Ice Cream Summer

by Megan Atwood

  All three judges looked confused. But this only made Sarah, Lizzie, Olive, and Peter all crack up. They knew it was a silly name. But it was a silly name that described their creation perfectly.

  They all high-fived each other, still laughing.

  The no-nonsense judge said, “We’ll let you know in the next couple of days whether or not you’ve won.”

  “Thank you!” Lizzie, Peter, Olive, and Sarah all said at the same time, making them break out into fresh giggles.

  Sarah had no idea if they even had a chance of winning. But she did know that she now had two new friends she couldn’t imagine summer without. And that was the best creation of all.

  CHAPTER 16

  All the Flavors in the World Can’t Compare to Living in New Amity

  One week later, Lizzie, Sarah, Olive, and Peter sat in the ice cream stand on break. They’d heard back from MOO and found out they had not won. Not even second place. Sarah was a little disappointed, but not surprised. She was sad about the zombie hayride, but it didn’t feel so important anymore. Plus, they still got to eat ice cream all summer. That was cool. At least that was what she kept telling herself.

  The morning had been completely dead, which wasn’t totally surprising. It was Sunday morning and a lot of people were at the town hall for Community Spirit. Most everyone in the town went there to share good news and heartaches, to support each other, and to find things they were grateful for.

  At exactly twelve o’clock, the bell they put out in front of the ice cream stand at lunchtime started dinging and Sarah startled. Community Spirit must be over. Sarah was glad they’d be busier now. Even though no one was surprised they’d lost, Sarah could see everyone’s disappointment in the slumps of their shoulders.

  “Come on, guys,” she said. “We have some ice cream to scoop!”

  Lizzie gave a small smile, and Olive nodded. They all walked out to the front of the stand.

  Hakeem stood first in line, holding on to a copy of the Daily News. He said to Lizzie with a big grin, “I’ll have the ‘Ice Cream Summers Make the Best Friends’ sundae.” He added, “I know Camila would have really liked this one.”

  Lizzie said, “Huh?”

  “The ‘Ice Cream Summers Make the Best Friends’ sundae, please,” Hakeem repeated, still beaming. He pointed to the paper. “I read about this fabulous creation in this paper.”

  More and more people—mostly adults—had started lining up behind him. Including Sarah’s mom and Mr. and Ms. Garrison and Olive and Peter’s dads. Sarah stared in astonishment at the line, which had started snaking down the road. She hadn’t even known this many people lived in New Amity!

  Peter said, eyeing the line, “We haven’t really put it up for sale. We don’t have a price for it.”

  “Hmm. I tell you what. Why don’t you let everyone pay you what they want for it? You’d be surprised what people will pay for great creations.” Hakeem smiled more. “Though, now that I think about it, that might be too much for me, the sundae. How about a vanilla cone?”

  Peter looked at Olive, who looked at Sarah, who looked at Lizzie. Sarah shrugged. Lizzie scooped the vanilla ice cream and put it on the cone that Sarah had grabbed. She passed it to Olive, who gave it to Peter to ring up.

  “Uh, that’ll be a dollar twenty-five,” he said.

  Hakeem chuckled. “Oh, no. I’ll pay what I would have paid for the sundae. Here’s fifty dollars. It’s worth every penny.” He handed Peter a fifty-dollar bill, took his cone, and walked away, smiling. Peter held on to the money and stared at the other three, looking as confused as Sarah felt.

  Aaron and Rachel were next. “Yes, we’ll have two ‘Ice Cream Summers Make the Best Friends.’ Only make one a chocolate-dipped cone and the other a Neapolitan cone, will you?” Aaron said. Lizzie and Sarah made the order, Olive gave it to them, and Peter rang them up.

  Rachel added, “We think this sundae sounds like the best thing ever. We’re really proud of all of you.” They left a hundred dollars on the counter, smiled at the four friends, then walked away.

  Beckett was next, and Sarah saw her mom beaming behind him. “Hey, guys,” Beckett said. “Ms. Shirvani here told me about your entry in the contest. So I wrote about it in the paper. Kids working at the coolest ice cream stand making the coolest ice cream sundae? Now that’s interesting. Especially the part where you’re trying to get a zombie hayride going. It’s too bad you didn’t win that contest.” He looked back at the line and smiled. “But it looks like that zombie hayride might happen anyway. Oh, and I want a triple fudge sundae.”

  Sarah’s mouth fell open. She’d just noticed: every single adult in line had a copy of the paper. And every single one was smiling at them.

  For the next hour, Sarah, Lizzie, Peter, and Olive ran around, getting people ice cream and watching as their fund for the zombie hayride grew. They helped Ms. Henderson and Stella, Noa from the grocery store, Mariko and Aldo, Sveta and Dani, and of course, Sheriff Hadley. He left three hundred dollars on the counter, and he winked at Sarah and tipped his hat. Sarah grinned so big, it almost hurt.

  Lizzie’s parents chipped in, Sarah’s mom, Peter and Olive’s dads . . . even Gloria gave them some of her babysitting money. She pulled down her sunglasses and looked over them at the four. “You’re lucky today I’m practicing being Mother Teresa for a play.” She winked and then yelled “ACTING!” as she walked away.

  After another hour of people asking for ice cream, the stand finally cleared out. Sarah’s heart was so full, it felt like it could burst. She knew how her mom felt now about that commercial.

  Peter counted the money while Sarah, Lizzie, and Olive waited impatiently. Or at least Sarah was impatient. She shifted from foot to foot until Lizzie gave her a look.

  Finally, Peter looked up, his eyes wide. “Uh, this is six thousand dollars right here.”

  For the second time that day, Sarah’s mouth flew open. That was one thousand dollars OVER what they needed for the hayride.

  “You guys . . . ,” she said at the same time that Olive said, “Whoa,” and Lizzie squeaked.

  Peter smiled. “I think it’s safe to say this fall we’ll be able to make a zombie hayride.”

  “WOOO-HOOOO!” Sarah shouted, and jumped in the air. All of them grabbed each other and hugged and, if Sarah was honest, maybe even cried a little.

  “We couldn’t have done this without you,” she said to Olive and Peter.

  Olive shook her head. “Thanks for letting us help with the stand. We’re lucky to have you as friends!”

  Lizzie said, “We’re the lucky ones!”

  Peter shook his head. “No, we definitely are.”

  “I swear I will beat you all up if you don’t get that we’re the lucky ones!” Sarah pretend-glared at them and they pretend-glared back. Then they dissolved in giggles. She looked at them and felt warm all the way through. Then she straightened up. “But enough goofing around. We need to put our heads together and figure out how to go about this zombie hayride!”

  The four of them took off their aprons, talking excitedly about ideas for the fall.

  As they left, Sarah took a look at the stand that had brought everyone together. She had been right. This really was the best. Summer. Ever.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  No book is written in a vacuum, and this one certainly is no exception.

  I want to thank my amazing agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette, first and foremost for getting me this opportunity and for being LITERALLY and LITERARILY the best agent ever. Joan—you are so truly awesome.

  A HUGE thank-you to my editor, Emma Sector, for her patience, insight, and enthusiasm throughout this whole writing process. Seriously—you all want Emma as your editor if you write anything at all. But she has to help me with the next three books first, so wait just a bit?

  I can’t thank Anne Ursu enough for her unending support and for her unthanked and unpaid job of talking me down and talking me through everything writing related. And . . . well, let’s be
real: everything. Did you know she is an actual angel? It’s true. A big thank-you to Sharon Kahnke, Shaun Murphy, Megan Vossler, Brett Kallusky, Jordan Brown, Natalie Harter, Patrick Jones, Jenny Halstead, Pete Webster, and many others—like Christine Heppermann and Laura Ruby!—who have been sources of constant support and awesomeness for years and years and years. See? It was all worth it! You’re in a book! Some of you have written books already, so this might not be as big a draw as I’m hoping. . . . Ahem. Anyway. Thank you, my loves.

  By that same token, I want to mention Ella Kahnke as a fan who has kept me writing for so many years now. Thank you, Ella! I can’t wait until I get to read your books in the years to come!

  Finally, always and forever, a thank-you to my family. From extended family like my awesome sister-cousin, Melanie, to immediate family like my brother, Scott, and sister-in-law, Marlie. And my AWESOME, GORGEOUS perfect nieces, Bri and Colette. And to my mom and dad, who have always supported me in ways huge, big, medium, and small. I love you all so much.

  Don’t miss Book 2:

  ONCE UPON A WINTER

  It’s winter in the orchard, and Peter is fed up. No one listens to him, and it’s so very cold! Then he thinks he’s discovered a magical portal to another world. Will that make everything better?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  MEGAN ATWOOD is a writer, editor, and professor in Minneapolis whose most recent books include the Dear Molly, Dear Olive series. When she’s not writing books for kids of all ages, she’s making new friends, going on zombie hayrides, and eating as much ice cream as she can. And, always, petting her two adorable cats, who “help” her write every book.

  ALADDIN

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Megan-Atwood

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Natalie-Andrewson

  VISIT US AT SIMONANDSCHUSTER.COM/KIDS

  Don’t miss the next Orchard Novel!

  ONCE UPON A WINTER

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  First Aladdin hardcover edition May 2017

  Text copyright © 2017 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Natalie Andrewson

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  Book designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena

  Cover designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena

  Cover illustration copyright © 2017 by Natalie Andrewson

  The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.

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  ISBN 978-1-4814-9047-4 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-9048-1 (eBook)