The Scary Bridesmaid

“Can we have sparkly tiaras?” begged Molly.
“Oooh, yes, a tiara with lots of shiny jewels?” Polly added cutely.
Buffy glared at the twins and pulled a scary face. A sparkly tiara was the last thing she wanted.
“Actually, I’m wearing a diamante tiara,” Aunt Sarah told the twins. “So I’d like you to wear something different from me.”
“Can we have a crown of pretty flowers?” asked Molly.
“Or pink feathers – like this?” suggested Polly, as she popped on a frilly pink head dress with feathers round the edges.
“I’ve got to stop the twins coming up with such terrible ideas,” thought Buffy.
As Aunt Sarah admired the twins in the big shop mirror, Buffy laid Freddie along the edge of the counter.
“A scary rattlesnake should take their minds off frills and feathers,” she thought with a smile.
A few seconds later, Polly turned from the mirror and saw Freddie lying right next to her hand.
“AAAH! EEEK!” she hollered in total terror.
When Molly saw the snake she reacted in exactly the same way.
“HAAAAAH!” she screamed.
 
 
The shop assistant rushed the twins away from the scary snake, leaving Aunt Sarah glaring at Buffy, who was now holding Freddie limply in her hands.
“Buffy! How could you do that?” demanded Aunt Sarah crossly.
“Er, er, it sort of slipped out of my rucksack,” Buffy mumbled.
“Nonsense, you put it there to scare the twins. It’s exactly the kind of scary thing you like to do,” Aunt Sarah added knowingly. “I let you off when you scared the twins with the eyeball but this is going too far. Any more of this nonsense and you will not be my bridesmaid.”
Buffy blushed. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I just hate the head dresses they want and I thought Freddie might take their minds off pink feathers and satin flowers.”
“Who’s Freddie …?” asked Aunt Sarah.
“That’s the name I gave my snake,” Buffy replied.
Aunt Sarah started to giggle, which made Buffy giggle too.
 
 
“We’re going to choose the flowers next and I don’t want to see Freddie in the florist shop just because you don’t like the same kind of flowers as the twins,” said Aunt Sarah.
Buffy nodded. She’d try not to scare the twins but it was going to be SO hard!
 Chapter Six 
 
 
As the wedding day got nearer Buffy didn’t have time for scary tricks. She had to buy wedding shoes and have her long hair trimmed. There were endless food shops with Mum, who was stocking up for all the relatives coming to stay with them for the wedding. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Mum’s umpteen visits to the local supermarket, Buffy would never have spotted the wicked plastic ink splodge. It was displayed on one of the shelves with an inkbottle tipped sideways and a pool of black ink pouring out of it. It looked so realistic Buffy just had to go up and feel it.
 
 
“WOW! I could do some excellent scares with that,” she thought.
“Mum, can I have this?” she asked sweetly.
“You’ve got quite enough scary things,” Mrs Vine replied.
“Please, please,” begged Buffy. “I’ve helped you with all the shopping, I deserve a little treat.”
Mrs Vine smiled. “You have been very good,” she agreed. “I’ll buy it for you on condition that you promise not to use it at the wedding.”
“Cross my heart,” Buffy solemnly promised.
A whole week had gone by and Buffy hadn’t scared Tina and Lucy once.
“It’s been nice not having eyeballs in my apple juice,” giggled Lucy, as they all sat at their table writing stories in their very best handwriting.
“And I’ve really enjoyed not having spiders in my ham sandwiches,” chuckled Tina.
Buffy smiled. “I haven’t had time for scary things.”
Buffy waited until Lucy and Tina went off to get some clean paper, then quickly took the ink splodge from her rucksack and placed it on top of her friends’ writing books. It looked fantastic – just as if somebody had come along and tipped a whole bottle of ink all over the desk.
Buffy bent her head over her book and waited for her friends to come back. Out of the corner of her eye she saw them stop dead in their tracks and stare in horror at the ink splodge that was covering their books. They gasped, then squeaked, then screamed and ran to the teacher.
 
 
“Somebody’s spilt ink all over our books!” they cried.
The class teacher dashed up to their desk. “WHAT ink?” she asked. “I can’t see any ink.”
Tina and Lucy stopped spluttering and looked at the table where their books were neatly laid out alongside their crayons and pencils.
“I do wish you two would stop making a fuss about nothing,” said the class teacher.
“But there really was ink here,” Lucy insisted.
“Who else was sitting here with you?” asked the teacher.
The two girls looked at each other. “BUFFY!” they said.
They found Buffy in the cloakroom, clutching the ink splodge and giggling to herself.
“You scared us again!” cried Tina.
 
 
“Oh, you should have seen your faces!” laughed Buffy.
Lucy winked at Tina as if to say, We can’t wait to see your face on the wedding day!
 Chapter Seven 
 
 
The wedding day dawned, wild and blustery. Mum took Buffy over to Aunt Sarah’s house, where she stayed to help dress all three bridesmaids. Molly and Polly were already there, dancing around the house in their frilly petticoats, wild with excitement.
“Thank goodness I’ve got one older bridesmaid,” said Aunt Sarah. “At least you’ll be sensible, won’t you Buffy?”
Buffy nodded.
“She’s promised not to play any scary tricks,” Mum added.
“Good!” exclaimed Aunt Sarah. “I’m scared enough as it is!”
Mrs Vine got the bridesmaids into their dresses, then left them with the hairdresser who’d come to the house to do everybody’s hair.
The twins, of course, wanted lots of curls all fluffed out around their shiny little faces. When the hairdresser suggested curls for the big bridesmaid, Buffy said, “I’d like my hair long and straight, please.”
“YUK! You really look like a witch now!” laughed Polly.
“Ooo, a scary witch!” giggled Molly.
Buffy gave the annoying twins a scary look which sent them scampering out of the room.
“Are you sure you want your hair down?” asked the hairdresser.
“Yes. Long, loose hair will go better with the style of my dress,” Buffy replied firmly.
Shortly after they’d all dressed, the flowers arrived. Posies of roses for the twins and lilies for Buffy and Aunt Sarah.
 
 
“You all look lovely!” sighed Mum with tears in her eyes. “Just like little angels.”
“Buffy’s too scary to be an angel!” squeaked Polly.
The wind thundered around the church and rattled the stained glass windows.
 
 
When the bride and groom walked out of the church the wind whooshed round them, sending Aunt Sarah’s veil flying up like a misty cloud.
The photographer was frantically dashing around trying to take shots of the guests before the wind blew their hats off! Buffy and the twins had their photographs taken with the bride and groom, then the photographer called for all the ushers.