Twin Tales by Jacqueline Wilson

1. Double Shock
    â€˜We’ve got something wonderful to tell you, Connie,’ said Mum.
    â€˜You’re going to be so thrilled,’ said Dad.
    Connie blinked at them both. Their faces were pink. Their eyes were shining. They weren’t teasing.
    â€˜What? What, Mum? What, Dad? Tell me!’ said Connie.
    â€˜Can’t you guess?’ said Mum.
    â€˜It’s what we’ve always wanted,’ said Dad.
    Connie’s heart started thumping inside her T-shirt.
    â€˜Oh, Mum! Oh, Dad! Are we going to Disneyland?’ she said.
    Mum and Dad blinked back at her.
    â€˜What?’ said Mum. ‘Oh, Connie, this is better than a trip to Disneyland.’
    â€˜Better than seeing Mickey Mouse?’ said Connie, doubtfully.
    â€˜Mickey Mouse is only pretend. This is real,’ said Dad.
    â€˜Am I getting a real mouse?’ said Connie, perking up. ‘Can I have a white one, please? And a black one too? And then they could maybe have babies, and they might come out in black and white stripes like very weeny zebras.’
    â€˜Do stop burbling, Connie,’ said Dad. ‘We’re not talking about mice having babies. It’s Mum.’
    â€˜Mum?’ said Connie. ‘Mum’s having baby mice?’
    â€˜Oh, Connie,’ said Mum. ‘I’m having baby
babies
.’
    â€˜Baby babies?’ said Connie. She didn’t just sound doubtful now. She looked it too.
    â€˜Don’t look so worried,’ said Mum, laughing. ‘I’m not having lots and lots. Just two. Twins.’
    â€˜Isn’t it marvellous?’ said Dad, and he gave Connie a little nudge so that she’d say yes.
    Connie didn’t say anything. She was thinking. She wasn’t sure she liked babies very much. Connie’s best friend Karen had a baby sister called Susie. Susie looked sweet enough, but when Connie had picked her up to give her a cuddle Susie had been sick all down the front of Connie’s best teddy bear jumper. Connie had never been very keen on Susie after that. Come to think of it, Karen wasn’t very keen on Susie either. She screamed a lot. That was just one baby. Two would be twice as bad.

    â€˜Hey, Connie!’ said Dad, giving her another nudge. ‘You know how we’ve always longed for more children.’
    â€˜Have we?’ said Connie.
    â€˜That’s why I had all that special treatment at the doctor’s,’ said Mum. ‘So I could give you a baby brother or a baby sister, Connie. And now I can give you both all in one go.’
    â€˜It’s going to get a bit crowded round here then,’ said Connie. ‘Where are they going to sleep, these twin babies?’
    Mum and Dad looked at each other. Connie started to get suspicious.
    â€˜They’re not going to come in with me, are they?’ she said. ‘There won’t be room for three of us.’
    â€˜That’s right,’ said Dad. ‘So Mum and I have had this really good idea.’
    â€˜What?’ said Connie. She wasn’t so sure about Mum and Dad and their ideas now.
    â€˜We thought we could make you a special new big girl’s bedroom,’ said Mum. ‘Then the twins could have your old room.’
    â€˜A new big girl’s bedroom?’ said Connie slowly. She thought about the extension at the back of her friend Karen’s house. ‘Ooh, are we going to build an extension?’ she said hopefully, imagining a huge glass room jutting right out into the garden.
    â€˜Come off it, Connie, you know we couldn’t afford it,’ said Dad, and he sounded a bit grumpy. ‘First it’s Disneyland, then it’s extensions. We’re not made of money, you know. And when we’re a family of five we’ll have to be really careful with our money.’
    Connie wasn’t at all sure she wanted them to be a family of five. They’d managed beautifully in the past being a family of three.
    â€˜We thought the