The Cupid Chronicles Read Online Free

when Stella was a wedding planner and kept moving us to new towns, it was hard to make lasting friends. The friends in my books were always there.
    When my head clunks down on Dickens, I shut off the light. The screen is dark and then the movie starts playing in my mind. JFK standing there with those dreamy blue eyes, that dimple to die for … Come on, Cupid. Move your butt.

CHAPTER 4
 
Ruby and the Bramble Burners

 
    She hath more hair than wit,
and more faults than hairs,
and more wealth than faults.
    â€”Shakespeare,
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
    Sam slides the newspaper toward me at breakfast. “It doesn’t look good for the library,” he says. “Harry Sivler says the debt may be insurmountable.” Harry Sivler is that obnoxious Ruby Snivler’s father. Her last name is Sivler, but I call her Snivler. Snivler suits her better.
    Mr. Sivler owns half the town of Bramble. Nana hates him. She says he’s a “new money wash-ashore who won’t stop until he’s torn down every sweet Cape cottage and built a tacky trophy in its place.”
    I read the article. They’re cutting back hours to three days a week and are “in discussions with two neighboring towns about the possibility of merging.”
    â€œThey can’t do that!” My heart is pounding.
    Stella comes in from her morning run, sweating, huffing. “Look at the time,” she says to me. “Hurry up, Willa. You’ll be late.”
    At our lockers I start to tell Tina about the library, but she interrupts. “Let’s get Ruby to help with the Halloween party,” she says. “We only have two weeks, and she’s got lots of experience. Remember the June Bug dance in seventh grade?”
    I do not have fond memories of the Bug.
    â€œBesides, Willa, it’s time you and Ruby bury the hatches and—”
    â€œIt’s
hatchet,
Tina, but maybe you’re right.”
    Before I settled here in Bramble, Ruby and Tina were best friends.
    â€œHey, girls! What do you think?”
    Tina and I swing around at the sound of Ruby’s voice.
    â€œAhhh!”
We gasp in unison.
    Ruby has been transformed. Her hair is permedand poofed, and very, very
red.
Her lips and fingernails are on fire, too, and she’s sporting a flaming leather jacket that fits so tight her boobs jut out like volcanoes. Ruby’s a redheaded Dolly Parton.
    â€œMommy and I went to Spangles for the weekend, our favorite spa in Boston. Daddy flew us over in the new CJ.” I’m assuming CJ is a plane. Ruby flashes her fingers so we can admire her manicure.
    â€œOh, so
glam,”
Tina says.
    â€œAnd Mommy’s favorite yogi, Albee Senile, was there. At first I was like, ‘yawn, yawn, look at that scraggly old dinosaur,’ and then at Satsung that night Senile started mumbling something about ‘blossoming, blossoming, letting your inner bud bloom …’ and all of a sudden I had this, I don’t know …
awakening …
sort of like I finally woke up. Right then and there I decided to break out and do something dramatic, you know, make a personal statement, something to demonstrate my passionate personality, and so I made an appointment at the salon and …”
    I am absolutely without words. Tina manages another “glam.”
    The bell rings and Ruby reluctantly sheds her red leather, stuffs her backpack in her locker, checks her makeup in the mirror, and slams the door shut.
    I jump.
    â€œAnd guess what?” Ruby says. “Big news! Tanner McGee just winked at me in the hall and said, ‘see you at the game, Ruby.’ And I said, ‘okay Tanner. See ya’ then.’ Our first conversation. And he knows my
name!”
    Tina’s body stiffens. She folds her arms. Uh-oh.
    Tina and I are painfully aware—and constantly reminded—that Ruby made the cheerleading squad, the Bramble Burners. Tina was tragically disappointed. I didn’t