Sleepover Girls Go Wild! Read Online Free Page A

Sausage as a little tea-time snack!
    Jack went on to tell us about Horace’s natural habitat and how he’d been with Animal World for three years. Then, when he’d finished telling us the facts, he said, “So, would anyone like to stroke him?”
    Dad stepped forward eagerly, and stroked Horace on the head. We all held our breath. Visions of Dad getting bitten and swelling up like a balloon flitted through my brain. But Dad just turned and beamed at us.
    “Hey, girls,” he whispered. “This guy is really something! Come and feel him!”
    So we did. We held him, too – and he was really heavy!
    Fliss didn’t touch him, of course. She refused to have anything to do with Hissing Horace – and she wouldn’t even touch any of us after we’d handled him!
    “I don’t want to get snake slime all over my fingers, thank you very much,” she sniffed.
    And nothing in the world would convince her that Hissing Horace wasn’t slimy. I bet you thought he’d be slimy too, didn’t you? But he really wasn’t. He felt smooth and warm, kind of like the bark of a tree, only with really neat, shiny scales. Stroking him, you forgot all the horrible stuff – like how in the wild, he would have squeezed his victims to death. He didn’t seem particularly freaked at our painted faces either. I guess he was one chilled-out snake.
    “It’s just as well that none of us are painted like Sausage,” joked Kenny. “Hissing Horace might try to eat us!”
    I glared furiously at Kenny. That girl just didn’t know when to stop!
    “Don’t listen to her, Lyndz,” I started.
    But… where was Lyndz?
    I looked all around the Snake House, but there was no sign of her.
    “Hey, have any of you guys seen Lyndz lately?” I asked.
    Fliss, Kenny and Rosie all shook their heads.
    “She probably went outside for some fresh air,” suggested Dad, frowning. “She didn’t seem all that keen on the snake, did she?”
    We all walked out into the sunshine, and called for Lyndz. But she was nowhere to be seen.
    “I think you really freaked her, Kenny,” I scolded. “She could be anywhere now!”
    Kenny looked kind of ashamed of herself. “She’ll turn up,” she said sulkily.
    “Hey, we never asked the snake handler if Sausage was going to be Horace’s dinner, did we?” said Rosie all of a sudden.
    We all went very quiet. We should have asked Jack as soon as we’d got into the demonstration. Lyndz was still miserable, and it was all our fault.
    Just as Dad was about to go off and report her as missing to the Animal World office, Lyndz showed up. Just like that.
    “Hi, guys,” she said quietly, clutching her bag tightly to her chest. “Is it time to go?” She sounded weird, kind of nervy and odd.
    “Are you OK, Lyndz?” I asked.
    “Look, I’m really sorry,” Kenny blurted. Kenz isn’t very good at admitting she’s wrong. She must have been feeling pretty gruesome about it to apologise like that!
    “No problem.” Lyndz’s voice sounded all tight and tinny, like a Furby. It was definitely odd . “Is it time to go?” she asked again.
    “Yes, it is,” said Dad kindly. “Home for a birthday tea!”
    And we all left Animal World, piled into the car, and headed home for birthday cake and surprises.
    “Hey, welcome back!” greeted Mum cheerfully as we all came through the door, wiping our feet and peeling off our coats. “Come in, come in! Did you have a good day? I wish I’d been there, but…”
    “It’s OK, Mum,” I said. I think Mum feels a bit guilty sometimes, about spending more time with Izzy than me. Well, Izzy is kind of little, so I guess she needs Mum a bit more than I do. “We missed you, but it’s OK.”
    “We saw the most amazing snake, Helena,” Dad started.
    I glanced anxiously at Lyndz, at the mention of Hissing Horace. She was still holding on to her bag like grim death, and hadn’t said a word all the way home. She couldn’t still be upset about that Sausage business, could she?
    “Tea!” announced