From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender Read Free Book Online Page A

muttering about having embarrassing parents.
    I wiped down the kitchen while I waited for her to finish packing her overnight bag. Finally she came out and sank onto a barstool.
    “Almost ready?” I asked.
    “I think I’m going to tell Adrienne I can’t come,” she said, dragging her fingertip along the countertop.
    “But you said you’d go.”
    Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, but…I don’t feel like it.”
    “Kasey, you can’t do that to people—back out when you say you’re going to do something.” I wrung out the sponge and set it on the edge of the sink. “This probably means so much to Adrienne. If you had a party, how would you feel if everybody canceled?”
    “Ugh, fine! Quit nagging!” She heaved an enormous, woe-is-me sigh and went back to her room.
    To be perfectly honest, my reaction was probably as much about me as it was about Adrienne. If Kasey didn’t go to the sleepover, I’d have to figure out what to do with her. Leaving her home alone wasn’t an option, and—selfishly, I’ll admit—I didn’t want her at Megan’s house. I just wanted to relax with my friends, and having my sister around virtually guaranteed that wouldn’t happen.
    A few minutes later, she came silently back to the great room, dragging her duffel across the floor by its strap.
    I made a mental note to remind her of that next time she made fun of me for sweeping every two days.
    Adrienne lived a couple of miles away in a neighborhood called Lakewood, which was built in the 1970s and filled with bizarre, asymmetrical wooden tract houses. Near the entrance was a small man-made lake and a few acres of woods.
    As we pulled into the driveway, my phone rang. It was Megan.
    “Hey,” I said. “I’m ten minutes away.”
    “Don’t bother.” She sounded drained. “The party’s canceled.”
    “What? Why? Is everything okay?”
    A huge sigh. “No.”
    Kasey was poised, her fingers on the door handle. I gave her a little wave, but she stayed put.
    “Hang on, Megan.” I covered the mouthpiece and turned to Kasey. “Bye. Have fun. Hint hint. ”
    Kasey’s frightened expression made her look about ten years old. “But—I don’t know—what am I supposed to do? What if I don’t like the games?”
    “Games? You’re not in sixth grade anymore. It’s a slumber party,” I said. “Just don’t fall asleep first, and you’ll be fine.”
    She shook her head, faster and faster, working herself up into a panic. “No, no, I changed my mind. Take me home.”
    “Kasey, go inside. You’ll have fun. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
    She gave me a desperate look.
    “See you at noon,” I said.
    She took her time getting out of the car and walked up the driveway at quarter-speed.
    I went back to my phone. “Megan?”
    There was a pause, and for a second I thought she’d hung up. Then she spoke. “At cheer practice today, I demonstrated a back handspring.”
    “Are you hurt?”
    “No,” she said. “Not at all . But Coach Neidorf called my grandmother. Apparently they had some secret agreement to keep an eye on me.” She was quiet for a long few seconds. “Grandma was spying on me, Lex.”
    “Only because she cares about you,” I said, but I knew it was a weak excuse.
    “So I’m grounded for a week, and the party’s canceled. Can you call a few people? I’m phone-grounded, too.” Then there was a muffled voice in the background and bumping and shuffling. “ I’m almost done!”
    “Sure,” I said. “Text me the names.”
    “Lex?” she asked, her voice suddenly small. “Don’t have a party without me, okay?”
    I imagined Megan sitting in a jail cell, her grandmother—the warden—pacing outside. “Never,” I said. “I swear.”
    Carter and I ended up back at my house, watching a Twilight Zone marathon on TV. We were halfway through the one where Captain Kirk finds a magic fortune-telling machine when Carter jostled me. “My foot’s buzzing,” he said.
    My purse was under the blanket. He tossed