Alexis Gets Frosted Read Online Free Page B

eating again. “What is it? Your allergies?”
    â€œYeah,” I said.
    â€œâ€˜Yeah’?” my mom repeated, and raised her eyebrows a little at me. She hates when we use that word. “There’s an s on the end of that word, correct?”
    â€œYessss,” I corrected myself. “Just itchy eyes and a runny nose and stuff.” I was thrilled for the excuse she’d thrown me, even though it wasn’t nice of me to fib to my parents.
    â€œIt’s going to be a bad year for allergies. All this dryness. No snow this year to fill up the ground-water,” said my dad.
    â€œI know. It was the worst skiing year on record,” agreed my mom. “Those poor ski-resort owners. You know the Campbells canceled their trip. . . . ”
    I tuned out what she was saying as something in my mind began buzzing. Snow. Skiing. Ski resorts . . . OMG!
    â€œOh no!” I moaned out loud without meaning to.
    â€œSweetheart!” cried my mother. “What is it?” She looked at me all wide-eyed and scared.
    â€œOh, nothing. Sorry.” I felt sheepish. “Just something I forgot to bring home for homework. I have to call Emma.”
    Everyone looked at me suspiciously. Not only am I a bad liar but I’d thought up a bad lie. I’d neverforgotten something I needed in all of my life. I am the most organized person I know!
    â€œOookay,” my mom said skeptically.
    I started to stand up to call Emma, and my father said, “Not right now, young lady. It’s dinnertime.” And he pointed back to my chair.
    â€œSorry,” I said. Then I wolfed down the rest of my dinner, and asked to clear my plate and be excused.
    â€œWait!” said my mom. “One thing I forgot to tell you before you go! Granny said we could come out Saturday morning to see the dollhouse and all the photos. She’s thrilled to get things organized and lay them all out for you.” My mom smiled.
    â€œThanks, Mom,” I said. I tried to muster up some excitement as I scraped my plate into the disposal, but all I could feel right now was dread.
    â€œWait, what’s all this about Granny?” asked Dylan, and I left my mother to explain. Dylan would hate to miss out on anything with our grandmother because she gives us great old things all the time, like clothes and records and stuff, which Dylan loves.
    I took the stairs up two at a time and grabbed the cordless phone from the hall table as I sprinted by. Inside my room I frantically dialed Emma’s numberwithout even stopping to think what I usually think, which is that my crush—her brother Matt—might answer the phone. Which he didn’t, luckily.
    â€œAlexis?”
    I love caller ID.
    â€œThank goodness you answered. I figured it all out.”
    â€œWait, the gingerbread house?”
    I could hear the confusion in Emma’s voice.
    â€œNo! Olivia Allen!”
    â€œOh. What?”
    â€œI know why she’s after me. Remember when we were in the hall talking the day we got out for break about my ski trip? And Maggie and Bella were there? And Maggie was asking where we were going and everything, and she said something about how Olivia used to be, like, a professional skier in the Alps or something?”
    â€œYeah . . . ”
    ( Yessss! I thought, channeling my mom, but I didn’t say it!) “Well, remember how Maggie said something that wasn’t really nice about Olivia, and we were kind of surprised because we thought they were BFFs?”
    â€œOh yeah! Something about how it always has to be the best with Olivia or whatever?”
    â€œRight!” I agreed, feeling relief she remembered too. “So then I said some joke about, ‘Well, she probably thinks she’s an Olympic skier, but she’s really one of those people who just wears the outfits and sits in the lodge all day.’ Remember that?”
    â€œUh-huh,” agreed Emma,