“The recipe’s on the back of the Splenda box,” Diane said. “Fifty calories per brownie. I’ve made two batches. Try one.”
Amelia bit into a still-warm brownie. “You used the coupon already?”
“I whipped up to Safeway while you were having your facial. I saved sixteen dollars on the Splenda and Tide and toothpaste. And guess who was in the line behind me?”
“Who?”
“Our next-door neighbor.”
“You mean Miss Snobby?” Amelia poked her finger through the bars of Beaker’s cage and said, “Hey, Beaker,” but he was nibbling on a spinach leaf and ignored her.
“She’s not snobby at all,” Diane said. “And her name is Marguerite. I think she’s shy. We had a nice little chat about her flowers, and she’s going to come over for iced tea tomorrow. I’ll give her some brownies. She was very impressed with my coupons.”
“Mom? The sixteen dollars you saved? Can half go to Gabriella and Duke?”
“Oh,” Diane said. “Well, okay. That’s fair. You can give them some brownies too. I don’t want you going back down there tonight though. Wait till morning. And before you go to bed, wash all that stuff off your eyes. It’ll stain your pillow.”
Her mom was being very cool about the makeup, Amelia decided as she grabbed another brownie. Very un-Mom. Maybe some of Gabriella’s style was rubbing off.
“What on earth?” Diane said, staring out the kitchen window.
Amelia was supervising her strawberry Pop-Tart in the toaster (on weekends breakfast was anything goes), and it took her a few seconds to get to the window.
At least a dozen T-shirts lined the clothesline in the backyard, each one so riddled with holes that it looked like it was made out of lace. Tattered, falling-apart, almost-see-through lace.
“Are those Duke’s?” Diane said. “It looks like someone’s been using him for target practice.”
“They’re bedding for Zak and Lysander and the ferrets. They like to chew them.”
“Marguerite must be having a fit having to look at that. It’s an eyesore. Tell Gabriella she’ll have to finish drying them inside. And don’t forget I want you to meet Marguerite. She’s coming at three.”
Amelia put six brownies on a plate and grabbed the four toonies that her mother had left for Gabriella. But when she got to the apartment door, she slammed to a halt. She could hear Gabriella’s voice, shrill and angry, through the open kitchen window.
“You are crazy! Crazy! You borrow money from someone you do not even know? C’est insupportable! What are you thinking?”
“I know him now,” Duke said. “We worked together all night. He’s a good guy. I can tell.”
“So? You tell him we are broke while you are pumping gas? You are begging now? What will he think of us?”
“He doesn’t think anything. I told you, he’s a good guy. We just started talking, and somehow it came up that I didn’t have quite enough for the rent. I wasn’t begging. And he said he could lend me some.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred bucks.”
Amelia heard Gabriella’s breath come out in a whoosh. She felt like a spy, but she was frozen to the spot.
“Domenico said we can pay it back in a few weeks. It’s not a big deal.”
“Domenico? Domenico? What is his last name?”
“Something like Bellizi. Or maybe Bellizo. I don’t remember.”
“Mon dieu! He is Italian!”
“So? What does that mean?”
“It means that he could belong to the Mafia! Have you never heard of the Mafia shooting people’s knees when they do not pay them back?”
Amelia felt cold with shock. But Duke burst into laughter. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Not to mention totally bigoted. I’m going out.”
The door flung open before Amelia could flee. Her cheeks flamed, but Duke just gave her a friendly grin.
“Hey,” he said. “Just what I ordered.”
He grabbed the biggest brownie and disappeared.
“The Mafia!” Roshni squealed. “That is seriously scary!”
“I know.” Amelia took a slurp of her Blizzard and watched Liam approach their booth, balancing fries, onion rings, a cheeseburger and a giant Coke.
“God, Liam,” Roshni said. “It’s not even eleven o’ clock. Is that supposed to be breakfast?”
“Hey,” Liam said, “Dad’s treating.” Liam’s dad had given him twenty-five bucks and told him to take his friends to Dairy Queen to celebrate the end of school.
Twenty-five bucks, and it wasn’t even his birthday. Amelia thought it would have been better to put it in Gabriella’s pickle jar. Gabriella kept the jar on the kitchen counter, with random change in it, and had dropped the ten-dollar bill from the day before into it as well as the toonies Amelia had given her that morning.
“Is there any change?” Amelia said, thinking of the jar.
“Not much. You girls are expensive dates.”
This is such a waste of good money, Amelia thought glumly as she sucked up the last of her Blizzard.
“Dates?” Roshni said. “You wish.”