I’m sorry, Mrs. Jamison, I’m sorry, Ms. Barlow, but something terrible happened. We’re all in the hospital. For food poisoning! from something we cooked! Right, so you wouldn’t want us to cook for you anyway...
Suddenly, up the street, Amanda saw a familiar-looking ball cap.
Justin McElroy’s ball cap.
Justin was the new kid on Taft Street, The McElroys had recently moved to New York from Chicago. Justin was eleven, the same age as the girls. While Molly and Peichi thought he was no different from any other neighborhood kid, Amanda and Shawn thought he was pretty cute with his gelled reddish-brown hair and deep brown eyes. Like Peichi, he was the kind of person who always looked happy, even when he wasn’t smiling.
Earlier in the summer, a small electrical fire had ruined the McElroy’s kitchen. The McElroys had had to leave the house they’d just moved into so that the contractor could renovate the kitchen. Peichi’s parents had let them rent an apartment they owned nearby on Garden Street. And it was Mrs. Moore’s great idea to cook up a weeks supply of dinners for the McElroys, to help them out during that difficult time.
The girls had just started their cooking classes and formed their own weekly cooking club. They had had a blast cooking together with Mrs. Moore, and loved knowing that they’d been a big help to the McElroys. Then, they cooked a ton of food for Mrs. Moore’s surprise birthday party.
All that cooking gave Mrs. Moore another idea. She hired the girls to cook a weeks supply of dinners, since she was heading off on a long business trip. And Mrs. McElroy had told a neighbor about the girls and their cooking, which led to their second job.
Now they had Dish, their own business. It had all happened so fast—too fast. And while they were gaining jobs, they’d already lost two members—Natasha and Shawn. At least for now. And Peichi, sort of.
“Hi, Justin,” called Amanda.
Justin turned around. “Hi,” he said uncertainly.
“It’s Amanda,” said Amanda with a laugh.
“Right!” said Justin. He grinned. “Sorry. I can’t tell you and Molly apart yet.”
“So, are you all moved back into your house?” asked Amanda.
“Yeah, we’re back in. It feels good.”
“Great!” said Amanda.
There was an uncomfortable pause.
“So,” Amanda added casually, “what are you up to today?”
Justin shrugged. “Nothing much,” he said. “It seems like all the guys I know are on vacation. There’s not much to do.”
Ding! A thought popped into Amanda’s head. “How would you like to make some money helping us cook?” she blurted out.
She almost gasped. Had she just asked Justin to cook with them?
“Cook with you?” asked Justin, surprised.
For a moment, Amanda thought he was making fun of her, and she wanted to disappear.
“Well,” said Amanda. She wanted to take it all back. Instead, she said, “It’s just that you told us once, when we ran into you at the supermarket, that you like to cook.” She quickly told him about Dish, and how they were down to just two cooks.
“Sure, why not?” replied Justin. “You guys helped my family. I owe ya one!”
Meanwhile, Peichi was in her room, moping about the trouble she’d gotten into.
“You’ve always been respectful of our rules,” her parents had said to her. “What made you do something like this?”
She sat on her bed and pulled the jade pendant out of its pouch. She put it on an old chain, tried it on, and modeled it in the mirror.
But it didn’t feel good to wear it.
She took it off, put it back in the pouch, and hid it in a drawer in her new desk. She wasn’t going to tell her parents she’d found it.
Not yet.
She’d probably just get into trouble again.
chapter 8
“Mrs. Tortelli called,” Molly told Amanda when Amanda got home from the dry cleaners. “She’s sick, and she asked if we would walk Casey.” Casey was her cute dog, a little beagle.
“Well. I guess that means me,” said Amanda.
“I wish I could go, too,” said Molly. “Are you going to take Casey to the dog run at the park?”
“Uh-huh,” said Amanda in a faraway voice.
“What’s up?” asked Molly. “What are you thinking about?”
“Oh.” said Amanda. “Well, I ran into Justin. And I asked him if he’d help us cook for these two jobs. And—he actually said yes!”
“What!” cried Molly. “I cant believe you asked him!”
“I can’t believe he said yes,” murmured Amanda.
“But,” protested Molly, “we don’t even know Justin. I dont want a boy in our group. It’ll be weird having him here.”
“It’ll be better than not having him here,” retorted Amanda. “We need him! And it’s just this once. He won’t be a permanent member of Dish.”
Molly didn’t say anything. She was too busy sulking.
Amanda didn’t really care. She had enough to worry about, like all the food they had to cook. And Ihope I don’t do anything stupid around Justin, she thought, like a few weeks ago when I tripped and fell on my face, right in front of him and all of his friends!
“C’mon, Casey, we’re going to the dog run!” cried Amanda an hour later, as she jogged up the hill to the park. Casey trotted beside her.
There were only a few people at the dog run—a lady with her poodle, a group of teenagers watching a yellow lab play, a tall blond girl with her terrier...
Oh, no! thought Amanda. The girl was Natasha.
It was too late to leave the dog run. Natasha had spotted Amanda at the same time.
Amanda waved limply, and Natasha eventually came over, with her dog, Willy, trotting behind her.
Luckily, the dogs helped break the ice. Amanda reached down to give Willy a pat as Natasha said, “Hi, Amanda, who’s this? Down, Willy!
“This is Casey, our neighbor’s dog. Say hi to Willy, Casey.”
Natasha and Amanda watched the dogs greet each other.
It was time for someone to say something.
“So, what’s new?” asked Amanda. “We missed you in class. We made pies and graduated and got chefs aprons with our names on them.”
“I know. Carmen called me to tell me they’re holding my apron for me at the store. I just got back from Cape Cod. Uh—how is everyone?”
Amanda cleared her throat. Should she tell Natasha everything? She didn’t want to be too chatty, as if nothing had gone wrong between them. But she said, “Well, Shawn’s dad had to go to Australia and New Zealand, so she went back down to South Carolina.”
“Really!”
“Yeah, and Peichi and Molly are grounded right now—”
“Wow! Why?”
“—and Dish got two more cooking jobs, and I’ll have to do a lot of the work. Luckily, Justin’s going to help us out.”
Natasha’s cold blue eyes widened. “Justin McElroy? Wow!”
“Uh-huh,” said Amanda, trying to sound casual.
Natasha stuffed her free hand into her cutoff shorts, something she always did when she was nervous. “Well.” she said, “if you need another cook, you know, uh, I could help you.”
Yeah, right! Amanda thought. There’s no way I’m trusting this girl again!
Amanda bent down to pet Casey.
She glanced back up and saw Natasha’s eyes, looking anxious.
Sad.
That’s why Amanda heard herself saying, “Sure, that would be great. Can you come over tomorrow morning?”
Oh my gosh! Amanda thought. What did I just say?!
Natasha brightened. “Yeah! I’ll be there!”
Suddenly, Amanda felt relieved. With four cooks, they could definitely handle all the work. And things wouldn’t be so awkward with Justin if another person was there, too.
“Great. Thanks.”
Natasha checked her watch. “Oops, I have to go to the dentist soon,” she said. “
I’ll see you tomorrow!” She turned to leave, and then stopped. “Amanda?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry about ... everything. Not showing up to help you that time. Dropping out of Dish without telling you. All that stuff. I—I did everything wrong. And Ive—Ive missed you guys.”
“It’s okay. Natasha. See you tomorrow.”
Amanda dropped Casey off at the Tortellis’ and found Molly in the garden.
“Where’s Matthew?” asked Amanda as she flopped into a chair.
“Soccer practice.”
“Well,” said Amanda, “you’ll never believe what just happened. This day has been so weird!”
“What happened?” asked Molly.
“I ran into Natasha. With Willy at the dog run. She just got back from Cape Cod. She was tan.”
“Really.”
“And she asked if she could help us tomorrow.”
“Wow!”
“And she said she was sorry about everything.”
“Hmm.” Molly tried to picture all of this. “What did you say?”
“I said, ‘okay.”’
Molly rolled her eyes. “Let’s see, today is Wednesday, so Natasha’s our friend again—”
“Molly, we’re desperate! We’ve got two huge jobs that are really stressing me out! Why aren’t you freaking?”
“She’d better just show up, then.”
“I know. But what if she doesn’t? It’ll be such a mess.
“Is she going with you to the store?” asked Molly.
Amanda slapped her forehead. “Oh, I forgot! How am I going to do all this shopping by myself? I really should go now.
“Call her.”
“No, she’s at the dentist,” said Amanda irritably. She sighed. “You’re right, what if she doesn’t show up? She’s done that before when we needed her. And now I have to go to the store. I need to buy so much stuff that I’ll have to make more than one trip. Why did you have to go and get grounded?”
Molly suddenly looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Manda.”
Then the twins looked at each other. They were having the “twin thing.” And it was a rather wicked thought this time.
“No.” Amanda told Molly. She giggled.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t go to the store with you, even though no one would know,” said Molly. “Nobody would find out, right? Mom’s at work for two more hours...”
“Better not do it,” said Amanda. “We’re in enough trouble as it is. No, I’ll just go by myself, and lug all those heavy bags home.” She sighed heavily.
Molly and Amanda missed another e-mail from Shawn.
chapter 9
After lunch, Amanda changed her clothes and headed to the supermarket.
She hadn’t felt like walking to Peichi’s to get money from the treasury for supplies, so she borrowed cash from herself and Molly, and made a note that the treasury owed them money. My third errand of the day, Amanda thought as she walked into Choice Foods. She pulled the shopping list out of her pocket and grabbed a red hand basket. Gee! she thought. Iwish I’d been grounded. Molly’s lounging in the garden, Peichi’s swimming in her movie-star pool or listening to CDs in her brand-new room. Shawn’s probably relaxing right now at the beach. I didn ’t even WANT to get into this business, and now I’m doing it all by myself. Some summer vacation this is. I wish I could take it easy today, but N-O-O! I can’t! I’m too busy saving the day! Mmm...M&M’s. Well, I’m just gonna buy these for myself as my little reward...and I could really use some more gum...a KitKat wouldn’t hurt, either.
As Amanda lugged the bags home, she pictured Justin at her door. Wait-what would she wear? Better figure that out as soon as I get home, she told herself. Maybe she should wear her new yellow capris and peasant top ... no, too dressy. She didnt want to look as if she was trying too hard...
She’d open the door and say, “Oh. hi, Justin!” as if she’d practically forgotten that he was coming over. Then she’d let him in. But what would she say then?
“Hi.” said Molly, greeting her at the door. She took some of the bags from Amanda, and the girls brought everything down to the basement.
After they unloaded the groceries, Amanda ran upstairs to check out her outfit situation.
“Hmmm,” she said to herself. “Nothing to wear tomorrow that’s cute, but right for cooking. Nothing clean, that is. Yipes!”
She picked up some dirty clothes and ran downstairs to the laundry room.
“Now what are you doing?” asked Molly, wrinkling her nose.
“Laundry, what else?” retorted Amanda. “Otherwise known as Chore Number Four.”
“You don’t know how to do laundry.”
Molly was right. An hour later, Amanda wailed, “Oh, no! My butterfly top! I shrank it!” She held it up to herself.
“It’ll fit your teddy bear now,” said Molly.
“Aaargh!” cried Amanda, throwing her top on the bed. “Mom’s not gonna be happy about this, either.”
The next morning, the doorbell rang when the girls were still up in their room.
“Aah!” Amanda shrieked. “It’s Justin! And he’s early! Ohmigosh!” Suddenly it didn’t matter what she should wear. She threw on the first pair of shorts and top she could find and ran downstairs.
Amanda opened the door. “Hi,” she said. She could barely talk, because she had to catch her breath. She smiled.
“Hi, Amanda,” said Justin. He grinned. “You are Amanda, right?”
“Uh-huh!” said Amanda.
She led him into the kitchen. Neither of them said anything.
“Wow! This is nice!” said Justin, looking around.
“Oh, thanks.”
Just then, Molly walked into the kitchen. She and Justin said hello.
“Do you want something to drink?” asked Molly. “Orange juice?”
Why didn’t I think of that? wondered Amanda.
“Sure, thanks,” said Justin. “So, what are we gonna make today?”
The twins told Justin the menus for Mrs. Jamison and Ms. Barlow. “We have all the recipes right here,” added Amanda.
“Wow, this is a lot of food!” Justin said. “How long have you guys been doing this cooking business thing?”
He sounds impressed! Amanda thought. But before she could answer Justin, Molly started talking.
“Well, we started cooking at the beginning of the summer, but we’ve only done the business part for a couple of weeks,” Molly said. “And it’s been really crazy! We haven’t advertised or anything, and new people just keep calling. I guess lots of people are too busy to cook.”
“Yeah, that happens a lot at my house,” Justin said. “But my brother and I usually just get a pizza!” He picked up one of the recipes. “Cupcakes? Awesome!”
“What would you like to work on?” Amanda asked him.
“Whatever you want me to,” said Justin with a grin. “You’re the boss!”
Just then, the doorbell rang again. It was Natasha.
“Hi,” said Natasha nervously to Molly and Justin when Amanda brought her into the kitchen.
“Hi, Natasha, how are you? This is Justin.” said Molly.
“Hi, Natasha,” said Justin.
“Hi.” Natasha smiled a shy smile and looked down at the floor.
“Have you ever cooked with these guys before?” Justin asked her.
“Yes, and we’re all pretty good,” Natasha replied. “Are you, um, going to Windsor Middle School in the fall?”
“Yeah! It’s gonna be great.”
“Okay! Let’s get started,” Amanda broke in. She felt weird, like she was the boss, and she didn’t like it. “Who wants to make the cupcakes?”
“I will,” said Natasha. She loved to bake.
“What are you gonna do with all this chicken?” Justin asked the twins.
Molly and Amanda looked at each other. “Let’s make the kind we made the other day for the Falvos,” suggested Amanda, and Molly nodded.
Amanda turned to
Justin. “We made the most awesome chicken. And it was really easy. We just cut it up, and put it in some olive oil, teriyaki sauce, and balsamic vinegar, and threw some fresh herbs on it. Then we baked it. I think we’re gonna do that. Er, do you know how to cut up a chicken?”
The twins smiled secretly at each other. Washing and cutting up chicken was not their favorite job!
Justin shrugged. “I’ve seen my parents do it a million times. I’ll try it.”
“Here’s a little drawing of how to do it, just in case you need it,” Amanda said, handing him a sheet of paper. “It’s something we got in our cooking class.” She took a deep breath. What if Justin makes a mess of it? she worried. Maybe Molly and I should do it...oh, why didn’t I just buy a chicken that was already cut up?
Molly turned on the radio and began to chop the fresh herbs for the chicken.
“I’ll start the plum cobbler,” said Amanda.
As Amanda washed and cut up the plums, she kept her eyes on Justin and his knife. So far, so good—he was following the instructions.
No one was saying anything.
“Justin, where do your parents work?” asked Amanda.
“My dad’s an investigator—like a detective,” said Justin. “We moved here from Chicago because he got a really good job here. And my mom is a designer. She designs ladies’ clothes for some famous company. I can’t remember which one.”
“Wow! Your dad is a detective!” exclaimed Amanda.
“That’s cool.” She giggled. “Does he wear a trench coat and carry around a magnifying glass?”
“No,” said Justin, rolling his eyes. He’d heard that joke before. “You’re pretty quiet. Natasha,” he said.
Surprised, Natasha looked up from the cookbook and smiled.
“Were you at the beach? You look really tan,” added Justin with a grin.
“I just got back from Cape Cod. I love it. We go there every summer,” replied Natasha.
“Hey, I’ve been there lots of times! My aunt has a house there,” said Justin.
Boiling Point Page 5