Asking for Trouble: 1 (London Confidential) Read Online Free PDF

realizing what kind of paper was stuck in his teeth, ran up the stairs.
    “Ooh, you little mutt!” I surveyed my room. He’d shredded almost all my magazines into pieces and apparently had rolled in the perfume samples. He barked at me once as if to say, “I win!” before he ran back down the stairs.
    My mom came into the room. “What happened here? You haven’t been home long enough to make a mess,” she said.
    “Not me,” I grumbled before pointing at the dog. “It!”
    “How did the newspaper meeting go?”
    “They did invite me on staff.” As the delivery girl, I added silently. But I couldn’t disappoint her yet. She’d been hopeful for the first time in weeks, thinking that both her girls were settling in. I’ll come up with something, I thought, knowing in my heart that I was wading deeper into the swamp.
    “Wonderful, honey!” She brushed my hair back away from my face with her hands and gave my cheek a kiss.
    “The editor is calling later tonight with some information for me.”
    Mom nodded. “I’m proud of you. And you gave me a good example. You’ll be glad to know I made an effort to make a friend too. I talked with the next-door neighbor lady today—you know, Vivienne? She mentioned her book club, and I told her I love to read and would enjoy meeting with them sometime. She smiled at me but didn’t really ask me to join them. Maybe she just has to speak with the others first. She’ll probably come over soon with an invitation.”
    I nodded and kicked a magazine remnant on the floor. That dog. All my Teen Vogues . And a Sweet 16.
    “I’m going to start dinner and help Louanne with her homework.” Mom headed for the door. “What are you going to do?”
    “Nothing. Hang out,” I said. “Homework.”
    She nodded and closed the door behind her. I picked up all the paper scraps from the floor and threw them into the garbage can, er, dustbin. I looked at my watch. Wonder what time Jack will call. Before dinner? After?
    To distract myself, I yanked my guitar case from under my bed, took the guitar out, and started strumming a Taylor Swift song I’d been working on. Playing music always made me feel better. Within the minute, Growl started whining outside my closed door. I stopped playing, and he stopped whining. I started again, and he started in again too. Finally I got out my amp and plugged in the guitar. I played louder. Growl moved from whine to howl. I turned the amp up and started singing louder.
    Whose house was this anyway?
    I heard the doorbell ring. Funny. We never had company. Aunt Maude? I opened my door and hid behind the railing so I could hear but not be seen.
    “Hello, Vivienne!” I could hear the pleasure in Mom’s voice. “I’m so pleased to see you. Would you like to come in?”
    Please, God, I prayed, let Vivienne invite Mom to the book club.
    “No thanks. I’ll just be a minute. I—I wanted to tell you that, well, in this neighborhood, sound travels. Especially when we share a wall. That kind of racket—terribly sorry to inconvenience you—but we can hear it in every room at my house.”
    “I apologize. We just got the dog a few weeks ago—he was a stray who took a liking to my daughter. I’ll see if we can keep him quiet.”
    I stood a few feet away, hidden by the staircase, steaming. Is this dog going to ruin everything?
    “I don’t mean the dog, of course,” Vivienne said. “Dogs are fine. I meant that very loud guitar and . . . ah . . . the singing that accompanied it.”
    She didn’t mind the dog howling, but she minded me ?
    “Oh, well, we’re sorry. I’ll speak with my daughter, and we’ll keep it quiet.”
    There was a long-drawn-out silence.
    “Is there anything else?” Mom spoke up hopefully.
    “No, nothing,” Vivienne said.
    As I came down the stairs, Mom shut the door behind her and stood there for a minute, her eyes downcast and the tiny wrinkle on her forehead deeper than it had been for a while.
    “I’m sorry, Mom,” I