Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Glitter Girls and the Great Fake Out Read Online Free Page B

school), “Mom! What did you get for me to give to Brittany for her birthday? We have to give her something super good. Because Cheyenne O’Malley says you have to get something that costs equal to or more than whatever Brittany’s parents are spending on what I’m going to eat and drink at the party, not to mention the cost of my going to Glitterati and however much it’s going to cost for me to spend the night at the Hilton Hotel…Mom? Mom?”
    But there was no response from Mom. Just…nothing.
    Which was weird. Because she and Dad weren’t supposed to leave for the airport until later that night.
    I followed Kevin into the kitchen, where Mark was already standing. He’d gotten home before us, since he’d ridden his bike…but that meant he was more soaked. He hadn’t even gone upstairs to change out of his sopping wet clothes yet, he was just standing there making a big puddle on the kitchen floor. At first I had no idea why.
    Until I saw that he was staring at Mom. Mom, who was on the phone by the kitchen counter, with a very worried expression on her face. She was going, “Uh-huh. Of course. I understand. Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m just so sorry.”
    What had happened? Clearly something very, very bad. Mom looked awful. Her face was pale and she was holding the phone so tightly, her knuckles were white.
    I knew right away that something had gone wrong.
    And I knew what it was, too.
    My lie. My lie about how Mom was making me go to Brittany Hauser’s party had been found out.
    I didn’t know who had told. Probably no one had done it maliciously (which means on purpose and to be evil). It had probably just slipped out.
    And now I was going to get in big trouble. I would probably be grounded and I wouldn’t be able to go to Brittany’s party or to the annual Little Miss Majorette Baton Twirling Twirltacular.
    Of course, I had brought it all on myself. But still. It wasn’t fair. I had only been trying to spare my friends’ feelings. It hadn’t been a lie to hurt anyone. I had done it so as not to hurt anyone.
    I stood there in the kitchen trying to figure out what to do. Should I go to my room now, before my mom could send me there? Surely she’d let me have lunch first. My parents had never let me starve before. What was going to happen? Who was that on the phone? Mr. Hauser? Was my mom going to get fired? Could you get fired from a job you weren’t paid for? Probably, since my mom had had to audition for it in the first place.
    I couldn’t believe how much trouble I was in. My mom really liked that job. And Harmony, Uncle Jay’s girlfriend, really liked my mom’s job, too. She was trying to get a summer internship with Lynn Martinez, the news anchor at the station that showed Good News! Now, because of me, that wouldn’t happen, either.
    I had ruined everything.
    I couldn’t lie about it, either. The one thing my parents hate more than anything in the world is lying. You can pretty much do whatever you want in my house, and you’ll get in trouble for it, sure.
    But in my house, nothing will get you in bigger trouble than lying. That’s a rule. My parents can’t stand lying.
    So though it might have seemed like a good idea to make up some big excuse about why I’d lied to Erica and Caroline and Sophie about my mom’s job being on the line if I didn’t go to Brittany’s party, I didn’t, because she already looked like she was in a bad mood…a bad enough mood that if I didn’t just confess, she might kill me on the spot.
    “Mom,” I said, as soon as she hung up. “Listen. I can explain — ”
    Mom reached up and pushed some of her hair from her face.
    “Not now, Allie. That,” Mom said, “was your great-aunt Joyce. She threw out her back giving her cat, Mr. Tinkles, a bath. So now she won’t be coming to stay while your dad and I are at my cousin Freddie’s wedding…”
    I closed my mouth. So, that hadn’t been Lynn Martinez or Mr. Hauser on the phone with my mom? No one had