Pizza Is the Best Breakfast Read Free

Paige! Hi, Paige! I’m Timmy, remember?”
    â€œTimmy, move back so Paige can get in the door. Come on in, Paige.”
    â€œLook at all this grandchild sugar I’m about to get.”
    â€œWahhhhhhh.”
    â€œWeeeehhhhh.”
    Those last two sounds are from the twins, who start wailing of course, because all they know how to do is wail.
    â€œHey!” I call again, and I push the front door away from me so I’m no longer trapped against the wall. Grandmom, Mom, Timmy, the twins, and most importantly Paige are all gathered infront of me, and Paige looks even more like a princess than I remembered her. Purple heart earrings dangle from her ears, and they match the stack of bangle bracelets stretching up her arm and the purple boots that are click-clacking across the floor. Her hair, which is thick and shiny like golden rainbows, falls down her back like a waterfall.
    Paige is absolutely fabulous.
    The group walks into the living room, and I run over to hug her around the neck. Before I reach her, Paige pulls one of the twins off of Mom’s hip and begins to speak to her. And I stop running immediately, because I try never, ever to touch the twins.
    â€œShh, don’t cry, Samantha. I’m Paige,” she coos in the twin’s ear. “I’m so happy to meet you.”



Timmy hops up and down until Grandmom scoops him into her arms, and he leans way outuntil his lips are against Paige’s cheek for a wet kiss. Paige giggles at this, and she reaches out with her free hand toward the other twin. She is just about to tickle his arm when I yell “HEY!” for the third time, and I march right over to her. “You didn’t say hi to me.”
    â€œAmanda, hi,” Paige says. “I’ve just been busy meeting your new brother and sister. They sure are adorable.”
    â€œThe twins are not adorable,” I tell her. “And my name is Mandy now.”
    â€œMandy? Why?” Paige asks, and she still does not even hug me hello.
    â€œBecause Mandy has a y in it,” I explain. “So I like it better.”
    â€œYou don’t look like a Mandy,” Paige tells me, which I think is rude. “Plus, I’m used to calling you Amanda.”
    â€œBut I hate Amanda.”
    â€œThen I’ll call you Manda,” Paige says, and she nods her head once with satisfaction.
    â€œBut I don’t like—”
    â€œMandy, I’m waiting for you to give me some sugar,” Grandmom interrupts me, leaning down for a kiss, Timmy’s arms and legs still wrapped around her like a chimpanzee. When Grandmom is just about to reach my mouth, Timmy slides his face down toward mine in a lick and a split, and he plants a slobbery kiss right on my lips.
    â€œBlech, eww, gross!” I wipe the back of my hands over my lips again and again.
    â€œI give you sugar!” Timmy says, and he looks pretty proud of himself.
    â€œI don’t want any preschool sugar,” I tell him. “Don’t do that again.”
    â€œAww, come on, Manda, that was sweet,” Paige says. “Here, Timmy, you can give me somemore sugar.” She stretches her left cheek toward Timmy’s face, and he plants another slobbery kiss right on it.
    â€œDisgusting,” I say. “And it’s Mandy. With a y .”
    â€œBut I think Manda sounds fabulous,” Paige tells me. “It’s in between Amanda and Mandy.”
    â€œThat is cute,” Mom agrees, and I give her a not-nice look out of the sides of my eyes, but she does not even notice because she is too busy moving the crying twin to her other hip.
    Paige has been in my house for less than five minutes, and I am already not sure she is my favorite cousin anymore.
    *  *  *
    Paige thinks it will be “fun” to help Mom give the twins a bath and put them to bed, and I am absolutely positive that these things are not fun, so I go to my room by myself and wait. Eventually,