Free Better Than Revenge (Sweet Secrets #1) by Taylor Henderson Page B

ringing the doorbell. Before I had time to react, the door opened and there stood my mother. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and she busily wiped her hands on the front of her apron.
    “Brianna! It's a pleasure to see you, sweetheart! You're growing up into such a respectable young lady.” Respectable young lady, my ass. To my dismay, she leaned down and wrapped her arms around Brianna in a tight hug. When she finally pulled away, she said, “I'm so excited to have you and your family here tonight!”
    Brianna smiled sweetly. “I'm excited to be coming! Thank you so much for allowing me to stay here. I really appreciate it, Mrs. Forrester.”
    I frowned to myself. Staying here? Why would Brianna be staying at my house? What did I do to deserve this cruel and unusual punishment?
    My mom smiled, looking over at me as if she had just noticed the rest of us. “Violet, bring your friends in! I can make a quick snack for you all. I hope everyone likes cucumber bites! They taste much better than they sound” The smile that adorned her face resembled that of a child's face on Christmas morning.
    Brianna shook her head. “Sorry Mrs. Forrester. My mom just wanted me to see what time would be best for us to come over.”
    A small frown played on my mom's lips as she thought. After a moment of silence she said, “Dinner will be ready around six, so anytime around then is good.”
    I took this time to speak up before Brianna had a chance. “Anytime for what?”
    Brianna turned toward me with a devious smile on her face. “My family is coming over for dinner tonight to talk with your parents and thank them.”
    My eyebrows furrowed as I voiced my next thought. “Thank them for what?”
    My mom smiled brightly at me. “The Richardson's are going out of town for a while so we offered to keep Brianna while they're gone. Isn't that exciting?”
    A hesitant smile formed on my face. “Very exciting.”
    Yeah, almost as exciting as cutting off all of your toes one by one.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
     
    Kill me. Kill me now. Spare me from the embarrassment that is Rose Forrester. A mother knows best? Yeah right! Whoever came up with that load of crap needs to do a little more research. It's obvious that my mother doesn't know anything about me.
    I scowled down at the dress that my mother had laid out across my bed. It was poofy, white, and had a few black flowers embroidered around the skirt. If mothers really knew best, then my mother would have known that I hate anything that is flowery, poofy, and resembles a dress in any shape or form. Not only did the dress meet all of those requirements, there was only one way to describe it; girly. It was vomit inducing to say the least.
    “Hurry up, Violet! The Richardsons will be here any minute now!”
    With a frustrated sigh I snatched the gown up and marched over to my bedroom door. One kick to the door sent it slamming loudly and echoing as the wood from the door came into contact with the door frame. A muffled yell came from beyond the closed door causing me to smirk shamelessly. I could just imagine my mother's irritated face as she heard the door slam.
    Trudging back over to my bed, I plopped down and examined the dress in my hands. A satisfied smile formed on my face as an idea danced into my head. Maybe this dinner won't be so bad after all.
    With newly formed excitement, I stripped out of my pajamas and exchanged them for the dress. I couldn't help comparing my comfortable sweat pants and overly large t-shirt for the chest suffocating and princess styled dress. I still didn't see the point of dressing up for dinner in the first place. It wasn't like I hadn't met Brianna and her parents before. They had seen me countless times. Why was tonight any different?
    From downstairs, I heard my mother call up to me again, but the door muffled her voice, making it hard to understand what she had said. A few minutes later, a soft rapping on my door caught my