"Full House - Sisters 03 - And the Winner Is... - Nina Alexander" - читать интересную книгу автора (Alexander Nina)
STEPHANIE
Chapter 1
Eight A.M.?" Stephanie Tanner moaned. She brushed her long blond hair out of her eyes and stared at the buzzing alarm clock on her bedside table. "It's Saturday. What was I thinking?" She hit the button to stop the alarm.
Her best friend, Allie Taylor, sat up in her sleeping bag and yawned. She rubbed her eyes. "You were thinking we needed to get up early so we could get to the new mall right when it opens. Remember?"
"Oh, right." Stephanie glanced over at Michelle's bed on the side of the room. The bed was empty, which meant that Stephanie's ten-year-old sister was up already. She leaned over the other side of her bed and poked her other best friend, Darcy Powell, on the shoulder.
Darcy groaned and turned over in her sleeping bag. "What time is it?" she croaked, keeping her dark brown eyes shut tight.
"Time to hit the mall," Stephanie answered. "Rise and shine!"
Darcy groaned again and pulled the top of her sleeping bag over her head. Stephanie and Allie grinned at each other. Darcy was high-energy when she was awake, but sometimes it took her a while to get that way.
"Come on, Darce," Allie said. "Don't you want to be there to meet Fiona and Felicia Miarra?"
"I can't believe that the Miarras are opening a boutique here in San Francisco," Stephanie said. "It's so cool!"
"And they'll actually be here for the next two weeks," Darcy added. "Imagine walking through the mall and meeting two of the most famous fashion designers in the world!"
Allie stretched her arms and yawned. "Just because they're opening a new boutique here doesn't mean they'll be walking around the mall with the rest of us."
"You never know." Stephanie tossed her pillow at Allie. "And just in case they are there, we'd better make sure we look awesome. Who knows? Maybe they'll decide to put us in their next big fashion show in Paris!" She wiggled her eyebrows up and down and smiled.
"Yeah, right," Allie said. Then she sniffed the air. "Mmm, I smell pancakes."
"Yum," Darcy stood up. "I love your dad's pancakes. Let's go get some!"
The three friends hurried down the stairs of Stephanie's big Victorian-style house and headed straight for the kitchen. They found the rest of the family gathered around the big wooden table. Stephanie and her friends took their seats at the table.
"Morning, everyone," Stephanie said cheerfully. She glanced around at the eight other people in her family.
Her family wasn't exactly what you'd call typical, but Stephanie kind of liked it that way. Aside from Stephanie and Michelle, there was her dad, Danny, and her nineteen-year-old sister, D.J.
Danny's best friend, Joey, and his brother-in-law, Jesse, moved in almost nine years ago to help out when Stephanie's mother died. Then Jesse married Becky. Later the two of them had twins, Nicky and Alex. Now they lived in the attic apartment.
All together, they were nine people and one large golden retriever named Comet under one roof. Sometimes, the full house drove Stephanie crazy. But most of the time, she knew she wouldn't want to live any other way.
D.J. glanced up from her pancakes. "Why are you guys awake so early on a Saturday?" she asked.
"Get with it, Danny," Joey said, playfully. "They haven't even gone to sleep yet. They're just coming down for an eight A.M. snack."
Stephanie smiled. "Come on, stop kidding around," she told her family. "You know the new mall opens today. I've been talking about it all week."
"Oh, is that this weekend?" Danny set the pancakes on the table and smacked his forehead. "I'm sorry, Steph. I totally forgot. I can't drive you there. I made other plans."
"What?" Stephanie gasped. "But, Dad, you promised!"
Michelle quickly covered her mouth with a hand, her face turning red.
Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest. Then she eyed the rest of her family. They stared at her as if they were all about to burst out laughing. "What's going on?" she demanded.
"Gotcha!" D.J. cried, breaking into a grin.
Everyone else started laughing. "Boy, you should have seen your face, Steph," Joey said. "You looked like Comet did the day he ate that super-hot chili powder I left on the counter."
Stephanie tried not to smile. "Very funny," she muttered. "I knew you guys were joking."
Michelle grinned. "Admit it. We got you good!"
"Don't worry, Steph," Danny said, passing Darcy the pancakes. "You three still have a ride to the mall this morning."
"Don't you mean you four?" Michelle asked. "I want to see to the new mall, too. Remember, Dad?"
Stephanie grinned at Michelle. "Well, then pass the maple syrup," she told her sister. "The sooner we finish eating, the sooner we can get to the mall!"
"Do you believe this place?" Darcy asked.
Stephanie gazed around at the escalators, and at the glass elevators in the mall. Each level was outlined in glowing neon. Beneath her feet, the floors were paved with clear plastic blocks that changed color as you stepped on them.
"It's like a cross between a mall and a club," Allie said.
"Or something from the future," Stephanie added. Ahead of them she saw Danny, Joey, and Michelle step through a colorful arch and into a glass elevator. Joey waved as they were whisked to one of the upper levels. They would all meet in a few hours to go home.
Stephanie pointed at the large fountain in the center of the mall. People hurried toward it from all directions. "I wonder what's going on over there?"
"There's one way to find out," Darcy said. She led the way toward the crowd.
When Stephanie, Darcy, and Allie reached the edge of the plaza, Stephanie saw a huge sign posted near the fountain. A crowd of girls surrounded it. "'Celebrate our grand opening in style,'" she read aloud. "'Enter the Miarra San Francisco's Most Fabulous Sisters Modeling Contest.'" She turned to her friends. "That sounds like fun. Maybe we should do it."
Allie nodded. "We can all be models together!"
Stephanie and her friends quickly scanned the rest of the sign.
"Wow!" Allie breathed. "The grand prize is a shopping spree in five stores in the mall."
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