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

blow to her, from which she may never recover.”
    I sort of doubted that. I sort of doubted Missy had any self-esteem problems at all. But I didn’t say so out loud. Instead, I said, “I know. And I’m really sorry.”
    This was the part where I had to tell the big lie. I had been practicing it all morning in the mirror, and I was ready. At least, I was pretty sure I was ready.
    “The thing is, I don’t want to go to Brittany’s party,” I said. “But you know Brittany’s dad owns the BMW dealership in town, and he pays for a lot of the ads on my mom’s show, Good News!”
    “Yeah?” Caroline already sounded like she didn’t approve of what she was hearing.
    But I went on, anyway. This was probably one of the biggest lies I had ever told.
    But it wasn’t exactly untrue. It was just slightly exaggerated.
    “And my mom said if I didn’t go to Brittany’s party, Mr. Hauser might be mad and pull his advertisements from the show. And then Good News! could lose a lot of money.”
    Of course my mom had never said any such thing. But I had seen this sort of thing happen on an episode of a TV show. It definitely could happen.
    Just not to me. Or my mom. Or Good News!
    Sophie gasped. “Oh, my goodness!” she cried. “Allie, that’s horrible!”
    “That…that is so mean!” Erica looked completely flabbergasted. “It’s…it’s like…it’s like he’s buying friends for Brittany!”
    “It really is,” Caroline agreed soberly. “I’ve never heard of something so sad. It almost makes me feel sorry for poor Brittany Hauser. Talk about self-esteem issues.”
    “Uh,” I said. “You don’t have to feel sorry for Brittany. Remember the suitcase thing?”
    “Yes,” Caroline said. “But now we know why she did that. What kind of parents does she have?”
    Well, the truth was, Brittany’s parents had actually been really mad at her when they’d found out about Brittany putting Lady Serena Archibald in the suitcase. Her mom had grounded her for a really long time…
    “Oh, Allie!” Erica flung her arms around me. “I’m so sorry! I can’t believe you have to go to that horrible girl’s birthday party. It’s going to be so terrible. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to have fun while I’m watching Missy, thinking about you at that awful birthday party.”
    “It’s okay,” I said. Erica was practically strangling me, she was hugging me so hard. “You can still have a good time watching Missy. I’ll be all right. I’m a very strong person.”
    “I don’t know,” Sophie said. “What are they going to be making you do at Brittany’s party, anyway? Please don’t say it’s going to be one of those awful grown-up parties where they make you dress up in a scratchy party dress and shiny shoes and go to the country club with all the adults.”
    “Oh, I went to one of those once for my cousin,” Caroline said, making a face. “It was terrible! Is it going to be like that, Allie?”
    “It’s not going to be like that at all,” Kevin burst out, because he just couldn’t help it anymore.
    “Uh, never mind him,” I said, escaping Erica’s grip and moving toward Kevin to lay a hand on the back of his neck so I could squeeze it a little again. “Kevin, why don’t you go play on the jungle gym?”
    “Allie gets to ride in a limo,” Kevin said, his voice sounding strangled, because I was squeezing slightly more tightly with his every word. “To Glitterati! And then to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and then to the luxury Hilton Hotel downtown, where they’re going to watch pay-per-view movies and order room service all night, then have brunch in the open-air atrium by the glass elevators near the waterfall!”
    I gave Kevin a tiny push toward the jungle gym, where the other kindergartners were gathered doing their little kmdergartner business.
    “Good-bye, Kevin,” I said. “Have a fun day at school.”
    “Bye,” he said, staggering away, even though I really hadn’t pushed