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

found out about my big lie? I was actually…safe?
    There was a beat while we all held our breath.…Did this mean Mom and Dad wouldn’t be going to Cousin Freddie’s wedding? Or…
    “I guess your uncle Jay will be staying with you instead,” Mom finished.
    Mark, Kevin, and I all looked at one another. It was really hard, but we restrained an urge to high-five one another. Even though we were all sorry for Great-Aunt Joyce and the pain she was going through, hearing this was like hearing that Christmas and our birthdays had all come at once. Uncle Jay was staying with us for a whole weekend, instead of Great-Aunt Joyce? It was truly a miracle. Whatever had happened to make Great-Aunt Joyce throw out her back while giving Mr. Tinkles a bath (and who gave cats baths? I could understand it if the cat was an outdoor cat who got into a fight with a skunk or something. But Mr. Tinkles is an indoor cat…and not a show cat like Lady Serena Archibald), it could not have happened to someone who deserved it more. I mean, why make someone eat tomatoes when they make her feel like she is choking? That is nothing but mean.
    “It’s not funny,” Mom said, seeing our smiles. “Great-Aunt Joyce is a very kind person.”
    Um…not really, Mom.
    But you can’t always change moms’ minds about things.
    “And don’t think it’s going to be like last time Uncle Jay stayed over,” Mom went on. “There will be no hide-and-seek in the dark with bicycle lights on your heads. There will be no Hot Pockets morning, noon, and night. I am going to have someone look in on you to make sure you kids are being fed properly.”
    This made us curious. Because I am the oldest, and naturally it is my job to do these things, I asked, “Who?”
    Mom was already flipping through her address book.
    “Harmony, of course,” she said.

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RULE #6
    A Present Should Come from the Heart
    The next morning I wasn’t in a much better mood than the day before, despite having gotten to make my own pizza in a real restaurant kitchen. Mom had left a note that said, since the limo was coming for me at noon, I still had to go to my ballet lesson with Madame Linda at ten o’clock.
    Who could concentrate on ballet when a limo was coming to pick them up and take them to Glitterati?
    It was horrible to have to stand there in a boring black leotard and pink tights and do battement tendus and pliés at the barre with the rest of the class when all I could think about was how I was going to be leaving for Glitterati in two hours! Madame Linda had to slap my thigh three times because I wasn’t concentrating on my turn-out (and pardon me, but that hurt)!
    And at the end of the class, when we did révérence, I did not get to wear Madame Linda’s tiara (no surprise). A couple of the girls asked me why I was in such a rush to get out of there when I was jamming my shoes and leg warmers into my backpack, and I got to say, all casual, “Oh…a limo is coming to my house to pick me up to take me to Glitterati.”
    At first they were all, “No way,” but then I explained it was for a birthday party, so they were pretty excited for me.
    That got me feeling pretty good…
    …until Uncle Jay was pulling into the driveway for home, and I saw Erica and her family, along with Sophie and Caroline, all getting into the Harringtons’ minivan to go to Missy’s Twirltacular. Erica and Caroline and Sophie saw me and smiled and waved. I waved back. I couldn’t open the window because it was raining kind of hard. But I think Caroline and Sophie and Erica all yelled, “Have fun!”
    Then they got into the van, all giggling and poking one another and having fun, and shut the door. Then Erica’s dad drove away.
    And that was that.
    Except that it was kind of like they’d closed the door on my going with them.
    And I couldn’t help feeling like I had made a terrible mistake.
    Only I hadn’t. Right? I mean, who wouldn’t rather go to Glitterati in a limo than