Chapter Three

The moment Buffy saw the twins her heart sank. They were six, they were cute and they were sweet – very sweet! She just knew they would want the pinkest, frilliest dresses in the shop – and she was right. Molly and Polly spent hours trying on frilly net dresses in every colour of the rainbow.

“Don’t they look adorable in pink?” cooed Aunt Sarah.

“Gorgeous!” agreed the shop assistant.

“Beautiful!” squeaked Polly, as she and her sister skipped about like bright little butterflies.

Buffy rolled her dark brown eyes and prayed … please don’t make me wear something like that.

The shop assistant thought peach silk would look perfect on Buffy. “Peach would look wonderful against your long dark hair,” she said.

Buffy frowned and tried to look scary.

“I don’t like pastel colours! Anyway, I’m the big bridesmaid,” she added quickly. “I should wear something more grown up than the twins.”

“If they’re wearing pink you really do have to wear a colour that will blend in with them,” said Aunt Sarah.

Buffy felt like saying, The twins should jolly well fit in with me! but she thought better of it. She didn’t want to offend her favourite aunt. She glumly followed the bride down the rows of billowing bridesmaids’ dresses. Suddenly her eyes lit up.

“Look!” gasped Buffy, pointing to a long, silvery blue, velvet dress.

“I’m not sure that will go with the other bridesmaids’ dresses,” said the bossy shop assistant.

“I like it!” Buffy insisted.

“I do too,” said Aunt Sarah.

Buffy slipped into the velvet dress, which had long tight sleeves and a beautiful embroidered neckline.

“It’s beautiful!” she cried, as she twirled around and smiled with pleasure.

Aunt Sarah bought the dresses, then took her bridesmaids to the café in the department store. While Sarah was at the counter, the twins teased Buffy about her dress.

“You’ll look like a witch,” giggled Polly.

“Or a wizard in a bad temper,” chuckled Molly.

“You don’t look pretty like US,” added Polly.

“Pink’s nicer than blue,” said Molly.

Buffy frowned and sat back in her chair with her hands in her coat pocket.

“We’re not scared of your scary face!” laughed the twins.

Suddenly, Buffy felt something round and smooth in her pocket. It was the plastic eyeball! The perfect trick to shut up the chattering twins.

Pretending to pick up a napkin, Buffy dropped the eyeball in the middle of the table. A few minutes later Aunt Sarah set down a tray full of drinks and muffins.

“Orange for you girls and tea for me,” she said, as she handed out the bottles and straws. “Please will you pass me the sugar, Polly?”

Polly reached over for the sugar bowl and saw the red eyeball rolling around next to it.

“AHHHHH!” she shrieked at the top of her voice.

Aunt Sarah jumped, and spilt her tea all over the clean tablecloth. As she mopped it up with a napkin, Buffy quickly grabbed the eyeball and slipped it back into her pocket.

“What is it, Polly?” said Aunt Sarah. “What’s the matter?”

“There’s an eye … eye … eyeball on the table,” she stuttered.

They all stared at the table. It was covered in tea but there was no sign of an eyeball.

“There really really was an eyeball,” cried Polly.

Aunt Sarah stared at Buffy knowingly. “I wonder where it is now…?”

Chapter Four

Buffy couldn’t resist buying the plastic rattlesnake from the joke shop. She took it home and tried it out on her mum, who groaned when she saw it coiled up in the bread bin.

“Buffy!” Mum cried. “Take that thing out of my kitchen and never let me see it again.”

Buffy took “Freddie”, the nickname she’d given to the rattlesnake, upstairs to her bedroom. Freddie was SO realistic that even she got a shock when she woke up the following morning and found him lying at the foot of the bed.

“Ahh!” she squeaked, then laughed at herself. Freddie was going to be a really scary snake.

With Freddie in her rucksack, Buffy walked to school deep in thought. Where would be the best place to scare her friends with the plastic rattlesnake? Her class teacher came up with the answer when she asked Tina and Lucy if they’d mind tidying up the paint cupboard during morning playtime. When Buffy heard her friends say they’d do the job she knew exactly where she was going to leave Freddie!

Just before playtime, Buffy wandered past the paint cupboard with Freddie stuffed under her school sweatshirt. She quickly glanced from side to side to check that nobody was watching her, then flung the rattlesnake into the back of the cupboard. When the bell rang for playtime, Tina and Lucy immediately went to the cupboard and started to sort out the paint pots.

“Do you want to help us?” Lucy asked, when she saw Buffy hanging around at the back of the classroom when everybody else had gone out to play.

“Er, no,” said Buffy and quickly hurried out.

A minute later Buffy came creeping back in and hid behind a desk, just as Lucy reached into the back of the cupboard. Buffy held her breath … what would Lucy do when she saw Freddie? A second later she found out when Lucy let out a scream that made Buffy’s ears ring!

“AHHH!!” shrieked Lucy. “Look!” she cried, as she pointed into the cupboard.

Tina peered in and let out a scream that shook the rafters!

“Whatever is the matter with you two girls?” snapped the teacher as she came running into the classroom.

“There’s a s-s-snake in the paint cupboard!” squeaked Tina.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” said the teacher, as she poked her head into the cupboard. “There’s nothing in here.” But the teacher soon stepped back in horror as she saw the snake.

Buffy covered her mouth and rocked with laughter. Freddie was the best scary trick she’d ever played. But her heart sank when the teacher called the headmistress, who then called the caretaker.

The caretaker arrived with a net and a bucket. “Where is this deadly poisonous snake?” he asked.

“In the cupboard,” the teacher replied.

The caretaker peered into the back of the cupboard and burst out laughing. “It’s a fake snake,” he chuckled. “Somebody’s trying to scare you!”

When the headmistress found out what Buffy had done she was furious, and told her she had to miss playtime for a whole week. “We don’t want scary things like this happening in our school,” she told Buffy.

Tina and Lucy were thrilled that Buffy was being punished for scaring them.

“You really scared us,” said Tina.

“It was the worst shock of my life,” said Lucy.

“It’s worth missing playtime for the look on your faces when you saw Freddie,” giggled Buffy.

“Just you wait,” said Tina.

Chapter Five

Buffy wasn’t looking forward to going into town to choose the bridesmaids’ head dresses. She knew she would disagree with the twins. They’d probably want pink and she certainly wouldn’t want anything as girly as that.

“Maybe I’ll take Freddie with me,” Buffy thought. “He might come in handy.”

With the plastic snake in her rucksack, she met Aunt Sarah and the twins in the bridal shop.