The Tori Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page B

pretend-I-care-so-much-about-Ben’s-family-just-so-I-impress-him way. It doesn’t fool me for an instant. And who knows if it fools Ben, or if it even matters to him. He sure never acts like he cares all that much about me.
    I pull away from Jaine, choking over her perfume which, unlike Stephanie’s, smells very cheap and overdone.
    â€œHow are you, Tori?” she asks me, using the same kind of voice I use when I talk to my two-and-a-half-year-old cousin Sofie.
    â€œI’m fine,” I mumble, and inch away from her. Ugh.
    And so the evening goes. All of us--minus Nate, of course, since he’s the Camaro expert of the universe--sit down to dinner together in the dining room. Somehow, I end up in the chair right next to Joey’s, which is extra-unfortunate since I’m not even speaking to him after what he did to Gina and me.
    I completely ignore him, even when he asks me to pass dishes. So Stephanie, who’s sitting on the other side of me, has to keep reaching around me to give Joey what he’s asked for. Every time this happens, she looks at me quizzically and raises her eyebrows. She’s used to the two of us not getting along, but I guess she’s never caught us in the middle of the “silent treatment” before.
    After dinner, we all pitch in to help clean up, and then Dad starts a fire in our big old living-room fireplace, and everyone gets comfortable in there. Andrew and Stephanie brought a chocolate-swirl cheesecake for dessert, and Mom makes coffee for the adults. We sit around enjoying it, laughing and talking.
    Except I don’t do much talking for a change. I sit quietly in front of the fireplace hearth and watch the flames dance over the logs. I don’t even bother to wrinkle my nose and make disgusted faces at Ben and Jaine, who are curled up so close on one end of the couch that you couldn’t squeeze a piece of paper between them. Instead, I am thinking. About that awful “family brag paper” I have to write. And about my brothers.
    I must look very unhappy or something, because Stephanie notices and comes over to me. “Tori,” she asks, perching on the stool by the fire, “are you okay?”
    I shake my head slowly, and then, to my great surprise and horror, I feel tears come into my eyes, wet and warm and stinging.
    I try to hide them from Stephanie, but I think she’s already seen them. She slips her arm around me and rubs my back for a moment. Then she asks, “Do you want to go up to your room and talk?”
    Suddenly, I realize that’s just what I need. I nod my head and sniffle gratefully. Then I get to my feet, and the two us slip quickly out of the living room without anyone really taking notice.
    Up in my room, I turn on the lamp, and Stephanie and I sit on my bed together. For a few minutes, neither of us say a word.
    Then I open my mouth, and it all comes tumbling out. I tell my sister-in-law about the awful assignment from Mr. London, and about how I can’t possibly write that paper truthfully, because there’s nothing good at all to say about Nate or Ben or Joey. I tell her every little thing I can think of that irritates me about each one of them, although I’m sure I’ve told her before. And I finish off with the story of Joey locking Gina and me in the attic today.
    â€œOh, my goodness,” she says quietly once I’m done. “So that explains why you were ignoring Joey at dinner tonight.”
    I nod my head. “It’s so terrible, Stephanie, being the only girl. The only brother I like is Andrew.”
    Stephanie laughs gently. “You know I have two sisters,” she says. “But guess what? I grew up wishing I had brothers instead!”
    My mouth falls open. “No way! Why did you wish that?”
    â€œI don’t anymore,” says Stephanie. “But, Tori, sisters come with a whole different set of problems. They lock you out of their rooms and make