My Life as the Ugly Stepsister Read Online Free

she said, finishing up with the sunscreen and laying back in her chair.
    I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy the sunshine. Maybe if I pretended I was alone on a desert island. Yeah. That helped.
     
     
    Later, I was hanging out with Caroline in her Moroccan-themed room when this horrid thudding sound started. At first, I ignored it, but then it started grating on my nerves.
    “What is that?” I asked looking up from my magazine.
    Caroline shrugged and turned another page, sending a cloud of fragrance in my direction. “It’s just Jonathan playing basketball.”
    Was he in the house with us?
    “Oh,” Caroline said, her eyes lighting with mischief. She tossed aside her jeweled pillow. “You haven’t met Jonathan yet. Have you?” Caroline didn’t wait for an answer. She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the door.
    “No,” I said, adding quickly, “but that’s okay. I’m sure I’ll meet him later.” I knew who he was, of course. I’d seen him next door a couple of times. He was cute. Way too cute to talk to. Well, I thought, glancing at my vivacious stepsister as she led me across the porch, way too cute for me to talk to.
    Caroline could talk to anyone, anytime. Even my dad called her charming. And she was already off the porch calling to Jonathan.
    “Hey,” she said in her deep Georgia drawl that was much more Southern and sultry than my North Carolina accent.
    A wide grin lit up the guy’s face as he walked over. He tucked the basketball under his arm. “Hey, Caroline. I thought you were gone.”
    “Just got back. I heard you out here shooting baskets, and I wanted you to meet my stepsister. Ally will be living here for a few months.”
    “Hi,” I said, feeling like an idiot.
    Caroline knew how awkward I was with boys. She was too polite to mention it, but I sensed she was on a mission to help me.
    “Are you transferring to our school?” He swiped at his messy brown hair.
    “No. I go to St. Mary’s.” The perfect way to kill a conversation—admit you go to Catholic school.
    “Oh,” he said. His hottiness just starting to hit me full force as he gave me a crooked smile. “Well I’ll be seeing you anyway since I’m watching your dog.”
    Huh? “You’re what?”
    He gave Caroline a nervous look. “Uh, yeah. I’m keeping your dog at my house, with my, um, dog, while you’re at Diane’s.”
    “My dog,” I glared past him at Caroline, “isn’t staying with me?”
    Caroline raised her arms in the don’t-blame-me gesture. “I didn’t know. No one told me.”
    Jonathan was antsy. He started eyeing the basketball goal. We’d clearly made him nervous. “I thought you guys knew. Diane and my mom worked it out.”
    “No freakin’ way!” I yelled, knowing it would ruin the unspoken truce I had with Caroline if I said what I really wanted to say. That witch!
    “I’m sure she was going to talk to you about it,” Caroline said.
    Her words didn’t ring true, as if even she didn’t believe them.
    “When did they decide this?” I asked Jonathan in a not-so-nice tone.
    He shrugged. “A couple of days ago.”
    I turned and ran for the house, determined to confront my stepmother before I calmed down and caved in. I’d never put up a fight over anything Dad and Diane did. It just seemed easier to, well, take it. But this was different. This was Mojo and Mojo was not going to be happy staying at some stranger’s house. Who knew how they’d treat him or what they’d feed him. Mojo belonged with me. He slept at the foot of my bed and not on the floor. Or, God forbid, outside!
    Caroline whizzed past me before I reached the porch. I’d never been a fast runner. I was too tall to be a sprinter.
    By the time I burst into the kitchen, Caroline was saying, “Mom! Why didn’t you tell Ally about her dog! And why can’t it just stay here!”
    “Caro,” Diane said, looking for all the world like a cornered rabbit. “You know I’m allergic.” She pulled the plastic off the top of the