Prank Wars Read Online Free PDF Page A

most sarcastic voice. Kali sighed dreamily, even though I shot her a disapproving look.
    Tory peered through her red hair to see. “Yeah, he’s hot,” she admitted.
    “No, no.” Lizzie shook her head vigorously. “He’s evil. There’s a difference.”
    I smiled at her. Despite our disagreements, we were still on the same side. “Beautiful boys generally are,” I said. Lizzie nodded in agreement. “I think that it’s time to play a little April Fool’s joke.” Lizzie’s head snapped up, suddenly realizing that our afternoon of intervention wasn’t over. “Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “It’ll be worth it. Where’s my cell phone?”
    “Are you crazy?” Lizzie blocked me from my cell phone. It sat on my bed. “C’mon Mad!” She held her hands out. “Would you just for a moment think things through?”
    I tilted my head, pretending to think then nodded, snapping at Tory. “Cell phone.”
    Tory dove over the bed, slipping easily past Lizzie. She was used to slithering in and out of tight spots when things got dangerous. “Don’t worry,” she tried to reassure Lizzie. “He won’t know it’s us. We’ll block the call.”
    “That’s not what I’m worried about!”
    Tory slapped the cell phone into my hand. The cover was pink camo. I stared down at it. The phone had ruined my life more than once, but there was a time for love and a time for not, and a time for using the phone when love was not in the cards. I eased to the floor. With the exception of Lizzie, we sat in a tight circle around the directory.
    “Do it, Madeleine,” Kali gushed with rosy cheeks. “He’s really cute.”
    My jaw clenched at her usual failure to see the big picture. “Cute has nothing to do with this.” It was possibly the four-hundredth-and-fifty-second time of giving her this lecture.
    “Doesn’t it?” Tory watched me steadily. She was calm in the face of danger and always throwing unwanted rhetorical questions at me. “Trust me. You can hang up anytime.” I tickled the pink camo cover on my cell phone. Byron deserved what he got. He was cocky, arrogant, and now he was moving onto every girl we loved and cared about. Never mind that he thought it was his duty to insult me at every turn. Today’s April Fool’s joke wasn’t the worst of it. “Or don’t you remember?” Tory asked. “He called you desperate last Sunday.” Tory had on her half-smile. It completed her mischievous redheaded look. Anyone who was friends with her knew what it meant. Byron had called me out and she was going to egg me on every step of the way.
    “Give me his number,” I said.
    “Madeleine!” Lizzie tried to convince me with a steady look in her chocolate brown eyes. “Mad! Mad!” By this time, I was beyond reason. I tried to concentrate on her calm voice. “You don’t have to do this.”
    Oh yes. Yes, I did. Even now, Byron had the upper hand and needed to be taken down. I dialed his number and pressed send before I got second thoughts. I waited while I listened to the phone ring. It was a scarier sound than the silence before a battle.
    “ Hello?”
    I gulped, recognizing the arrogant voice, though it didn’t sound so arrogant right now, almost human. I steeled myself against its charming tones. “Guess who?” I forced myself to sound sugary and happy. It wasn’t hard if I imagined the voices of the girls clamoring for his attention at ward prayer.
    Lizzie took a steadying breath.
    “ Um, I have no idea who this is.” Byron gave a light laugh that most girls would find oddly attractive. “Why don’t you just tell me?”
    “How about I just give you a hint?” I told him sweetly. Tory nodded at me in approval.
    Byron hesitated a moment and I stood up. It was absolutely impossible to sit still while my arch-nemesis was just breaths away from me on the other line. “ Okay, let’s play,” he conceded, “Give me a hint.”
    My heart flipped at the first surrender. One more mistake like this and he would be