Too Many Toppings!

by Coco Simon

  Not only that, but I had a full, unscheduled hour to myself before I had to head over to Molly’s to work. It had been ages since I’d had any free time. When I wasn’t actually engaged in any of my activities, I used every spare minute for studying, reading for English class (we were reading My Ántonia, and I kept having to read passages over and over again, so it made for slow going), or scheduling and moving practices and things around so that I could get everywhere on time. I’d noticed that my teammates and student council associates seemed to be getting pretty tired of my texts, no matter how many smiley emojis I used.

  Oh well. I was doing my best. Now, about my one free hour. I was wondering: Should I use it to nap? Eat a leisurely lunch? Catch up on some reality TV?

  Dad dropped me off at home, saying he was heading into the office to meet Mom. On Sundays they usually caught up on paperwork they didn’t have time for during the week.

  But as I walked into the house and deposited my bag of sheet music, I found Isa sitting at the kitchen counter, sipping a lemonade and looking as morose as I’d ever seen her. Cinnamon was winding herself around the legs of Isa’s stool, yowling and looking annoyed because she wasn’t in Isa’s lap.

  “Isa, what is it?” I asked.

  Isa flashed her eyes at me but didn’t answer. Instead she went back to staring into her lemonade.

  “Isa,” I said. “You can talk to me, you know. I’m still your sister. And your twin.”

  Isa sighed. “There’s nothing twin about us, Sunshine. You’re you, and I’m me, and that’s that.”

  Isa was great at deflecting questions and talking without actually saying anything. She did it to our parents all the time. And when she had stopped hanging out with me and Allie and Tamiko a year or two before and had started wearing dark, moody clothing, and even when she’d started changing her habits and hobbies, she would never just directly say why it was that she felt she needed to go in such a different direction from me. Not that there was anything wrong with her direction. It was just a big detour from where she’d been.

  And I had asked her, over and over, What changed? She would shrug or say something obtuse. My parents said we had to just let Isa be Isa, but sometimes it would be nice if she’d open up a little.

  I mean, what was the point of being twins if we didn’t talk to each other?

  “Well, you get good grades, so I’m guessing this isn’t about homework or a test,” I said, trying to wiggle something out of her. “And Cinnamon is right under your feet looking very healthy, so it’s not your cat. Mom and Dad are at work, so you have the house to yourself. The only thing I can think of is that it’s a friend problem.”

  Isa snorted. “You’re the one with the friend problems.”

  I shook my head. “Nope—not me. I’ve worked everything out with my friends.” I paused, then added, “Mostly,” thinking of the weird party coming up with Colin and Allie and Tessa, not to mention the extra band rehearsals I hadn’t told Allie and Tamiko about. But today I was going to be on time to Molly’s, and that would count for a lot.

  “Well, la-di-da,” Isa replied.

  She could sound tough, but she couldn’t fool me. Underneath our different clothes and different personalities, we had the same face and the same DNA. And I knew when Isa was unhappy. I could practically feel it vibrating under my skin. Wasn’t there a word for that? Twin-tuition or something?

  But I knew just standing there badgering her to talk to me wouldn’t work. It would have to be something more clever. Something to get her to relax and open up and be the fun, funny person I knew she was underneath.

  “Want to play Battleship with me?” I asked.

  We’d played Battleship many times as kids, and it was a good game for twins, because the whole point was to try to guess where the other person had put their battleships. And because we’d played each other so many times, we knew each other’s strategies.

  Isa looked at me disgustedly, or pretended to. “Seriously? Battleship? Aren’t we, like, way too old for that?”

  “You sound scared of losing,” I taunted her.

  “You haven’t beaten me at Battleship in years,” scoffed Isa. “You’re too nice. And you put your ships too close together.”

  “Prove it,” I said.

  Isa pretended to dismiss the idea, but I knew that if I pushed, she’d say yes. And I knew deep down that with whatever was wrong with her, she needed some sister time in order to feel better.

  “I’m getting it now,” I said. “Get ready.”

  “Oh, fine,” said Isa. “Whatever. I’m going to beat you.”

  I smiled as I walked to the den, where we kept the games. I still knew my twin. And I was prepared to play very badly if it would cheer her up.

  Maybe “Sunshine” wasn’t such a bad nickname for me after all.

  We started playing, and Isa took control quickly, finding both my destroyer and my cruiser (because I deliberately put them next to each other). Then Isa glanced at the clock and said, “Aren’t you supposed to be at work soon?”

  “OH NO!” I yelled, jumping up. “I’m going to be late, and I wasn’t even doing anything!”

  Isa looked offended.

  “You know what I mean—like late coming from a rehearsal or something.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just go. Don’t let Allie and Tamiko boss you around, though, okay? They’re not your bosses.”

  “I don’t,” I said, bristling. “But Molly’s is my job. I have to be there. It has nothing to do with them.”

  “Yeah, okay,” she said. “Stop talking to me and go. You’ll have to run.”

  I made it to Molly’s on time, but just barely. Like, I had ten seconds to spare. I had run the entire way, so when I burst in through the door, I couldn’t help yelling, “Made it!”

  I felt both proud and slightly amazed by my on-time arrival. Thank goodness for all of my soccer practices, or I wouldn’t have been in such good running shape! My activities really did pay off.

  Then I realized I was red-faced and panting, and more than a little sweaty, which was not a good look. Especially since there was a family in there buying cones for everyone.

  Thankfully, the family was a really nice one and started laughing. I guess I had looked pretty ridiculous running in like that and making a big scene. Then Allie and Tamiko laughed, and before I knew it, I was basking in the warm glow of hanging out with my two best friends. Whatever juggling I had to do, it was worth it.

  When the nice family left, after making jokes about someone needing to buy me a bike or a pair of roller skates, Allie patted me on the back.

  “Sierra,” she said. “You don’t need to kill yourself. We want you here on time, but we also want you alive!”

  See? Everything’s fine with my friends, I wanted to tell Isa. I laughed and tried to take a couple of deep breaths to slow my heart rate down. Panting all through my shift probably wasn’t going to work.

  “I just really didn’t want to be late again,” I explained. “And I was playing Battleship with Isa, and we lost track of time—”

  “You were what?” Tamiko cut in. “You and Isa were playing a board game? Do tell.”

  I shrugged. “There’s nothing to tell. We were just hanging out together. It was really nice, actually. Like old times.”

  “Is something going on?” asked Allie.

  It had been so long since the four of us had hung out together, I guess I understood why she’d ask that. And I did complain to Allie and Tamiko a lot about how Isa would keep her door shut and not talk to me. But I also felt protective of her. No matter what, we were blood.

  “Nope. Just having some sister time.”

  Allie raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t ask any more questions. As a distraction I offered to go into the back and bring out a fresh tub of coffee ice cream, which we’d been using up super-fast since the introduction of the Coffee and Doughnuts flavor.

  When I came back, there were customers and it got busy again for a while. I go
t to play my favorite game of adding up the cost of the orders in my head instead of on the register. So almost our whole shift went by before I remembered I had something important to tell my BFFs. And I still wasn’t sure of the best way to say it.

  “So, girls—I have some news,” I began.

  Tamiko looked interested. “Oh? Is this about a boy?”

  I couldn’t hide my surprise. “A boy? No, no, no, no. I hardly have time to brush my teeth, let alone think about any of the boys at school. Why? Is there a boy you like?”

  Tamiko shook her head. “No. I was just saying that because of the way you said ‘news.’ The only one of us with any kind of boy ‘friend’ is Allie.”

  “Me?” said Allie, her voice a high-pitched squeak. “You mean Colin? He’s just a friend-friend. Not a boyfriend. A friend-friend, who is a boy, but isn’t a boyfriend.”

  “Mmmm-hmm,” said Tamiko, in a way that let us both know she didn’t believe a word Allie had said.

  I didn’t either. Just the way she’d said his name—Collllllin—all slowly had made it sound like she at least thought of him as a little bit more than a random boy who sits next to her on the bus. She liked him!

  “Anyway,” I said, wanting to both change the subject and get this news out as quickly as possible, since now I really wasn’t so sure Allie would want to hear it. “I have news.”

  “Then tell us already!” said Tamiko.

  I couldn’t help beaming as I said, “The Wildflowers will be making their premier performance next Saturday night at Reagan’s cousin Patrick Ryan’s birthday party,” I told them. “And you’re both invited!”

  Allie and Tamiko both let out a shout. Then Allie said, “Patrick Ryan? Wait . . . does he go to my school? I think he’s in my math class.”

  “Yes!” I told her. “That’s great that you know him. Is he nice?”

  Allie nodded. “I think so. I don’t know him very well. He answers questions and acts like a human most of the time.”

  “Sounds nice enough,” said Tamiko, laughing. “I’d love to go to a Vista Green party! We can meet some of your friends, Allie.”

  “Well, I still don’t know that many people, but I’d love to hear you sing, Sierra.”

  “Yes!” Tamiko said. “I know you’ll be great, Si. And a party means an excuse for me to put a new outfit together.”

  I was so happy at how excited they were about the party and my band playing. I crossed my fingers under the counter for a minute, like I used to do when I was seven or eight. The next part was going to be tricky.

  “Oh, and there’s one more thing!” I said, trying to sound casual. “Allie, could you please find out if Colin is going? Reagan thinks he and Patrick are friends, but she isn’t sure.”

  “O-kkkaaay,” said Allie. “But why does she want to be sure if Colin is going? Does she know him?”

  Tamiko looked suspicious as well. “Yeah, and why wouldn’t she just ask her cousin if he’d invited Colin? That would be easier.”

  Oh jeez. Now this whole thing was really awkward, because Tamiko had a great point. “Um, well, it’s because she doesn’t want to embarrass Tessa,” I admitted. “Our guitar player and songwriter. She has . . . Well, she has a crush on Colin, and she’s kind of hoping to see him there.”

  Allie kept her face blank as she answered, “Oh, I see. Okay.”

  Tamiko and I watched her, both of us wondering how she was feeling.

  “That’s not a problem, is it?” I asked. I was trying to play it cool, but I worried that maybe I had upset Allie. “You always say you guys are just friends, and I doubt Tessa would ever even talk to him because she’s so shy. . . .”

  I felt like I was blathering. Meanwhile, Allie’s face remained blank. I was starting to wonder why I’d even brought it up. I should have just told Reagan that I had forgotten to ask Allie.

  “No . . . I mean, yes, of course it’s okay. We are just friends,” Allie said, her face breaking into a smile. She sounded rattled, though. “Maybe it’s just that now that I’ve moved and made new friends at a new school, and you guys are still at MLK, if feels a little weird when worlds collide. But that’s okay! I just need to get used to it.”

  At that moment two customers walked in through the door, and I think all three of us felt relieved.

  “Customers!” Allie said. “We can gossip more about the party later.” She turned to help the man and woman, even though it was usually Tamiko’s job to take the orders. “Welcome to Molly’s!” Allie said cheerfully. “How can we help you today?”

  Tamiko and I exchanged a look.

  “To be continued,” Tamiko whispered to me.

  I agreed. This wasn’t the end of the Allie and Colin conversation.

  CHAPTER NINE

  A SWIRL OF CONFUSION

  The rest of our shift was pretty uneventful. Tamiko came up with a great new special that she called the I Want S’more, which was graham cracker crumbles and melted marshmallow over triple fudge ice cream, and we ended up serving a bunch of them.

  As Tamiko and I were getting ready to clock out and head home, we counted our tips from the tip jar and split them three ways with Allie. She was planning to stay on for a while and help her mom, since one of the college employees couldn’t make it for another hour.

  I thought about offering to stay and help too, but I really needed to get home and start my homework for the week. I’d been trying to get ahead on homework on Sunday nights so that I would have less on the days when I had both a sports practice and a Wildflowers rehearsal after school, and that had been helping a lot.

  “I guess I’ll see you next weekend,” I said to Allie.

  She was about to reply, when her mom came out from backstage with an envelope in her hand.

  “Hi, girls! It sounded busy out here this afternoon. Was it a good day?” Her eyes scanned the tubs of ice cream and seemed pleased to see that a few were running low, particularly the triple fudge, which hadn’t been selling very well before.

  “I have exciting news,” Mrs. Shear said. “Remember when I said I was going to start the Employee of the Month initiative? Well, it’s officially begun!”

  The three of us smiled at one another, waiting to hear who had earned it.

  “This employee has truly been exceptional this month,” Mrs. Shear went on. “She’s been consistently on time, despite a truly busy schedule. Not only that, but she came up with a terrific new ice cream flavor—Coffee and Doughnuts! In a very short time it’s become one of our most popular flavors, and I can hardly make the coffee ice cream fast enough.”

  I smiled at Tamiko, excited that she would be winning the award. She deserved it. She was always coming up with great new flavors. Mrs. Shear didn’t even know yet about today’s I Want S’more.

  But then something happened that made no sense. Mrs. Shear extended the envelope to me. Me! The late one.

  I froze. With everything going on, I had forgotten how Tamiko had covered for me that day when I’d been really late, how she’d said that the new flavor combo was my idea.

  “Congratulations, Sierra,” Mrs. Shear said. “It isn’t a whole lot, but it’s a thank-you for being such an excellent employee this month. Keep up the good work!”

  I remained utterly frozen. I didn’t even reach out for the envelope. I couldn’t.

  Mrs. Shear laughed. “What’s the matter, Sierra? Go on. Take it!” she said, pressing the envelope into my hand. Then she turned to the other two girls. “Allie and Tamiko, I’m sure it’ll be your turns soon.” Then she looked at them expectantly, waiting from them to congratulate me.

  “Oh yeah. Congratulations, Sierra,” said Allie flatly.

  Still Tamiko said nothing and just stared at me. I knew she was waiting for me to say something. I was waiting for me to say something too. I didn’t know why my mouth wasn’t opening.

  “Tamiko?” Mrs. Shear said. “I understand that you might be a little disappointed, but please don’t be. This is just the first of hopefully many Emplo
yee of the Month bonuses. It doesn’t mean you aren’t a stellar employee, just that Sierra did that little bit extra this month.”

  “I understand, Mrs. S.,” Tamiko said evenly. “I can see how you’d think that. Congratulations, Sierra.”

  There was no mistaking the bitterness in her voice.

  I didn’t know what to do. I knew I had to speak up. I had to tell the truth! But I was afraid that if I did, and I admitted that Tamiko had covered for me that day and made up the Coffee and Doughnuts flavor herself, and that I’d been late a few of the other days as well, I’d lose my job.

  And I couldn’t lose my job! Lately it felt like it was the only thing holding my best friends and me together.

  So I chickened out. Burning with shame, I ducked my head and said, “Thank you, Mrs. Shear.” Without looking at Tamiko or Allie, I fled outside with the envelope—and ran straight into Isa.

  “Isa!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  Isa looked at me like I’d asked why the sky was blue, or why rain felt wet. “Uh, because you’re here and I told Mom and Dad I’d come get you to meet them for dinner. Why? Am I not allowed to show up here when you’re with your friends?”

  “Of course you are,” I said quickly. Poor Isa. She still looked miserable, and now I’d made her defensive. Whatever was bothering her, it was really bothering her. Molly’s was a twenty-five-minute walk from our house.

  Tamiko came out just then, and either didn’t notice that Isa was there or didn’t care, because she ripped into me. “Sierra! I can’t believe you just did that! What is going on with you?”

  I was about to reply and try to figure out a way to explain why I’d been such a coward and a bad friend, when Isa leapt to my defense.