The Kissing Diary Read Online Free Page B

pharmacy. Life wasn’t so bad. Why let someone like Robbie Romano ruin her day?
    Rosie took the cap off the final can and began spraying silver paint on the castle walls. The wind picked up and sent the spray traveling in the opposite direction. Rosie looked down at her favorite pair of jeans. They were speckled with color. She started screaming just about the time that Tommy and Eddie and Tony were passing by. Tommy the Hooter began laughing hysterically, pointing at Rosie. The two boys joined him, marionette puppets following their leader in his stupid dance.
    Mrs. Goldglitt opened the door, wearing the daisy top that Lauren had worn to school the day before. She glared at the boys, her arms crossed as if she were Rosie’s prison guard. Was it the look on her face or the skimpy top on a grown older woman that scared the boys away? Rosie would never know the truth, because she would never ask the question, never, never, never, in a million years.
    *   *   *
    On Sunday morning, Rosie walked into the dining room, where the castle sat drying on pieces of newspaper. She screamed for the second time that weekend, a bloodcurdling noise that brought her mother and Jimmy racing down the stairs in their pajamas. Mrs. Goldglitt stared at the wrecked castle. The clay had dried, but the walls had collapsed and fallen over. To Rosie’s horror, a tear trickled down her mother’s cheek.
    Mrs. Goldglitt ran upstairs, threw on her tightest jeans and her high-heeled boots, and said, “Come with me,” between clenched teeth. They drove to Home Depot, and Mrs. Goldglitt walked briskly up and down the aisles until she found a man wearing a Home Depot badge. Then she proceeded to bore him with the castle saga, except that Rosie knew he wasn’t bored, by the way he stared at her mother’s animated face. Something was happening, the lipstick, the makeup, the sparkle in her mother’s eyes. He was jumping through hoops now, and would have built a house out of bricks and mortar for her if he’d been asked. Rosie heard the man say, “Call if you need me, my name is Tim!” Mrs. Goldglitt’s laugh floated across the nails and ratchets as she walked away saying, “Thank you so much, Tim, but we’ll be fine.”
    Rosie’s mother was cheerful in the car, but as they approached the house, she grumbled out loud, “This project of yours cost me a hundred bucks! I have half a mind to write your teacher a letter! Gas, art supplies, your jeans, what else?”
    â€œYour bad mood,” said Rosie, looking sideways at her mother, who started to laugh. Thank goodness for Tim, Rosie thought, but she didn’t dare say it.
    Rosie used electrical tape, Big Shot Mr. Fix-It Tim’s idea, to fix the walls. It looked downright tacky, but she didn’t care. The weekend had finished with a nasty bang. She went upstairs and wrote in her diary:
    Sunday night
    If I had the nerve to write to Mrs. Geller, this is what I’d say:
    Dear Mrs. Geller,
    Thanks so much for wining my weekend and for making my mother go nuts and broke with your stupid project. It certainly was appreciated.
    Sincerely yours,
    Rosie Goldglitt / otherwise known as
    Rosie Gold-pissed-off / also known as
    Rosie Gold-bitter that the weekend was wined
    P.S. I wonder what Robbie did for his project? Most of all, I wonder if he’ll hate me on Monday morning.

4
    Rosie Makes a Decision
    Rosie’s mother apologized at the dinner table on Monday.
    â€œFor what?” said Jimmy, eating forkfuls of macaroni and cheese as if he hadn’t eaten for three days.
    â€œLet her speak,” said Rosie, deciding in an instant that her mother should explain her horrible behavior.
    â€œFor acting like a nut all weekend, Rosie. I was terrible.” Mrs. Goldglitt toyed with her salad. “It was … stressful.”
    â€œOh,” said Rosie, thinking that it wasn’t much of an explanation.
    Her