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Authors: Diane Muldrow

BOOK: Boiling Point

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Amanda dropped Casey off at the Tortellis’ and found Molly in the garden.

“Where’s Matthew?” asked Amanda as she flopped into a chair.

“Soccer practice.”

“Well,” said Amanda, “you’ll never believe what just happened. This day has been so weird!”

“What happened?” asked Molly.

“I ran into Natasha. With Willy at the dog run. She just got back from Cape Cod. She was tan.”

“Really.”

“And she asked if she could help us tomorrow.”

“Wow!”

“And she said she was sorry about everything.”

“Hmm.”
Molly tried to picture all of this. “What did you say?”

“I said, ‘okay.”’

Molly rolled her eyes. “Let’s see, today is Wednesday, so Natasha’s our friend again—”

“Molly, we’re desperate! We’ve got two huge jobs that are really stressing me out! Why aren’t you freaking?”

“She’d better just show up, then.”

“I know. But what if she doesn’t? It’ll be such a mess.

“Is she going with you to the store?” asked Molly.

Amanda slapped her forehead. “Oh, I forgot! How am I going to do all this shopping by myself? I really should go now.

“Call her.”

“No, she’s at the dentist,” said Amanda irritably. She sighed. “You’re right, what if she doesn’t show up? She’s done that before when we needed her. And now I have to go to the store. I need to buy so much stuff that I’ll have to make more than one trip. Why did you have to go and get grounded?”

Molly suddenly looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Manda.”

Then the twins looked at each other. They were having the “twin thing.” And it was a rather wicked thought this time.

“No.” Amanda told Molly. She giggled.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t go to the store with you, even though no one would know,” said Molly. “Nobody would find out, right? Mom’s at work for two more hours...”

“Better not do it,” said Amanda. “We’re in enough trouble as it is. No, I’ll just go by myself, and lug all those heavy bags home.” She sighed heavily.

Molly and Amanda missed another e-mail from Shawn.

chapter 9

A
fter lunch, Amanda changed her clothes and headed to the supermarket.

She hadn’t felt like walking to Peichi’s to get money from the treasury for supplies, so she borrowed cash from herself and Molly, and made a note that the treasury owed them money.
My third errand of the day,
Amanda thought as she walked into Choice Foods. She pulled the shopping list out of her pocket and grabbed a red hand basket.
Gee!
she thought.
Iwish I’d been grounded. Molly’s lounging in the garden, Peichi’s swimming in her movie-star pool or listening to CDs in her brand-new room. Shawn’s probably relaxing right now at the beach. I didn ’t even WANT to get into this business, and now I’m doing it all by myself. Some summer vacation this is. I wish I could take it easy today, but N-O-O! I can’t! I’m too busy saving the day! Mmm...M&M’s. Well, I’m just gonna buy these for myself as my little reward...and I could really use some more gum...a KitKat wouldn’t hurt, either.

As Amanda lugged the bags home, she pictured Justin at her door. Wait-what would she wear?
Better figure that out as soon as I get home,
she told herself. Maybe she should wear her new yellow capris and peasant top ... no, too dressy. She didnt want to look as if she was trying too hard...

She’d open the door and say, “Oh. hi, Justin!” as if she’d practically forgotten that he was coming over. Then she’d let him in. But what would she say then?

“Hi.” said Molly, greeting her at the door. She took some of the bags from Amanda, and the girls brought everything down to the basement.

After they unloaded the groceries, Amanda ran upstairs to check out her outfit situation.

“Hmmm,”
she said to herself. “Nothing to wear tomorrow that’s cute, but right for cooking. Nothing clean, that is. Yipes!”

She picked up some dirty clothes and ran downstairs to the laundry room.

“Now what are you doing?” asked Molly, wrinkling her nose.

“Laundry, what else?” retorted Amanda. “Otherwise known as Chore Number Four.”

“You don’t know how to do laundry.”

Molly was right. An hour later, Amanda wailed, “Oh, no! My butterfly top! I shrank it!” She held it up to herself.

“It’ll fit your teddy bear now,” said Molly.

“Aaargh!”
cried Amanda, throwing her top on the bed. “Mom’s not gonna be happy about this, either.”

The next morning, the doorbell rang when the girls were still up in their room.

“Aah!”
Amanda shrieked. “It’s Justin! And he’s early!
Ohmigosh!”
Suddenly it didn’t matter what she should wear. She threw on the first pair of shorts and top she could find and ran downstairs.

Amanda opened the door. “Hi,” she said. She could barely talk, because she had to catch her breath. She smiled.

“Hi, Amanda,” said Justin. He grinned. “You
are
Amanda, right?”

“Uh-huh!” said Amanda.

She led him into the kitchen. Neither of them said anything.

“Wow! This is nice!” said Justin, looking around.

“Oh, thanks.”

Just then, Molly walked into the kitchen. She and Justin said hello.

“Do you want something to drink?” asked Molly. “Orange juice?”

Why didn’t I think
of
that?
wondered Amanda.

“Sure, thanks,” said Justin. “So, what are we gonna make today?”

The twins told Justin the menus for Mrs. Jamison and Ms. Barlow. “We have all the recipes right here,” added Amanda.

“Wow, this is a lot of food!” Justin said. “How long have you guys been doing this cooking business thing?”

He sounds impressed!
Amanda thought. But before she could answer Justin, Molly started talking.

“Well, we started cooking at the beginning of the summer, but we’ve only done the business part for a couple of weeks,” Molly said. “And it’s been really crazy! We haven’t advertised or anything, and new people just keep calling. I guess lots of people are too busy to cook.”

“Yeah, that happens a lot at my house,” Justin said. “But my brother and I usually just get a pizza!” He picked up one of the recipes. “Cupcakes? Awesome!”

“What would you like to work on?” Amanda asked him.

“Whatever you want me to,” said Justin with a grin. “You’re the boss!”

Just then, the doorbell rang again. It was Natasha.

“Hi,” said Natasha nervously to Molly and Justin when Amanda brought her into the kitchen.

“Hi, Natasha, how are you? This is Justin.” said Molly.

“Hi, Natasha,” said Justin.

“Hi.” Natasha smiled a shy smile and looked down at the floor.

“Have you ever cooked with these guys before?” Justin asked her.

“Yes, and we’re all pretty good,” Natasha replied. “Are you, um, going to Windsor Middle School in the fall?”

“Yeah! It’s gonna be great.”

“Okay! Let’s get started,” Amanda broke in. She felt weird, like she was the boss, and she didn’t like it. “Who wants to make the cupcakes?”

“I will,” said Natasha. She loved to bake.