by Megan Atwood
As Mr. Garrison put his handkerchief back in his pocket, he said, more to himself than to anyone else around him, “What’s this . . . ?”
He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. His face brightened. “Oh! I saw this the other day when I was in Boston getting supplies. I meant to give it to you at dinner the other day. Totally slipped my mind! Too many good movie impressions, I think!” He winked at Olive and Peter. Sarah could feel that Lizzie was still looking at her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look back. “Thank goodness I didn’t wash these pants!” Mr. G said.
Sarah wrinkled her nose. Lizzie said, “Dad . . . ,” which meant “GROSS.” Sarah wholeheartedly agreed.
Mr. Garrison handed Sarah the piece of paper, and she took it reluctantly. She’d just be sure to wash her hands REALLY well before scooping any ice cream. Lizzie came over and stood next to her, reading the flyer. Sarah took a tiny step over so they weren’t quite so close.
ATTENTION, ICE CREAM LOVERS!
MOO is having its 5th Annual Sundae Contest for Boston and surrounding areas!
The Skinny: Submit your favorite ice cream sundae idea and win $5,000! The winner will also be the “Sundae of the Summer” and will have a permanent place on MOO’s menu each and every year!
The Details: Sign up to show your stuff! Three judges will decide the winner in a tasting contest on June 22.
Sarah shrugged and passed the flyer over to Lizzie. This didn’t really matter. They’d make enough money for the zombie hayride at the ice cream stand. Maybe she’d enter MOO’s contest anyway. She could use a new bike. And maybe even a new best friend to ride it with. She swallowed a wave of sadness and said, “Thanks, Mr. G.”
Sarah took a deep breath and tried to remember what her mom had said. She finally looked at Lizzie and then gave her and everyone else as big a smile as she could muster.
Olive, looking over her glasses, the round black frames already sliding down her nose, said, “We should start prepping. The stand opens in ten minutes.”
Sarah’s smile turned into a scowl. “I know that,” she said. “Let’s go.”
“Good luck, kids!” Mr. G said. “We expect great things from the four of you, now!” He walked away, muttering to himself. Sarah didn’t glance at him and strode toward the back of the stand. She could feel everyone following her as she opened the door and stepped inside.
The front of the stand was an open counter that held buckets of ice cream behind a plexiglass guard. The cash register was at one end—old and weird and still hard for Sarah to use. The roof extended over the counter and out about five feet, held up by long wooden posts. That gave the counter and some customers shade, but not enough so that people could hang around or sit down anywhere. Sarah was super-glad there weren’t tables they’d have to clean up. The rest of the stand was behind a door, just behind the cash register—that door was the only way in and out of the front of the stand. The back was where the big freezers were, along with some long metal tables used for prep work. The hard part was how tiny it was. Sarah hadn’t realized just how tiny until all four of them squeezed in together. In fact, there seemed to be two extra people in there.
Sarah took another deep breath and was about to speak when Olive said, “Okay, Lizzie and I will grab the ice cream flavors, and, Peter, you and Sarah grab the toppings.”
Sarah huffed. But the directions made sense, so she shot Olive a dirty look and started grabbing the toppings. She could feel Lizzie still looking at her, but she couldn’t meet her eyes.
No one talked. The generator hummed in the background. The ice cream stand was supposed to be way more fun than this. But in ten minutes, the stand was set up and all four of them were standing around in their aprons.
Finally, Sarah felt excited. She had been looking forward to this all spring. She caught Lizzie’s eye and gave her a little smile. Lizzie’s whole face brightened, and she gave Sarah a huge, relieved smile in return. They all heard the bell by the counter ding—their first customers!
Then Olive said, “Why don’t Lizzie and I scoop the ice cream, Peter can do the toppings, and you can do the register?”
Sarah felt her face get hot. Of course Olive wanted to scoop ice cream with HER best friend. Instead of keeping quiet, though, she put her hands on her hips. “Why don’t Lizzie and I scoop—” but then she stopped. Either Sarah or Lizzie had to work the register, since they were the only ones who knew how. Olive and Peter probably hadn’t gotten trained yet. And Olive’s plan made the most sense . . . again.
So Sarah said, “Duh,” and quietly moved to the register. Lizzie gave her an anxious smile and a look that said, “Sorry, but this makes the most sense, and anyway, you’re a math genius so you might as well be at the register.” Sarah couldn’t really argue with that.
They all walked out to the counter.
The first customer was a mother of what looked like twenty kids who kept running around, yelling. Sarah didn’t recognize her but got a thrill from realizing that their flyers must have worked. The mother started her order. “Okay. We’ll have two vanilla cones with chocolate dip and sprinkles; two chocolate sundaes with Reese’s Pieces . . .”
Halfway through the order, Sarah felt a little panicked. When the mom finally stopped and stared at them expectantly, Peter, Olive, Sarah, and Lizzie all stood there, mouths wide open.
Then Olive and Sarah started barking orders at the same time.
Sarah said, “Lizzie, start with the sundaes, then end with the dip cones—”
At the same time that Olive said, “Lizzie, do the sundaes first so Peter can figure out the toppings—”
“Peter, write down the toppings list—”
“Peter can remember the toppings—”
And then the little kids waiting for the ice cream started screaming. Sarah wasn’t sure what happened next. Everything moved so fast that she wasn’t sure who was doing what, though she was relieved to see that Peter seemed to remember every single topping and what it went with—no one else could do that. Meanwhile, she tried to help scoop with Lizzie before she had to ring everything up, but she and Olive kept bumping into each other, at one point bonking heads so hard, Sarah saw stars.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, Sarah rang the whole order up and the family with the screaming kids went away. Sarah looked at Olive, Lizzie, and Peter. Every one of them had chocolate smeared on their faces. Lizzie had Reese’s Pieces in her hair and Olive had something smudged on her glasses. Peter had cookie dough on his eyebrow. Sarah looked down and found a row of M&M’s on her apron’s waistband. She was already exhausted.
And then she remembered they’d only helped one customer. She looked up and saw the line snaking across the orchard. She saw the sheriff, and Stella, and Hakeem, and Rachel, and a ton of people she didn’t even recognize. She looked at Lizzie and Lizzie looked back and both of them swallowed big. This would be a long day.
Olive jumped in between their looks. “Uh, we have more customers?” she said. Sarah closed her eyes and just nodded.
CHAPTER 6
Banana Split with Vanilla, Cherry, and Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream, Drizzled with Strawberry Sauce and a Whole Bunch of NUTS. Plus Whipped Cream. Plus Someone Selling Bait.
The next few customers were people Sarah recognized. Stella ordered a small vanilla cone and said, “Well, I order this hoping I’m not contributing to some gauche zombie something or other.” She took a taste and turned to Hakeem behind her. “Hakeem, this would only ruin your amazing baking.” But she looked back at Peter and Olive. “Welcome, young people. The town of New Amity is thrilled to have you.”
Sarah couldn’t help thinking, “Not the whole town,” but she didn’t say anything out loud.
Next came Rachel and Aaron. Rachel ordered one of the biggest sundaes Sarah had ever seen. Aaron laughed, “That’s bigger than your head!” and Rachel gave him such a dirty look that Sarah ducked her own head.
Rachel said, “I tell you what, honey, you can tal
k about my ice cream choices when YOU are growing our baby.”
Aaron shrank back. He cleared his throat. “I think it’s a PERFECT sundae. Just perfect. And anyway, we should spend our money now before the baby comes and we have no money left!” He winked at the crew behind the counter. “Olive and Peter, come by the diner. We’ll give you a free pastry and drink—our town is so happy to have you here!”
Sarah rolled her eyes. They never gave HER a free pastry and drink. Well, barely. Maybe only every other time she came in. Or every time. The specifics weren’t important.
Hakeem ordered a sundae and smiled big at Peter and Olive, saying, “Stop at the store anytime! I’ll introduce you to Camila.”
Mariko and Aldo, owners of the Farm Supply Store Plus Oil Change (and Bait) Shop, were next. They complained about the slow summer months at the store and even ordered a double-dip cone each. All of them offered Olive and Peter free things at their stores. This made Lizzie beam but made Sarah feel invisible.
Sheriff Hadley got to the head of the line. “Hey, Sarah!”
Sarah perked up a little. “Hey, Sheriff.” Finally, someone remembered who she was.
Then the sheriff turned to Olive and Peter. “Well, we are so excited to have you in town. If you want a tour of the town from someone who’s lived here forever, I’d be happy to show you around!”
Sarah clenched her teeth. “I want to go on a tour!” she said.
But Sheriff Hadley laughed. “What are you talking about, Sarah? You know this town better than I do.” He tipped his hat at Olive and Peter, winked at Lizzie, ignored Sarah, and walked away.
Finally, the line had ended. Olive said, “You know, they were all complaining about how slow things have been for them. But then they all bought ice cream.”
Sarah turned on her. “So?” she said.
Olive shrugged. “I don’t know. Either they really like ice cream or they really like you guys.”
Sarah didn’t say, “Or they really wanted to say hi to you and pretend I don’t exist.”
But she wanted to.
“How much longer until we close?” Olive asked.
Lizzie glanced at the clock. “Fifteen minutes.” Then her face brightened. “You know, there are no customers. And the bonus part of this job is getting to eat ice cream. . . .”
Suddenly, Sarah wasn’t tired anymore. “So let’s eat ice cream!” she practically yelled. Peter and Olive shared a smile.
Olive’s eyes lit up. “I would like that very much.”
Sarah had to stop from rolling her eyes at her. She just said things so weird.
The four kids each grabbed an ice cream scoop and picked out their ice cream. Lizzie got her double-dip cone with Butterfinger coating and Sarah had her bubble gum sundae with chocolate syrup and candy canes. Olive wrinkled her nose when she saw her make it. So Sarah made it extra big.
Olive, she saw, had a very neat cone with one scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream. As far as Sarah was concerned, Olive might as well have been 100. Only old people got that flavor. She tried to share a look with Lizzie, but Lizzie was too busy trying to keep the Butterfinger chunks on her cone from falling off.
To Sarah’s surprise, Peter had a gigantic sundae with about twelve different toppings on it. When Sarah looked at him, he grinned, a smile so big, it lit up his face. She couldn’t help it—she grinned back. A little.
“Excuse me?” a voice called out, startling Sarah so much, she almost dropped her sundae. She looked up and saw the cutest boy around her age she’d ever seen. He looked familiar. His skin was a rich tawny brown, just a little darker than Sarah’s. His hair was mussed but with some gel in it, and he had the longest eyelashes. Plus, he was wearing a really cool outfit—like maybe she’d seen on a TV show. He seemed way more polished than anyone from New Amity.
“Who are you?” she asked, more loudly than she meant to. Then she cleared her throat. “I mean, what can we help you with?”
She glanced at Lizzie. Lizzie had Butterfinger chunks all around her lips. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were turning bright red. She was always a little pink to begin with, so when she blushed, the red took over her entire face. “Ice cream,” she said.
Sarah, Olive, and Peter all looked at her. Lizzie stood up taller and said, “I mean, ice cream . . .” Her words trailed off.
Sarah was a little worried. Sometimes Lizzie didn’t have the right words to say, but she never just said random words at people.
Olive piped up, “Can we get you some ice cream?” Lizzie gave Olive a relieved look, sparking another pang of irritation in Sarah.
The boy said, “I’m Beckett. It’s nice to meet you. How long have you been running this ice cream stand?”
Sarah frowned. Was he trying to say they weren’t very good at it? “Uh, none of your beeswax, that’s how long,” she said.
Lizzie stammered at the exact same time, “Th-three hours and f-forty-five minutes.”
Olive jumped in. “We just started. I think this is the first summer for all of us.”
She wasn’t wrong, but still, Sarah couldn’t let that go. “This is the first summer in New Amity for Peter and Olive. And at the orchard, too. Lizzie and I live here. Or, Lizzie lives here. I practically do. We’ve been friends since we were babies. It’s like my orchard too.” She cleared her throat when she realized everyone was looking at her.
The boy smiled and trained his gaze on Lizzie. “This is your family’s orchard? Have you had it long?”
Lizzie nodded. The Butterfinger chunk fell off, and when it landed, Lizzie gasped and quickly wiped her face.
“They’ve had it since the 1800s, basically,” said a voice Sarah barely recognized. It was Peter. Finally, he was talking, and not in old-movie voices that delighted Sarah’s favorite people and left her out. Peter went on. “The Garrisons built this orchard in 1731 and have had someone in their family running it since then. They were one of the first orchards to really start diversifying their apple trees and were the first orchard in New England to start growing the Baldwin, the Davey, and the Ginger Gold.” Peter smiled and gave a little nod. Sarah stared at Peter, dumbfounded. And he wasn’t even done.
“Garrison Family Orchard also has a pumpkin patch and harvest festival in the fall, Christmas trees and a baked goods bazaar and contest in the winter, and sleigh rides all through the winter weekends. In the spring, there’s a spring equinox celebration and a Mother’s Day picnic, and there’s almost always pick-your-own stuff going on. And, of course, in the summer, there’s this ice cream stand.” He took a gigantic bite of his sundae.
Sarah looked at Olive. She had a small smile on her face. Like she was proud. “Peter knows stuff. He remembers everything. He studied up on this orchard before we came.”
Sarah hadn’t known any of the history of the orchard. Except that it was old. And had apples.
Olive kept going. “And he’s really good at math, and is awesome at robotics. He’s good at everything.” Peter elbowed her and gave her a look. “What?” she said. “You are.”
“That’s really cool,” Beckett said. He looked again at Lizzie, who had smeared the Butterfinger on her chin. “Do you make a lot of money at this ice cream stand?”
Sarah jumped in before anyone else could. “Yeah. We’re going to be able to do a whole zombie hayride in the fall if we make enough money.”
Lizzie finally came to life. “Yes! So we have to work extra hard. Sarah and I have been asking for this for forever. Halloween is the best holiday, we think.” Then she glanced at Beckett again and her cheeks got even redder.
Peter said, “Me too!” and Olive said “Me too!” at the exact same time.
Beckett nodded. “Okay, thanks so much, guys,” he said. “I’ll see you around.” Then he turned and walked away, without any ice cream.
Sarah and Lizzie shared a look, Sarah temporarily forgetting she was still mad.
“Who was that guy?” Olive asked. “Was he an eighth grader?”
Lizzie
shrugged but looked after him dreamily.
Sarah answered. “He must go to Hanoverville. He’s probably in eighth grade at their middle school. Maybe Gloria knows him.”
“Well, he seemed a little weird, asking all those questions,” Olive said.
Sarah, who thought the exact same thing, said, “I didn’t think so at all. Evidently you don’t know anything about the people around here.” Then she took off her apron and walked to the back, smiling to herself.
CHAPTER 7
One Cone. All Alone. And . . . BETRAYAL. But Maybe a Couple of Other Scoops Could Help?
For two weeks, things stayed pretty much the same. Sarah came to the ice cream stand to find Peter, Olive, and Lizzie all laughing. And she went home feeling like her best friend was miles away.
If she was still her best friend.
Even Sarah’s mom noticed the way she moped around the apartment. Every once in a while she’d say, “You haven’t spent the night at Lizzie’s lately. . . .” But Sarah would always move away fast and pretend she had to do something else. Once, she even went and shelved books without being asked. Her mom checked her forehead for a fever.
Peter had taken over the cash register because he loved it and because he remembered the prices of everything without having to look them up. That should have given Sarah more time with Lizzie, scooping ice cream, but she ended up spending a lot of time in the back, near the freezers. What she was secretly doing was counting the money. If they could just get enough money . . . if they could just get a zombie hayride going, maybe Lizzie would remember that SARAH was her best friend, and not the new kids who everyone seemed to love more than Sarah.
On the Saturday two weeks into their time at the stand, with only five minutes left before closing, Sarah went to the back to count the money again before everyone started putting things away. They had over $2,000 in the safe. Mr. G. came and took what money was needed for supplies and left any profit so they could keep track of how much they’d earned so far. And they were almost halfway there—and it was only the middle of June! That meant that they would totally make the $5,000. And she and Lizzie could plan for the hayride all through July. The idea of getting her best friend back made a zing go through her.