Time's Up

by Annie Bryant

  “I guess I was a little quacked,” Katani teased.

  “You’re not a duck,” Kelley shouted out, and then she sang, “We’re going on a bear hunt, we’re gonna catch a big one. Oh, what a beautiful day.” Katani looked at her grandmother, who raised her eyebrow and gave a small shrug. Both were hoping that Kelley would be able to keep it together for the benefit.

  Up ahead, Katani saw Chelsea Briggs videotaping the Think Pink! window display. “I’ll meet you there, okay?” Katani asked her grandmother.

  “Yes, go on!”

  “Quack, quack,” Kelley called after her.

  Katani waved over her shoulder to her sister and ran the rest of the way. Think Pink! looked even pinker than ever with glowing pink globe lights strung around the windows. Ms. Pink had wrapped Katani’s scarves around snow people made of big Styrofoam balls, sparkling with pink glitter. A snow person wore a sign in the center of the display that said Support BREAST CANCER AWARENESS WEEK, with the date and time of the fund-raiser. Pink glitter snowflakes floated around the snow people and carpeted the ground. There were even adorable little snow people wearing Kelley’s scarves!

  “It looks so pinkalicious, doesn’t it?” Katani exclaimed to Chelsea.

  Chelsea put her camera on pause and agreed, “It really does.”

  “Thanks for taping the event, Chels. I’m really grateful.”

  “I’m glad to. Plus, it’s good practice.”

  “Let’s go in. I have to see everything,” Katani enthused. “You look so nice, by the way.”

  Chelsea had on a white lambswool sweater, black jeans, and funky suede boots.

  “Oh, thanks.” Chelsea smiled. “My mom took me shopping.”

  The girls walked inside. More glittering snowflakes hung from the pink chandeliers above them. Katani’s scarves were folded in boxes lined with pink tissue paper on the most prominent table in the store. Ms. Pink came to greet them.

  “Everything looks even more scrumptiously pink than usual,” Katani complimented her. “What can I do to help?”

  Ms. Pink held a box of ribbon-shaped sugar cookies coated with pink icing. “You could arrange these on platters. They’re donated from Party Favors. Aren’t they just pink cookie perfection?”

  As Mrs. Fields and Kelley walked in, Kelley announced, “I want to live here!” She quoted a sign in front of an apartment complex by the expressway in Boston. “If you lived here, you’d be home already! You’d be home already…you’d be home already!”

  “I do feel like I live here!” Ms. Pink laughed. “Now, Kelley, you can move in right behind the counter with your grandmother for today. I want you to collect donations for the mini-scarves. Doesn’t your bear look adorable!”

  Chelsea started shooting video again as Kelley marched over to the counter. Chelsea zoomed in on a lovely hand-woven basket supplied by a local Cancer Support Society Crafts Program. Inside there were brochures about breast cancer prevention, and tiny pink ribbon pins. Kelley set Mr. Bear, who was modeling his hat and scarf on the counter next to the craft basket.

  “Did you know that Mr. Bear and I are here to save lives?” Kelley spoke out. Last night she had listened to Katani practicing the talk she was giving today.

  “That’s right,” Ms. Pink agreed wholeheartedly. “That’s what we’re all here for.”

  Mrs. Fields gave Kelley her first donation, which Kelley plunked into the tin, clapping proudly. Ms. Pink poured cups of pink lemonade just as the Knitwits walked in with Ethel Weiss. Right behind them were Maeve and her father. Maeve looked stunning in a scoop-neck black and pink striped knit dress and Katani’s scarf wrapped loosely around her neck.

  “You look lovely today, Maeve!” Kelley shouted. “Mr. Bear looks pink and lovely today too.” Before Maeve could respond, Kelley was out on the floor passing her tin for donations. The Knitwits were happy to oblige. As Delilah dropped ten dollars into the tin she informed Kelley that she was doing a “terrific job.”

  Isabel, Avery, and Mrs. Madden arrived with a dozen pink roses for Katani. Ms. Pink gave Katani a vase, and they set the beautiful flowers on the table with Katani’s scarves.

  “The scarves look awesome, Katani,” Isabel complimented her, gently touching the soft, pink yarn.

  “Yeah, so where are these Knitwits we’ve heard so much about?” Avery blurted.

  “Avery!” Isabel whispered sharply, elbowing her clueless friend in the ribs.

  “Ouch!” Avery complained. “What was that for?”

  Katani was slowly piecing it together. “Wait a minute,” she said. “How do you guys know about the Knitwits?”

  “Well, uhh…” Isabel stalled, desperately trying to think of a way to cover for Maeve.

  “Maeve told us,” Avery interrupted bluntly, turning to check out the table with refreshments. “Hey, those cookies look awesome! Be right back,” she called over her shoulder, dashing away into the crowd.

  “Maeve told you?” Katani repeated, feeling a little betrayed. Katani was happy for everyone to know all about the Knitwits now, but back when Maeve came up with the idea, Katani hadn’t wanted anyone to know she couldn’t do it all on her own. Was she wrong to have trusted Maeve with her secret?

  “She only told us because we were all so worried about you, Katani,” Isabel explained. Katani nodded and watched Maeve modeling the scarf. Seeing her chatting away happily with the other guests, Katani instantly forgave her friend. It was just too hard to stay mad at bright, bubbly Maeve! Besides, Katani also realized that it was wrong of her to expect Maeve to keep secrets from the BSG. From now on, no more secrets among friends…unless it is a surprise birthday party, Katani promised herself.

  “It’s no big deal,” Katani reassured Isabel with a smile. “Avery’s right. Let’s try those cookies!”

  Katani looked up to see that Mr. Ramsey, Charlotte, and Miss Pierce had just arrived when everything suddenly went dark and she felt a pair of hand over her eyes. A familiar voice from behind her asked, “Guess who?”

  Katani spun around. “Candice! You came all the way home for this?”

  “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, little sis. Those scarves look so cool. No wonder you were so crazy busy!” Candice hugged Katani. “But you did it, girl!”

  “With a little help from my my friends,” Katani gestured to Maeve and the Knitwits.

  Support for Katani and Ms. Pink kept pouring through the doors. There were friends of Ms. Pink, store regulars, owners of other nearby stores, and random people passing by the party. Ms. Rodriguez even showed up. Betsy Fitzgerald walked right up to Katani and gave her a warm congratulations, and then bought a scarf for her mother’s bulldog. Katani decided to let go of her competitive feelings—at least for the time being.

  Just when Katani thought there wasn’t room for anyone else in the store, the mayor of Boston walked through the doors! “Katani!” Maeve squeaked in her ear. “This is your big break!” Before Katani knew it, Ms. Pink was introducing the mayor to her.

  “Here’s the young entrepreneur responsible for all the scarves at our fund-raiser. Mr. Mayor, Katani Summers.”

  Patrice took out her digital camera as Katani and the mayor shook hands. At the same time, Chelsea moved in, capturing the moment on her video camera. The mayor’s assistant draped one of Katani’s scarves over the mayor’s arm.

  “You’ve got quite a business going,” the mayor said.

  “I’m planning to create a fashion design company called Kgirl,” Katani told him proudly.

  “I certainly have no doubts it’ll be a huge success. You’ve done fine work, Katooni.” The mayor threw the scarf around his neck. “I’ll take this one for my wife.”

  “Yay, Katooni!” clapped an irreverent Avery with a big grin.

  Katani almost lost it watching Avery, but she managed to blurt out a “thank you.” She was relieved when Patrice stepped toward them.

  “Excuse me, may I take a picture, Mr. Mayor? Katooni is my younger sister,” Patrice added with a mi
schievous grin. Katani wanted to kill her.

  Side by side, Katani and the mayor smiled at Patrice, who clicked away until a swarm of people who were waiting to speak to the mayor edged in. Before he turned to them, he put his hand on Katani’s arm and said, “Congratulations, a job well done.” Thank goodness he did not say “Katooni” one more time. If he had, she would have completely lost it.

  “Thank you very much. It was nice to meet you,” Katani said, then stuck out her hand and smiled at the mayor of Boston. She watched the crowd surround him as Ms. Pink escorted him around the store.

  “Wow, the mayor is wearing your scarf!” Patrice showed Katani the pictures. “Aren’t they great? You should email these to T-Biz! for the contest.”

  “Don’t you think it’s too late?”

  “No, and it could really help your chances of winning. And while you’re at it, send the pictures to the Globe, too. Make sure you spell your name right,” she said, laughing.

  “All right, let’s do it as soon as we get home,” Katani agreed, refusing to take her sister’s bait.

  Patrice gave Katani a high five.

  Then Candice joined them. “You rock, Kgirl!”

  “I should have told the mayor what a good job he was doing,” Katani said with sudden embarrassment.

  “I always think of everything I should have said a few minutes after the fact,” Candice sympathized. “If the mayor came up to me, I’d probably faint. Don’t worry, you were fabulous!”

  Katani pointed to Kelley. “I’m not the only star.”

  The mayor was now shaking hands with Mrs. Fields and Kelley. The room grew quiet for a moment, and they heard Kelley say, “This is Mr. Bear.”

  The mayor shook Mr. Bear’s hand and congratulated Kelley for all her hard work. A few cameras snapped. Katani was proud of Kelley. After all, they were in this together.

  Just as Katani was about to check on the scarf display, a woman with soft brown eyes and hair pulled back in a tight ponytail approached her, introducing herself as a representative from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

  “I just love your scarves,” she said. “The beads are such a charming touch. The colors are perfect for our cause,” the woman gushed. “I thought you might be interested in knitting scarves to sell on our online charity site. Like this fund-raiser, a portion of the proceeds will go to breast cancer research and treatment.”

  “Really?” Katani couldn’t believe her ears.

  “Here’s my card. You can call or e-mail me at your convenience.”

  “Okay! Thank you so much.” This time around, Katani resolved, I’ll consult with my new “board of advisers”—Mom, Dad, Grandma Ruby, Ms. Pink, Maeve, and Kelley—way earlier in the game.

  Charlotte, Isabel, and Avery came up and handed Katani a cup of lemonade. They toasted, “To Katani and this amazing party! You pulled it off!”

  “I’m really sorry, you guys,” Katani said, sipping her drink. “I feel like I haven’t seen my best friends in so long, except for Maeve.”

  They glanced over at model Maeve standing behind the scarf table, turning side to side with her hands on her hips. The pink lights shone on her hair, making it shine a vibrant pink too.

  “Look, Katani, your scarves are almost gone!” Isabel pointed to the display table where there were only a few boxes left.

  The girls looked around the room, glowing pink and full of people talking, laughing, and toasting cups of lemonade. Chelsea was zooming her camera in on Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Taylor browsing through the selection of pink books, both looking kind of uncomfortable surrounded by all the pink-ness. Betsy and Ms. R were helping themselves to the pink-ribbon cookies.

  “Betsy’s probably talking to Ms. R about her book report,” Avery quipped.

  “I should be talking to her about mine,” Katani replied. “I haven’t even started yet!”

  “I guess you’ve been just a tiny bit busy, Katooni,” joked Avery.

  “And now my time’s almost up,” Katani said calmly as she yanked Avery’s ponytail. “But I really learned the hard way that I need to lean on people sometimes, as my mom put it. She says that’s what family and friends are for.” Then Katani turned to Charlotte. “I didn’t even ask how your date with Nick was.”

  Charlotte giggled. “Well, I still have no idea if it actually was a date, but we had so much fun. We both felt like we were really in Africa.” Charlotte felt her cheeks go hot when she realized Chelsea had come out of nowhere and was videotaping the BSG. She tried to hide behind her lemonade cup as the others waved to Chelsea.

  “We better save this footage for the day Katani is rich and famous,” Chelsea told them, “to remind her of her roots!”

  They all laughed.

  “Details about you-know-what later,” Katani told Charlotte. “Right now I better check on how Kelley and my grandma are doing.”

  Katani whirled around and ran right smack into her friend Marky from High Hopes. “Marky, I’m sorry!” she exclaimed.

  “That’s okay.” Marky laughed. “It’s so crowded in here!”

  “It’s jammed!” Katani smiled at her friend. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “I wouldn’t have been able to if Whitney hadn’t come over this morning to help me with my social studies project.” Katani couldn’t help but wonder how Whitney had time to help anyone, what with her extra riding lessons and super-successful barrette business. “I was complaining yesterday at the stable about this paper on China,” Marky went on, “and she just said, ‘Do you want some help? I lived in China for a year.’ She totally saved me.”

  “Whitney did that?”

  Marky nodded. “She’s really nice, you know. Once you get to know her.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Katani couldn’t take all this in right now. “I better go check in with my sis. She’s collecting donations over there.” Katani pointed at the counter.

  “Well, congrats, Katani.”

  “Thanks. Oh, and thanks for coming too.”

  Katani hurried over to find Kelley, trying to make sense of everything in her head. On top of everything, had she been unfair to Whitney?

  Sapphire Pierce was leaning on the counter across from Mrs. Fields and Kelley. “You must be so proud of your granddaughters,” she told Mrs. Fields.

  “I certainly am,” Mrs. Fields replied with a smile.

  “Katani!” Kelley shouted. “Mr. Bear’s scarves are all gone, even the one he was modeling, and I shook hands with the mayor! The smiley mayor of Boston! He mumbles, you know.”

  “Kelley, you’re a superstar! Can I please shake Ms. Kelley Summers’s hand, too?” Katani leaned over the counter, extending her hand.

  Kelley shook her head. “No, Katani, I am all shook out.”

  “That’s okay, Kel,” Katani said, and blew her sister a kiss.

  Just then Ms. Pink flashed the store lights on and off, and the room quieted down. “Hello, everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Razzberry Pink, and this is my store. I want to thank everyone for coming out today to support our fund-raiser. The power to fight cancer comes from the heart and—” She paused. “From the pocketbook.”

  Laughter rippled through the room.

  “We all know what a pink ribbon means,” Ms. Pink continued, “and as you can see by looking around you, you’re in the right place. Now, I am so pleased to introduce Katani Summers, who is the girl behind these beautiful scarves. Katani, come on up and say a few words.”

  Kelley held up Mr. Bear and shouted, “Wooo-hooo!”

  Katani stepped to the center of the room. She had prepared a short speech, but now she decided to keep her paper folded in her hand.

  “Thank you, everyone, for being here today to support such a good cause,” Katani spoke clearly, her eyes circling the room. “I had this idea to start a business to support a worthy cause. But this past week I was so busy with school work, an entrepreneur contest, and this fund-raiser, I somehow forgot what was most important—working together. I thought I
could do it all myself, but I learned my lesson.”

  “I told you, you needed help!” Kelley blurted out.

  A few people laughed, including Katani. “You were so right, Kelley,” she agreed. “And now I want to thank everyone who helped me get to this point today: my friend Maeve; my entire family; Kelley, for her perfect mini-scarves; Mrs. Martinez; the Knitwits; and finally, Ms. Pink, for hosting this special party at her spectacular pink store. But, most importantly, thank you all for being here today and contributing to the Race for the Cure!”

  As Katani paused, the room was so quiet, she could hear Chelsea’s video camera making a low whirring noise. She glanced down at her notes to make sure she got this next part exactly right.

  “Working together, we can really make a difference—no matter how old or young we are.” Katani raised her lemonade cup to toast everyone. Ms. Pink threw a rain shower of sparkling pink confetti on everyone, and Maeve pronounced the event “Miraculous, simply miraculous!”

  Epilogue

  One Week Later

  Time’s Up BOOK EXTRAS

  Trivialicious Trivia

  Word Nerd

  Book Club Buzz

  Time’s Up trivialicious trivia

  What is Katani’s favorite magazine? A. Teen Business Week

  B. Forbes Kids

  C. T-Biz! A Magazine for Teen Entrepreneurs

  D. Teen Business: A Magazine for Teen Entrepreneurs

  What is the name of the climbing team Avery joins? A. Watertown Adventure Climbing Team

  B. Watertown Rocks!

  C. Watertown Climbers

  D. Watertown Teen Climbing Team

  What does Whitney make and sell for her business? A. barrettes with painted horses

  B. wool scarves

  C. leather riding gloves

  D. barrettes with painted birds

  What is Maevelicious Pink Pluff made of? A. cotton candy ice cream and chocolate sauce