Kate opened up to me that she was really, completely obsessed with Zachary Donaldson and that she got the sense that her parents were not sure what to do about it. Mrs. V had been giving her secret assignments to figure out guys. After taking it all in, it sounded to me like Kate’s heart was kind of messed up when it came to boys. At that moment, I was kind of glad my dad had a strict “no boys” policy!
“I have a rule,” said Kate. “Anyone who is in an all-girls club knows that this should be the uber-rule.”
“Uber isn’t even a word,” I said.
“Yes, it is. It means super,” Kate said defiantly.
“Then why not just say super?”
“Because uber means super-duper, but doesn’t sound totally dorky.”
“Hold it!” I demanded.
Kate stopped chewing and looked at me again.
“What’s the rule?” I asked.
“No boys allowed!” said Kate.
In Mrs. V’s detention, I told Toni and Yuzi about the stupid thing I did to offend Rule #1 and how Kate’s the coolest friend ever because she forgave me. Then I told them Kate’s uber-rule. They agreed that it’s a good rule and we made it Rule #2 with special uber-status not to be confused with the importance of Rule #1. I took out my sweet pen and yellow paper and wrote it down:
RULE #2: No boys allowed
Kate took a tube of lip gloss from the pocket of her sweatshirt and slid the wand across her lips. When she smacked her lips, it smelled good.
“What’s that scent?” asked Toni. “It’s great!”
“Banana berry! It’s my fave!”
“Can I propose a rule?” asked Yuzi, and continued without waiting for an answer. “Rule #3: Banana berry is the official club flavor for lip gloss.”
Everyone giggled, but I pulled out my pen to write.
RULE #3: Only wear banana berry flavored lip gloss!
“Good rules,” said Mrs. V a few minutes later as I helped her unload the pottery kiln we loaded yesterday. “I’m really proud of you. You did what you needed to do to protect Rule #1, and it gave Kate the courage to begin to talk about where she needs help in her life. That’s what it means to ‘walk with the wise.’”
“Thanks, Mrs. V,” I said, taking another pot from her and putting it on the shelf behind me.
“If someone is obsessed with someone or something, they usually need help getting over it,” she said.
“You know, my Nai Nai needs some help with her obsession for egg drop soup,” I said, laughing. I told her about how Nai Nai is always shoving another bowl in front of whichever one of us in the house has had a bad day. Mrs. V just nodded and listened.
“Have you ever asked her why she makes egg drop soup?” said Mrs. V. “Maybe there’s a secret to it. Maybe it really does help when you’re having a bad day.”
I just laughed.
“Do you think your grandmother is wise?” she asked.
I still wasn’t getting the whole “wise” thing.
“Does she help you make good decisions?” Mrs. V clarified.
“Well, sure,” I said. “I guess so.”
“Maybe you’ve just uncovered the next person you need to walk with,” said Mrs. V.
I can’t believe I’m actually going to ask my ancient Chinese grandma for a Secret Keeper Girl rule, but it’s worth a shot.
CHAPTER 6
The Egg Drop Soup Slurp
As soon as the bell rang for lunch, I sprinted for my locker and then out to the patch of soft, green grass under the maple tree. Fear of facing Laney and Riley kept me out of the cafeteria. I figured Kate shouldn’t have to face them either, so the whole club got outside lunch court passes.
Toni and Yuzi ran up together just as my mom’s BMW pulled up to the curb. Nai Nai stepped out from the passenger’s side, walked to the trunk, and retrieved a tray covered in red fabric. Anything covered in red is important to her. She took a few minutes arranging things and then proudly walked toward us while Mom drove away.
“Hey, Nai Nai,” said Kate, who was just arriving. “Can I help you with that?”
Kate took the load and Nai Nai pulled back the red covering to reveal five bottles of orange crème soda and five huge bowls of steaming egg drop soup. My grandmother carefully sprinkled some green scallions on the top, along with her special homemade fried wonton noodles. Then she passed everything out.
We were all carefully balancing our bowls when Nai Nai bowed her head. We bowed ours, too, but Nai Nai didn’t say anything out loud.
“Amen!” she said in her thick Chinese accent.
“No tell secret of soup now,” she said, getting right down to business. “First, we eat and speak.”
Nai Nai slurped her soup loudly. Toni and Yuzi’s eyes grew wide, so Kate picked up her bowl and totally out-slurped my grandma. Kate rocks! We all started slurping, and the soup was way too delicious for us to laugh at how silly we sounded.
I knew what Nai Nai was going to say next, but she didn’t say it. She just looked at me and nodded as if I should take it from here. Nai Nai always asks me the same two questions when we eat egg drop soup.
“So,” I started, “the first question to answer when eating Nai Nai’s egg drop soup is ‘What is the worst thing about your day?’”
Before I could go on I heard a guy’s voice yelling. “Heads up, Da-neeka!”
I knew that voice! I looked up and saw a soccer ball hurling toward our little circle. Yuzi shrieked and the ball dropped into the circle, nearly knocking over my soup.
“Chad-the-dork Ferner!” I shouted. “You did that on purpose.”
“Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t,” he said, tugging on my ponytail as he retrieved the ball. He ran off before I could hit him.
Ugh!
“You wanna hear an answer to ‘What’s the worst thing about your day?’” I said. “Mine is Chad Ferner!”
Nai Nai giggled.
“I think you best thing in his day,” she said.
My girlfriends erupted into laughter. When everyone calmed down, Yuzi piped up, “The worst thing about my day every day this week is that I’m the new girl who everyone thinks is the bad girl. I did not pull that fire alarm on Monday morning and I’m going to prove it. It feels really lousy walking through the hall and getting called names!”
We were all quiet.
“Well, I wasn’t going to tell anyone this,” Kate suddenly jumped in. “But I don’t want Yuzi to think she’s all alone. Laney and Riley have been in my face about the Zachary Donaldson thing.”
I felt totally bad and I wanted to say something, but I didn’t get a chance before Toni jumped in.
“That’s so mean!” she said. “Today I walked by Trevor Kenworth and he yelled, ‘Look out! Tree comin’ through!’ just to be stupid.”
Toni’s really tall for a sixth-grade girl.
“He’s just jealous because you’re more of an athlete than he is,” said Kate. “Don’t let him get to you.”
“And Yuzi,” said Toni, “we love you!” Everyone smiled and Toni wrapped her arms around Yuzi’s neck while precariously balancing her egg drop soup on one knee.
“Velly good!” said Nai Nai. I was glad no one made fun of how she said “very.” She nodded at me again.
“The next question is always, ‘What’s the best thing about your day?’ I’ll start. You might think the best thing about my day is getting invited back into the Teeny Pop Contest, but it’s not. The best thing is that Kate forgave me and is having lunch with me.”
Kate, who was seated right next to me, leaned in and gave me a side hug. Then she said, “The best thing about my day was going to be that I’m going to get to see Zachary Donaldson play football tonight, but … ”
We all groan.
“No boys allowed,” teased Toni.
“OK, the best thing so far is this soup!” said Kate.
Nai Nai smiled so hard that her eyes turned into little tiny slits and I couldn’t see her eyeballs. I sure could see her teeth tho
ugh!
“The best thing for me is detention and we didn’t even have it yet,” said Toni. “It’s been the best part of every day for me since it started. I can’t believe how much fun we’re having.”
We all agreed.
“Don’t tell Principal Butter!” Yuzi giggled. “Hmmmm. Let’s see. The best thing about my day was waking up and knowing I have three new friends and we’re going to be in a club together.”
This time, I reached over and hugged Yuzi. She just sighed and smiled.
Nai Nai was cleaning up the bowls.
“We done,” she said abruptly.
“But Nai Nai,” I complained. “You didn’t tell us the secret. You told us that if we talked, you’d tell us the secret of the soup.”
“Secret not in soup,” she said. “It in you.” She pointed to my heart. “Soup just make you slow down!”
I got it!
“Eating egg drop soup is like chilling,” I said. “You know, slowing down to figure it all out. The good and the bad.”
It sure is easy to feel the bad, I thought. But I guess there’s always some good to go with it.
Slowing down to eat the soup made us all feel better. We suddenly didn’t feel alone in our problems. We talked about it while Nai Nai stood there waiting for Mom to pick her up. Toni said we should make egg drop soup the official food of the Secret Keeper Girl Club and that we should eat a lot of it. We all agreed. I took out my sweet pen and yellow paper and wrote:
RULE #4: Eat a lot of Egg Drop Soup!
Just as the lunch bell rang, Principal Butter and Mrs. Butter walked past us.
“Congratulations, Danika,” said Mrs. Butter, waving as she walked by in her high heels, lemon-yellow dress suit, and matching pillbox hat. She and Principal Butter were two peas in a pod. A pod from 1955! “We were pulling for you,” she said cheerfully.
I can’t believe she just said that. I’m sure I stood about a half a foot taller. It was the highest compliment I’d ever gotten.
“Be sure to go over your rules carefully,” she said. “The new judges have all been instructed to be really picky due to the week they’ve just had of parents calling and fussing about this or that. By the way, thank your parents. They never called and they sure had a right to.” So my dad really wasn’t the one who rescued me! Then who was it?
CHAPTER 7
Cinderella and the Ugly Stepsister
On Saturday morning when I pried my eyes open, the clock read 10:19. Wow! I’d slept for twelve straight hours!
I decided to put on a simple pair of light blue skinny jeans with my black Audrey Hepburn T-shirt. I don’t really know who Audrey Hepburn is, but Mom says she was a great actress. I just like the T-shirt. I slipped my hair into a ponytail and wondered what kind of Saturday morning chores my mom would insist I complete. Housekeeper and personal assistant aside, my mom always has chores for me to do on Saturdays!
She must have heard me moving around.
“Danika.” Her voice broke through my thoughts. “I have something I need you to do!”
Big surprise, I thought.
I trudged down the spiral staircase to our front foyer with the big marble columns and patted Puddles on the head. She always greets us with a thumping tail every morning. I love that. I sniffed the air and detected pancakes.
“Dani,” Dad said, placing his hand on my head. “Your mom makes the best flapjacks in the world. I just gained ten pounds eating them. But I’m sorry. There are none left for sleepyheads!”
“Dad!” I moaned, knowing full well that Mom would have some for me and that she’d add bananas and whipped topping to them. Just then Mom turned. Sure enough, she had a plateful just like I liked ’em.
“Danika, this morning your chores are easy,” she said, placing the plate in front of me. “Walk Puddles and try on that Teeny Pop dress!”
“Again?” I questioned. “My body hasn’t changed in one week, Mom! We don’t need to fit the dress again, do we?”
“If you’d rather, I can write a list of other chores,” she said. I knew the list would likely include scrubbing toilets, giving Puddles a bath, or dusting Mom’s entire collection of imported china. I was up for the dress fitting!
“You are beautiful, my princess,” said Mom as I modeled my Teeny Pop Pageant ball gown. “I’m so happy that you’re going to get to wear this. You know, your dad and I are so proud of how you just waited the system out and didn’t fight. It all worked out because you had a good heart! Twirl!”
“Mom!” I begged.
“Please!” she begged back.
I reluctantly twirled. My dress is so amazing that it looked like the best twirl in all of dress-twirling history. It’s light blue and has a fitted satin top with sequins and pearls hand-sewn into it. The skirt is a full, billowy bundle of tulle. It’s a one of a kind. Mom had a designer make my dress since it’s my last year in the Teeny Pop contest. I love it. It reminds me of the dress from Cinderella. That’s the most beautiful dress in the world. Mine is second-most beautiful. It passes all of the pageant dress rules:
It’s one solid color.
It has a full, ball room skirt. (We’re not allowed to have fitted ones.)
It’s got sleeves. (We’re not allowed to have off-the-shoulder or strapless dresses.)
“I love it, Mom,” I said. “Thanks! Even if I don’t win, I’m going to have a blast!” It’s the first time I’ve admitted I might not win.
“Danika,” she said, “do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” I said, but then remembered that Mrs. V had given me another “walking” assignment. “But would you want to walk with me and Puddles?”
She smiled.
After I took my dress off, she grabbed her white cable-knit sweater and I grabbed my new black Rutherford B. Hayes Middle School sweatshirt. Puddles knew we were going for a walk and stood at the door sideways banging her tail against the wall. It seemed to me that banging a body part against the wall like that might hurt, but she looked happy enough. I clicked her leash onto her collar and headed out the door.
“Mom, I need to ask you a question,” I said. She already knew about Laney, and her response was that she’s delighted about me being friends with Kate and starting the club. I filled her in on Mrs. V’s assignments and the list of club rules so she’d have all the facts before I asked the question.
“He who walks with the wise grows wise,” she said. “I know that proverb. It’s in the Bible. It’s one of my favorite verses. What’s your question?”
“My question is this: How do you know who’s a wise friend? Do they have to be old to be wise?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” said Mom. “Some old people are just old. They’ve never grown into wise friends.” “Are they wise if they ace every test?” “That just makes ’em smart, don’t you think? There’s a difference between smart and wise!” She took Puddles from me because a bunny ran across the street. She’ll chase bunnies. Not my mom, Puddles.
“One of my favorite quotes is from an old dead guy,” Mom said. She has a way of bringing things to my level. I think that’s why my friends love her. “I can’t remember his name. Emerson or Ralph or something. Famous, though! Anyway, he said ‘Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends.’”
“Huh?” I said. I may be a straight-A student, but that went way over my head. “Say again?”
“Wise friends stick around even when things aren’t going great. That’s why I think that your friendship club is so great. It sounds like it all started when the four of you got into trouble and had to do detention together. I’m thinkin’ that girls who want to use that kind of a bad experience to start a true friendship club are the kinds of girls I want you to be friends with.”
I was happy to hear that my mom was proud of me.
“Yeah, it’s cool!” I said.
“Foolish friends are only around for the party. Watch out for them.”
“Got it!” I said.
I was just about to crawl under my comfy covers when I heard my cell phone beep. I’d gotten a text message.
U up?
The phone zipped out of my hands when I realized the text was from Laney Douglas. It took me a moment to realize that I’d thrown it. It was one of those “Ew! It’s a bug!” kind of responses.
I picked the phone up like it was a bomb about to explode and typed:
IDK
IDK? I don’t know if I’m up? How dumb is that, I thought.
I pushed the send button, anyway.
My phone rang almost immediately.
“‘Sup, Danika.” I never noticed how nasal Laney’s voice was. “Me, I guess,” I said. “What’s up with you, Laney?” I said it nicely, but I think she understood we were on shaky ground.
“Like, I just didn’t want you to think I had anything to do with the whole pageant problem. I’m real sorry about that.
But it’s working out, so that’s good …” She waited for me to respond, but I didn’t want to say anything mean, and I didn’t have anything nice to say.
“Anyway, Riley and I are here hanging.”
“Hey!” said Riley.
“Hey,” I said flatly, realizing for the first time that she rarely spoke unless Laney gave her the green light.
“Anyway,” continued Laney. “We just realized something. We totally have a good shot at getting those front row seats to the Alayna Rayne concert. There are three of us in the pageant and you know one of us is going to win. The winner gets four tickets and there are, like, only three of us.” Wow! Laney can add, I said to myself as she babbled on. “So, if we all make a pact to take each other if we win, then we’ll pretty much for sure get to go.”
Suddenly I understood why Laney Douglas would want to be in the pageant she had made fun of for as long as I can remember. She was just like that lady in Florida who stood by a statue of Alayna Rayne for six days without sleeping or showering to win two tickets and a backstage pass. This was just a silly celebrity concert contest to Laney. Maybe Riley, too.
“Ummm, Danika,” said Laney. “Are you there or what?”
Secret Keeper Girl Fiction Series Page 16