Rule of Three by Megan McDonald Read Free Book Online Page A

shook my arms. I wiggled my head back and forth. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on breathing. But Alex had cranked up the karaoke machine, singing along to every musical under the sun, just to annoy me and get my attention, I’m sure. One minute she was washing some man right out of her hair, and the next she was bragging about Oklahoma at the top of her lungs.
    “Plpp, plpp, plpp, plpp, plpp, plpp, plpp.” I practiced my lip rolls, up and down the scale, like a trumpet player. Next thing I knew, she was singing that she was shy, had always been shy, and had to confess that she was shy. More like screaming. She sure wasn’t shy about letting me know she was practicing for the audition, too.
    For an old tumbledown house, these walls were paper-thin. I could hear Joey in Alex’s room now. They were both singing songs from musicals, screaming at the top of their lungs. I guess the Victorians who built this place did not have sisters.
    I tried the under-the-covers trick. The pillow-over-the-head trick. My iPod headphones. My swimming earplugs. Joey’s Oregon State Beavers earmuffs. But nothing, not even humming with fingers pressed to both ears, could drown out the Super-Screechy Soprano Sisters who’d gone South Pacific on the other side of the wall.
    I took my fingers out of my ears to listen. “Sisters, sisters . . .”
    That did it! Alex wasn’t even practicing anymore. Now she was getting Joey to sing the sisters song from White Christmas just to bug me on purpose. I paced in circles around the rug in our room, my face growing hot. So what if she’s my sister? I was determined to beat her fair and square.
Me: (Knocking on wall.) I can hear you guys!
Them: “Caring, sharing, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah . . .”
Me: (Louder). I CAN HEAR YOU!
     
    Putting my fingers in my ears didn’t help. I could still hear them singing together, acting as one . . . so I gave up. Who could drown out two sisters singing the sisters song without the third sister?
    “Nonny-nonny, noony-noony, no-no-no, nee-nee-nee, nay-nay-nay,” Joey sang, twirling back into our room.
    “Not you, too.” I scowled at Joey. “Why are you helping Alex?”
    “Who says I’m helping Alex? We were just goofing around.”
    Alex cranked up the music again. “Isn’t she done yet?” I asked. “I can’t hear my own voice. Joey, ask Alex to turn the music down.”
    “Loud music is a teenage thing. I read about it in one of Alex’s magazines.”
    “C’mon, Joey. Go ask.”
    “Why me? You ask her.”
    “You know she won’t do it if I ask her.”
    “Sheesh. Do I have to do everything around here?”
    “As if.”
    Joey headed back to Alex’s room. Mumble, mumble. I heard voices, but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. Geez! Just when you want to hear through these walls . . .
    Joey came back. “Alex said no.”
    “Did you ask right?”
    “How should I know?”
    “Joey, ask her again and this time say please, and if she still says no, tell her she’s being a selfish brat and I can’t hear myself think, let alone sing.”
    Joey left. More mumbling. She came back and plopped onto her bed. “Well, what did she say?” I asked.
    “You really wanna know? She said, ‘Tell Stevie calling someone a selfish brat is not the best way to get them to do you a favor.’”
    “OK, this time remind Alex that I have every right to practice and sing just as much as she does.”
    Joey left and came back again. “Can’t you just go downstairs and practice?”
    “Did Alex say that?”
    “Yes. But I told her to.”
    “Joey! Tell Alex her music is as loud as the fire alarm next door. Why should I get kicked out of my own room just because she’s a Number-One Fink Face?”
    “This is really confusing, you know. Just go talk to her yourself. Tell her you’ll give her ten dollars to turn down the music or something.”
    “You know I don’t have ten extra dollars. I’m still trying to get a hundred dollars so I can be in the