Lights! Camera! Cook!

by Diane Muldrow

  Shawn’s heart sank. Was Grandma Ruthie finished eating already?

  “Is that all you’re gonna have, Grandma? You haven’t tried the corn bread, or the beans.”

  “I’m just taking a breather, baby. Don’t worry, I’m going to eat it all up...I just need to rest a little bit.” She leaned back against the pillow and closed her eyes.

  To: mooretimes2

  From: Ruth Jordan

  Re: from Shawn

  After Shawn sent the e-mail, she folded her arms and stared at the screen.

  Angie probably feels really bad now for making fun of Dish, she thought. Especially since she knows I already feel so bad about Grandma Ruthie. I’ll let her know I’ve forgiven her, and shell write me right back.

  Shawn began to type.

  To: AngieNYC

  From: Ruth Jordan

  Re: from Shawn in SC

  Before going to bed, Shawn checked her e-mail. It was very late, and she was exhausted from the stress of the last few days. But her mood brightened when she saw that the twins had replied.

  To: Ruth Jordan

  From: mooretimes2

  Re: for Shawn

  Other than the e-mail from the twins, Shawn’s mailbox was empty.

  Angie’s online every night, thought Shawn. I can’t believe she didn’t write me back. Friends are supposed to be there. Does she care about me or not?

  chapter 8

  “Molly’s up!” said Amanda excitedly the next afternoon. She was seated between Peichi and Natasha on the bleachers at the Windsor Middle School ballfield. ”Go get ’em, Molls!”

  “Go, Molly! You can do it!” called Peichi and Natasha.

  Molly didn’t look over at the bleachers. She was concentrating on her swing.

  “Shes a lefty!” called someone on the Bensonhurst team.

  The Bensonhurst pitcher rolled her eyes.

  “Look!” said Peichi. “She’s not used to pitching to a lefty! That’s good!”

  At the first pitch, Molly swung too soon.

  “Strike one!” called the umpire.

  The friends stifled groans.

  “Don’t rush it, Molls! Take your time!” called Amanda encouragingly. “Molly’s a better pitcher than a hitter,” she muttered to the others.

  This time, Molly swung too low.

  “Strike twooo!”

  “Is she golfin’?” joked one of the Bensonhurst players.

  Molly ignored the comment and concentrated. Follow through, she told herself.

  CRACK! Molly hit the third pitch dead center!

  “Yesss! Run, Molly!” cried her friends.

  Molly made it to second base!

  “Woo-hoo!” cried the Windsor team. Molly looked over at her friends and flashed a grin.

  “Way to go!” shouted Amanda, and Molly nodded to let her know she’d heard her.

  “Molly’s really nervous about a big game that’s coming up,” Amanda told her friends. “Windsor is playing Marine Park. They’re Windsor’s big-time rivals! And tough. Most of their players are eighth-graders this year.”

  “You know what would be fun?” asked Peichi. “We should have a party for Molly afterward. In your garden.”

  “You’re right! said Amanda, nodding. ”If Windsor wins, it’ll be a victory party.”

  “What if we lose?” asked Natasha.

  “I guess it’ll take Molly’s mind off of it,” said Amanda. “Yes! Molly’s at third!”

  Just then, a tall girl with wavy black hair got up to bat.

  “Oh, good! It’s Athena. She’s great,” Amanda told the girls.

  CRACK! Athena hit a line drive. And Molly made it home!

  “Yay!” cheered the friends and the Windsor fans that crowded the bleachers.

  Flushed and happy, Molly got a pat on the back from Coach Jaffe, then waved at the girls.

  “Oh! I just had a great idea!” said Peichi. “For the party, let’s make cupcakes, and we’ll frost them to look like soft-balls!”

  “Cool!” said the girls.

  “Let’s make it a surprise!” suggested Peichi.

  The others groaned.

  “We’ll try!” said Amanda.

  Molly struck out the next time up at bat.

  The game was close, but Windsor beat Bensonhurst, 4-3.

  “...At least I didn’t strike out every time, like the last game! Molly told the girls afterward. They’d met her there to walk home together. ”I can’t wait to e-mail Shawn tonight and tell her that I got a hit. Oh, I hope Crandma Ruthie’s feeling better today.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Peichi. “I’m going to write Shawn after dinner—”

  “Get this!” Nella Zapolsky was saying loudly to a nearby group of girls.

  Peichi paused, curious about why Nella was so excited. The Chef Girls turned to see Nella gathering the girls close.

  “...Angle Martinez...at her old school,” Nella was saying inside the huddle.

  “No way!” exclaimed the girls. “Oooooh!” They began to giggle.

  Nella saw Peichi and the others looking her way. She quickly walked over to them, looked left and right, and whispered dramatically. “You won’t be-lieve this. Angie Martinez is supposed to be in seventh grade! She got held back a year at her old school!”

  “What?” asked Amanda, not sure of what she’d just heard.

  “Angie Martinez! The cheerleader! She had to repeat fifth grade at Saint Theresa’s!”

  The Chef Girls flashed one another a look. What Nella had said made sense. Angie did look older than everyone else in the sixth grade.

  “Why else do you think she changed schools? Nella went on in a low voice. Anyway, I heard it from my cousin Ivy, who’s best friends with Julia Carlino, who knew Angie at Saint Theresa’s.”

  Nella darted back over to her friends, who were still giggling.

  “Well, even though Angie hasn’t been very nice to us,” said Peichi, “I know I wouldn’t want people to talk about me like that.”

  Molly nodded. “It might not even be true. And we’ve all known since second grade that Nella has a big mouth.”

  “I’m not going to tell anyone what we just heard,” stated Natasha.

  “Me neither, agreed Molly.

  “Not even Shawn?” asked Amanda.

  Well—said Molly, hesitating. “No, not even Shawn. Maybe she already knows anyway.”

  Amanda nodded. One part of her agreed with the others.

  But another part of her, the part of her that had been so hurt by Angie’s meanness, whispered, Angie’s just getting what she deserves with this gossip. I could finally get her back by felling her that I know all about it.

  Then Mom’s voice came into her mind: treat others the way you want to be treated.

  “Let’s go,” said Amanda, picking up her backpack. “Ready Molls?” Suddenly, she wanted to be anywhere but there with all that buzz.

  Amanda didn’t like the way she was feeling. She didn’t want to be like Nella Zapolsky. She wanted to be like Peichi and Natasha and Molly and Mom.

  But why did that suddenly seem so hard to do?

  That night, the twins wrote Shawn an e-mail telling her about the game. They didn’t mention the rumor about Angie. They kept their message light, since Shawn had sent another sad e-mail saying that Crandma Ruthie seemed even worse than yesterday.

  Things looked bad.

  “Maybe she’s going to die,” Molly told Amanda as they sat together, re-reading Shawn’s message.

  “Don’t say that.”

  Molly sighed. “Oh, she’s got to pull through. She’s got to.”

  The girls went upstairs to bed, but both had trouble sleeping that night. Both were worrying about Crandma Ruthie—and Shawn.

  “Amanda! I’m glad you’re early. I’ve got some news,” said Ms. Barlow the next afternoon. She seemed rather tense.

  “Hi, Ms. Barlow. What’s the news?”

  “Well. Sophie Wexler has mononucleosis!”

  “What? Sophie’s sick?”<
br />
  “Yes, she’s out for a month! Don’t worry, darling, she’s not going to die. She just needs lots of rest, poor thing. But as for me—I have to replace her for this very important role! And guess who I’d like to replace her with?”

  “You mean—me?”

  Ms. Barlow nodded enthusiastically.

  “You want me to play the part of Miss Claudia Crumb?” Amanda shrieked happily. “Really?”

  “Yes! I think you’d do just fine in it! What do you say?”

  “Absolutely!” Amanda exclaimed. “Thank you so much! I can’t wait to get started!”

  That night at dinner, Amanda told her family the big news.

  “That’s wonderful, Manda! said Mom.

  “Ms. Barlow believes in you,” said Dad. “She sees that you have talent.”

  “Very raw talent, teased Molly.

  “That’s no way to talk to the sister who’s throwing you a party,” said Amanda. Then she clapped her hands over her mouth. She’d just given away the secret!

  “Huh?” asked Molly.

  “So it’s not a surprise? asked Mom, looking relieved.

  “Not anymore,” said Amanda, wincing.

  “A party? For me? Why?” asked Molly, looking around at everyone.

  “For your big game against Marine Park,” said Amanda. “It’s not a big deal; we’ll just have hot dogs and cupcakes and stuff. Okay?”

  “Cool,” said Molly. She smiled at Amanda. “Thanks!”

  After dinner, the twins went upstairs to check their e-mail. They were surprised to see that Shawn still hadn’t written. Amanda asked Mom if she and Molly should call Shawn.

  “Not tonight, sweetie,” replied Mom. “Her family’s going through a tense time. I’ll call Shawn’s dad in the morning, though, and I’ll pass on your good wishes.”

  “Okay,” agreed Amanda. “Well, I guess I’ll go send out the invitation to Molly’s party now.” She headed back to the den and began to type, even though her heart felt too heavy to concentrate on a party.

  After rehearsal the next day, Amanda hurried to her locker to get her books. Rehearsal hadn’t gone very well. Amanda felt overwhelmed by how many new lines she had to learn—and the play was only one month away!

  She saw Angie up ahead, leaning against the lockers with Sara Schneider and Monica Timboli, two tough eighth-graders who wore a lot of makeup. They’d been chewing gum and talking loudly, but they suddenly got very quiet when Amanda arrived at her locker.

  Amanda’s heart started pounding as the girls began to whisper and giggle. She grabbed her books as quickly as she could, not even taking the time to put them into her backpack. She closed the door, hooked on the lock, and turned to go.

  Had the girls moved closer to her?

  Suddenly, they seemed to be right in her face.

  Amanda tried to smile as if nothing were wrong, but as she tried to walk, her left shoe didn’t move right away. It was stuck to the floor.

  With a huge wad of pink gum.

  “Oh, would ya look at that,” said Angie, pointing. “Whatta shame. Ha ha!”

  She rolled her eyes as if to say, Loser!

  Amanda began to shake. Suddenly, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion with the sound off.

  Don I cry, don’t cry, Amanda told herself. What am I gonna do how am I gonna get out of here I can’t walk all the way down the hall with gum sticking to me...

  Something made her look up. The girls were now casually walking away, as if they’d done nothing at all.

  You’re not getting away with this, Angie, thought Amanda. Not this lime.

  Amanda threw her backpack to the floor—SLAM!—to make the girls turn around.

  It worked.

  “At least I didn’t get held back a year at school, Angie, ” Amanda heard herself saying. It was as if someone else was speaking through her, making her lips move. Her voice didn’t even sound like her own.

  Then she was shouting, her voice echoing down the long hallway. “We know all about it, Angie! It’s not a secret!”

  chapter 9

  “Ohmygosh! cried Molly in the twins’ bedroom when Amanda got home. ”Ohmygosh. Amanda! I can’t believe you said that! I can’t believe she did that!

  “I know,” said Amanda, shaking her head.

  “Then what happened?”

  “She just turned and kept walking, Molly. That was it. The other girls gave her a weird look, like, Is that true about you? I got out of there fast. And then I ran all the way home!”

  “So—how do you feel now? Are you glad you said it?”

  Amanda looked down at the floor. “You know, when I fantasized about saying something like that to her before, I thought it would feel good. But now that I’ve really said it, it doesn’t feel good at all. Mom would be so bummed at me. Don’t tell her.”

  “I won’t,” Molly assured her. “Gee. I hope Angie doesn’t do anything to get you back.”

  “Me, too,” said Amanda, shrugging. “What can she do?”

  The twins were silent. But both were thinking, Angie could do plenty.

  “Come on, let’s check our e-mail,” Molly fold Amanda. “It’s Friday night. Let’s forget about Angie.”

  To: mooretimes2

  From: Ruth Jordan

  Re: from Shawn

  The twins wrote back right away.

  To: Ruth Jordan

  From: mooretimes2

  Re: for Shawn

  Shawn wrote back a few minutes later.

  To: mooretimes2

  From: Ruth Jordan

  Re: from Shawn

  Shawn hit SEND, then checked her e-mail. Once again, her mailbox was empty. Angie had never bothered to answer Shawn’s e-mail!

  So much for Angie, thought Shawn sadly. I was even willing to give her another chance.

  On Saturday night, the twins went with Dad to pick up Shawn at the airport.

  “How’s Crandma Buthie? Molly and Amanda asked, giving Shawn a hug.

  Shawn looked tired, but she smiled. “I have some good news. She’s better now. Just since this morning. She might be going off the oxygen soon. They say it’ll take a little while, but she’ll improve.”

  “Oh, good,” said Dad and the twins. They were relieved to see Shawn smiling.

  “Thanks for picking me up, Mr. Moore,” said Shawn, as Dad placed her suitcase in the trunk of the car.

  “It’s not a problem, Shawn,” said Dad with a grin. “You’re like family!”

  Shawn shyly looked down at the ground and smiled. “Thanks.”

  The girls talked nonstop all the way home, and drove Dad crazy flipping the radio station every time a song came on they didn’t like.

  “...so anyway, that’s how I got the bigger part in the play.” Amanda had breathlessly told Shawn all about the latest developments.

  “You’ll love the T-shirts we got at Lulu’s Closet for the show,” Molly told Shawn. “We had our names put on them at the mall. They look so great!

  “Oh! I promised I’d make the Texas sheet cake for the show,” said Shawn suddenly, as Dad pulled up to the house.

  “So we’ll make it together, tomorrow,” said Amanda. “No big.”

  “But you don’t have a jelly roll pan,” said Shawn with a big sigh. “We’ll have to go to my house and get one. Does Good Day, America have the other one we’ll need? Did anyone think to ask Ms. Dupree that?

  “We did tell her,” Molly assured Shawn. “We gave her a complete list of the food, seasonings, and equipment we’ll need for the demonstration. And we’re bringing the cake, a baked pan of lasagna, and a roasted chicken that they’ll warm up for us, to take out of the oven for the ‘magic of television’ part...Are you okay?”

  Shawn sighed. “I’m panicking. I didn’t write my history paper, and I barely studied for the science test on Tuesday. I couldn’t concentrate, you know? I have so much to do tomorrow, and then the show’s the morning after that! I’m really getting nervous about being on TV.”

  “But
at least with you, it won’t show,” chuckled Molly. “You’re the cool, calm, collected type, remember?”

  As if, thought Shawn.

  Later that night, the girls were hanging out in the twins room, painting each other’s toenails. The house was quiet because everyone else was asleep. Shawn had curled up in her bed, the one that folded out of the twins’ big armchair.

  “So, Shawn, there is a little more news that we didn’t tell you in the car,” began Amanda, who was perched on the window seat, holding her old stuffed giraffe.

  “What else? You got a bigger part in the play, Molly got a hit, and you all had the pre-interview. How’d I miss so much in less than a week?” joked Shawn.

  “This is big,” said Molly. “Amanda had a run-in with Angie, and—and, well, did you know that—” She looked at Amanda, not sure what to say next.

  “Know what?” asked Shawn, sitting up in the bed.

  “Did you know that Angie was held back a year?”

  Shawn didn’t answer right away. She finally asked, “How did you know that?”

  “So you did know.”

  “Uh-huh, Angie told me. Who told you?”

  “Nella Zapolsky was spreading it around the locker room.

  “Oh, boy,” said Shawn with a heavy sigh. “I hope Angie doesn’t think I told you. I promised I wouldn’t tell anybody, and I haven’t”.

  Molly shrugged. “Well, it’s not like getting held back a year is, you know, a tragedy. It happens sometimes. Plus, when you’re all grown up, it won’t matter anyway.”

  “I know,” said Shawn. “I wonder how Nella found out?

  “From someone at Saint Theresa’s, Angie’s old school,” replied Amanda. “This is what happened. I was about to leave school after rehearsal, and I ran into Angie and those two tough eighth-graders she hangs out with. And...”

  Even though Shawn was tired from a difficult week, she had a hard time sleeping after hearing Amanda’s story. I just know Angie’s gonna blame me, she thought. Oh, well, if she does, I’ll just set her straight, that’s all. No big. I guess. I hope...