Deep Freeze #12

The next two weeks were busy for all of the Chef Girls as they prepared for the trip. Between school and activities, Dish, and shopping for ski gear, it almost seemed like the trip sneaked up on them. Natasha was extra-busy as she prepared for her bat mitzvah. In a way, though, she was relieved to study hard. Being completely ready for her bat mitzvah made her feel a little less nervous.

The night before the trip, Natasha sat on her parents’ bed, watching her mom and dad pack their suitcases. Mom is, like, crazy-organized, Natasha thought with a smile as she watched her mother pack outfits for each day of the trip, carefully checking off a list.

Mrs. Ross frowned, deep in thought. “David, do you think there will be any nice dinners on the trip?” she asked. “I’m just not sure how dressy I need to be.”

“It’s gonna be really casual, Mom,” Natasha said quickly. “It’s a cabin out in the woods and a bunch of seventh- graders. You should probably bring a lot of jeans and pants and warm sweaters. Like, wooly sweaters, not the pretty ones you have with the beads.”

“This is what I’m bringing,” Mr. Ross said proudly, emptying a shopping bag onto the bed. Out fell five brand-new flannel button-down shirts.

“I like them, Dad,” Natasha spoke up as she pulled one on. “They’re so cozy!”

After Mrs. Ross filled her large suitcase, she pulled out a medium-sized one and began packing more sweaters and fleecy nightgowns.

“Um, Mom?” Natasha asked. “Do you think...do you think that might be too much stuff? It’s only a few days.”

“Sweetheart, I just want to make sure I have the right outfits,” she replied. “By the way, how is your packing going? Would you like some help?”

“That’s okay, I’m already done,” replied Natasha, thinking of the ski pants, parka, three pairs of jeans, two sweatshirts, and two sweaters she had packed in a small duffel bag.

“I’ll get it!” Natasha scrambled over the bed and grabbed the cordless phone on her parents’ nightstand.

“Um. I’m mostly packed. You know...” Connor cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, really excited.”

“Oh, six a.m.,” Natasha replied. Connor groaned, and she laughed. “I know. It’s so early.”

“Seriously! I mean, why do we have to leave at the crack of dawn? It’s not like the slopes are going anywhere!”

Her father caught her eye and smiled back. “Oh, really? Who is this Connor? Have I met him before?”

“Oh, Dad,” Natasha said, rolling her eyes. “He just wanted to know what time we have to be at school tomorrow.”

“Oh, really?” asked Mr. Ross, continuing to tease her. “Well, why didn’t he call one of his buddies to find out?”

Natasha opened her mouth, then closed it. That’s a good question, she thought. Why didn’t he call Omar or Justin? Unless...no...

She looked up to see both of her parents watching her. “Um, I dunno,” Natasha answered, shrugging. “I’m going to get ready for bed now. Night!”

As Natasha washed her face, she smiled at herself in the mirror. Maybe Connor was calling just to talk to me!

The next morning dawned pink and cold, the bright red sun blazing on the horizon. At the Moores’ house, Amanda sat straight up in bed as soon as the alarm rang. “Ski trip day!” she shrieked. “Wake up, Molls! Wake up!” Amanda happily tossed her pillow across the room, where it landed on Molly’s head.

“Argh! Wh-what?” Molly, startled by the pillow, sat up in bed. She blinked sleepily, then saw Amanda’s grinning face hovering over her. “Ugh...Manda, you’re such a pain in the morning,” Molly mumbled, pulling the puffy comforter over her head.

Amanda promptly pulled it off. “Up, up, up,” she sang. “Come on, Molls! It’s already after five! We have to leave in thirty minutes! I’m gonna brush my teeth and you better be getting dressed by the time I get out of the bathroom!”

There was a soft knock, and Mom came in the door, dressed in sweatpants and a fleecy sweatshirt. “Morning, girls,” she said with a smile. “There are pancakes and hot chocolate downstairs. I want you to eat a good breakfast before we leave, okay?”

“I knew that would get you up!” Amanda giggled as she skipped into the bathroom. “Molly, aren’t you excited? It’s finally here—the class ski trip!”

“I am excited—or I will be, in an hour or two,” said Molly with a yawn. “Once I wake up a little!”

Thirty minutes later, when the twins arrived at Windsor Middle School, Molly was wide awake—and just as excited as Amanda. Three coach buses were lined up in front of the school, and dozens of students and parents were milling about, checking in with the bus monitors, dropping off luggage, and saying good-bye. The twins had said good-bye to Dad at home since Matthew was still asleep, and Mom didn’t want to leave him by himself.

The twins saw Peichi standing with her parents near Bus #1, waving wildly. “I couldn’t wait to come over to the school so we got here really early! The buses weren’t even here yet! Fortunately, Mr. D. was and he let us wait inside the school. I felt so silly, but I’m just so psyched!”

The twins laughed along with Mr. and Mrs. Cheng. “Don’t burn off all that energy too soon, Peichi,” cautioned Mrs. Cheng.

“Hey, Chef Girls!” Shawn called out as she hurried over to Peichi and the twins, her father following behind her, carrying her suitcase.

As the girls and their parents greeted one another, Shawn glanced around. “Where’s Natasha?” she asked. “Is she here yet?”

Peichi nodded at the check-in tables. “The Rosses got here right after we did. They’re the bus monitors for our bus, and they’re checking in kids over there. See? I think Natasha is helping.”

“So, Peichi,” said Mr. Jordan. “You seem to know the drill. What do we do now?”

“First, you check in with your bus monitor,” Peichi said. “Then you drop off your luggage. There are different spots for each bus. But we’re on the same bus together! Yay! It’s gonna rock! Come on, I’m already checked in, but I’ll come with you guys.”

Everyone followed Peichi to the check-in table for Bus #1. As soon as Natasha saw her friends, she broke away from her parents and hurried over to them.

“Hey! Can you believe my parents are our bus monitors? Totally lame!” Natasha whispered to the Chef Girls. “They already asked me if I wanted to sit with them, but I said, ‘No way, I’m sitting with my friends!’ I’m really glad that they aren’t going to be our bunk chaperones. We got Mrs. Lopez instead.”

Mrs. Ross greeted the girls warmly as Mr. Ross checked their names off the list. But when Shawn got to the front of the line, he frowned. “James, Jerrod, Kingston...Shawn, you’re not on this list.”

“You’re on our bus,” Amanda said firmly. “Come on, let’s go talk to Mrs. Lopez.” She took Shawn by the arm and hurried off to find Mrs. Lopez, who was standing near the luggage, looking frazzled.

“Graham! Richard! Knock it off!” Mrs. Lopez yelled at two boys who were making a tower of suitcases. Then she turned to Amanda and Shawn. “Yes, girls, what is it?”

“Mrs. Lopez, there’s a mix-up with the buses,” Amanda explained quickly. “Shawn is supposed to be on Bus #1. But her name isn’t on the list.”

Mrs. Lopez frowned, then pulled the sign-up sheets out of a folder. Amanda grabbed the sheet for Bus #1. “Look!” she cried. “Here’s where I wrote Shawn’s name. But someone crossed it off!”

Amanda and Shawn glanced at the other sign-up sheets. At the bottom of the sheet for Bus #3, someone had scrawled SHAWN JORDAN in messy handwriting.

“Oh, no!” Shawn exclaimed. “Angie is on Bus #3. And the other cheerleaders are, too!”

“Mrs. Lopez, this is wrong,” Amanda insisted. “Shawn is supposed to be on Bus #1, not Bus #3.”

Mrs. Lopez glanced at the list, then shook her head. “I’m sorry, girls, but the buses are full. Shawn has to ride on Bus #3. Richard! I’m not going to say it again!”

“Shawn, I’m sorry, but we need to leave in fifteen minutes. You can make a new friend on Bus #3.” With that, Mrs. Lopez hurried off to find Mr. Degregorio.

“This stinks!” Amanda said angrily. “Why would someone cross off your name? That’s awful!”

Shawn tried to smile. “Well, at least we’re in the same bunk together. That’s more important, right?”

“Of course!” replied Amanda, secretly relieved that Shawn was trying to look on the bright side.

Mr. Degregorio stood at the top of the steps, blowing his silver whistle. Instantly, everyone stopped talking and turned to face him.

“Ladies and gentlemen! In fifteen short minutes, we will be departing for Chestnut Hill Farm, Vermont! In the next five minutes, you need to say good-bye to your parents and board your bus. We’ll be doing roll call on each bus. Okay?”

Amanda and Shawn hurried over to where their parents were standing with the other Chef Girls. There was barely time to explain to them that Shawn had to ride on Bus #3. Mr. Jordan wrapped Shawn in a bear hug and kissed her. “Have a great time, baby,” he whispered into her hair. “I love you.”

“Love you, too, Dad,” Shawn whispered back. She always hated saying good-bye to her father, and the thought of spending the next seven hours on a bus with Angie, away from all of her friends, didn’t make it any easier.

Shawn and her father dropped off her luggage in the pile for Bus #3, then she waved good-bye to her friends and boarded the bus. I’m glad I brought my Discman and headphones, Shawn thought. And my magazines. If nobody wants to talk to me, that’s fine. Shawn settled into a seat next to a window in the middle of the bus, which was soon filled with loud, laughing kids.

When Angie got on the bus, snapping her gum, her cold brown eyes scanned the seats. She didn’t even try to hide a nasty smile when she saw Shawn sitting all by herself.

“Come on, ladies!” Angie called over her shoulder in an imitation of Coach Carson, the head of the cheerleading squad. The rest of the seventh-grade cheerleaders giggled as they followed Angie down the aisle to the back of the bus. Jenn and Jessica smiled weakly at Shawn, and Shawn forced herself to grin back.

Shawn looked up to see Grace Daniels, a shy seventh-grader with pale blonde hair, standing next to her seat. “Of course,” Shawn replied with a smile. Grace always seems really nice, Shawn thought. Maybe the ride won’t be so bad after all.

Mr. Yamamoto, a science teacher, began to call roll. Suddenly, Angie popped out of her seat. “I packed my Discman in the wrong bag!” she called out as she pushed her way down the aisle. “I’ll be right back!”

A few minutes later, Angie boarded the bus again. “Here I am! We can leave now,” she shrieked. It was all Shawn could do to keep from rolling her eyes right at Angie. It’s so annoying when Angie is crazy-hyper like this, Shawn thought. I hope she settles down once we get moving.

But Angie was more hyper than Shawn had ever seen her. Even though Angie was sitting at the very back of the bus, Shawn could hear her shrill laugh constantly. Shawn turned to Grace to start a conversation, but Grace was already intently reading a thick book. Shawn sighed as she put on her headphones. This is going to be a long, boring ride, she thought. At least my music will drown out Angie’s obnoxious laugh.

“Poor Shawn,” Natasha said quietly. “I can’t believe she has to ride on Angie’s bus.”

“Too bad we couldn’t have traded Omar for Shawn,” Peichi joked as Omar, Connor, and Justin noisily boarded the bus.

Omar spotted the Chef Girls and made his way down the aisle toward where they were sitting. “Hello, la-a-dies!” he called out in his booming voice. “If you need anything, I’m your man.” Omar unzipped his backpack to show the girls several bags of chips, bottles of sports drinks, CDs, and a huge roll of duct tape.

Omar smiled mischievously. “You can do anything with duct tape. You’ll see,” he said, then continued down the aisle until he reached the very back of the bus.

As the bus started up, Amanda grabbed Molly’s arm. “Here we go!” she squealed. Around them, all the students cheered.

Mr. Degregorio stood in the aisle at the front of the bus, where he was sitting across from Mr. and Mrs. Ross. “Okay, okay, people,” he said with a smile. “It’s fine to talk with your neighbor, but let’s try to keep the noise down to a dull roar.”

Peichi turned around in her seat. “I want to see what Omar’s up to with that duct tape,” she said. “Ohmigosh! He’s making pictures on the windows with it! And writing stuff!”

Omar looked up and caught Peichi’s eye. He yanked off a long piece of tape, then held the roll up in the air like he was going to throw it.

Omar grinned, then rolled the duct tape down the aisle. Peichi reached over and picked it up.

“I know!” Molly said. “I’m gonna write ‘Chef Girls Rule!’ on our window!”

The roll of duct tape was passed throughout the whole bus, and soon nearly every window was covered with kids’ names, funny sayings, and duct-tape pictures.

Suddenly, loud rap music blasted through the bus, and Omar was standing in the aisle, dancing along. The entire bus started laughing.

“Whoa!” yelled Omar as the bus turned a corner and he pitched into the seats on his left. Everyone cracked up.

“Mr. Kazdan, please take your seat,” Mr. Degregorio called out from the front of the bus.

“Sure thing, Teach,” Omar called back. He quickly sat down and started waving his hands around in the air. “Okay if I do a little seat-dancing, Mr. D.?”

Natasha leaned forward to Molly and Amanda. “Omar is totally insane! This is gonna be the party bus!”