Boiling Point (6 page)

Just about everyone in the class thought that making piecrust was difficult, but fun. The kids learned to dampen their work surface and put down a large piece of waxed paper, then spread the chilled dough by hand on the paper. They topped the dough with another piece of waxed paper, and rolled out the dough with their rolling pins.

“Yo, not too hard,” Freddie told Omar. “Now keep turning the whole thing. Excellent, my man! You’re almost home!”

Once the kids had rolled out their dough to fit the pie pan—with enough to lap over the sides—they removed the waxed paper from the top of the dough and laid the dough down in the pan. It was time to remove the other piece of waxed paper by starting on one side, and carefully rolling it toward themselves.

The fun part was to fit the dough into the pan. If it tore, the kids just patched it. Then they trimmed the dough with a knife all around the pan, turned it under, and crimped it with their fingers.

Carmen and Freddie took one last walk around the class to help the students.

“Your pastry shells really look great,” Carmen announced. “I’m impressed! Now we’re ready to bake them.”

While the pies baked, the kids helped clean up. And they posed for pictures with their classmates.

“I’m gonna miss everyone!” said Peichi. “Oh, this is so sad!”

“You’ll forget how sad you are when we eat those pies,” said Omar.

Eight minutes later, as the students began to take their pastry shells out of the oven, the class got noisy.

“Wow! It’s nice and brown.”

“This looks awesome!”

“Man, I’m
good
at this!

“
Aww
, mine’s bad.”

“No, it isn’t. Just a little higher on one side.”

Now it was time to pour the chilled chocolate filling into the shells.

“To finish the pies, we’ll just add dollops of whipped cream,” said Carmen.

“What are dollops?” asked Peichi.

“Globs,” said Freddie. “Here’s a dollop on your nose!” He topped off Peichi’s nose with whipped cream.

Later, at the big table with china dessert plates and a white linen tablecloth, the class agreed that they’d never tasted anything so good.

“I can’t believe we made this!” exclaimed Peichi.

Everyone traded e-mail addresses and laughed and ate.

Soon it was time to leave.

“We’ll miss you,” Molly said to Carmen and Freddie.

“Ah! You’ll see me around the neighborhood,” said Freddie. “I just got a job at Luigi’s Restaurant.”

“I loved having you girls in my class,” said Carmen. “Good luck with your cooking business!” The girls had told Carmen about Dish, and she thought it was a great idea.

“Bye!” called Carmen as the students began to leave. “Don’t forget to sign up for my gingerbread-house workshop in December!”

As they walked home, the girls talked about how much they had enjoyed their cooking classes.

“The best thing we made was when we carved the peacocks out of melons,” Shawn said.

“No way—those chocolate cream pies were definitely my favorite!” replied Amanda.

“Yeah, we all know why that is!” Molly joked. Amanda’s sweet tooth was intense.

“It’s so hot!” Peichi complained. “Let’s go somewhere with air conditioning. I know! Let’s go to the movies! We still have that money from our last cooking job. We could just sit in the theater for a couple of hours and chill. What do you guys think?”

“Yeah, let’s do that!” Molly cried.

“I can’t,” said Shawn, looking at her watch. “I have to get home and finish packing.”

“Oh, okay,” Amanda said, trying not to sound disappointed. “Well, why don’t you call us after you finish packing? We can do something then.”

“Um, I really don’t think I can,” Shawn said, looking uncomfortable. “My dad and I are having a special dinner tonight. After tomorrow, I’m not going to see him for a whole month.”

You’re not going to see us for a whole month, either,
Amanda thought, but she didn’t say anything.

“But let’s get together tomorrow afternoon instead. Are you guys free? We could go out to lunch or something,” Shawn continued.

“That sounds great! We can go to Harry’s,” Peichi said with a big smile.

But no one else looked very happy.

“M
mm—
I’m gonna mi
th
thi
th
,” said Shawn thickly through a big bite of a double-chocolate brownie the day after class.

The friends were having a farewell snack at Harry’s, their favorite hangout in Park Terrace. Harry’s was an old pharmacy that had been turned into a funky coffeehouse. The girls loved hanging out there. Most everyone else their age was still hanging out in fast-food places with bright lights, screaming kids, and greasy burgers or pizza. But they were eating veggie wraps and poppy-seed cake on round marble-topped tables, surrounded by writers, artists, and college students. It made them feel older.

“What time is your flight?” asked Peichi. “Are you all packed? Are you taking a lot of stuff?”

“My flight’s at seven,” replied Shawn. “Well, you guys, I should get going. I’m all packed, but I want to spend the rest of the day with my dad.”

“Okay,” said all the girls at once. They quickly finished up their wraps and brownies, then walked Shawn back to the lobby of her apartment building.

“Have a good time,” Molly told Shawn, remembering not to act sad.

Shawn smiled. “Thanks,” she said. “Have a great month. I’ll send you lots of e-mails, and you’d better write me back!”

“Don’t worry, we will,” Amanda assured Shawn. “Every day.”

They waited in silence for the elevator to come. Amanda really wanted to give Shawn a good-bye hug, but Shawn looked pretty uncomfortable.

The elevator door opened, and Shawn got in.

“We’ll miss you!” said Peichi. “Bye!”

“Bye, Shawn,” said the twins at the same time. They gave Shawn a little wave.

“Bye, you guys! I’ll see you in a month.”

Shawn waved until the door closed.

“What are you two doing now?” asked Peichi, as the girls walked away from Shawn’s building.

“Nothing much,” said Molly gloomily.

“We both have to practice the piano this afternoon,” Amanda reminded Molly.

“Hey, I have an idea!” exclaimed Peichi. “Let’s all go to Chinatown, and surprise my grandparents at their store!”

“You mean right now? On the subway?” asked Amanda. Peichi’s grandparents’ store was in Manhattan, across the river from Brooklyn.

“Yeah! It doesn’t take long to get there,” replied Peichi.

“We’re not allowed to ride the subway by ourselves,” said Amanda. “Are you?”

“No,” admitted Peichi. “But if we all go together, I think it would be okay. Come on! Let’s do it. The subway’s just a block from here. We could be there in half an hour, maybe less!”

“No, we can’t,” said Amanda firmly.

“I’ll go!” Molly blurted out. “I feel like doing something different.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. “What!” she cried, looking at Molly.

“We’ll be with Peichi’s grandparents,” Molly told her. “It’s no big deal.”

“Well, I’m not going,” said Amanda.

“Okay,” said Molly. “But I am.”

Amanda’s mouth dropped open. What was with them?

“Well, here we are,” said Peichi, pointing at the subway entrance. “We’ll be back in a few hours! No one will even know we were there.”

Suddenly Amanda felt all alone.

“Sure you don’t want to come?” Molly asked her.

Amanda shrugged. “Have fun,” she said. That was her answer.

“Okay, then, bye,” said Molly.

“Byeeee!” said Peichi brightly. “Oh, I hear the train!” And she and Molly turned and hurried, giggling, down the steps and out of sight.

Amanda didn’t move for a while. She just stood and stared down the subway steps. Then she walked home with a lump in her throat.

Peichi and Molly ran down two flights of stairs. They heard a deep rumbling sound getting louder and louder, and felt a
whoosh
of cool air on their faces. The train was coming.