Mom made us grilled-cheese sandwiches for lunch. Here are some things that are important to know so you can make grilled cheese the right way:
1. Cheddar cheese is the best kind of cheese—way better than American. If you don’t have cheddar cheese in the house, you can use Monterey Jack or mozzarella, but never ever use Swiss. It doesn’t taste good when it’s melted.
2. Don’t make the grilled cheese too fancy. For example, don’t add tomatoes the way they sometimes do in restaurants, because then it gets too drippy.
3. You should cut the crusts off because the cheese doesn’t always melt all the way up to the crust, and bread tastes better when there’s cheese on it.
My mom knows all these things about grilled cheese, so ours came out just right. Then Penny and I each got to have candy for dessert. After we finished, Penny asked if I would play with her in the backyard. I was waiting for Willa, and I told Penny I could be with her until Willa got there.
We were outside for just a couple minutes when we heard Maverick call out, “Hey Stella! Hey Penny!”
Maverick is six-and-a-half years old, which is right in between Penny and me, since she’s five and I’m eight. There’s a fence that separates his backyard from our backyard, and there’s a hole in the middle of the fence that’s too small for adults to go through, but kids can fit. Penny yelled back, “Come play with us!” and Maverick came through the hole.
“You cut your hair,” he told me.
“Yeah.”
“I might cut my hair too,” Penny said. “And also we have magic gum. Do you want some?”
“Sure,” Maverick said. Penny went into the house to get it. She had a whole new pack that Dad gave her when they were at Batts Confections, and she and Maverick each took a piece. I said I didn’t want any.
“It glows in the dark,” Penny said. “And it does other kinds of magic too.”
“Like could I turn you into a toad?” Maverick asked.
“Probably,” Penny said. “You have to chew your gum up good and make a wish for it, but you can’t say it out loud or it won’t come true.”
Maverick chewed so hard I could hear his teeth clinking inside his mouth. “Okay, I just made my wish,” he said.
Penny squatted down and started jumping. “Ribbit, ribbit,” she said.
“You know you’re not really a toad,” I told her. “That’s not even what toads say.”
“They do too,” she said.
“No,” I said. “Frogs say ribbit.”
“Actually I think they both speak the same language,” Maverick said.
Penny hopped around for a few more minutes, and then she said, “Okay, you can turn me back into a girl now.”
“Abracadabra,” Maverick said.
Really he should have closed his eyes to make a wish, but since Penny was just pretending, I knew it didn’t matter.
“Hooray, now I’m a girl again,” Penny said. “Let’s play hopscotch.”
“We don’t have any chalk left,” I reminded her. Penny and her friend Zoey and I had played hopscotch last weekend, and the chalk broke because Zoey pressed down on it too hard. Then the pieces were too small, so Mom threw them away. She said the next time she was at the art store, she’d get us some more.
“How about if we draw it with candy crayons,” Penny said.
“No, then we’ll get ants,” I told her.
“What about paint?” Maverick asked. “My dad bought some new paint for the den the other day, and there’s a lot left over.”
“I don’t think my mom will want us to use paint because it doesn’t wash off,” I said.
“We could do it in my backyard,” Maverick said. “It’s okay if it doesn’t wash off—then we’ll always have a hopscotch to play on, and we won’t ever need to have chalk.”
“That’s good, right Stella?” Penny asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “But when Willa gets here, can she come over too?”
“Sure,” Maverick said. He went to get the paint and Penny and I went to tell Mom where we were going to be. Then we met back in Maverick’s backyard.
The paint came in a big bucket. “I love this kind of blue,” I said. “It’s just like the color of blue gummy sharks. Are you sure your dad doesn’t need it?”
“Yup,” Maverick said. “He’s finished painting and he’s building shelves right now. I’m not supposed to go in the den because it’s under construction.”
“Where’s your mom?” Penny asked.
“She took Skye to play group,” he said. Skye is Maverick’s little sister.
“We need a paintbrush,” I said.
“Oh, I couldn’t find it,” Maverick said. “That’s why I didn’t bring it out.”
“I’ll go get one from our house,” Penny said.
But the problem was we only had eensy weensy paintbrushes at our house, like the kind for our watercolor set, and those wouldn’t be good for making the hopscotch boxes. “We need something else,” I said. And then I had a brilliant idea. “Penny, your braids! They’re like big paintbrushes!”
“Oh, goody,” she said. “See, it’s good I didn’t take my braids out!”
She bent down her head and dipped the tips of her braids into the paint. It made it look like her hair was coated in candy. It looked like when we dunk things in chocolate at the chocolate waterfall at Batts Confections. Except instead of chocolate, her braids were dunked in paint.
Maverick and I helped Penny crawl around and paint the hopscotch board. We had to dip Penny’s braids a bunch of times to finish it up. When it was all done, Maverick picked up a rock for us to use. “Who wants to go first?” he asked.
“I do,” Penny said. She took the rock from Maverick and tossed it into the first square. As she hopped from square to square I noticed that the blue paint had rubbed off on the back of her shirt, in splotches.
“I’ll go next,” Maverick said. “We’ll go in age order—youngest to oldest.”
Penny handed him the rock. I didn’t mess up the whole time,” she said. “It’s probably because Mav turned me into a toad before, so now I’m better at hopping.”
Willa came through the fence just when Maverick threw the rock into the second square. “Wow, Stella, your hair is so different,” she said. I’d almost completely forgotten all about my hair until she said that. I reached up to touch it. Even though I knew it was short, it was weird to feel it.
“We had to cut it,” I said. “I know it’s really short.”
“It is short,” Willa said, “but it looks good on you because your hair is straight and shiny.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Look, Willa!” Penny said. “We made a hopscotch board with my hair!”
“Cool,” Willa said.
“Mav can jump super long,” Penny said.
Willa pulled on my arm. “I have to tell you a secret later,” she said.
“Tell me now,” I said. Maverick was done with his turn, so I told Penny to go for me. Willa and I went through the fence to my backyard so I could hear her secret. “What is it?” I asked.
“My mom’s telling it to your mom right now,” Willa said.
“Then it’s not really a secret,” I said.
“Well, it kind of is, because not a lot of people know yet. Just me, my mom and dad, Spencer and Jackson, and your mom so far. Oh, and my dad’s boss, and I think my grandma and grandpa know too.”
“Tell me,” I said.
“We’re moving to a new house,” Willa said.
“Really? Where? I hope it’s closer to here.” Penny and Zoey are really lucky because they can walk to each other’s houses, but Willa and I have to drive.
“It’s in Pennsylvania,” Willa said.
I pictured the map of the United States that Mrs. Finkel tacked up to the back wall of our classroom. “But that’s all the way across the country!” I said. A best friend isn’t supposed to move across the country. If I were Penny, I would’ve stamped my feet and shouted, “It’s not fair!”
“I know, but my dad says we have to go for his job,” Willa said. “And the house will be bigger, so Spencer and Jackson won’t have to share a room. My mom says my room can be whatever color I want it to be.”
Mom came out to the backyard right then. “Hey girls,” she said.
“Willa’s moving,” I said. “And not just to another house in Somers. She’s moving to Pennsylvania!”
“I know,” Mom said. “Willa’s mom just told me. We’re going to miss you around here, Willa Go-Getter.” That’s the name Mom and Dad call Willa.
“I’m going to miss you too,” Willa said.
“But I think it’s all very exciting,” Mom said.
“Why are you saying that?” I asked. “I don’t think it’s exciting at all. I think she should just stay here.”
“We can talk about it later,” Mom said. “Where’s your sister?”
“She’s playing hopscotch with Maverick,” I said.
“Let me go check on her and then we’ll think of something really fun to do,” Mom said.
She walked over to the fence and stood on her tiptoes so she could peek over. Even regular grown-ups can’t fit through the hole, and since Mom has a baby inside her, she is really too big.
I turned back to Willa. I was going to tell her she didn’t have to move after all. Even if her dad got a new job, she could live with us. I wouldn’t mind sharing my room with her. Maybe Mom and Dad would even let us get bunk beds.
But before I could say anything, I heard Mom start to scream.