Boiling Point (9 page)

Suddenly, up the street, Amanda saw a familiar-looking ball cap.

Justin McElroy’s ball cap.

Justin was the new kid on Taft Street, The McElroys had recently moved to New York from Chicago. Justin was eleven, the same age as the girls. While Molly and Peichi thought he was no different from any other neighborhood kid, Amanda and Shawn thought he was pretty cute with his gelled reddish-brown hair and deep brown eyes. Like Peichi, he was the kind of person who always looked happy, even when he wasn’t smiling.

Earlier in the summer, a small electrical fire had ruined the McElroy’s kitchen. The McElroys had had to leave the house they’d just moved into so that the contractor could renovate the kitchen. Peichi’s parents had let them rent an apartment they owned nearby on Garden Street. And it was Mrs. Moore’s great idea to cook up a weeks supply of dinners for the McElroys, to help them out during that difficult time.

The girls had just started their cooking classes and formed their own weekly cooking club. They had had a blast cooking together with Mrs. Moore, and loved knowing that they’d been a big help to the McElroys. Then, they cooked a ton of food for Mrs. Moore’s surprise birthday party.

All that cooking gave Mrs. Moore another idea. She hired the girls to cook a weeks supply of dinners, since she was heading off on a long business trip. And Mrs. McElroy had told a neighbor about the girls and their cooking, which led to their second job.

Now they had Dish, their own business. It had all happened so fast—too fast. And while they were gaining jobs, they’d already lost two members—Natasha and Shawn. At least for now. And Peichi, sort of.

“Hi, Justin,” called Amanda.

Justin turned around. “Hi,” he said uncertainly.

“It’s Amanda,” said Amanda with a laugh.

“Right!” said Justin. He grinned. “Sorry. I can’t tell you and Molly apart yet.”

“So, are you all moved back into your house?” asked Amanda.

“Yeah, we’re back in. It feels good.”

“Great!” said Amanda.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

“So,” Amanda added casually, “what are you up to today?”

Justin shrugged. “Nothing much,” he said. “It seems like all the guys I know are on vacation. There’s not much to do.”

Ding!
A thought popped into Amanda’s head. “How would you like to make some money helping us cook?” she blurted out.

She almost gasped. Had she just asked Justin to cook with them?

“Cook with you?” asked Justin, surprised.

For a moment, Amanda thought he was making fun of her, and she wanted to disappear.

“Well,” said Amanda. She wanted to take it all back. Instead, she said, “It’s just that you told us once, when we ran into you at the supermarket, that you like to cook.” She quickly told him about Dish, and how they were down to just two cooks.

“Sure, why not?” replied Justin. “You guys helped my family. I owe ya one!”

Meanwhile, Peichi was in her room, moping about the trouble she’d gotten into.

“You’ve always been respectful of our rules,” her parents had said to her. “What made you do something like this?”

She sat on her bed and pulled the jade pendant out of its pouch. She put it on an old chain, tried it on, and modeled it in the mirror.

But it didn’t feel good to wear it.

She took it off, put it back in the pouch, and hid it in a drawer in her new desk. She wasn’t going to tell her parents she’d found it.

Not yet.

She’d probably just get into trouble again.

“M
rs. Tortelli called,” Molly told Amanda when Amanda got home from the dry cleaners. “She’s sick, and she asked if we would walk Casey.” Casey was her cute dog, a little beagle.

“Well. I guess that means me,” said Amanda.

“I wish I could go, too,” said Molly. “Are you going to take Casey to the dog run at the park?”

“Uh-huh,” said Amanda in a faraway voice.

“What’s up?” asked Molly. “What are you thinking about?”

“Oh.” said Amanda. “Well, I ran into Justin. And I asked him if he’d help us cook for these two jobs. And—he actually said yes!”

“What!” cried Molly. “I cant believe you asked him!”

“I can’t believe he said yes,” murmured Amanda.

“But,” protested Molly, “we don’t even know Justin. I dont want a boy in our group. It’ll be weird having him here.”

“It’ll be better than
not
having him here,” retorted Amanda. “We need him! And it’s just this once. He won’t be a permanent member of Dish.”

Molly didn’t say anything. She was too busy sulking.

Amanda didn’t really care. She had enough to worry about, like all the food they had to cook.
And Ihope I don’t do anything stupid around Justin
, she thought,
like a few weeks ago when I tripped and fell on my face, right in front of him and all of his friends!

“C’mon, Casey, we’re going to the dog run!” cried Amanda an hour later, as she jogged up the hill to the park. Casey trotted beside her.

There were only a few people at the dog run—a lady with her poodle, a group of teenagers watching a yellow lab play, a tall blond girl with her terrier...

Oh, no!
thought Amanda. The girl was Natasha.

It was too late to leave the dog run. Natasha had spotted Amanda at the same time.

Amanda waved limply, and Natasha eventually came over, with her dog, Willy, trotting behind her.

Luckily, the dogs helped break the ice. Amanda reached down to give Willy a pat as Natasha said, “Hi, Amanda, who’s this? Down, Willy!

“This is Casey, our neighbor’s dog. Say hi to Willy, Casey.”

Natasha and Amanda watched the dogs greet each other.

It was time for someone to say something.

“So, what’s new?” asked Amanda. “We missed you in class. We made pies and graduated and got chefs aprons with our names on them.”

“I know. Carmen called me to tell me they’re holding my apron for me at the store. I just got back from Cape Cod. Uh—how is everyone?”

Amanda cleared her throat. Should she tell Natasha everything? She didn’t want to be too chatty, as if nothing had gone wrong between them. But she said, “Well, Shawn’s dad had to go to Australia and New Zealand, so she went back down to South Carolina.”

“Really!”

“Yeah, and Peichi and Molly are grounded right now—”

“Wow! Why?”

“—and Dish got two more cooking jobs, and I’ll have to do a lot of the work. Luckily, Justin’s going to help us out.”

Natasha’s cold blue eyes widened. “Justin
McElroy?
Wow!”

“Uh-huh,” said Amanda, trying to sound casual.

Natasha stuffed her free hand into her cutoff shorts, something she always did when she was nervous. “Well.” she said, “if you need another cook, you know, uh, I could help you.”

Yeah, right!
Amanda thought.
There’s no way I’m trusting this girl again!

Amanda bent down to pet Casey.

She glanced back up and saw Natasha’s eyes, looking anxious.

Sad.

That’s why Amanda heard herself saying, “Sure, that would be great. Can you come over tomorrow morning?”

Oh my gosh!
Amanda thought.
What did I just say?!

Natasha brightened. “Yeah! I’ll be there!”

Suddenly, Amanda felt relieved. With four cooks, they could definitely handle all the work. And things wouldn’t be so awkward with Justin if another person was there, too.

“Great. Thanks.”

Natasha checked her watch.
“Oops
, I have to go to the dentist soon,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” She turned to leave, and then stopped. “Amanda?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry about ... everything. Not showing up to help you that time. Dropping out of Dish without telling you. All that stuff. I—I did everything wrong. And Ive—Ive missed you guys.”

“It’s okay. Natasha. See you tomorrow.”