How To Be A Perfect Girl Read Free Page B

before.
    “My name?” he nodded, “Uh, it’s Valentina.
Or Val—some people call me Val.”
    “Valentina,” the boy repeated, “What a
beautiful name for such a beautiful girl. I believe it means
‘divine splendor’?”
    “I really wouldn’t know,” Valentina
shrugged.
    “Well then,” the boy gestured to himself,
“My name’s Alex.”
    He pointed to his friends, and each of them
spoke as he did; “Grant”, “Steven”, and “Logan” all seemed a lot
mellower. Valentina liked Grant the most; at least he’d had the
courtesy to blush at Alex’s jokes.
    ***
    “Tchk Ta Tchk,” Mckayla made avalanche
noises as she dropped the plastic boulders down her brother’s
mountain playset.
    “That’s not what falling rocks sound like!”
Brady accused.
    “Oh yeah?” Mckayla laughed, “How would you
know? Have you ever been in a rockslide?”
    In response, Brady stuck his tongue out at
her, “Mom does it better.”
    “Mom’s at work.” Mckayla ruffled Brady’s
hair. “So you’re gonna have to deal with the way I make the
sounds.”
    “Alright.” Brady grabbed the toy truck under
the boulders and slammed it into the mountain. “Ba-boom!” he
shouted, “The oil truck blows up!”
    “Isn’t that a little violent?” Mckayla
asked.
    Brady shrugged, “Things blow up. It’s a part
of life.” He looked up at her as if he had said something
incredibly profound.
    The doorbell rang; “I’ll get it!” Mckayla
announced. It was Valentina; Mckayla embraced her best friend. “So,
how was your first day at Super-exclusive, Chai-latte High?” she
asked.
    “Horrible!” Valentina exclaimed. She slipped
off her shoes and entered her friend’s house. “Everyone laughed at
me!”
    Val walked to the room Mckayla and Brady
shared, and Mckayla followed.
    “Surprise!” Val shouted as she leapt into
view of the room. Brady was nowhere to be seen.
    He leapt out at the pair of girls from
inside the closet and swung a foam sword at their legs; Valentina
giggled as Brady ran into the family room. She chased after him;
“I’m gonna get you!” she joked. Mckayla opened the closet and
grabbed a toy weapon of her own; if Brady wanted to play with the
soft toys, she would play along. When she entered the main room of
their ranch-house, Brady was sitting calmly on Valentina’s lap as
she hugged him tightly. Mckayla leaned her sword against the wall;
so much for the fight.
    “I think your sister was about to kill you,”
Valentina pointed to the sword she had just set aside.
    “Nuh uh! I’m the best knight in all the
land!” Brady wriggled around to face his sister. “And besides, I
have V to protect me!”
    “Wait a minute,” Val said as her friend
retrieved the sword, “Aren’t knights supposed to protect damsels,
and not the other way around?”
    “Oh yeah,” Brady jumped off Valentina’s lap
and wrapped his arms around Mckayla’s legs; they fell to the
ground. Mckayla groaned at the impact.
    “Are you alright?” Mckayla asked, worried
she might have landed on top of Brady.
    Brady’s eyes welled with tears; “What
happened?” Val asked. Brady pointed wordlessly to his sister’s
knee. “Aw, did she poke you with her knee?” Brady nodded.
    “Well that’s not fair.” Valentina jumped at
her friend and pinned her down. “Let’s get revenge,” she
suggested.
    Brady stopped crying. “Off with her head!”
he shouted gleefully.
    “Off with her head!” Valentina agreed; she
picked up the nearest foam sword and slid it across Mckayla’s neck.
“Dead,” she announced. Mckayla stuck her tongue out and twitched in
her “final moments”. “Remember me,” she whispered, before closing
her eyes.
    “Hey!” Brady pointed at his “dead” sister.
“You’re still breathing!”
    “Of course,” Mckayla laughed. “I’m not
really dead, just pretending.”
    Silence followed for a minute, broken by a
yawn from Valentina, “What are we gonna have for dinner?” she
asked.
    “Pizza,”