The Scary Bridesmaid

 
 
 Copyright 
First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2001
Collins is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublisher Ltd
77-85 Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
Text copyright © Diane Redmond 2001
Illustrations by Strawberrie Donnelly 2001
Diane Redmond and Strawberrie Donnelly assert the moral right to be identified as author and illustrator of the work.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.
Source ISBN: 9780007104819
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2014 ISBN: 9780007571727
Version: 2014-11-11
 Contents 
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Keep Reading
Also by the Author
About the Publisher
 Chapter One 
 
 
Buffy Vine’s favourite thing in the world was scaring people. She liked nothing better than giving her friends a really good fright! She loved popping out of cupboards with a monster mask over her face and making her mum jump. It made her giggle to creep up on her little brother when he was watching television and shout, “BOO!” But most of all she loved scaring her best friends, Tina and Lucy.
The day Aunt Sarah announced she was going to get married, Buffy gave Tina and Lucy a really scary fright. She’d been to the joke shop at the weekend and bought two wicked things – a big black spider and a red plastic eyeball! On Monday morning Buffy put them into her school bag … she had plans for both of them.
At playtime Buffy hid in the girls’ toilets and waited for her class to run out into the playground. When everything was quiet she crept out of her hiding place and sneaked into the cloakroom, where all the packed lunch boxes were stacked up on a table. She easily found her friends’ lunch boxes; Tina’s had stars all over it and Lucy’s had dinosaurs. Checking that nobody was watching, Buffy opened Tina’s box and slipped the black spider in between Tina’s ham sandwiches. Giggling to herself, she unscrewed Lucy’s flask and dropped the red eyeball into her apple juice – then quickly screwed the lid back on.
 
 
When lunchtime came Buffy made sure she was sitting directly opposite Tina and Lucy when they opened their lunch boxes.
“What have you got in your sandwiches today?” she asked Tina.
“I’ve got ham salad,” Tina started to say, but she never got to the end of the sentence. Her eyes grew wide in horror as she stared down at the huge black spider sitting on her sandwiches. “AHHHH!” she screamed, and throwing the box on to the floor, she ran out of the dining room.
 
 
“Hey, what’s spooked Tina?” said Lucy, as she poured out her apple juice.
As Lucy tipped the flask, Buffy covered her mouth with a hand to stop herself from bursting out laughing. Suddenly, the big red eyeball plopped into Lucy’s glass!
 
 
“Ahhhhh!” Lucy screamed, as she dropped her flask and apple juice spilt all over the floor.
“Please stop screaming in the dining room,” called the dinner lady crossly.
Tina and Lucy were furious with Buffy.
“That was a really mean trick,” grumbled Tina. “You know I hate spiders.”
“One day we’ll get our own back on you for all your scary tricks,” Lucy promised.
“Yes,” Tina agreed. “One day we’ll really scare YOU!”
“Ha, ha, ha! I bet you don’t!” Buffy laughed.
 Chapter Two 
 
 
Buffy was still smiling to herself when she got home that afternoon. She was thinking what fun it would be to buy the plastic rattlesnake she’d seen in the joke shop. Suddenly, she realised they had a visitor. Her favourite aunt, Sarah, Mum’s youngest sister, was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea with Mrs Vine.
“Hi, Buffy!” said Aunt Sarah. “You seem miles away.”
“I am,” Buffy admitted. “I was wondering if I should buy the plastic rattlesnake I saw in the joke shop at the weekend.”
“You and your tricks,” chuckled Aunt Sarah. “I hope you won’t be bringing anything scary along to my wedding.”
“WEDDING!” cried Buffy. “Are you getting married?”
“Yes, we thought it was about time.”
“That’s brilliant!” said Buffy.
“I’m glad you approve,” joked Aunt Sarah. “Because Tony and I would like you to be our bridesmaid.”
Buffy clapped her hands in delight. “Oh, I’d LOVE to be your bridesmaid!”
 
 
“Tony’s nieces, the twins, Molly and Polly, will be our little bridesmaids, but you’ll be the big one – so you have to be sensible,” Sarah added firmly. “I don’t want any plastic rattlesnakes left in the aisle or black beetles dropped down anybody’s dress on my wedding day. Understand?”
Buffy grinned. “I’ll try not to be your SCARY bridesmaid!”
When Buffy told Tina and Lucy she was going to be a bridesmaid they thought she was teasing them. “Oh, very funny!” they cried. “Is this another of your silly tricks?”
 
 
“No, I’m serious,” Buffy insisted, which made them laugh even more.
“Ha, ha, ha, Buffy’s being serious,” they giggled. “That makes a change!”
When they eventually realised that Buffy wasn’t pulling their legs, Tina and Lucy were amazed.
“I wouldn’t want you to be my bridesmaid,” Tina blurted out. “You’d dress up as a vampire and spoil the wedding.”
“Or you’d pour fake blood all down the bride’s dress and make her faint with fright,” added Lucy.
Buffy pulled her scariest face and walked off. All this talk about wedding dresses suddenly made her feel quite nervous. She’d never asked Aunt Sarah what they’d be wearing. Buffy hated fancy, frilly dresses, which is exactly what bridesmaids usually wore. The thought of pink silk and cream lace sent a shiver down her spine. Not a nice scary shiver but a horrible sickly shiver.
Buffy was relieved when she got home as Mum told her that Aunt Sarah was taking the bridesmaids shopping that weekend.
“Good,” said Buffy. “I want something bold and striking.”
“I think the twins will want something cute,” Mum warned.
“We’ll see about that!” said Buffy in her scariest voice.