club.’

  ‘Awesome,’ Naira said.

  It was awesome, and a complete fluke! This morning, when Bill and Luke came into the café for their coffees, I’d asked Luke if we could use an empty cabin to rehearse in, and Bill if he had any stools for our set. As it turned out, Luke had the stools and no empty cabin, and Bill had the empty room and no stools, so it all worked out in the end.

  ‘Good work, Vi,’ Abbie said.

  ‘Okay,’ I said, jumping up. ‘I’m gonna go home and start writing!’

  nine

  THE NEXT MORNING ON THE BUS, I PULLED THE SCRIPT out of my schoolbag to show my friends.

  ‘Is that the script?’ Abbie asked.

  ‘Yep,’ I said.

  ‘Can I have a look?’ Zi asked.

  I felt a bit nervous as I handed it over, then watched on anxiously as she read the first few lines.

  ‘So, we’re sitting outside a cabin in the woods waiting for our parents to arrive?’ she asked.

  ‘Yep, and the forest is dark and spooky,’ I said, ‘so we’re freaking ourselves out a bit.’

  ‘Cool,’ Naira said, leaning across to look over Zi’s shoulder.

  ‘Wait,’ Mackenzie said, leaning over to have a look as well. ‘Is this the WHOLE script?’

  ‘Yeah, I finished it last night.’

  Mackenzie gasped. ‘You wrote an entire script in one night?’

  ‘No way!’ Abbie cried.

  ‘It’s no big deal,’ I said, feeling my face flush. ‘It’s only a five-minute sketch.’

  It had actually taken longer than I thought it would, and I’d been so absorbed in it that I hadn’t noticed how late it was until I’d finished. I was super tired now, but it had been worth it. We had a script, which meant we could start rehearsals, and I was pretty happy with it too. I thought it might even be one of my best, and was really hoping the girls would feel the same way when we read it together.

  ‘We’ve got our first rehearsal this afternoon,’ I said, beaming around at my friends.

  ‘Our first rehearsal,’ Abbie said. ‘How exciting!’

  Later that afternoon, as we gathered in the function room at the surf club, I waited until everyone was seated, then cleared my throat, tapped my pencil on my script and stood up.

  ‘Girls, this is no ordinary talent-show act,’ I boomed in a silly, over-the-top director voice. ‘It’s a tale of suspense, fear and the unknown.’

  Zi snorted. ‘Copy that.’

  ‘Ziyan Camilleri-Hogg,’ I said, trying to keep a straight face. ‘Are you laughing in my REHEARSAL? This is a VERY serious business!’

  ‘No, no, not at all,’ Zi said. ‘I can see that you’re a VERY serious director.’

  ‘That I am,’ I said with a deep bow. ‘And it’s my job to whip you shabby actors into shape. Are you ready for your first read-through?’

  ‘Yes, Director!’ they chimed, grinning up at me.

  ‘Are you going to perform with passion and terror?’

  ‘YES, DIRECTOR!’ they said again, much louder this time.

  ‘Then, let us begin!’ I cried dramatically, pointing to the scripts on the table in front of them. ‘ACTION!’

  ABBIE: Look, it’s right over here. The red cabin.

  ZI: But there are no lights on in there. Are you sure this is the right place?

  ABBIE: Yep. Mum and Dad definitely said it was the red cabin.

  VIOLET: Maybe we should just sit here and wait.

  MAC: Okay.

  NAIRA: Sure.

  VIOLET: We should have waited for the grown-ups instead of walking back from the restaurant on our own.

  ZI: I thought it would be cool to walk through the bush at night without any parents.

  ABBIE: Still think it’s cool?

  ZI: Nope. But you have to admit it was fun scaring Abbie with that drop-bears story.

  ABBIE: I wasn’t scared! I knew it was a joke. Everyone knows drop bears aren’t real.

  VIOLET: Is that why you screamed and jumped on my back?

  The girls burst out laughing, and a warm, happy glow spread all the way from my chest to my toes. They liked it! Phew. What a relief.

  I’d been so nervous when we’d arrived at the surf club, carrying the camping stools Luke had left for us at the café. Bill had unlocked the function-room door, then left us to have our first read-through, which was going really well so far.

  MAC: What was that?

  ABBIE: Nothing. It was just the wind.

  ZI: I wish they’d hurry up and get here already!

  VIOLET: Yeah, sitting outside a creepy cabin in the middle of the bush has never been top of my to-do list.

  ABBIE: It feels like we’re in the opening scene of a horror movie.

  ZI: You know what I hate in horror movies? When someone screams while they’re running away. Have you ever tried screaming and running? It’s not easy.

  VIOLET: How about when someone is being chased in a house and they run upstairs instead of out the back door?

  ZI: So annoying!

  ‘That would be annoying,’ Zi said, looking up from the script. ‘I’d be like, dude, why are you still in the house? Get out of there!’

  ‘Same here,’ Mackenzie said.

  The girls laughed and smiled all the way through to the end, and I was so happy. It got lots of laughs and a few gasps, and best of all, no-one seemed to get bored. In fact, the only one trying not to yawn was me. I was SO tired. By the time we got to the final line of the sketch, I couldn’t hold it in any longer and broke into a full, jaw-cracking, eye-watering yawn. My friends stared at me in amazement, then burst out laughing.

  ‘Wow,’ Abbie said. ‘Exactly how late did you stay up last night?’

  ‘You don’t want to know,’ I said.

  ‘The script is so good, Vi,’ Mackenzie said.

  ‘Really? You’re not just saying that?’

  ‘It’s amazing,’ Zi agreed.

  ‘Yeah,’ Abbie said. ‘I didn’t know if I wanted to do this show, but I’m glad I am now.’

  I frowned. ‘Um, thanks?’

  Mackenzie giggled.

  ‘You know what I mean,’ Abbie said. ‘You’re the performer, not us, so I was worried. But this is gonna be so much fun!’

  ten

  ON THURSDAY, MACKENZIE SUGGESTED WE ALL GO back to hers after school to make the stuff for Emmy’s sleepover. So, after we’d grabbed all the bits and pieces we needed from our houses, we headed up the hill to The Majestic, tipped everything onto Mackenzie’s big kitchen table and got to work.

  Naira finished sewing silver stars and moons onto the eight velvet cushions, while Zi sorted through a pile of sticks she’d gathered for the wand-making activity. I made a list of the soft drinks we’d need for the potion-making station, and Abbie went through a bag she’d brought from her mum’s shop, Terri’s Treasure Trove.

  ‘I found this,’ she said, pulling out a long piece of black fabric. ‘I thought we could pin stars onto it and hang it across Emmy’s bedroom ceiling so it looks like a night sky.’

  ‘Awesome,’ Naira said.

  ‘Yeah, that will look great,’ I agreed.

  Abbie had also grabbed a bunch of tiny LED candles from the shop, so I made cardboard holders for them. Meanwhile, Mackenzie was drawing pictures of wizard and witches’ hats, cauldrons and stars so Zi could cut them out. We planned to hang them around Emmy’s house.

  ‘Violet, do you need me to get you a witch costume from Mum’s shop?’ Abbie asked.

  ‘No, that’s okay,’ I said. ‘Remember the one I wore to Amelia’s Wizard of Oz party a couple of years ago? I have that and a fake wart somewhere at home. I just have to find them.’

  ‘Okay, cool,’ Abbie said.

  ‘Also, I’m going to talk like this,’ I said, putting on a high-pitched, quivery voice, ‘and walk around casting spells and turning them all into frogs.’

  Naira frowned. ‘You’re not going to scare the kids, are you?’

  ‘No! I’m a good witch.’

  ‘Do good witches usually turn little girls into frogs?’ Zi asked.

  ‘This one does.’

  Zi grinned. ‘Fair enough.’

  ‘Don’t be too scary, Violet,’ Abbie said, sounding worried. ‘We don’t want word getting around that the Sleepover BFFs are terrorising little kids.’

  ‘It will be fine, Abbie.’ I laughed. ‘Trust me.’

  An hour later, we were done. Just as we were starting to pack up, Abbie let out a huge sigh.

  ‘Ugh! I really have to start on that history project!’

  ‘Me too,’ Zi groaned.

  ‘Oh, that will be easy,’ I said. ‘And fun.’

  ‘Yeah, for you.’ Abbie frowned. ‘It’s definitely not my idea of fun.’

  ‘Mine either,’ Naira said.

  Just as we were heading out of the door, Mackenzie suddenly grabbed my arm.

  ‘Hey, Violet, can you stay for second so I can ask you something about the script?’

  ‘Oh sure,’ I said, waving to Abbie, Naira and Zi as they headed down the front steps. ‘See you tomorrow!’

  ‘What’s up?’ I asked, turning back to Mackenzie. ‘Are you still nervous about doing the show?’

  ‘Well . . . actually,’ Mackenzie began, ‘I was wondering if I could . . . um, have a few more lines?’

  I nearly fell backwards into her dad’s tools.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Yeah.’ She smiled shyly. ‘Naira and I were saying today that we’re having so much fun doing the sketch, and that it’s not as scary as we thought, and how we wished we had more lines and—’

  ‘No problem at all!’ I interrupted, thrilled to hear they were enjoying it so much. ‘You and Naira can take some of my lines.’

  Mackenzie looked horrified. ‘Oh no. We don’t want to take them away from you.’

  ‘It’s fine.’ I shrugged. ‘I have too many anyway. I’ll go through the script and divvy up the lines between us. Mum can print some new ones for us.’

  Mackenzie beamed and gave me a huge hug. ‘That would be amazing, Violet. Thank you!’

  eleven

  ‘I’VE LEARNED ALL MY NEW LINES,’ MACKENZIE SAID proudly as we set up for rehearsal on Friday afternoon.

  ‘What?’ Naira cried. ‘Violet only gave them to us this morning.’

  ‘I finished my maths worksheet early, so I had time in class.’ Mackenzie grinned.

  ‘Show-off,’ Zi teased.

  ‘Dad and Liam are going to be shocked at how many lines I have now.’ Mackenzie giggled.

  ‘So will my family,’ Naira said. ‘I don’t think they’ve heard me say that many words in a whole week.’

  She wasn’t exaggerating. Naira had a twin brother, Asim, an older brother, Hamza, a younger sister, Ateera, and her nana, who lived in a granny flat out the back of their house, so Naira could hardly get a word in at home. Her brothers and sister were super rowdy, and her mum and nana talked a LOT, so we reckoned Naira got sick of trying to talk over them all and eventually just gave up.

  ‘Alright, Ms Director,’ Abbie said with a bow. ‘Shall we start?’

  ‘Yep!’ This wasn’t a Broadway show or anything, but I still loved being ‘Ms Director’.

  We ended up reading through the script three times and even did some blocking. The girls had no idea what blocking meant, so I explained that it was working out where they would be sitting, standing or moving around during the scene. For example, when Mackenzie said ‘What was that’, I got her to stand up and look around for a second. Then when Naira said ‘It was nothing’, I told her to pull Mackenzie back down onto the stool.

  An hour later, I decided it was time to finish up.

  ‘Okay, that’s probably enough for today,’ I said, stacking the stools in the corner. ‘Good work, everyone. Just make sure you all know your lines by Monday.’

  ‘Monday?!’ Zi cried. ‘That’s three days away!’

  ‘Zi,’ I said as patiently I could. ‘The show is next Saturday, and you should know your lines at least a week before. That’s a theatre rule.’

  Naira frowned. ‘Is it?’

  ‘It is in my theatre,’ I said.

  Abbie sighed. ‘Violet, as Grandpa would say, “You’re a harsh taskmaster”!’

  twelve

  JEMMA STILL WASN’T BACK FROM VISITING HER MUM in the city, so on Saturday morning, I got up early to help Mum and Dad in the café. Once the lunch rush was over, I headed to my room to write a list of costumes, props and set stuff we needed for the show.

  Costumes/Props:

  Backpacks

  Hats

  Hiking shoes

  Hiking stick? (Was that even a thing?)

  Set:

  Campfire (homemade)

  2 x lanterns (homemade)

  One side of a cabin??

  Hmm . . . making a whole side of a cabin might be too hard, and I was pretty sure I didn’t have the time (or skills) to do it in a week. Maybe we could just pretend there was a cabin and point off stage when we talked about it instead. Yeah, that was probably a better idea. But I could definitely make the campfire and the lanterns myself. That wouldn’t be too hard.

  I decided to spend the next morning getting all the props and costume stuff organised, and looking for my old witch costume. Then in the afternoon, I’d make the campfire and the lanterns. Right now, I’d work on my history project, then head off to Naira’s house for our pyjama-themed sleepover.

  Sorted!

  I was so happy with my time-management skills that I decided to reward myself with a chocolate milkshake and cheese-and-tomato sandwich from the café. When I got there, I saw Abbie and Zi sitting at one of the tables out front having milkshakes after their surf, so I went out to join them.

  ‘How did the photos from the Fairytale Sleepover look?’ Abbie asked.

  ‘Great,’ I replied. ‘I’ll upload them onto the website this week.’

  ‘Cool,’ Abbie said. ‘I reckon we’ll start getting even more bookings when people see how awesome our decorations look.’

  After we’d chatted for a bit, I jumped up and brushed the crumbs off my favourite pink-and-white-striped top.

  ‘I’m gonna go do some work on my history project before getting into my PJs and going to Naira’s,’ I said.

  ‘I wish we’d thought of something more exciting for tonight’s sleepover theme,’ Abbie sighed. ‘A pyjama theme is so basic.’

  ‘It’s FINE!’ Zi cried, throwing her hands up and spilling drops of milkshake on herself. ‘We’ve got themes galore going on with our sleepover bookings. It’s nice to be basic every now and then.’

  ‘Okay, fine.’ Abbie smiled. ‘But I’m going to come up with something amazing for our next one.’

  Zi laughed. ‘Of course you are,’ she said, then turned to me. ‘Hey, how’s your history project going, Vi?’

  ‘Yeah, good,’ I said. ‘I’m gonna finish the diary entries this afternoon.’

  ‘Why don’t you bring them to the sleepover?’ Zi said. ‘I’d love to hear them.’

  ‘Really?’ I was surprised. Zi never wanted to talk about schoolwork on the weekend.

  ‘Yeah, I wanna see how you tell the girl’s story,’ Zi said, wiping milkshake drops off her wetsuit.

  ‘Okay,’ I said with a nod. ‘How’s your project going?’ I asked Abbie.

  ‘Okay.’ She shrugged. ‘But I should probably do some more work on it today.’

  ‘How about you, Zi?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah, I’ve done heaps on it,’ she said, now inspecting one of the many ding marks on her surfboard.

  ‘Okay, well, I’ll see you guys at Naira’s,’ I said. ‘I’ll bring cupcakes.’

  thirteen

  BACK IN MY BEDROOM, I SAT DOWN AT MY DESK AND opened up my history folder to start on my diary entries. I’d spent a bit of time on Mum’s laptop the night before, looking up stuff about kids who had to work in factories during the Industrial Revolution, and what I found was really sad. Loads of kids were orphans back then, like my eight-year-old character, Daisy, and had worked in factories too.

  I tapped my pen against my chin and thought about Daisy. What she looked like, where she came from and how she started working in the factory. After a couple of minutes, I started to write.

  The diary entries poured out of me, and in between I made lots of notes on her character and what was going to happen to her in the end, constantly checking the notes I’d taken last night so I didn’t get any of the historical stuff wrong. I got so lost in Daisy’s story that I didn’t even notice what time it was until Dad knocked on my door and poked his head in.

 

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