Deep Freeze Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Title Page

  Dedication

  chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  GROSSET & DUNLAP

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  Text copyright © 2007 by Diane Muldrow. Interior illustrations copyright © 2007 by Barbara Pollak. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data

  Muldrow, Diane.

  Deep freeze / by Diane Muldrow ; illustrated by Barbara Pollak.

  p. cm. -- (Dish ; #12)

  Summary: The Chef Girls are excited about the seventh-grade ski trip, which is filled with snow sports and practical jokes, but when Shawn’s nemesis Angie plays a prank that goes too far, things take a dangerous turn.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-52300-1

  [1. Skis and skiing--Fiction. 2. Bullying--Fiction. 3. Middle schools--Fiction. 4. Schools--Fiction. 5. Friendship--Fiction.] I. Pollak, Barbara, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.M8894De 2007

  [Fic]--dc22

  2007004942

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  For little Mason, and her mom, Kerri—D.M.

  chapter 1

  “Amanda! Amanda! Over here!”

  Amanda Moore glanced around Windsor Middle School’s large auditorium, trying to see who was calling her name. Suddenly, she spotted her friends Peichi Cheng, Shawn Jordan, and Natasha Ross down in the front row. Peichi was standing on her toes, waving wildly, trying to attract Amanda’s attention.

  Amanda grinned and waved back, then tried to make her way toward them. The entire seventh-grade class had been herded into the auditorium for a special assembly, and the narrow aisles were packed with kids laughing, shouting, and shoving one another as they tried to sit with their pals. From the back of the auditorium, Amanda finally shrugged helplessly at Peichi, as if to say, “I can’t get down there!” Peichi made a small pouting face, and Natasha nodded understandingly.

  “Manda!”

  Amanda knew exactly who was calling her now—her twin sister, Molly, who was sitting at the opposite end of the row to Amanda’s left. Amanda saw that the row had already filled up except for a single seat next to Molly, which her twin had protectively blocked off with her heavy backpack.

  “Sorry, sorry, oops, excuse me, sorry,” Amanda mumbled as she squeezed down the aisle. “Phew!” she exclaimed as she flopped into the seat next to Molly. “Thanks for saving me a seat.”

  “No prob,” replied Molly. “I tried to get down to the front too, but there was no way. It’s packed!” Suddenly, Molly burst out laughing. “Did you see that? Someone just threw a paper airplane and it hit Natasha in the head!”

  “Ohmigosh!” giggled Amanda as she watched Natasha turn around to find the culprit. “Did you see who did it?”

  “Nope. I would have figured it was Omar, but he’s onstage,” Molly said. “Oh, wait—it had to be Connor! He’s been almost as big a pain as Omar ever since Omar was elected class president.”

  Amanda could tell that Peichi, Shawn, and Natasha had figured the same as Molly. They were whispering together as Peichi crumpled up the paper and got ready to throw it at Connor Kelly, who was sitting a few rows directly behind them. But before Peichi could toss it, Mr. Degregorio walked onstage and stood in front of the girls. Natasha grabbed Peichi’s arm to stop her just in time!

  “Nice save!” cried the twins. They exchanged a glance and started laughing. They were doing the “twin thing” again—saying the same thing at the same time—which happened a lot!

  Teachers patrolled the aisles, trying to quiet the rowdy students. A big assembly and a Friday afternoon were a bad combination for getting anyone to sit quietly. But when Principal Wagner walked to a podium onstage and tapped the microphone, a hush quickly fell over the students.

  “Welcome, seventh-graders!” Principal Wagner said in her loud, upbeat voice. She was a short, stocky woman in her mid- fifties whose elegant business suits made her stand out among the teachers. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why we’re here today...”

  “I know why,” Amanda whispered in Molly’s ear. “Evan told me on the phone last night. It’s the...”

  “I know,” Molly whispered back, interrupting Amanda before she could continue. “You already told me.” Ever since Amanda had gone on a date with the cute eighthgrader Evan Anderson, she acted like she knew everything about what was supposed to happen in seventh grade.

  “We’re here to talk about...” Principal Wagner paused for effect. “The seventh-grade ski trip!”

  The auditorium erupted into cheers and applause. Principal Wagner grinned at the students, then raised her hands for quiet.

  “Each year, after completing the unit on colonial life, the seventh-grade class spends Presidents’ Day weekend at Chestnut Hill Farm in Vermont, an actual farm from the eighteenth century that is still run largely like it was over two hundred years ago! Besides having an opportunity to ski, sled, and snowboard—” Principal Wagner paused as the students started screaming again, “—you’ll get to work on a real farm, the way colonial settlers did!” She paused again, smiling brightly, waiting for the students to cheer. The twins exchanged a glance. Something about working on a farm just wasn’t as exciting as going skiing!

  Principal Wagner cleared her throat. “Yes. Well, I’d like to ask the seventh-grade class officers Omar, Iris, Tessa, and Mark to pass out the informational packets now. Please read them with your parents over the weekend. We’ll be having a meeting for your parents next week to answer any questions they might have. But before school lets out for the weekend—” Principal Wagner was interrupted by more cheers. “—do any of you have questions? No? Okay, then please stay seated until the bell rings. You may talk quietly with your neighbor.”

  As soon as Principal Wagner stepped away from the podium, everyone in the auditorium started talking and laughing excitedly. Molly and Am
anda grinned at each other. “This is going to be so awesome!” exclaimed Molly. “I love skiing!”

  “And we’ve never been to Vermont!” agreed Amanda.

  The bell rang then, and the twins—like everyone else in the auditorium—jumped out of their seats, ready to start the weekend.

  “Shawn! Let’s meet at the trophy case,” Molly hollered over the noise in the auditorium. Down in the front row, Shawn nodded and gave Molly and Amanda the thumbs-up sign.

  It took about five minutes for the twins to get out of the auditorium as the crush of students slowly made its way through the double doors. A few minutes later, the girls met up in the front hall.

  “Everybody ready to brave the cold?” asked Natasha, wrapping her fuzzy scarf around the lower part of her face. The girls nodded, bracing themselves for the blast of icy air when they opened the doors.

  Normally, when the five friends walked through their Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Park Terrace, they chatted and laughed the whole way. But today they walked quickly and quietly through the icy wind. This January had been the coldest one on record.

  Park Terrace seemed to have everything, with its dozens of delicious restaurants that served food from all over the world, its unique stores and cool boutiques, and its beautiful botanic garden. Plus, there were movie theaters, an ice-skating rink, and enormous Prospect Park, which had thick woods, a nature center, and rolling meadows that were perfect for summer picnics. Best of all, Park Terrace was only a short subway ride away from Manhattan, the heart of New York City! But during the coldest weeks of winter, most residents tried to stay indoors, going outside only for school, work, or trips to the grocery store.

  The girls soon arrived at the Moores’ spacious brick townhouse on Taft Street. Molly was fumbling in her backpack, searching for her keys, when suddenly the front door swung open. Mom was home early!

  “Come in, come in,” she exclaimed, holding the door open wide. “I’ve got a pot of cocoa on the stove. Let’s get you girls inside and warm you up!”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Moore,” Shawn, Natasha, and Peichi chorused as they pulled off their hats, gloves, scarves, and coats in the front hall.

  “What are you doing home already, Mom?” asked Amanda as she hung up her cranberry-colored parka. “Don’t you teach a four o’clock class on Fridays?”

  Mrs. Moore smiled. “I do—but it was cancelled today! Brooklyn College closed at three o’clock because of the winter storm warning,” she explained. “Did you see that sky? We’ll be having a snowstorm, for sure.”

  “Ugh!” groaned Peichi. “This is the third weekend in a row where it snowed on Friday. Why can’t the storms just wait until Monday? Then we’d get a snow day, too!”

  The girls laughed as they followed Mrs. Moore down the hall. The sweet aroma of hot cocoa filled the cheery kitchen, the twins’ favorite room of the house. The warm yellow walls were complemented by beautiful blue and green tiles Mom had bought in Spain, and scrolled iron hooks from the ceiling held gleaming copper pots and pans. Cupboards with glass doors displayed Mom’s collection of colorful dishes, and a large baker’s rack against the wall held everything from cookbooks and potted herbs to a large mixer and a funny pitcher shaped like a cow. The twins couldn’t think of a better place to hang out with their friends and family.

  “Matthew, stay away from the stove,” Mom said in her “warning” voice to the twins’ eight-year-old brother, who was leaning over the pot of simmering cocoa.

  “Sorry,” Matthew mumbled. “It smells so good!”

  “It sure does!” Mom said with her loud laugh, reaching over to rumple Matthew’s brown hair before he could duck out of her reach. “Buddy, I think there’s a bag of marshmallows in the pantry. Would you check for me?”

  In a flash, Matthew darted out of the room to look for the marshmallows, startling the family’s fat tiger cat, Kitty. Mom started ladling the creamy cocoa into seven large mugs. “So, what is Dish cooking tonight?” Mom asked.

  “It’s an easy job,” Peichi spoke up. “Just two breakfasts and two dinners for Mr. Peterson, who lives on my block. We’re gonna make blueberry muffins, a big pot of porridge, lasagna, and chicken potpie.”

  Dish was a cooking business that the five friends had started during the summer before sixth grade. It all started one boring day when Molly and Amanda were stuck at home, sick of eating the take-out food their busy parents kept bringing home for dinner. Molly had the great idea that the twins should surprise their family by cooking dinner for them. Even though Amanda had been hesitant to cook an entire meal from scratch, it had been a huge success—and it tasted great! Soon, the twins were taking cooking classes at Park Terrace Cookware with Shawn, where they ran into Peichi and Natasha.

  When the class ended, the girls started a cooking club, which quickly turned into a cooking business they called Dish. Many families in Park Terrace were just as busy as the Moores, and loved having the option of calling Dish for some delicious, fresh meals, instead of the same old takeout or frozen food. The Chef Girls, as they called themselves, were surprised by how quickly their business had taken off. Suddenly, they were catering fancy parties, appearing on TV, and helping others by fund-raising and donating food.

  “I was planning to make tacos for dinner tonight. Would you girls like to stay?” Mom asked.

  “Sure!” chorused Shawn, Peichi, and Natasha.

  “Let me just call my mom to see if it’s okay,” Natasha added, tucking her chin-length blonde hair behind her ear. She ducked into the den to use the phone.

  “Hi, Mom? ...School was good. Um, Mrs. Moore invited everyone to stay for dinner. Can I?” Please, Mom, she thought. Say yes!

  “Well...” Mrs. Ross paused. Natasha could almost see her mother’s expression—she was surely biting her bottom lip as she thought. Mrs. Ross could be pretty strict, and she usually liked to have more notice about Natasha’s plans.

  “The rest of the girls are staying. I’ll come right home afterwards, I promise,” Natasha added, crossing her fingers.

  “Well, sweetie, it’s just that I wanted you to practice for your bat mitzvah tonight,” said Mrs. Ross.

  “Oh, right. Well, I should be home by seven. Is it okay if I practice then?”

  “All right,” Mrs. Ross finally agreed.

  Natasha breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Mom! I’ll see you in a couple hours. Love you!”

  “I love you, too,” Mrs. Ross replied before hanging up the phone.

  Natasha returned to the kitchen, where her friends were drinking their hot cocoa. “I can stay!” she announced.

  “Yay!” cried Peichi.

  “Oh, Mom! Guess what!” exclaimed Molly, slapping her forehead. “We had an assembly today about the seventh-grade class ski trip!”

  “How exciting! Tell me about it!” Mrs. Moore replied.

  “It’s over Presidents’ Day weekend,” Molly began.

  “We’re going to a farm in Vermont to see how colonial settlers lived,” Amanda broke in. “There’s a meeting next week for parents to get more information.”

  Mrs. Moore walked over to the large calendar on the wall where she and Dad kept track of the family’s busy schedules. “Great. When is the meeting?”

  “Tuesday night,” Amanda replied, pulling the neatly folded flyer out of her pocket. “Seven o’clock.”

  “I’ve never been skiing before,” Natasha said.

  “Oh, my dad and I love skiing,” Shawn said. “We haven’t been in a while, though.”

  “Remember that ski trip we went on?” Molly asked Shawn. “That was great. What was that—four years ago?”

  “Five,” Amanda corrected her sister. “We were in second grade, remember?”

  “Right. Oh, hang on, I’ll be right back!” Molly raced to the living room where Mom kept all of the family photo albums. She flipped through a few until she found the one she was looking for, then returned to the kitchen. “Check out these pictures!” she said with a laugh. “We were so little!�
��

  Everyone gathered around Molly as she opened the album, which was full of pictures from the vacation the Moores and the Jordans had taken to Mount Snow, New Hampshire.

  “A www! You guys are so cute!” Peichi cooed. “Shawn, you’re adorable with your glasses!”

  “I had just started wearing glasses,” Shawn remembered with a smile. “I hated them!”

  “Look at the twins in their snowsuits!” giggled Natasha as she glanced at a photo of Amanda in a pink-and-silver snowsuit with her arm around Molly, who was wearing a plain red one. “Even then they had their own styles.”

  “That’s for sure,” said Molly, rolling her eyes. “I remember Amanda wanted us to have matching snowsuits that year, but I refused to wear that pink thing!”

  As everyone laughed, Amanda shook her head and poked her sister playfully. “I should have known then that Molly was a lost cause!”

  Though Molly and Amanda were identical twins, it had always been easy to tell them apart. The twins had the same pale skin and freckles, bright green eyes, and long brown hair, but their styles were completely opposite. Amanda was the fashion-conscious twin. She kept up with all the latest styles and loved anything girly and glittery. Molly was more into casual, comfortable clothes. She preferred high-top sneakers to high-heeled boots, and jeans to jewelry.

  Everyone paused at a family photo of the Jordans.

  “Shawn, is that your mom?” Natasha asked hesitantly. “She’s so beautiful.”

  “You look just like her,” Peichi said softly.

  Shawn stared at the picture of herself as a child, standing between her parents. In the picture, Shawn was smiling at the camera. Mrs. Jordan was laughing, and Mr. Jordan was smiling affectionately at her.

  After a moment, Shawn cleared her throat. “Yeah. This trip was...was right before my mom found out she was sick,” she said, trying to sound normal. “We didn’t know...” Her voice trailed off as she thought, We didn’t know so much—that she was already sick, that she was going to die...