Read Online Lost in London by Cindy Callaghan - Free Book Online Page A

asked.
    “I haven’t heard her so mad since we got splashed with a hose at the homecoming football game. Ohhh, we had been having such a good time until that happened.”
    “My mom had fun?”
    “Oh, all the time! She loved it!”
    I was sure she had my mom confused with someone else from college.
    Mrs. Littleton said, “But don’t worry. I took care of everything. I promised her that you would spend the rest of the week hitting all the places on your list. To calm her down I told her y’all would text pics to her from each sight.”
    “You can’t be serious?” Caroline asked, as though the idea of checking if she was lying was completely absurd, even though she had just told a whole story about a sleepover party that never happened. “She wants to spy on us? Why doesn’t she just send a babysitter to trail around after us?”
    I was totally embarrassed. Even though I was on the other side of the world, my parents were still looking over my shoulder.
    “If that’s an invitation,” Mrs. Littleton said, “I’d love to go with y’all.”
    “Yay!” Ellie said. “You’ll be like one of the gang, except older and more . . . more older than we are.”
    Caroline pursed her lips in anger, but spoke in a careful and controlled voice, “Um, I think NOT.”
    Mrs. Littleton said, “Caroline darlin’, I gotcha a little something. Come on into your daddy’s office so I can give it to you.”
    “What is it?” Caroline asked.
    “Ooh, it’s a surprise.”
    Caroline followed her stepmother out of the room.
    “What do you think it is?” Ellie asked.
    Gordo shrugged. “Could be anything. Remember the time she got a Vespa scooter? Her mum didn’t even know she was too young to drive it.”
    They returned very quickly. Caroline was smiling.
    “What was it?” Sam asked.
    “What?” she asked.
    “The surprise.”
    “Oh, it was kinda like a secret surprise. No biggie, really,” Caroline said.
    “No biggie,” Mrs. Littleton confirmed. “So, lemme just get my coat and I’ll come along with y’all today.”
    Caroline said, “As much fun as that would be, I think it’s a richer adventure for J.J. to experience London with us, just us, friends her own age.” She put her arm over my shoulder and said to me, “You are going to have an awesome time.”
    “Well, I want J.J. to have the fullest experience possible,” Mrs. Littleton said, like it was a big sacrifice for her not to hang out with us.
    “That’s what we all want,” Caroline said. “We’ll certainly text you pictures from each sight we visit. Oh, and those pics will be perfect to use for your photo montage assignment.” I thought Caroline had quickly changed her mind about sightseeing.
    “It’ll be heaps of fun, I’m sure,” Mrs. Littleton said, and exited the kitchen.
    There was a moment of silence. “I think that went well,” Ellie said. “She bought the whole fortress thing.”
    Caroline announced, “I’m going to take a shower. Can you start on planet Pluto? We have to do a supergood job on it so that those videos stay under wraps. If we get discovered, it would be very bad for me.”
    Gordo said, “Daphne’s couldn’t ban you for long. You’re their best customer.”
    “Well, I don’t want to risk it. Besides, I have more to lose than shopping.”
    “Like what?” I asked.
    “A lot,” she said, offering a nonanswer.
    As if commanded by the queen bee, Gordo took the seat at the iPad and began telling us what he was writing: “I am Sebastian Lively, and I am a jerk. I am not the one writing this paper because I’m a cheater . . .”
    “Stop that,” Caroline said. “Don’t joke around.”
    “You’re smart,” Ellie said to Gordo. “Can’t you just whip it out or something?”
    “Of course he can,” Sam said.
    “Bril,” Caroline said, and left for her shower.
    “Sure,” Gordo joked. “I’ll write a research paper in the next few minutes while you pals just hang out.”
    “That works for me,” Ellie