Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Stage Fright by Meg Cabot Read Free Book Online

know was if Mrs. Hunter had seen her and been so impressed by all the fine actresses in my family that she had decided to give me the part of Princess Penelope.
    “Probably the whole town saw her,” Erica said.
    “Everyone who wasn’t watching Entertainment Tonight ,” Caroline said.
    “No one watches that show,” Sophie said scornfully. “It’s boring.”
    “Missy watches it,” Erica said. “She always wants to find out what her favorite teen sensations are up to.”
    “Oh, well,” Sophie said. “Missy.” And she rolled her eyes.
    We were at school by then, and Kevin, bursting with the desire to spread the news about our mom to the kindergarten set, dropped Erica’s and Caroline’s hands and went running toward the jungle gym, screaming, “My mom was on TV last night!”
    Cringing with embarrassment, I looked around for somewhere to hide. But it was too late. Some fifth-grade girls, who always keep an eye out for Kevin’s arrival to see what extraordinary outfit he might have on, came up to me right away. One of them, who had red hair pulled back in Hello Kitty barrettes, asked, “What’s he talking about?”
    “Oh,” I said. This so wasn’t happening how I’d pictured it. Where was my long white stretch limo? And where were my bodyguards to protect me from the paparazzi? “Nothing.”
    “It’s not nothing,” Sophie said excitedly. “Her mom is the new film reviewer on Good News! She was on last night. She called that new movie Requiem for a Somnambu- whatsit a preachy, pretentious snoozefest.”
    The red-haired fifth-grader looked surprised.
    “That was your mom?” she said. She called across the playground to another group of fifth-grade girls. “Hey, Katie! Guess what? The little pirate kid’s mom is the new film reviewer for Good News! ”
    The fifth-grader she was calling to stopped texting and ran over to where we were standing. The friends she’d been with put away their cell phones and came running over as well.
    “No way,” Katie said to me. “That was your mom?”
    “Yeah,” I said. I couldn’t believe all these fifth-graders were actually talking to me. And for once, it had nothing to do with my brother showing up at school in a funny costume.
    “That’s really cool,” a fifth-grade girl in a pair of jeans with rhinestones on them said. “What movie is she going to do next?”
    “I don’t know,” I said. I couldn’t believe it was finally happening. I was becoming famous. And I hadn’t even been kidnapped by aliens or cast as Princess Penelope yet!
    “What’s going on over here?” someone wanted to know, and we all looked around to see Cheyenne and her friends M and D approaching. Cheyenne looked mad. Why did she look so mad? Had Mrs. Hunter told her who’d gotten the part of Princess Penelope already, and it hadn’t been her? But how could she? School hadn’t even started yet.
    “This girl’s mom is the new film reviewer on Good News! ” the red-haired fifth-grader told Cheyenne, pointing at me.
    Cheyenne looked at me and sneered. “So? I’ve never even heard of that show.”
    Caroline and Sophie and Erica and I all looked at one another. Who had never even heard of Good News! ? It was, like, the most famous show in our town ever.
    You could tell the fifth-grade girls all felt the same way, since they started laughing. Only not with Cheyenne. At her.
    “You’ve never heard of Good News! ?” the girl in the rhinestone jeans said. “It’s only the most popular show in our whole town. What’s wrong with you?”
    Cheyenne’s face turned a funny color of pink. The thing is, the fifth-grade girls are the coolest girls in our school. Getting made fun of by them is the worst. It’s almost as bad as getting made fun of by Cheyenne.
    “Well,” Cheyenne said, sticking out her pointy chin, “I’m from Canada. We don’t have that show there.”
    “Well, you live here now, don’t you?” the red-haired fifth-grader asked. “You better start watching