Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Stage Fright Read Online Free Page B

Caroline said. “If anyone could beat out Cheyenne for that part, it’s you.”
    What? I couldn’t believe Caroline had just said that. What about me ? Couldn’t I beat out Cheyenne for the part?
    “I mean, everyone knows you’re the prettiest girl in our whole school,” Caroline went on.
    “Oh, now,” Sophie said, looking embarrassed. “Not the whole school. ”
    “Well, at least in our grade,” Caroline said. “Right, Allie?”
    The truth was, I had to agree. With her dark, curly hair and big brown eyes, Sophie was extraordinarily beautiful. She might not have looked like a traditional golden-haired storybook princess, but then, neither did Cheyenne, since she had dark hair, too (Cheyenne just acted like a traditional storybook princess, always brushing her long hair at recess, over and over again, and putting it into various sparkle clips).
    But Sophie looked like some kind of princess, anyway. When we played queens at recess, Sophie was always the queen the evil warlord was in love with, because it was so easy to picture someone falling in love with Sophie. She was just that beautiful.
    “Yeah,” I said grudgingly. I mean, as much as I wanted to play Princess Penelope myself, I had to admit Sophie did look more like a princess than I did. If looks were what Mrs. Hunter was going for, Sophie was definitely going to get the part over me. Besides, I like Sophie. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings or anything. “Yeah, Sophie. You should try out for Penelope. You do really look like a princess.”
    “And you’re kind,” Erica said to Sophie. “And sweet like a princess, too.”
    “And intelligent,” Caroline said, “like a princess, too. Way more than Cheyenne.”
    “Oh, you guys!” Sophie said, laughing. “Stop it! You guys are too nice to me!”
    The thing was, everything Caroline and Erica had said was true. Sophie is beautiful, kind, sweet, and intelligent.
    But.
    But what about me ? I mean, I know I don’t necessarily look like a princess. I’m not as beautiful as Sophie, or as kind or as sweet.
    But I’m just as intelligent—maybe more so! I did way better than her in the spelling bee! And I get better grades than Sophie in math and science!
    Plus, I’m a very good actress. At least, I think I am. True, I only had that one line in first grade.
    But everyone thinks my death scenes during queens are very realistic.
    And yet no one had mentioned me trying out for Princess Penelope! What was going on?
    “You’ve just got to audition for Princess Penelope, Sophie,” Caroline said. “Otherwise, Cheyenne will get it. And she’ll drive us all even more nuts.”
    “Yeah,” Rosemary said. “No way am I putting up with Her Royal Brattiness.”
    “Well,” Sophie said, tucking some of her curly hair behind her ear, “maybe I will.”
    “What about you, Allie?” Rosemary asked. “Which part are you going to audition for?”
    Of course I couldn’t say I wanted to try out for the part of Princess Penelope. Not now, when everyone had been going on about how fantastic they thought Sophie would be in that role. Because that would seem like I was bragging that I was just as pretty as Sophie, or something. Which everyone knew I wasn’t. Most of all me.
    So I just shrugged and said, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go out for the part of one of the creatures who live in the Realm of Recycling, or whatever.”
    “You don’t sound very excited about the play,” Caroline said.
    Um, why would I be, when all my friends had basically just declared that the only girl in the whole school pretty enough to play the part I wanted was Sophie? Not that I didn’t love Sophie—because I totally did—but it might be nice if people would just give me a chance to audition for the part before they all decided Sophie was so perfect for it.
    But of course I couldn’t say any of that, either.
    “Oh, I’m excited,” I said instead. “I just haven’t had a chance to read the whole thing yet. I’ll look