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burning!” I said.
    “Then it’s settled.” He watched me until I took Alex’s hand. “Now, go forth and practice for those auditions. And may the best man win,” Dad said for us.
    “May the best actress win,” said Alex, a little too sweetly.

 
    “Emergency meeting of the Sisters Club,” Joey said, all out of breath, as soon as I’d pulled my cupcakes out of the oven. “Upstairs. Now.”
    “Did Alex say?” I asked.
    “No. I said.”
    Joey had never called a meeting of the Sisters Club. She always just bugged Alex and me to have one. But something in her eyes made me follow her.
    We all piled into Alex’s room (with permission). Alex and I plopped onto her bed. Joey sat cross-legged on the fuzzy flower rug.
    “Can I hold Sock Monkey?” Joey asked Alex. To my surprise, Alex handed over our mascot without arguing. Not one snotty word.
    “OK, first, this meeting is officially called to order.” Joey held out her finger for the triple-pinkie handshake. “Sisters, Blisters, and Tongue Twisters,” said Joey.
    “You know what? I’ve been thinking,” said Alex. “We should change our motto. Blisters is lame.”
    “ Blood blisters is kinda cool,” I suggested.
    “And tongue twisters is kinda babyish,” Alex finished her thought.
    “No, it isn’t,” Joey protested. “Besides, nothing else rhymes with sisters .”
    “Misters,” said Alex.
    “Kisters,” I said.
    “Risters.”
    “Listers.”
    “Those aren’t even words, most of them,” Joey pointed out.
    “OK, then how about . . . Lister ine, ” I said helpfully.
    “Then we might as well just be the Bad Breath Club,” said Joey.
    All of a sudden, out of the blue, Alex turned to me, as if she’d been bursting to say something. “Why do you have to go out for the play, anyway? Can’t you just be happy doing the cake-off?”
    So much for the truce. I was sick of her attitude. “Drop dead, Alex.”
    Joey jumped up, her face ghost-white. “Don’t say that! Stevie! Take it back!”
    “OK, OK. Calm down, freak show. I take it back.”
    “You two have to stop fighting,” Joey pleaded, looking from Alex to me.
    “She started it,” I said.
    “Never mind,” said Alex. “Joey, is this why you called the meeting?”
    “OK, I called us here because you guys have to stop acting so mean and awful to each other and make up. See this pin? You guys are gonna prick your fingers and mix blood with each other and promise you’ll never, ever fight again. Ever.”
    “Joey, I’m not going to bleed for her, so you can just forget it,” said Alex.
    “Don’t worry. I’m not about to lose blood either,” I said.
    “You have to promise,” Joey pleaded. “If you don’t, Stevie, I’ll tell Alex what kind of cupcakes you’ve been making. And Alex, I’ll tell Stevie all the stuff I heard you tell Sock Monkey.”
    “How do you know what I told Sock Monkey?” Alex asked accusingly.
    “Maybe I hid under the bed and heard you when you were talking to Sock Monkey. Or maybe . . . I heard it through the heating vent . Go ahead — ask him.”
    “Sock Monkey, is this true?” Alex asked. Sock Monkey nodded yes (with a little help from Joey).
    “C’mon, Joey, what’s this all about?” I asked.
    “Nothing. You’re my sisters. And you’re always fighting. And think about it — one of you could die, and I don’t think you should waste any more time being mad at each other. When you could die, I mean. Sisters can die, you know.”
    I looked over at Alex. She raised her eyebrows back at me.
    “Sisters fight sometimes, Joey. It’s normal.”
    I pointed a finger at Joey, squinting my eyes with suspicion. “Joey, did you by any chance read Chapter 40?”
    “Yes.”
    “Without me, I mean?”
    “Yes.”
    “You read Mom’s book?”
    “Yes.”
    “Joey! I told you not to! It was for your own good. Why do you think I hid the book inside a cereal box in the kitchen cupboard?” I stopped, still pointing my finger at her. “Hey, how’d you find