Into the Mix #4 Read online

  Everyone chuckled. They knew Connor didn’t have a mean bone in his body.

  The group sat down at a large booth.

  “I wonder when we’ll get our schedules,” said Peichi.

  “I hope I don’t get Mr. Carlson for Science,” Omar told the friends. “You know what my big brother told me? That he makes you dissect a frog—on the first day of school!”

  Natasha and Amanda nearly choked on their slices.

  Dissect? You mean, like, cut it open?” asked Connor, going pale under his freckles.

  “No way,” said Molly.

  “I don’t believe it either,” said Shawn, coolly sipping her soda. “You don’t dissect a frog until high school.”

  “I hope not!” cried Peichi. “Ugh!”

  “What about Miss Spontak?” asked Molly. “I hear she’s the hardest math teacher in the whole school. She gives pop quizzes every day at the beginning of class!”

  “Not every day,” protested Natasha, frowning. “Nobody does that.”

  “I’ve heard that about her, too,” Shawn told Natasha.

  “And then there’s Mr. Snell!” said Connor. “They say he wears the same shirt and pants the whole week!”

  “Get outta here!” protested Shawn.

  “It’s true!” said Omar. “You’ve never heard of Snell the Smell?”

  The girls put down their slices of pizza and groaned.

  Molly just sat there as her friends joked around about all the nasty teachers they might get. All this talk about middle school had made her lose her appetite. Molly loved school last year. But she was sure that middle school would be awful. New school. New kids. New teachers. Molly wished September would never come. With a sigh, she drank some soda.

  “Hey. there’s Justin and Ian,” said Shawn. waving at two boys walking past the pizzeria window.

  Amanda began to blush.

  Don’t say anything, don’t say anything, Amanda’s eyes warned the girls. Amanda would have died if Connor and Omar found out that she had a crush on Justin.

  The two brothers stopped and peered in the window, then waved. They turned around to come in.

  “I’ve seen them around,” said Connor.

  “They’re new,” Amanda told him. “The McElroys. They’re our neighbors.”

  “Hi,’” said Justin and Ian.

  “Hi. Justin. Hi. Ian,” the girls answered.

  “This is Connor, and this is Omar,” said Amanda. “This is Justin, and this is Ian.”

  “How ya doin,”’ said Justin and Ian. Both boys had reddish-brown hair and brown eyes, but Ian had dyed the front of his hair blond.

  “What’s up, man,” said Connor. Omar nodded.

  “We just got our schedules in the mail,” said Justin. “For school.”

  “Really?” the girls said. “Ohmygosh!”

  “Who did you get?” asked Amanda.

  Justin looked at her blankly. “For which class?” he asked.

  Amanda immediately felt stupid. “Um, for—math,” she said, recovering.

  Justin had to think. “Um, Pontok? Spontok? Something like that?”

  Everyone at the table groaned. “Spontak!” they cried.

  “What? Is that bad?” asked Justin, looking flustered.

  “Not if you like pop quizzes,” Connor told him. “Every day. Good luck, man.”

  “I’m not worried about it,” said Justin, shrugging. “I’m good at math. Well, see you guys later.”

  “See ya,” said Ian.

  “Byeeee!” cried Peichi.

  “Byeeee!” cried Omar in a high voice, imitating Peichi. Everyone cracked up.

  Amanda sipped the last of her orange soda and put down the paper cup. “Are you ready to go?” she asked the other girls. “I’m dying to see if we got our schedules.”

  “I’m not,” said Molly

  “Why not?” Connor asked her.

  “Because once I get my schedule, that’s it! Summer’s over!” replied Molly.

  “Don’t worry, Molly! Summer’s not over yet—we still have my pool party,” said Peichi.

  “You mean we could have been swimming at your house all summer after cooking class?” joked Connor.

  “Sorry, the party’s for girls only!” said Peichi with a giggle. “No boys allowed.”

  “Well,” said Omar, getting up, “See ya.”

  “See ya,” said the girls. The group went outside, and Connor and Omar walked away.

  “Come over to our house as soon as you get your schedules,” Amanda told Shawn, Natasha, and Peichi.

  “Good luck!” said Peichi. “I hope no one gets Snell the Smell!”

  “Snell the Smell!” groaned the girls. They walked for a few blocks together, then waved as the twins turned up Taft Street, their pretty tree-lined block.

  When the twins got home, their mom was already back from work. Her dark eyes twinkled as she said, “You got something in the mail today!” She handed them each a packet.

  “Yes! It’s our schedules!” said Amanda. She tore the envelope open and quickly looked down the list.

  “Spontak,” whined Molly. “I got Spontak. I can’t believe it.”

  “What’s Spontak?” asked Mom. “It sounds like a disease.”

  “Spontak is a person. Miss Spontak the math teacher. She’s terrible!” said Amanda. “She gives pop quizzes every day!”

  “Now, hang on, maybe she’s not so bad,” said Mom. “Maybe she’s a great teacher!”

  “At least you’ll be in Justin’s class,” said Amanda enviously.

  Molly shrugged. Who cares? I’m not the one who likes him, remember?”

  “Molly,” said Mom in her “warning” voice. “Don’t talk to your sister like that.”

  “I’ve never heard of any of my teachers,” said Amanda. “So maybe that’s a good thing!”

  “Let’s see your schedule,” said Molly, suddenly worried. She and Amanda laid their schedules next to each other on the kitchen counter. Their eyes flitted back and forth, from Molly’s to Amanda’s.

  “We don’t have any classes together!” exclaimed Molly.

  Chapter 2

  “That can’t be,” said Amanda, still looking. but it was true. The twins didn’t have a single class together.

  “Oh, no!” cried Amanda.

  The twins looked at each other. They were having “the twin thing.” They were both thinking that, until now, they’d never been apart during the school day.

  ‘That’s gonna be so weird,” groaned Amanda.

  “Uh-huh,” said Molly sadly.

  Within minutes, Peichi. Natasha, and Shawn had all shown up at the Moore’s. Each girl had her schedule.

  “Let’s go out to the garden,” said Molly, leading the way through the kitchen.

  The girls breathed in the scent of the honeysuckle that grew along the fence. “Mmm, that smells awesome!” everyone cried.

  “Can you believe that Amanda and I don’t have any classes together?” asked Molly. “Except homeroom?”

  “No way!” cried Shawn. “That’s terrible. You guys are twins. That should be, like, illegal.”

  “Okay,” said Amanda, “let’s check these out.” She laid everyone’s schedules on the picnic table where the Moores ate dinner during the summer. The friends hovered over them together. For a moment, all was quiet as they looked everything over.

  “Oh!” cried Peichi. “Amanda, you’re in my English class. Great!”

  “So am I!” said Shawn. “And it looks like Natasha and I are in math together. The teacher is Smith.”

  “Is anyone in social studies during fourth period?” asked Molly. “The teacher is Epstein.

  “No,” said all the girls, squinting at their schedules.

  Molly tried again. “Gym, third period?”

  “No.”

  “Nope.”

  “Uh-uh.”

  “Look. Peichi, you and I are in gym together,” said Natasha. “And computer training first period.”

  “Gr
eat!” said Peichi. “I like my schedule! We have gym at the end of the day—that’s perfect!”

  “Wait a minute!” said Molly, a lump growing in her throat. The girls stopped talking and laughing and looked at her.

  “Aren’t any of you in any of my classes?” she asked.

  “Let’s see,” said Shawn, moving Molly’s schedule to the center of the table. “I have social studies the same time you do, but with Reese, not Epstein...”

  Natasha and Peichi studied Molly’s schedule, then shook their heads.

  “I can’t believe it, Molly,” said Peichi. “You’re not with us at all! That’s terrible! I feel so bad!”

  Molly didn’t say anything. She looked down, and her lower lip trembled.

  “Cee, Molls, that stinks,” said Amanda. “At least we all have lunch together. You can sit smack in the middle of all of us every day! Okay?”

  Saturday came, the day of Peichi’s pool party. The Moores were having their traditional Saturday morning pancake breakfast in their large.

  colorful kitchen. The kitchen, with its pale-yellow walls bordered with blue and green tiles. and cheerful rugs that were shaped like apples and pears, was the twins favorite room in the house. The girls usually cooked for their clients in the Moores’ kitchen because it was so large.

  Amanda sighed. “I’m full. That was so good, Dad.” Dad didn’t cook often, but he did make awesome pancakes.

  “Thanks,” said Dad. He looked at Molly’s plate. “You didn’t eat much, Molly,” he pointed out. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “Uh-huh,” Molly said with a nod. But the truth was that her stomach felt tight every time she thought about school starting on Monday.

  Which was all the time.

  “Are you girls supposed to bring something to Peichi’s party?” asked Mom, as she poured some more coffee.

  “No,” said Amanda. “She said she had it covered.”

  “That’s sweet, but I still think you should bring something. How about making Dad’s favorite-seven layer dip? You can bring a big bag of tortilla chips along, too,” Mom suggested.

  “Yum!” cried Matthew. “Can I help?”

  “Help eat it, that’s what you really mean,” cracked Amanda.

  “No, I want to help make it,” insisted Matthew.

  “Mrow, said Kitty Matthew’s fat tiger cat. Kitty was sitting on the extra chair at the kitchen table, next to Matthew. She liked being in the middle of everything the family did.

  “Okay, Kitty, Matthew can help,” said Amanda. Kitty adored Matthew, even when he made her wear ball caps or sunglasses, or held her in positions that didn’t look too comfortable.

  An hour later, everyone was back in the kitchen with Mom (except for Dad, who was outside taking a nap under the sports section of The New York Times). Molly turned on the radio.

  “Okay. The first thing we need to do is make some guacamole for the dip. Amanda, you can peel the skins off these avocados for the guacamole...Molls, you can chop the tomatoes. I’ll do the cilantro.”

  “Hey, what about me?” Matthew asked, his hands on his hips.

  “Let’s see,” Mom said. “Why don’t you get started on layering the dip. That’s an important job!

  Matthew smiled.

  Mom opened a can of refried beans and handed it to Matthew with a glass pie plate. Spread these all over the bottom of this plate.”

  “Eeew! Beans!” Matthew made a face. “Bean, beans, are good for your heart. The more you eat. the more you...

  “Very funny,” Amanda said, rolling her eyes.

  “Like we haven’t heard that one before,” Molly added.

  After Amanda finished peeling the avocados, she put them in a bowl and mashed them with a fork. Then the tomatoes and cilantro were mixed into the avocados.

  “I think we should add some garlic to the guacamole,” Mom said, placing a garlic clove in a press.

  “How what?” asked Matthew.

  “On top of the beans, we’ll spread some sour cream,” Mom told them. “Then some guacamole, and then some cheese.” “What kind?” Molly asked.

  “How about a mixture,” Amanda suggested. “Like jack and cheddar.”

  After the cheese was layered on, they added the tomatoes, green onions, and finally some black olives.

  “It looks pretty,” said Amanda. “Everyone’s gonna love this!”

  Later, as the girls swam in the Chengs pool, Peichi brought out her parents’ video camera.

  Okay, Chef Girls,” she announced. ”Everyone has to tell me their favorite thing that happened this summer.”

  Looking through the viewfinder, she said, “I’m here at my pool, interviewing the Chef Girls about this amazingly fantastic summer. Amanda Moore, please tell us your favorite thing about it.”

  Amanda waved at the camera. “Hi,” she said. “Well, I guess it was when—”

  Molly stuck her head into view. “When she got to give the food we cooked to Justin McElroy!” She made kissing sounds and funny faces at the camera, then ran and jumped into the pool with a big splash.

  “It was not!” cried Amanda, blushing. “That’s a do-over, Peichi.”

  Molly was talking about the first time the girls cooked for someone else. The twins’ new neighbors, the McElroys, had a small electrical fire in their kitchen, and their kitchen had been off-limits while the fire damage was getting repaired. It made the girls feel good to help out Justin and his family, and the AcElroys had been delighted when the girls showed up with boxes of food they’d made with Mrs. Moore’s help.

  The girls now made money with Dish, their brand-new cooking business, but they all agreed that they would still cook for free when someone in their neighborhood needed help.

  “Go ahead, Amanda,” said Peichi.

  “Um, okay,” said Amanda, smoothing down her wet hair as she talked into the camera. “My favorite thing about this summer was...taking our cooking class and getting to eat all the yummy food afterward! And I love the cookbook we’re making.” The girls wrote down every recipe they learned in a cool blank book that they illustrated with Shawn’s glitter pens and watercolors.

  “Great!” said Peichi. “You’re next, Natasha.”

  Natasha was sitting at the table under the umbrella. “This dip is awesome!” she said. Natasha wiped her mouth with a paper napkin. “I don’t want to be on film,” she said, covering her face with her hands.

  “Come on, don’t be shy!” said Peichi.

  Natasha tucked her blond hair behind her ears, grinned at the camera, and said, “The best thing about this summer? Getting to know you guys better, and becoming one of the Chef Girls!” She blushed and waved the camera away.

  “You’re on, Molly,” said Peichi, pointing the camera at Molly, who was sitting on the edge of the pool eating potato chips.

  “Well, Amanda and I thought we were going to have a horrible, boring summer,” Molly began, as she looked into the camera. “Amanda and I were so sick of eating the take-out food our busy parents kept bringing home, that one boring, boring day, we found a recipe for chicken piccata on the Internet and made it for our family. And it was so good, even our finicky brother ate it. And we’d never even cooked before! And then right after that, Shawn finally came back from vacation—for a while, anyway—and then right after that, we heard about the cooking class, and we got to know you better in class, Peichi. and then Natasha, too—and now we actually have our own cooking business and we make money! And—”

  “Okay, cut!” said Peichi. “That’s way more than one thing!”

  Molly was out of breath. “I cant choose,” she said with a laugh.

  Shawn came up for air.

  “Shawn, your turn!” called Peichi.

  Shawn got out of the pool and draped a towel over herself in an elegant way. How do I look?” she joked.

  “Like a drowned rat.” replied Peichi. Just kidding! Go ahead.”

  “Hi,” said Shawn to the camera. “Let me see...my visits down South with Grandma Ru
thie and my cousins Sonia and Jamal was amazing. We rode horses, we went to the beach, Sonia showed me all her cheerleading moves, and Grandma Ruthie made me laugh all the time. And in New York. there was cooking class, and starting Dish, and cooking for all kinds of people, and making money doing it. And your pool parties. It’s all been fun!”

  “Okay, its my furn!” announced Peichi. “Molly, can you hold the camera? Thanks...The best part of my summer. Well, getting a pool was amazing! And my redecorated room is so great. And Dish is awesome. But the best thing has been becoming friends with everybody here! Because we always have a blast. This year together in school is gonna be great! Watch out, Windsor Middle School!”

  “Woo-hool” yelled all the girls.

  Even Molly tried to look excited.

  Chapter 3

  On Monday morning, the first day of school, the alarm seemed extra loud.

  Amanda sat straight up in bed before she turned off the alarm. She looked over at Molly who was on her side, curled up in a ball. “Molls,” said Amanda. “Get up.”

  But Molly was already awake. She’d been awake practically the whole night.

  “Okay.” Molly sighed and rolled over to see Amanda. Now she felt tired. “Are you nervous, Manda?”

  “No!” said Amanda. “I’m psyched! It’s going to be fun to meet all kinds of new people! I know exactly what I’m going to wear, and it’s all laid out, and my hair‘s gonna look so cute cause I’m going to wear my new barrettes, and I can’t wait to show off my new backpack! already put a packet of tissues in it—”

  She’s nervous all right, Molly thought to herself. What a motormouth.

  Just then, the door opened. It was Mom, still in her funny pjs with pictures of bacon and eggs on them. “Happy first day of middle school!” she said. “Are you girls up?

  “Hi, Mom!” cried Amanda, jumping out of bed.

  “Hi, Mom.” mumbled Molly.

  “What are you wearing today, Molly?” asked Mom.

  “Oh, she’s wearing the stretch denim capris and the green shirt with the collar,” Amanda answered for her. “And my new sneakers. Don’t worry, I’m on it.” She walked over and pulled her sister out of bed.