Moving Day by Meg Cabot Page A

right here. I have some nice games planned, and some nice snacks for us to eat. And we’re going to play them, and eat them, and have a good time. Does everyone understand?”
    Mary Kay looked a little scared. I didn’t really blame her. Brittany scared me a little, too.
    But for once Mary Kay didn’t start crying.
    Instead, she said, “Okay, Brittany,” in this voice I’d never heard her use before, but which sounded kind of familiar.
    Then a second later, when I heard Courtney go, “Oh, there’s Lady Serena Archibald!”
    “Keep her away from me!” Mary Kay squealed. “You know I’m allergic!” That’s when I realized the reason why the voice Mary Kay was using sounded familiar to me. That’s because it was almost exactly like Courtney’s voice, which was actually almost exactly like Brittany’s voice. Because Courtney is always trying to imitate Brittany.
    Then I realized Mary Kay was trying to imitate Brittany, too.
    Which was kind of weird.
    But I didn’t think about it then because I was too excited about seeing Lady Serena Archibald, a real-life show cat.
    And to tell you the truth, the wait was totally worth it. Lady Serena Archibald was beautiful. She had long, silky gray fur and big blue eyes. And when I went over to pet her, Lady Serena Archibald turned those big blue eyes up to look at me and she opened her tiny mouth and went, “Mrow?” in the cutest way you could ever possibly imagine.
    Mrs. Hauser followed her cat into the room, her high heels click-clacking on the marble floor of the Hausers’ entranceway, and said, smiling, “Oh, Allie, I’m so glad you could come. You’re finally getting to meet Lady Serena. What do you think? Don’t you think you’d like a Persian now?”
    Then Mrs. Hauser went on to tell me about the care of Persian show cats—like how you have to brush their fur every day because it’s so long they can’t clean it with their tongue, like cats normally do, and how Lady Serena Archibald had never been outside, and so how we had to be careful not to let her out of the house—even though I already knew most of it, from the books I read.
    But I pretended like I didn’t know already—and that there was still a chance I was going to get a kitten when, in fact, after today there was absolutely no way—and listened quietly, because that’s the polite thing to do when an adult is telling you something you already know, especially when they’re doing it all excitedly like Mrs. Hauser was doing.
    That’s a rule, by the way.
    When Mrs. Hauser was finally done talking and said she had to go drive Brittany’s older sister Bethany to her band rehearsal—adding that we shouldn’t bother Brittany’s other older sister, Becca, who was in the garage with her friends painting posters for their school’s bake sale on Monday—Brittany muttered, “I thought she’d never leave,” and Courtney laughed. Even Mary Kay tittered a little.
    But truthfully, I’d thought what Mrs. Hauser had been saying was interesting, even if I’d already known about most of it, on account of the books I’d read and my wanting to be a veterinarian when I grow up and all.
    “Now that she’s gone,” Brittany said, “we can go to my room and get down to business.”
    I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that.
    “What kind of business?” I wanted to know, hoping it was going to involve Bratz, or at least Barbie.
    “The business of getting you and Mary Kay back together as friends,” Brittany replied. “Now, let go of that cat and come on.”
    I let go of Lady Serena even though I didn’t really want to and followed Brittany up to her room, where there was absolutely no discussion about what we were going to do next. Brittany didn’t go, “So, do you guys want to play a game? How about queens?” or “Do you want to get out my sisters’ Barbies?” She didn’t even go, “I know! Do you want to play lions?”
    Instead, she went, “Okay, we’re playing pop star. I’m the