Bending Over Backwards
Page 14
GEE: Okayyy. How about a super-cool Las Vegas theme? We could play poker—with M&Ms, of course.
EFF: Of course.
GEE: It could be really swanky. Ooh! We can make the invitations out of playing cards!
EFF: Huh.
GEE: What?
EFF: Southern tea? Steel Magnolias. Peter Pan? Hook. Vegas? Ocean’s Eleven. Do you have any birthday party ideas not inspired by a Julia Roberts movie?
GEE: What’s wrong with Julia Roberts?
EFF: Nothing. I’m just saying, our party doesn’t have to have some kind of tie to your redheaded spirit twin.
[END BRAINSTORM SESSION.]
Gigi flopped back on her bed, covering her face with her arms. “This is hopeless!” she cried. “We’re getting nowhere.”
“True,” Finn agreed. “You know what we need? A break.”
“A break from what?”
“We’re thinking way too hard about this. I say we go downstairs, make a couple of smoothies, and watch a movie. I’ll even let you pick which one.”
“Even if it’s Runaway—”
“Bride,” Finn finished for her. “Yes. I had a feeling you’d go for that one.”
And just that like that, Gigi felt the party-planning tension melt clean away.
As the closing credits rolled, Finn put her sneakers back on and tightened the laces.
“Are you leaving?” Gigi asked.
“It’ll be getting dark soon,” Finley said. “I need to finish my run.”
“But what about the party?”
“Tomorrow,” Finn said. “After cooking class. I promise we’ll figure it out then. ’Kay?”
Gigi nodded. She wasn’t sure why she felt quite so deflated. It must’ve shown on her face, though, because Finn said, “Don’t look so mopey. We’ll get this party planned. We always do.” Finn waved as she jogged out the door. “It’s the weekend. We’ll have plenty of time. Thank god it’s Friday, right, dude?”
Finn headed out the door, and Gigi trudged back upstairs to her room.
It was just shy of five, which meant it was almost eleven in Prague. Her father’s company had sent him there earlier in the week, but work had kept him so busy they’d only Skyped once, instead of every day like they usually did on his extended business trips.
At her desk, Gigi fired up her laptop. She launched Skype and clicked to connect with GeorgePrince71, but he didn’t answer. This is exactly why, she thought, her mother simply had to get her an iPhone for her birthday. That way she could just text her father, like any normal girl her age.
Disconnected from her dad. Ditched by her BFF.
TGIF? Gigi thought. Yeah, right.
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About the Authors
CARI SIMMONS once wished on her birthday candles that she would write a book—and it came true! She lives and writes in Portland, Oregon, and this is her first series.
HEATHER ALEXANDER has written numerous books for children and is a former children’s book editor. She lives in New Jersey with her two daughters—one who avoids taking photos and one who snaps nonstop, having mastered the art of the “selfie.”
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Books in the Picture Perfect Series
More titles in the Picture Perfect series:
#1: Bending Over Backwards
#2: You First
Credits
Cover art © 2015 by Cathi Mingus
Cover design by Steve Scott
Copyright
PICTURE PERFECT: BENDING OVER BACKWARDS. Copyright © 2015 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Simmons, Cari, author.
Bending over backwards / Cari Simmons and Heather Alexander. — First edition.
pages cm. — (Picture Perfect ; #1)
Summary: “Molly Larsen has a plan to avoid being friendless in her new middle school—immediately identify and befriend the IT girl—but Molly’s plan isn’t foolproof, and her scheme may result in her being embarrassingly branded THAT girl instead” — Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-231022-4
EPub Edition © November ISBN 9780062310231
[1. Friendship—Fiction. 2. Gymnastics—Fiction. 3. Middle schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction.] I. Alexander, Heather, 1967– author. II. Title.
PZ7.1.S55Be 2015
2014022026
[Fic] —dc23
CIP
AC
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FIRST EDITION
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