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

get broken as we set up camp?”
    “Hold on, Liz,” Uncle Jay said. He pointed toward the dining room. “In there, champ.”
    Mark nodded, and carried the vase away.
    “So, listen,” Uncle Jay said into the phone. “Allie was wondering where you put the gift for Brittany. She’s just about to get picked up for the party.” Uncle Jay listened for a minute. Then he nodded. Then he handed the phone to me. “She wants to talk to you,” he said.
    I took the phone from Uncle Jay and pressed it to my ear. “Yes, Mom?” I said.
    “Allie, honey,” Mom said. She sounded funny. Maybe it was because she was so far away. Or maybe it was because she was staying at her mom and dad’s house, and everyone was getting ready for Cousin Freddie’s wedding, and someone had stolen a golf cart again and driven it onto the tennis court. In any case, she didn’t sound good. “I forgot Brittany’s gift.”
    These were not the words I wanted to hear. They were so not the words I wanted to hear, my throat closed up and for a second I couldn’t breathe.
    “Mom,” I gargled. “No!”
    “But, honey, listen,” Mom said. “Just tell Brittany that it’s my fault, that I forgot, and that I’ll drop her gift off next week — ”
    “Mom.” In front of me, Uncle Jay’s face began to swim. That’s because my eyes had begun to fill with tears. “You don’t understand. I can’t go to Brittany’s party without a present!”
    “Yes, you can, honey,” Mom said. There were some kind of crashing noises in the background, and I heard a voice yell, “Oh, no. Freddie!” “Oh,” Mom said. “I have to go. But, Allie, just explain to Brittany that I had to go out of town for a wedding and that I’ll drop her gift off next week. She’ll understand, I promise you. I’ll talk to you later, sweetie. Bye-bye.”
    I handed the phone back to Uncle Jay, even though I couldn’t see him very well through my tears.
    “She hung up,” I said. “It doesn’t sound like Cousin Freddie’s wedding is going very well.”
    “Big surprise,” Uncle Jay said. He didn’t know Cousin Freddie, but he knew of him. He put his phone back in his pocket. “What did she say to do?”
    “She said she’ll drop Brittany’s present off next week,” I said. Now the tears were coming, spilling out of my eyes and trickling down my cheeks. “But you don’t understand. I can’t go to this party without a present! Not with these kinds of girls. Brittany and her friends…they used to call me Allie Stinkle. They’ll make fun of me if I don’t bring a present.”
    “Well,” Uncle Jay said. “Why do you want to go to a party with a bunch of people like that, anyway?”
    This was a very good point. Suddenly, more than anything, I wished I had gotten into that van with everyone going to the Little Miss Majorette Baton Twirling Twirltacular over at the middle school.
    “I don’t know,” I wailed. By this time, Mark and Kevin had come over, lured by the sound of my tears.
    “Why is Allie crying?” Mark wanted to know.
    “She doesn’t have a present for Brittany’s party,” Uncle Jay explained.
    “Oooh,” Kevin said, looking concerned. “That’s bad.”
    This just made me cry harder.
    I really couldn’t even remember anymore why I’d said I’d go to this stupid party in the first place. Nothing was turning out the way I’d imagined. All my good friends were off having fun without me, and I was left with nothing but mean friends, who were going to kill me because I didn’t have a present for the main mean girl.
    “We have to go to the mall really quick,” I said, doing my best to wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my purple shirt. “We have to buy Brittany a present that costs equal to or more than whatever her parents are spending on what I’ll be eating at her party, my photo at Glitterati, and the cost of my share of the room at the Hilton Hotel.”
    “That’s ridiculous,” Uncle Jay said. “First of all, we don’t have time to go to