Moving Day by Meg Cabot Page B

judge.”
    She didn’t even explain how you play pop star, which, by the way, I had never heard of. We’re not allowed to watch reality shows or even music videos in my house,because my mother says they rot your brain. Instead, she makes us watch Quality Programming, even though I’ve explained to her that this puts me at a disadvantage in most social situations.
    “Whoever does the best job,” Brittany went on, “wins a brownie. There’s the microphone. Courtney, you go first.”
    And Courtney picked up this microphone that was lying on Brittany’s super-frilly pink canopy bed, turned on a mini-karaoke machine that was sitting in the middle of Brittany’s super-pink frilly room (which was even pinker and frillier than my room), and started singing along with this CD that was playing.
    When she was done, Mary Kay clapped and went, “Oh, my gosh, Courtney, that was so good!” So I said, “Um, yeah, it was,” although truthfully, I didn’t like the dance Courtney had been doing along with the song. It was kind of boring. It didn’t have any jumps in it. Actually, the song had been boring, too, just the words “baby, baby” over and over again.
    Frankly, I wished I were back behind the bushes byPine Heights playing queens with Erica, Caroline, and Sophie. That had been much more fun.
    But I didn’t say so out loud, because that wouldn’t have been polite. That’s a rule.
    “Okay, Mary Kay,” Brittany said. She had taken up her judging position in the midst of all the pillows in the middle of her bed. “Your turn.”
    Mary Kay looked all shocked. “Oh, no!” she said. “I couldn’t! I’ll never do as good a job as Courtney.”
    “What are you talking about, Mary Kay?” I asked. “You sing songs like that all the time to the mirror in your bathroom.”
    Mary Kay shot me a mean look.
    “Well,” I said, “you do. And you do dances to them, too.” How was I supposed to know that was a secret? Mary Kay had never said so.
    This is why I need the rules. Friendship is so COMPLICATED.
    Mary Kay got up from where she was sitting on one of Brittany’s white beanbag chairs and took the microphone from Courtney. Then she turned on the CD anddid the same song Courtney had done. And basically, the same dance along with it. Only Mary Kay’s dance was even more boring than Courtney’s had been. Except it was obvious Mary Kay had been practicing this dance a LOT in the full-length mirror on the back of her closet door, because she put a lot of hip wiggles into it.
    When she was done, all three of us applauded, even though I thought I was going to die of boredom the whole time. At that point, I’d rather have been playing lions. I’d even have been the boy lion. I’d have gladly gotten rug burns going out and killing an antelope and bringing it home for all the mother lions and baby cubs to eat. That’s how bored I was.
    “Okay, Allie,” Brittany said. “Your turn.”
    I knew I was in trouble. I didn’t know the song, although I could see that the words came up on the karaoke machine’s screen, and I didn’t know the dance, either. There was no way I was going to win.
    Which stank because I was really getting hungry. I could definitely have used one of Mrs. Hauser’s delicioushome-baked brownies. It wasn’t fair of Brittany only to give out brownies as prizes. Really, everyone should get a brownie, no matter how well they sang. That was the polite way to treat your guests, after all.
    Oh, well. Maybe when Mrs. Hauser got back from dropping off Bethany she’d give us all lunch. She was going to have to, right? I mean, you can’t let your guests starve. That’s a rule. I’m almost sure.
    “Come on,” Brittany said from her pillow throne. “We don’t have all day, Allie.”
    I was surprised to realize I was kind of nervous. Which was weird, because Brittany and Courtney and Mary Kay were my friends. Well, except for Mary Kay, who was my ex-friend. My ex-best friend.
    Still, why should I be