by Coco Simon
Allie texted back right away: Yay! Glad to hear it.
Tamiko didn’t respond. As I was closing my eyes, I told myself she was probably just studying, or working hard on some art project. She was always bedazzling or redesigning something. Maybe I should ask her to help me redo my room.
No, Sierra! said a little voice in my head. No more projects for now!
Everyone was yawning. Claire Bright, the student council president, yawned as she opened the meeting with the gavel. Vice President Vikram Kapoor yawned and stretched, and accidentally knocked his lunch bag off the table, spilling its contents all over the floor. And Treasurer Lee Murphy actually glared at me while yawning, as I uncapped my pen to begin taking notes.
I knew that seven o’clock in the morning was early to be at school for a meeting, but it wasn’t the end of the world. And it was only once, right?
“Sorry, guys!” I said again, even though I’d already apologized when we’d first arrived. The custodian, Mr. Lewis, had had to let us into the school because we were so early. He’d raised his eyebrows at us and pointed toward the math wing, where he’d already mopped the floors, indicating we could use one of those classrooms. “It’s just for today, okay?” I told the group.
“I needed to study for Spanish this morning,” Lee grumbled. “I have a HUGE test later today.”
“Yeah, and I had to get my mom to drive me because the bus doesn’t come this early, and she was mad,” said Vikram. “She had to bring my two little sisters along, and they were still in pj’s, and she had to get them ready for school and go to work.”
Claire, who was usually calm and unflappable, heaved a sigh. “We’re all tired, thanks to Sierra. But let’s try to have a productive meeting anyway, okay? Sierra, can you read the minutes from last meeting, please? And can you add something to this meeting’s notes about never having a before-school meeting again? Let’s put it in the bylaws.”
I wanted to crawl under the table. Was it really that bad to have had to come to school early for one morning? Weren’t they used to being flexible and juggling a few things at the same time?
Maybe not. Maybe none of them were juggling as many things as I was, and that’s why this seemed like such a big deal. I was the kind of person who rolled with the punches, but I knew not everyone was like that.
I stopped myself from apologizing yet again and began reading the previous meeting’s notes. We had a job to do. But I did make a mental note that not everyone was going to bend over backward to accommodate my schedule. And I would make sure to put the rest of the year’s student council meetings in permanent marker in my planner as soon as possible.
“First on the agenda,” said Claire, suppressing another yawn. “Spring fair. I vote for a sleepathon.”
“I second the motion,” said Lee.
It was a relief to get to lunch and see Tamiko and our other friend MacKenzie, who was new to Martin Luther King Middle School and sat with us a lot. She hadn’t replaced Allie as our third amiga, but she was really nice and fun. And I always thought, the more the merrier, anyway. Especially in the cafeteria.
All three of us had bought lunch today, and unfortunately, it was mac and cheese. Most schools could make a decent mac and cheese (how hard was pasta with cheese, seriously?), but not MLK. Our lunch was both gluey and gritty, which were two things that no one felt like tasting after a long morning of learning.
MacKenzie stabbed at her lunch with her fork. “I need to get up earlier,” she said. “My mom says she’s done packing lunches for me, so if I don’t want to eat the school’s lunch, I need to pack one myself. But today I hit the snooze button.”
“How long is your snooze button?” Tamiko asked. “It doesn’t take that long to pack a lunch.”
MacKenzie grinned. “Well, I hit it, like, four times. . . .”
We all laughed, then looked dejectedly at our lunches again.
“Speaking of early,” I said, “I had to drag the whole student council in this morning to meet because I’ve got my first lighting rehearsal after school. I think they’re all really mad at me. Lee Murphy won’t even talk to me.”
MacKenzie shook her head. “They shouldn’t be mad at you! It’s their job. Right?”
“It’s their job to meet after school, not before,” said Tamiko. “It’s Sierra’s job to make sure she can do all the things she’s promised to, not make everyone else work around her.”
MacKenzie’s eyes flashed sympathy at me, and she seemed to wait to see if I was going to respond.
“I made it work,” I said, keeping my voice even and calm. I felt stung by Tamiko’s words but didn’t want to overreact. She always spoke bluntly, and generally didn’t mean things quite the way they sounded. And I was probably sensitive about it anyway because of our fight the other day. But since Tamiko had been the one to come up with the forgiveness float, I was pretty sure that deep down everything was okay.
Tamiko appeared not to notice my discomfort or MacKenzie’s sympathy. Instead she held her phone up at a strategic angle to get a picture of our lunches. “I’m going to send this to Allie. I bet they’re not eating this glop over at Vista Green.”
The big joke we had with Allie was that she’d “upgraded” when she’d changed schools this year, after her parents had divorced and her mom moved to the next town over. Vista Green had a brand-new building, with state-of-the-art classrooms and materials, and it even had super-yummy food.
A second later Tamiko’s phone buzzed, and she held it so MacKenzie and I could read it. There was a photo with a delicious-looking plate of food on it, and the caption: Eggplant rotini and fresh green salad. Wanna trade?
I grabbed the phone and texted back: This is Sierra. I love you, Allie, but I’d trade YOU for that lunch!
Allie responded with a string of emojis and a selfie of her taking a big bite of the rotini.
“I miss her,” I said wistfully. Even though I still had Tamiko, and MacKenzie was great, and I got to see Allie every Sunday, it wasn’t the same as having her at school with me every day and living a bike ride away. Allie and I had spent so much time together in elementary school and sixth grade, and now we had to schedule time together. It just wasn’t the same.
Tamiko nodded. “I miss her too,” she said. “Allie is our glue! She keeps us all together. Right, Si?”
I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but yes, Allie was kind of the mediator sometimes between Tamiko and me, since we occasionally butted heads because we were so different. MacKenzie was still a new enough friend that she didn’t get involved.
Tamiko’s phone buzzed again, and Tamiko quickly read the message out loud to us. “The weather’s going to be really warm this weekend. You know what that means! Warm weather means everyone will want ice cream! Lots of customers at Molly’s! Please be on time—early if you can make it!”
I said nothing but took a large forkful of mac and cheese. I knew what was coming.
“She means you,” Tamiko said to me.
“I know,” I replied. “Don’t worry! I texted you last night—I made a really great schedule for myself for the week, and I’m sticking to it. I will be everywhere I need to be, when I need to be there. I promise.”
I made sure there was a smile in my voice when I said it, but even so, I caught MacKenzie throwing me another sympathetic glance. I was definitely going to have to watch myself with Tamiko for a few days. I may have been forgiven, but the episode hadn’t been forgotten.
CHAPTER THREE
LEAD SINGER?
Thanks to all the careful planning I’d done Monday night, my week went by almost flawlessly. I managed to get to all of my sports practices, meetings, and lighting rehearsals, and completed all of my homework. My science test even seemed to go pretty well, although I bet Isa got a higher score because she went to that extra study session.
Feeling organized and on top of things for once, I glided into Molly’s Ice Cream parlor on Sunday ready to enjoy a fun work shift with my friends. I
’d missed Allie terribly all week and wanted to make sure I spent some extra time catching up with her.
Allie was already there behind the counter. She looked up when the bell tinkled and I walked in, and she flashed me an enormous smile. “Sierra! You’re here!”
While I was glad to be so joyously welcomed, I couldn’t help feeling slightly prickly inside. I was always there for my shift. Yes, I’d missed a few minutes here and there, but I’d never canceled or bailed on anyone.
“I’m here,” I said quickly. “Where’s Tamiko?”
Allie giggled. “You beat her here. But don’t make a big deal out of it.”
I laughed too. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”
Allie and I refilled the toppings together and checked all the ice cream flavors to make sure none were low and needed to be replaced. While we worked, I filled her in how much fun I was having being the lighting director for the school play.
“I never would have pictured you as the lighting director,” Allie said. “You’re so sunny and bubbly! I would have thought you’d be onstage.”
I shrugged. It was hard to explain how much I liked the precise work of following the script and knowing every lighting cue, and making sure the spotlight was always exactly where it needed to be, when it needed to be there. Maybe it was partly my math brain that enjoyed it.
Tamiko breezed in two minutes before one o’clock. She was wearing a terrific fringy crocheted vest that looked like she’d made it herself.
“Great vest, Tamiko!” I said, hoping to keep the conversation off my punctuality and on more interesting things . . . like hanging out together.
“Thanks!” she said, beaming. “I’ve been working on it for days. My aunt gave me some yarn and a pattern book, and I watched a bunch of crochet how-to videos online, then gave it a try.”
“If it’s not too hard, will you make me one?” I asked.
“Sure!” she said. “You know I love to spread my style around.”
The three of us joked around a bit together, and Allie put on some upbeat music. A few of our nicest regular customers came in—a family with twin boys who always ordered one of Tamiko’s custom concoctions, the It Takes Two sundae; and an older couple who liked to try something new every time they came.
We were having such a good time, it was like the previous weekend had never happened. I smiled at everyone who came in. Even my math calculations (I always tried to add up the orders and make change in my head, even though the register did it for me) came quickly and easy.
After a while Mrs. Shear came out front and was pleased to see several happy customers sitting at tables inside and outside Molly’s on this unusually warm day enjoying their ice cream. There was no line, so she pulled us all together behind the counter to talk.
“Girls, I have some good news,” she said. “Business has been great lately, and a huge part of that is because of you three! So I had an idea for something nice I can do for you. I’m going to start an Employee of the Month program. Each month I’ll choose one of you girls or one of our two college employees, the person who has gone above and beyond the call of duty, and I’ll give you a little something extra. Maybe cash, maybe a day off, or maybe a little prize—I haven’t decided yet.”
Allie, Tamiko, and I looked at one another and spontaneously hugged. This was the best news ever!
“Thank you, Mrs. S.!” Tamiko gushed. “This is such a great idea. It will bring out the best in all of us. I know it.”
Mrs. Shear grinned. “Well, I think you already give your best, but I’ll take it. Now I’m heading backstage again, but holler if you need me.”
Allie, Tamiko, and I did a little happy dance together, discussing what else being employee of the month might include. A picture of the employee on the wall? A special ice cream flavor named after the employee?
We were chatting so much that I hardly noticed when a bunch of customers came in all at once.
Tamiko snapped to attention to take their orders, and I began adding the items up in my head, not letting myself use the register. As I calculated, I hummed, because it helped me concentrate.
I must have been humming more loudly than usual because I saw Tamiko and Allie exchange an amused look.
“Sierra is our little songbird,” Tamiko explained to our customers. “Luckily, she has a nice voice, or it might get on our nerves, because she hums and sings all the time.”
Tamiko rolled her eyes when she said it, but in a good-natured way that let me know she really did like my humming.
I tugged on her apron playfully. “You’re just jealous that you can’t sing as well as IIIIII can, la, la, la!” I sang to her.
A girl who was waiting for a Rockin’ Rocky Road double scoop studied me. “You really do have a nice voice,” she said. The girl had red hair and freckles, which looked cool and chic. Her red hair was slicked up into a tight, high ponytail, and she wore shiny clear lip gloss. “Do you sing?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. Wasn’t it obvious that I sang? I mean, I was just doing it.
The girl must have sensed my confusion, because she added, “I mean, do you really sing, like in a choir or a band, or take voice lessons?”
“Oh,” I said. “Um, well, no. I mean, I sing all the time, when I’m working, or in the shower, or doing homework. And I hum when I take tests, which drives people nuts, but I’m not in a choir or anything.”
“She’s in the school play,” Allie interjected, sounding like she was defending me, even though there was no need to. The girl had just asked a question.
I laughed and whacked Allie on the shoulder. “You goof,” I said. “I’m the lighting director. Not one of the stars.”
The red-haired girl laughed and said, “It’s not a trick question or anything. I’m asking because I’m in an all-girl band, and we’re looking for a lead singer. I like your voice a lot. Would you come and audition for us?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Someone wanted me to sing for real? For their band?
“Lead singer? Me?” I asked incredulously. “You can’t be serious.”
Tamiko elbowed me sharply in the ribs to let me know I was not being a very cool cucumber about the whole thing. “What’s the name of the band?” she asked, to give me a minute to compose myself.
“The Wildflowers,” the girl said. “I’m Reagan, by the way, and I play the drums.”
“I like your band name,” said Tamiko. “How’d you come up with it?”
Reagan looked thoughtful for a moment. “You know, I can’t really remember! No special reason. It’s not like we’re actually wild or anything. We just liked how it sounded.”
I laughed as I handed her the change. “I’m Sierra,” I said, my mind still reeling from the mention of the word “audition.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Sierra. What do you think? Are you interested?”
I hesitated, and not because I wasn’t interested. I most definitely was. I just felt put on the spot and needed a minute to process things. “Can I think about it, Reagan? It’s not something I’ve ever even considered before!”
“And Sierra’s involved in a lot of other activities already,” Tamiko chimed in, looking pointedly at me.
I felt a stone drop in my stomach. Tamiko was right. I had made it through this past week, but only by being way more organized than I wanted to be.
Reagan nodded. “I get it,” she said. She grabbed a napkin and wrote something on it. “Here’s my number. If you decide you’re interested, send me a text, okay? Don’t even think of it as an audition. Just think of it as coming to sing and jam with a few friends. We’re all really low-key. I promise.”
“Okay. I’ll think about it,” I said. Then I quickly grabbed a spoonful of sprinkles and dusted the top of her cone with them. “Here—you can’t leave without your little sprinkle of happy,” I said, which was a customer tradition Allie and Tamiko and I had started.
Reagan took a bite. “Yum. Very happy. Nice to meet you! I hope I
hear from you, Sierra.”
And just like that, she was gone. I turned to look at my friends. Allie, who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the conversation, had her jaw hanging open.
“Sierra! The lead singer in a band? I think you just got discovered,” she said, grabbing my hands and holding them as she jumped up and down. “Can you believe this?”
I was pleased that Allie was so happy, but I didn’t even know how I felt about it yet. Plus, I was slightly embarrassed at being singled out for something I’d done without meaning to. “Not so fast, Allie. I don’t even know if I want to try out.”
But even as I said the words, I was already picturing it in my mind: The Wildflowers—starring lead singer Sierra Perez!
“Sierra, you have to try out. You just have to. I’ll go with you if you want,” Allie offered.
I looked at Tamiko, who’d been so cheerful and fun, like her old self, all afternoon. Now there was a slight frown on her face. “It is really cool, Sierra,” she said. “And you do have a great voice. But do you really have room in your life for one more thing? Remember your promise to Molly’s!”
I did remember my promise: I wouldn’t add anything more to my plate. And I’d also just had the best work day ever with my two best friends.
I would have to think very, very carefully.
CHAPTER FOUR
SISTERLY ADVICE
At home in my bedroom that night, I sat once again with my planner, looking at my upcoming week and making sure I was slotting in enough time for homework, projects, and my other commitments. Each day of the week was jam-packed with notes and scribbles and reminders of things I had to do and where I had to be. But when I asked myself What could I cut out? the answer was always Nothing. Because I loved each and every activity and had so much fun doing them!
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. I didn’t particularly enjoy studying or homework, but those weren’t optional. And I didn’t enjoy being this organized either—I liked to go with the flow. But I couldn’t afford another slip-up. I needed to be responsible.
