Sweet-and-Sour Summer #9

Monday after school. Natasha and Elizabeth walked home together. Elizabeth was still so upset that she couldn’t stop talking about the cheerleading competition.

“It had to be Angie,” Elizabeth said angrily. “She’s the only person on the squad who, like, hates me. What is her problem,anyway? I never did anything to her!” She paused to take a deep breath.

“Angie’s just a jerk,” Natasha replied simply. “Who knows why? She’s been awful to Amanda ever since they met. And Amanda and Shawn have been friends forever.”

Natasha sighed. “That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out all year.” She quickly changed the subject. “Do you want to hang out? We could make some popcorn.”

When Natasha went inside, she found her mother sitting in the living room, the lacquered coffee table in front of her covered with travel brochures, maps, and guide-books. “Sweetheart, I’m glad you’re home. Daddy and I need to talk to you,” she said with a big smile as she noticed Natasha in the doorway. “David!” she called to Natasha’s father, who appeared from the den.

“What’s all that?” Natasha asked, her heart sinking as she saw a thick book about France on the table. She had been hoping that her mother would change her mind about the vacation.

“Sweetheart, guess what? We’re going to France—just the two of us!” Mrs. Ross sounded so excited that Natasha had to smile back at her, even though she was thinking, So it’s really going to happen.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to stay in New York and work, sweetheart,” Mr. Ross said. He was smiling, but his eyes looked sad. “I can’t get away from my job for a whole month to go with you. But I know you two girls will have a wonderful time gallivanting around Paris!”

Natasha didn’t know how to respond. She wanted to be as excited about the trip as her mother was, but the thought of leaving her father behind made her feel so sad. She took a deep breath.

“Isn’t there, um, any way that we could all vacation together?” she ventured. “Like, if Mom and I go to the Cape like we usually do, and Dad comes up on the weekends?” Immediately after she spoke, Natasha knew she’d said the wrong thing. Her mother looked down and sighed deeply. Oh, great, Natasha thought. Now Mom’s upset.

Her dad tried to make things right. “Now, Natasha, I’ll miss you too, sweetheart,” he said gently. “But this vacation is a wonderful opportunity! Your mother and I are going to a lot of effort to plan this special trip for the two of you.”

“Natasha, come sit next to me,” Mrs. Ross said, patting the couch. “There’s so much we have to plan! Besides all the wonderful sights in Paris, I’d love to take one of these afternoon painting classes in the French countryside. How does that sound? Would you enjoy that?”

“Hang on a minute,” Mr. Ross said with a smile. “I have a little surprise for you girls.” He left the room and quickly returned with two small presents.

“Why, David, what’s this?” Mrs. Ross seemed as surprised as Natasha was. They quickly opened their presents. Mrs. Ross’s was a small set of watercolor paints and a pad of watercolor paper, and Natasha’s was a leather-bound travel diary with maps on the cover.

“So many great artists and writers have come from France,” Mr. Ross said with a smile, “that I thought these supplies might come in handy for your trip!”

An hour later, Molly was hanging out in the kitchen, studying for her math exam, when the phone rang. Normally Amanda always grabbed the phone first, but today Mom had taken her shopping for things she’d need for camp.

Natasha took a deep breath. “I’m going to France in a few weeks. With my mom. She’s planned this whole trip for us. And my dad’s not going because we can’t afford—he needs to stay home and work.”

“Well, that’s the bad part,” Natasha said slowly. “We’re going for over a month. No one even asked me if I wanted to go. I really wanted to stay and do Dish with you. I mean, I’m lucky to get to go to France, but there were other things I wanted to do with my summer, you know? I’m really sorry, Molly.”

“No, Natasha, don’t worry about it,” Molly replied quickly. “It’s not your fault. You’re gonna have such an awesome time! I would love to go to France!”

“No, it’s fine,” Molly said. “Really. Anyway, listen, I have to study a little more for my math test tomorrow. I’ll see you in school, okay?”

This stinks, Molly thought as she slowly hung up the phone. Suddenly she didn’t feel like studying, so she wandered into the den and turned on the computer. I’ll be stuck here alone all summer. Everyone is going to have these amazing summers—great vacations,going to camp—andI’ll be so bored and lonely. Why didn ’t I find a camp to go to when Amanda started talking about that stupid drama camp?Maybe it’s not too late...Maybe I can find one online and Mom and Dad will let me go.

“Hey, Molls!” she announced. “What’re you doing? Mom and I found the best stuff. Check out my new sunglasses! I cannot wait for camp. It’s gonna be so amazing!”

Amanda’s bossy tone of voice pushed Molly over the edge. I’m sick of the whole world revolving around Amanda! she thought angrily.

Molly’s sharp tone stopped Amanda. “What’s your problem?” Amanda asked. “I told you I have an essay to do. You’re just messing around.”

“I have an essay due tomorrow,” Amanda said, as Molly announced, “I was here first. She can use the computer when I’m finished.”

For a moment, Mom was silent. Then she said, “Amanda, you shouldn’t have waited until the last minute to do your essay. But Molly, you know that schoolwork comes first on the computer.”

“Fine,” Molly said in frustration, logging off the Internet. On her way upstairs, catching a glimpse of Amanda’s confused expression, she felt a little guilty for picking a fight with her twin. But then Molly thought, Amanda’s the one who started all of this. She promised to be here for Dish this summer, and now she’s letting everyone down. She shut the bedroom door behind her and flung herself on her bed.

“Sure,” Molly replied, pulling herself up from her bed. She followed Mom downstairs to the kitchen. Dad and Matthew had just gotten home from playing soccer in Prospect Park and were raiding the fridge. They were both hungry, dirty—and smelly!

“Turkey burgers, salad, and french fries,” Mom replied as she started putting ingredients on the counter. When Dad and Matthew heard “turkey burgers,” matching expressions of dismay crossed their faces.

“Barbara, I don’t mind firing up the grill and making regular hamburgers.” Dad said quickly. “I’ll run down to Choice Foods if we need ground beef.”

“I promise, they’ll be good,” Mom said with her loud laugh. “Go wash up, boys!” Still grumbling, Matthew stomped upstairs, with Dad following right behind him. Molly reached for the lettuce and began tearing it into bite-size pieces as Mom started slicing red onions into rings.

“I saw this recipe for turkey burgers in a magazine. They sound delicious—full of fresh herbs, with caramelized onions on top,” Mom told Molly. Molly didn’t respond. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” Mom asked gently. “You seem so upset.”

“I am,” Molly admitted. She tried to explain. “It’s just that...this summer...this summer’s going to be awful. Shawn and Amanda will be at camp, Peichi’s going to China, and I just found out that Natasha is going to France. No one will be around. It will be totally boring and—lonely.” Molly swallowed hard.

Mom stopped slicing the onions. “I know how hard this is for you, Molly,” she began. “Your summer plans have just changed without warning. And it must seem like you’re being left behind by all of your friends.”

Molly nodded. Somehow, Mom always seemed to know exactly how she felt. “And the worst thing is...Amanda doesn’t even care. All that matters to her is that dumb camp. And I’m—I’m going to miss her so much. Isn’t she going to miss me?” Molly stopped speaking. Now she really was close to crying.

“Oh, sweetie,” Mom said sympathetically, reaching out and giving Molly a hug. “Amanda is going to miss you, too. She may not realize it yet—you know how carried away she can get—but there’s no doubt in my mind that it will be just as hard for her as it is for you.”

“Here, would you mix the ground turkey with some sage, pepper, salt, and a beaten egg?” Mom asked, handing Molly a large bowl. “Anyway, Dad and I were going to talk to you about this after dinner, but I’ll tell you now,” she continued. “Mrs. brewster stopped by yesterday. She and Mr. Brewster have rented a house on Cape Cod for the summer, and they need a mother’s helper to help take care of Nathan and Charlotte. They were wondering if you or Amanda would be interested.” The Brewsters lived next door to the Moores, and they had two adorable kids—four-year-old Nathan and baby Charlotte, who was born last summer.

Molly looked at Mom as she carefully mixed together the ground turkey and seasonings. “What—what does a mother’s helper do?”

“Well, it’s a little like being a nanny for the summer. You’d be an extra pair of hands—and eyes!—for the Brewsters, helping them with the kids and baby-sitting when Mr. and Mrs. Brewster want to go out by themselves. They might want you to do simple housework, like picking up after the kids or doing the dishes. It’s not like going to France for the summer, but I’m sure they’ll pay you well. And Cape Cod would be a wonderful place to spend your summer! Anyway, sweetie, take a few days to think about it.”

Mom looked a little surprised, but she could see that Molly had made up her mind. “Okay, then,” she replied. “Mrs. Brewster will want to talk to you about the details, of course, and I’d like it if you’d take a childcare class. The Red Cross offers one.”

“Let’s call Mrs. Brewster after dinner. She’ll be delighted,” said Mom. She glanced at the recipe, then asked, “Have you ever caramelized onions before?”

“We learned how to in class, but I haven’t done it in a while,” replied Molly, remembering that Carmen, her cooking teacher, had taught the girls how to slow-cook onions over low heat, which brought out the richness of the flavor and mellowed their sharp taste.

Mom and Molly caramelized the onions by slowly sautéing them in olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a bit of sugar for fifteen minutes. Then they formed the turkey mixture into patties and cooked the burgers in the same pan as the onions for another fifteen minutes, until the patties were golden brown on both sides. While the turkey burgers were cooking, Mom and Molly finished washing and chopping vegetables for the salad. And they baked some frozen french fries in the oven.

The delicious smell of the spiced turkey burgers had brought both Dad and Matthew back to the kitchen, but Amanda was still working on her essay in the den.

“In about...two minutes,” Mom replied, carefully taking the burgers out of the pan and placing each one on a bun that Molly had toasted.

“Manda?” Molly asked quietly. Her twin turned around to face her. “Dinner’s ready. Um, sorry I was such a pain about the computer before. I was really bummed about this summer. See, Natasha just found out she’s going to France with her mom and she called here to tell us.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. “Molls, I had no idea. That would bum anyone out! What are you gonna do? Do you—do you want me to stay home?” Amanda looked miserable at the thought of missing camp.

“No, Manda, you cant miss camp,” Molly said—and she meant it. “It turns out that Mrs. Brewster needs a mother’s helper for the summer. They’re going to Cape Cod. And she asked if one of us would be interested, so I’m gonna do it.”

“Molls, that’s great,” Amanda said, grinning at her twin. “Wow—you’ll be at the beach every day! I bet there will be lots of cute lifeguards, too!” she teased. Molly rolled her eyes.

“Amanda, I’ll be a babysitter, not a boysitter,” Molly said. “Anyway, I was thinking—it’s so weird that we won’t see the Chef Girls for the entire summer. Maybe we should have a sleepover here on the last day of sixth grade so we can all say good-bye. What do you think?”

“Awesome idea, Molls,” Amanda said. “Let’s send an e-mail after dinner. If Mom says it’s okay, I mean. Mmmmm. What did you and Mom cook? It smells awesome!” She jumped up from the computer, and together, the twins hurried to the kitchen before Matthew and Dad could eat their turkey burgers!

That night, Shawn had trouble falling asleep—again. Since she’d seen Angie wrecking Elizabeths shoes, Shawn had been tossing and turning every night. With a sigh, she sat up in bed and switched on the lamp on her bedside table.

I have no idea what to do about this whole thing with Angie, Shawn admitted to herself. Angie’s my friend. But wrecking Elizabeth’s shoes like that was terrible. No matter how hard she tried, Shawn couldn’t stop thinking about the determined look on Angie’s face as she destroyed Elizabeth’s new shoes. The more Shawn thought about it, the angrier she became. I shouldn’t even be stuck worrying about this! What’s wrong with Angie? I needadvice,But from who? Shawn didn’t want to tell the Chef Girls about what she’d seen—she knew how much they disliked Angie already. And she knew exactly what her dad would say: Tell Coach Carson.

Suddenly, Shawn realized who she wanted to talk to—her cousin Sonia! Sonia lived near Shawn’s Grandma Ruthie in South Carolina, along with Shawn’s other cousin, Jamal.

“Ugh, studying! I have three finals in two days!” moaned Sonia, who was a senior in college. Then her voice brightened. “But enough about me. What’s up with you, Shawnie?”

“Sonia, I have a big problem,” Shawn began. She told Sonia about what had happened Saturday. “Anyway, I don’t know what to do,” Shawn finished.

Sonia paused before she responded. “Shawn, I think you need talk to your coach about this. This is serious, girl, and she needs to know. It’s terrible that Angie would pick on one person like that, but she also messed it up for the whole cheerleading squad! You shouldn’t keep this to yourself.”

“Yeah?” Shawn asked. She already felt relieved. It’s like I knew all along what to do, Shawn realized. I just needed tohear someone else say it.

Shawn hung up the phone and walked into the darkened hallway. Good—Dad’s still up, she thought as she saw that the light in her dad’s office was still on. Mr. Jordan was a professor at Brooklyn College, and he was always busy at this time of year, grading papers and exams. Shawn walked down the hall and lightly tapped on the door. Her dad turned around, surprised to see her.

Shawn crossed over to her dad and perched on the arm of his chair. He put his arm around her as she said, “Dad, I have a problem.”

“I agree,” Mr. Jordan said seriously when Shawn told him she wanted to turn Angie in. “And I’ll come with you when you talk to your coach.” He reached over his desk for his day planner and looked at his schedule for the following day. “I’m giving exams for most of the day tomorrow, but I could come with you to school on Wednesday.”

As Shawn crawled back into bed, she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her chest. Sonia was right, Shawn thought. This is tooserious to keep secret.