“Maybe…” Nixie said slowly. “This weekend? Would you like to come over? I bet my dad would take us bowling.”
Vera’s face lit up. “I love bowling! Well, I’ve never been bowling. But I know I would love it!”
“I think you’d love it, too,” Nixie said.
She and Vera were more different from each other than she and Grace had ever been, but opposites could attract. And she and Grace were more different from each other now than they used to be, but maybe, just maybe, they could be friends again.
AFTER school the cafeteria was almost as crowded as it had been for the bake sale. Chefs Maggie and Michael had draped the long tables with colorful tablecloths and covered three of the four cafeteria walls with travel posters: the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Aztec pyramids, African beaches dotted with thatched-roof bungalows, and the Taj Mahal. The international foods the campers had made all week were ready in warming pans over low heat to be served cafeteria-style. And Nixie and Vera, Boogie and Nolan, and the other cooking campers had made every bite of it.
Boogie’s mother turned out to be a round, comfortable-looking woman with big, untidy hair, and a big, toothy smile. His three little brothers were miniature Boogies, racing from table to table, as their mother kept calling after them, “Walk! Don’t run!” and “Don’t touch any of the food! Nothing at all! I mean it!” Nixie and Vera grinned at each other.
Wearing a plum-colored suit this time, Vera’s mother joined them at their table.
“Nixie, Nolan, Brewster, how lovely to see you again,” she greeted them.
“It’s Boogie, Mother,” Vera corrected. “He likes to be called Boogie.”
“Well, it’s nice to see the three of you,” Mrs. Vance said, with a special smile at Boogie, despite his unfortunate choice of name. “And the food you’ve made looks divine!”
Nixie tried not to mind that Grace and Elyse weren’t there. If Grace was sick, she was sick, and Vera was probably right that Nixie’s cookies weren’t to blame. Or maybe Grace wasn’t sick, but she hadn’t felt like coming. Or maybe she and Elyse were busy getting ready for another sleepover Nixie wasn’t going to be a part of.
Then she saw them, dropped off by Grace’s mom, who for some reason wasn’t at work. And Grace was on crutches!
“They did come!” Nixie exclaimed.
“See?” Vera gave Nixie a quick hug.
“Everyone likes free food!” Boogie added.
Nolan flashed Nixie a thumbs-up and a big smile.
Slowly Nixie rose from the table and walked over to greet Grace and Elyse.
“I tripped over Cha-Cha yesterday!” Grace told her. “And I hurt my ankle! And my mother thought it might feel better this morning, but it felt even worse, and so she had to take a personal day off from work so I could go to the doctor, and they had to take X-rays, and it took forever, and it’s not broken, just sprained, but my mother said I should stay home from school and give it a full day of rest, but I begged and begged to come to your feast, and then she said it was okay. But somebody else has to carry my tray for me!”
“I will!” Nixie said, just as Elyse said, “I will!”
“You both can,” Grace said, giving each of them a huge grin. “You can take turns.”
Long lines were starting to form for the food now. As Elyse dashed off to grab a tray for Grace, Nixie held back.
“I really am sorry,” she whispered to Grace. It wasn’t enough to say it in cookie language. She wanted to say it in real words, too.
Grace’s eyes glistened with tears. “I am, too. I just felt so left out that you were going to After-School Superstars without me. But then Elyse and I made you feel left out.” She paused. “Do you want to have a sleepover sometime? Just you and me? Now that my mom finally let me?”
Nixie felt herself beaming. “Yes! Just you and me! But then—maybe we could have another one, for you and me and Elyse and Vera, too.”
Grace beamed an even bigger smile back at her.
Half an hour later Nixie was as stuffed as stuffed could be, full of lasagna, enchiladas, nut stew and jollof rice, and saag aloo.
Chef Maggie tapped a spoon on a glass to call the room to silence.
“Let’s thank our student chefs for preparing this extraordinary Trip Around the World Feast for us today!” Chef Maggie paused for the applause. “And they’ve also starred in a brand-new episode of our Kids Can Cook video series, which we’ll post online next week. We’re going to give you a sneak preview of it right now.”
The cafeteria shades came down at the touch of a button and the lights dimmed. Projected on the one blank wall of the cafeteria, the video began with a panoramic sweep over a field of bright orange pumpkins, followed by a close-up of one huge, perfect pumpkin gleaming in the afternoon sunshine.
It was fine that Nixie’s team wasn’t going to be in the video. She didn’t need that Plan anymore.
But a few minutes into the video, after it seemed as if every other group of campers except for Nixie’s team had been shown, there Vera was, projected up on the wall.
“Make sure you take the time to do your work carefully,” said the voice of the narrator, as a larger-than-life Vera frowned over her perfect chopping. Nixie reached over and squeezed Vera’s hand as Vera’s mother gave her daughter a nod of approval.
“Precise measuring produces the best results.”
A larger-than-life Nolan scooped out an exact teaspoonful of salt.
“But don’t steal tastes in between!”
A larger-than-life Boogie popped a piece of pumpkin into his mouth, and the room broke out in gales of laughter.
“That’s me!” Boogie shouted proudly. “That’s me!”
The only one who hadn’t appeared in the video yet was Nixie. That was okay, Nixie told herself. Grace and Vera both liked her anyway. Nolan and Boogie liked her, too. And even Elyse was acting so friendly here at the feast. Actually, until the big fight at the bake sale, Elyse had acted friendly all along.
The video was almost over. The background music swelled ever louder in an end-of-movie way.
Then the last image came onto the wall: Nixie’s own larger-than-life face, stirring the pumpkin soup with her big movie-star smile, right before she had stirred so hard she burned her wrist.
Nixie couldn’t take her eyes off the girl in the video, who looked so strange, but so familiar, too: a girl with stubby braids who was having a wonderful time at an after-school cooking camp.
Surrounded by friends.
Nixie’s Favorite Recipe from Cooking Camp
Morning Glory Muffins
Be sure to get permission and assistance from an adult first.
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp salt
2 cups grated carrot
2 cups grated apple
½ cup coconut flakes
½ cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup sunflower seeds, shelled and unsalted
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup orange juice
⅓ cup honey
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup seedless raisins
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt).
Stir in carrots, apples, coconut flakes, walnuts and sunflower seeds so they are coated with the flour mixture.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, orange juice, honey, and oil.
Fold in the raisins.
Spoon into lightly greased muffin pan (the recipe makes 18 muffins).
Bake for around 18 minutes (a bit less for darker pans).
> Acknowledgments
I can’t express enough thanks to the children’s book superstars at Holiday House who helped make Nixie’s story as starry as could be. Margaret Ferguson is the editor every author dreams of, offering the perfect blend of encouragement and unfailingly insightful critique. Raina Putter and John Simko offered sharp-eyed corrections I would have otherwise missed. Kerry Martin created a delightful design for the series.
My superstar agent, Stephen Fraser, has cheered me on for book after book; his steadfast support means so much to me. Writer friends read drafts at every stage: heartfelt thanks to the Writing Roosters (Jennifer Bertman, Jennifer Sims, Laura Perdew, Vanessa Appleby, and Tracy Abell) and to Ann Whitehead Nagda, Leslie O’Kane, and Kate Simpson.
Grace Zong’s lively pictures bubble over with happy energy. I hug myself with happiness every time I look at them.
A plaintive Facebook query for a simplified saag recipe that could be made by ambitious third-graders yielded assistance from brilliant children’s author Varsha Bajaj. Yum!
Tanky-the-dog tested the dog biscuits—and the cat cookies, too. Human family members patiently sampled the other results from my test kitchen (the Morning Glory muffins ended up receiving their highest rating).
Finally, Wina Mortenson, hilarious children’s librarian in Galesville, Wisconsin, served as my expert on how to structure an after-school program, offering terrific suggestions that found their way into the finished book. It’s a joy to be able to claim her as a friend.
Nixie Ness Page 6
