Rule of Three Read Online Free PDF

all she did was bug me about how great it is to be in plays and how I didn’t understand anything and how I was like a traitor to my own family because they’re all into acting.”
    “I guess she’s just worried,” said Olivia.
    “But why?”
    “You know. She wants to be the only one good at it. And now you come along . . .”
    “I guess. But who says I’m even any good? Maybe I stink.”
    “You didn’t stink in Beauty .”
    “Yeah, but that was only one scene.”
    “You’re great at singing. Maybe she’s just scared that you’ll steal the one thing she’s good at, you know, like the thing that’s hers.”
    “But I’ve spent my whole life always doing the opposite of Alex on purpose. I mean, where’s the rule that says I’m not allowed to like acting? Maybe I only said all that stuff about hating it because it was always Alex’s thing, and I wanted to find my own thing. Be my own person. I don’t see why just once I can’t forget about Alex and do something I’d really like to do.”
    “See? You said it yourself. It’s like you broke a rule. A Reel rule.”
    “A real rule? As opposed to a fake rule?”
    “No, a Reel rule. As in a Reel family rule.”
    Alex was the Actor in our family. Joey was the Reader, and Writer. And I was . . . what? The Singer? The Good Cook? End of story?
    More to the point, I was the Peacemaker. My role had always been to keep the peace, and suddenly I was doing just the opposite — stirring things up.
    Like some freak of nature, I had upset the balance.
    “But do you think I’m crazy to be doing this? I mean, I’m fine with the singing, but the thought of acting still makes me feel like throwing up. And don’t forget, it means competing against Alex and everything.”
    “You know what I always say.”
    “Never watch a scary movie alone?”
    “Not that. Some rules are made to be broken.”

     

 
    While the cupcakes were cooling, Joey came to me, making hound-dog eyes and puppy-dog paws, begging me to read Little Women .
    “Later.”
    “That’s what you always say. Never mind. I’ll just read it myself.”
    Joey clomped up the stairs before I could stop her. In twelve seconds flat, she was back in the kitchen. “It’s gone!” she said, pointing upstairs. “ Little Women . It’s not on the shelf over my bed, where I always keep it.”
    I’d known all along I couldn’t put off reading Chapter 40 forever, so I was prepared. “Never mind, Duck. I just happened to see a different copy of Little Women at my school library, and I checked it out for us. It was supposed to be a surprise.”
    “But where’s . . . I mean, what about the one we were reading?”
    “Just go upstairs and get my backpack,” I said, sounding as bossy as Alex.
    Joey shrugged and trudged upstairs, then came trudging back down, dragging the backpack behind her. “This thing weighs ten tons,” she said, handing it over.
    “Can I help it if they give us ten tons of homework?” I dug through my pack and wrestled the library book out of the bag.
    “Ta-da!” I half sang, trying to make it sound like a whoop-de-do big deal. “Here’s the one I found at the library. It’s a much cooler version of Little Women. See? It’s not all musty-old like the one we’ve been reading.”
    “But I like the one we’ve been reading. It was Mom’s copy when she was a girl. And before that, it was Gram’s. It’s like a tradition.”
    “Yeah, but we don’t even know where that one is, so how about we start a new tradition? This can be like our own Little Women . Yours and mine.”
    “I don’t know. It doesn’t look right.”
    “They just made the print bigger so it’s easier to read. See? I’ll be able to read way faster now.” I opened the book to a random page. “‘What do you hate most?’ asked Fred. ‘Spiders and rice pudding.’ ‘What do you like best?’ asked Jo. ‘Dancing and French gloves,’” I said, reading super-fast.
    “But look at Jo. That doesn’t even look