“C’mon, Annie. After the scones are done.”
“Okay. I’m calling Zoe, though.” If I was going to run into Zach on purpose, it would be easier with my two best friends at my side.
“I already did,” Genna said quickly, looking embarrassed. “She’s not home.”
“Oh. Well, I’m glad you called.” I felt relieved. Maybe things between Gen and Zo were already okay.
“Yeah. Hey, I think your scones are done.” Genna was right, I could smell them. I took them out of the oven to cool. Several little girls came up to the counter to sniff them. I said it would just be a couple more minutes. I turned the fan toward the plate to speed things up.
Genna helped me to hand the scones out. Everyone loved them … it was going to be so hard to choose which to bake if we made it to Chicago!
“Annie! Annie!” one little girl shouted. “This is the best thing I have ever tasted!”
“Thank you!” I said. “I’m glad you like it.”
“It is really good,” her mom said with a wink. I handed out extra napkins all around the shop.
At another table a brother and sister each had one. “I would eat this every single day,” the boy said.
“Yes, for breakfast and for lunch and for dinner,” his sister said.
“Well, you might get sick of it after a week,” I told them with a smile. I knew they were just excited to get an unexpected treat, but the soft scone was indeed nicely improved by the crunchy chocolate cookies. And the vanilla bean filling melted in, making the scone extra creamy. Yum!
When the shop settled back down, Genna informed Louisa I needed a long break.
“Is it okay if I kidnap Annie for a walk to Vilas Park?” she asked, a glint in her eye.
“Of course, dear! It’s a gorgeous day. Let me pack you a picnic.”
“Ooh, you don’t have to. We’re just going for a little bit.”
“I insist, my lovelies. It’s too nice outside to hurry back. You could sit on that walking bridge and feed the ducks when you’re done eating.”
Genna giggled. “Sounds … romantic.” I crossed my eyes at her, knowing immediately that she had a romantic duck-feeding situation with Zach in mind for me.
Louisa packed a small basket for us with iced teas, grapes, and egg-salad sandwiches on whole wheat. She winked at me on our way out, and I winked back. I knew she’d packed a healthy lunch with Genna in mind. Louisa was the best grandmother ever.
At the park we spread out our blanket near the tennis courts. Genna ate her sandwich and drank her tea, and we shared the grapes. We didn’t see any sign of Zach, but it was nice to lie in the sun for a bit. I hoped I hadn’t missed any spots on my legs when I’d put on sunscreen earlier this morning.
“Annie! There he is!” Genna sat up and pointed.
“Where? Oh yeah.” Zach was racing across the open grass in pursuit of a Frisbee. It went into the nearby pond and he went in after it. Gross.
I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to go over there and say hi? I suddenly wished I’d stayed at the Leaf, where things were predictable.
“Go over there!” Genna said. “Say hello.”
“But they’re in the middle of the game.”
“No, I think they’re taking a break. Look.”
Much to my dismay, they did seem to be quitting. I saw several players ambling back to their piles of stuff near the field sidelines. It looked for a moment like Zach was coming toward us, but then he started heading to the zoo instead. He hadn’t seen me. It wasn’t too late to leave the park. But instead I decided to be bold for a change and stood up. Genna clapped.
“You’re coming with me,” I said. I pulled the sparkly lip gloss out of my pocket and put some on.
“Fine.” She stood up and we walked, as casually as possible, in Zach’s direction. When we caught up to him, Genna poked him in the back. I wanted to disappear, but it was too late.
“Hey, loser,” she said.
“Genna Matthews, my favorite Teashop Girl. And Annie Green, who must be on a special work-release program.”
What? How could Genna be his favorite? I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Zach, where have you been?” Genna asked impatiently. I could tell his remark had flustered her, too.
“Aw, did you miss me?” he said to me.
“Actually, the Steeping Leaf smells one hundred percent better without you in it,” I managed to sputter. If he was going to be mean, I could play that game too.
“Sure, if you like the aroma of dusty antiques,” he replied. I watched his face carefully. Other than blinking more than usual, he was the same old annoying Zach. I guessed whatever had happened between us didn’t mean anything. Fine. I crossed my arms and told Genna I should get back to work. She shot him a look and we walked back to our picnic.
As we were walking away, Zach said, super quietly, “Wait.” I turned around. He said, “Nothing.” I kept walking with Genna because I couldn’t think of what else to do. I wanted to stick out my tongue at him, but I felt too old to do that. What was the high school equivalent of sticking out your tongue?
“Sorry, Annie. I think he’s just too immature to be boyfriend material,” Genna said. “Maybe we should go to the mall and see if there are any cute boys there.”
“No thanks, Gen,” I said quietly. I kept my face down for a few moments so she wouldn’t notice that my eyes had tears in them.
Dear readers,
Check out the beautiful flier that Genna made to help me promote my blog and get more local readers! I love it!
<3 Annie
July 29 11:42 a.m.
Chapter Ten
One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, beyond the bliss of dreams.
—JOHN MILTON
Back at the Leaf, things were quieter than they’d been all morning. Louisa said she could use a nap, so I said I’d watch the front. She often took little siestas around two p.m., so I knew that when it was time for me to go back to school in the fall, we’d need to hire a new barista—regardless of the outcome of the scone contest.
I felt bad about the way Zach had acted, and worse that it mattered so much to me. It wasn’t that I expected him to completely change personalities and be nice all of the sudden. But it seemed like he was deliberately trying to hurt my feelings by calling Genna his favorite Teashop Girl. I knew that he and I weren’t friends, exactly, but I thought we were something. Even before the stupid kiss. It was so, so confusing and dumb.
I sighed and decided to work on the blog some more. I couldn’t do it from the computer in the back room when I was supposed to be watching the front of the store, so I called home and asked Beth if I could borrow her laptop. My parents had gotten her one for college, but I knew she was supposed to share it with me before she left. She said I could and even offered to bring it to the shop. I was touched. Beth had gotten a lot nicer over the summer. I think she was secretly scared to leave home, now that college was just around the corner instead of in the distant future.
“Don’t spill any tea on it,” she warned when she walked it over. I made her a really tasty chai latte in a to-go cup as thanks.
“I won’t,” I promised. “Hey, Beth?”
“Yeah?”
I wanted to ask her for boy advice, but something made me stop. Maybe I was worried she’d tease me; maybe I was worried that telling more people what happened would mean I’d have to do something about it. “Can you ask your friends to follow my blog? It’s important.”
I hadn’t asked her earlier. I spent so much time at the Leaf these days that I barely even saw my sister. I made a mental note to try to find some quality time to spend with her before she moved away; I felt a little guilty about being so excited to have more bathroom time. I knew I would actually miss her when she was gone.
“Sure. I’ll tell them tonight; we’re all going to the Orpheum for a show.”
“Thanks, B. See you later.”
I found an u
nsecure wireless signal from a neighbor and posted the cookies and cream scone recipe to the blog.
Next, I spent some time commenting on other blogs. I made the rounds of all the contestants at the top of the leader board (and said nice things to everyone but SweetCakes), some tea blogs that I’ve been following for a long time, and some local blogs written by people here in Madison. I always read the blogger’s entire post and tried to add a thoughtful comment. I didn’t outright ask for anyone to go to my blog, but I always linked to it. This kind of thing seemed pretty common, so I didn’t feel like I was making a nuisance of myself. After about half an hour I returned to see if anyone had read my new post. There was already one comment! I clicked on it.
SweetCakes: Secret ingredient? I’m sure it’s TEA. Lame-o. Try again, Steeping Leaf.
July 29 1:37 p.m.
AUGHHHHHHHHHHH, SWEETCAKES!
Not again. My Internet flamer was back, and worse than ever. I stared at the comment in horror. It was really starting to feel like we had a spy. Who had seen me add my secret ingredient? I glanced around the shop, half convinced I would see a camera somewhere.
I couldn’t believe my secret ingredient wasn’t a secret anymore. I felt so helpless. There wasn’t even anyone in the shop I could show the comment to. I quickly shut down the computer, as if I could get the insult to go away by not looking at it. I angrily did some dishes and decided that from now on, I’d bake only after hours, when no one could see what I was doing.
What a rotten day.
After a little while I settled down and got bored, so I signed back on, hoping Zoe or Genna would be home now. I saw Zoe’s dot turn green on chat, and immediately messaged her.
cuppaAnnie: I think there’s a scone spy at theLeaf
Kswiss211: What?
cuppaAnnie: Yes. One of my rivals just posted my secret ingredient in the comments.
Kswiss211: oh noes!
cuppaAnnie: and, I went to go look for Zach and he was so mean.
Kswiss211: yuck. Should I come visit you?
cuppaAnnie: yes. Oh good news, tho. Gen ate lunch.
Kswiss211: good. C u in a min.
cuppaAnnie: l8r
I felt better now that I knew Zoe was coming to visit me, so I spent a few minutes getting my blog listed on different websites and stuff. I registered with the Food Lovers Blogroll and added a blogroll to my own blog. That way, I could link up with the blogs I had already visited. I also e-mailed the reporter at the Isthmus who’d covered our anniversary party. Maybe she’d do a blurb about my blog and our efforts to get to London. I checked the leader board again. SweetCakes was in fourth place, and SteepingLeafScone.com was in nineteenth. So unfair. I checked the contest rules to see if they could be disqualified for being rude, but it didn’t look like they could be. You could only get disqualified for:
1. Being over the age of sixteen on September 1 of this year;
2. Having blog followers who were not real people;
3. Hiring a professional photographer to take the food photos.
Zoe came through the door in her tennis whites.
“Hey, Annie. Where is Louisa?” she asked.
“Napping in the hammock in the garden. She calls it her ‘business hammock.’”
“Oh. Cool. So let’s see it—I can’t stay very long.” I turned the screen toward her and she gasped.
“I know,” I said. “And this is the second mean one SweetCakes has left on the site!”
“Can I try something?” Zoe asked. She reached for the laptop, and I gave it to her. “I’m going to see where SweetCakes posts from. Sometimes you can tell by the IP address.”
“Okay. Their blog doesn’t say. I don’t think they have a shop or restaurant.”
“Hmm. I can’t find anything. It’s like they were able to block the address stamp. Could be someone here, could be someone in a different state. How annoying! You know, you could log in to your account and just delete the comment.”
“I guess. But it would only egg her on. Plus, I want all the other contestants to see how mean SweetCakes is being.”
“Yeah. Blarg.”
“You can say that again. I hope we can still win, even if our secret ingredient isn’t a secret.”
“We can.” Zoe carefully set the computer down and put her arm around my shoulder. “Your scones are delicious. And I saw the fliers. Beautiful!”
“Thanks.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. I brought you some more produce from the garden.” Zoe started digging in her tote bag and pulled out some more tomatoes, cucumbers, and raspberries. “You can use them for Leaf finger sandwiches or for the scones. I’m thinking of trying to get some of this stuff into the school cafeterias around Madison. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a great idea!” I said. I rinsed a raspberry and popped it into my mouth.
“Will you help me send a letter and some information to the school-board members? I was doing some research, and even though Madison has better lunches than some districts, there’s still a lot more we could do. Like, why is it so hard to serve green salads? Kids should get used to having greens every day.”
“Sure, I can help out. But promise me you’ll make up with Genna. I’m going to put together veggie sushi rolls for tea tomorrow. She’ll love them. And it wouldn’t kill me to eat healthier either.”
“I promise.” Zoe looked at her watch. “I have to go, my parents have early dinner reservations for us. We can work on the school-board letter tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
I made a pot of jasmine pearls and added some cool-looking widgets to my blog. A lot of my competitors did videos and really sophisticated photos. I wondered if I should try something like that. It wouldn’t hurt to make the food look as glorious as possible. I dug around Louisa’s cupboards and pulled out some pretty tablecloths. The next time I took photos, I’d have a special background for the scone tiers. I dug deeper into the cupboards to see if there were any special antique dishes I should be using. Every little bit would help.
The little bell on the front door jingled, and I popped my head out of the linen cabinet.
Zach.
“Sorry, Zach, Genna’s not here.” I frowned.
“Genna? What? Oh yeah. No, that’s okay.” He sounded different than he had earlier. Quieter.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing. I was just seeing if you needed any help … you know, making a scone thing. Or whatever.” He looked down at his feet.
“I already made one today. Here.” I handed Zach a cookies and cream scone. I realized that I couldn’t withhold Steeping Leaf yumminess from anyone, not even Zach. I really was an excellent barista. He ate it in two bites.
“That was terrible,” he said, but grinned as he said it. I couldn’t help it; I smiled a teeny bit too.
“I know. You want another one?”
“Yes.” He took one and ate it the same way, as if he hadn’t been fed in a year. “You’re a horrible cook.”
“Shut it, mutant.”
The air between us had changed somehow and we both relaxed. I felt better, like things were a little more normal. I know what you’re thinking; I was being waaay too nice. But I couldn’t help but remember all the helpful things Zach had done around the shop before things went south. He’d helped Louisa fix a shelf at the beginning of the summer. He’d noticed that the windowsills had spiderwebs and had climbed up and cleaned them off. Of course, when I had seen him dangling practically from the roof like a monkey when he was doing it, I’d yelled my head off. Thinking about days like that helped me to brush off his obnoxious side.
“So, is there tea in this one too?” he asked casually. I jumped.
“What? You know the secret ingredient? YOU’RE THE SCONE SPY!”
“What are you talking about? Anyone with half a brain could guess—”
“GET OUT!” I came around the counter and pushed Zach out of the Leaf.
“Annie, stop it. C’mon!”
To Do: Wednesday, July 30
• Come up with new secret ingredient.
• Make Zach sorry he was born.
• Make sure Gen and Zo make up because we’re setting an example for new Teashop Girls now.
• get more blog followers.
• Help Zo get decent greens and stuff into school cafeterias.
Cookies & Cream Scones
This scone is inspired by my favorite kind of ice cream, the Chocolate Shoppe’s cookies and cream flavor. It’s the perfect scone to have with a rich black tea like English Breakfast. I hope you love it … it might be my favorite recipe so far!
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 cup chopped chocolate sandwich cookies
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon secret ingredient
1/4 cup milk
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the dry ingredients together first, then cut in the butter. Stir in the beaten egg and the cookie pieces. Slowly add the buttermilk to form a thick dough. Add the secret ingredient. Knead the dough on a board, roll to a 1-inch thickness, and cut the dough into 2-inch rounds. Place each round on a greased cookie sheet and brush the tops with milk. Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown; serve warm. Makes 12 scones.
Customer comments:
“This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.” “I would eat [these scones] every day!”
July 29 7:12 p.m.
Chapter Eleven
Closing my eyes, I find green mountains and pure water within my own heart. Silently sitting alone and drinking tea, I feel these become a part of me.
—SOSHITSU SEN, GRAND MASTER XIV, URASENKE SCHOOL OF TEA
The next morning, I didn’t go right to the Leaf. Instead I put on my oldest jeans, a T-shirt from fifth-grade graduation, and beat-up sneakers with grass stains. I tied my hair back with a yellow cotton scarf and slathered on sunscreen and bug spray. Zoe had invited Genna and me to her garden!
The Secret Ingredient Page 6