On the Back Burner (15 page)

“I think so,” Carmen said. “Unless something unexpected comes up.”

The phone rang and Peichi answered it. “Moore residence.”

A scratchy voice croaked on the other end. “It’s Shawn. How’s it going?”

“Pretty good! I think we’re gonna make it. How are you feeling?”

“Lousy!” Shawn replied. “But a lot better than I felt on Tuesday.”

“Well, go back to bed and get better already!” Peichi teased. “I miss you guys so much! I can’t wait til you’re all back at school!”

By five o’clock all the food was packed in four large cardboard boxes. “I double-wrapped the soup so it doesn’t spill all over the place,” Freddie said.

“Thanks so much, everybody! This is totally amazing!” Peichi said sincerely.

“Oh, you’re welcome!” Carmen said. “This was great. And thanks to Omar, Connor, and Justin, too. We never could have done it without them.”

The boys clasped their hands over their heads and shook them, as if they’d just won a prizefight. “The new cooking champs are...us!” Omar cheered.

Everyone laughed. “Aren’t you getting a little carried away?” Molly’s voice rang out over the intercom.

“No way!” Connor spoke to Molly over the intercom. The boys began singing, “We are the champions...”

“And modest, too,” Molly commented, her voice filled with laughter.

“We are the champions...” the boys kept on.

“What is this, a new boy band, U Stink?” Freddie teased them.

“Aw, man!” they complained.

“Come on, let’s take these boxes to the car,” Freddie said.

Everyone loaded the trunk of Mrs. Moore’s big old gold Cadillac. The kids piled in, with Mrs. Moore at the wheel and Freddie and Carmen following behind in Freddie’s car. They arrived at the Kramers’ house, a brown-stone on a quiet street. Omar and Justin began unloading the trunk as Freddie pulled up behind them. Carmen and Peichi ran up the steps and rang the bell.

A tall man opened the door. His hair stood up wildly and behind him kids yelled, laughed, threw things, and seemed to be having a great, totally wild time. From somewhere in the house, a dog barked.

“Mr. Kramer, we’re Dish! Here’s your food,” Peichi said.

“Oh,” he said. “I was hoping you were my wife and you’d decided to come back early! But this is almost as good. Come on in.” He held open the door as Omar, Connor, Justin, Freddie, and Mrs. Moore came in, holding boxes of their prepared food.

Point the way to the kitchen, Freddie replied.

“It’s down the hall,” Mr. Kramer told them. “Thanks so much.”

“All the boxes are marked with the day of the week and each item is marked at to what goes with what. The chicken parmigiana and the lasagna are the two dishes for day one and the Italian bread and green salad are marked with a one, so you know that they all go together,” Carmen explained.

“Thanks,” Mr. Kramer said. “You guys are lifesavers! It’s usually a zoo around here, but with my wife gone it’s like a war zone. Whoa, settle down!” he called to four boys who were playing football in the hallway. “Take it outside!” Mr. Kramer pulled out a large envelope. “Here’s your payment,” he said. “But hang on a minute. I want to give you all a big tip!”

He handed the envelopes to Carmen, but she passed them over to Peichi. “She’s one of the owners of the company—we just work for her,” Carmen explained.

Peichi felt herself start to blush. Still, she appreciated Carmen’s words. “Thanks, Mr. Kramer,” she said. “We hope you enjoy your food and Dish appreciates you business. Here are some of our cards so you can pass them on to your friends!”

Everyone piled back into the cars and drove back to the Moores’ house. In the car, Peichi opened the envelopes. “Wow!” she said.

“Good news?” Carmen asked from the front seat.

“Yeah. Even after we pay back Mr. Moore for the ingredients and split this up, I think everyone will be very happy!”

“Don’t forget that Freddie and I did this as a favor. We don’t want any money,” Carmen told Peichi.

“That’s not fair,” Peichi argued.

“Sure it is,” Carmen said. “Someday, make a great lunch for Freddie and me, and we’ll call it even.” Carmen and Freddie headed up the stairs. “But first, we have to finish cleaning up the kitchen.”

“We’ll do that,” Peichi said. “You two have done more than enough. I don’t know how we can ever thank you.”

“Lunch,” Carmen reminded her. “Freddie and I are always available for a great lunch.”

“Absolutely, Freddie agreed. Peichi hugged them both. Then she waved good-bye.

Mrs. Moore turned to Peichi. “Normally, I would expect Dish to clean up after itself, but this was an unusual circumstance. You’ve done enough work for one day!”

“Thank you,” Peichi said. “Do you mind if we just stay here a minute and split up the money?”

“Go right ahead,” Mrs. Moore said as she headed down the hallway.

“How did we do?” Connor asked as Peichi counted out all the money from the envelope.

“We did really well,” she said. She took out money to repay Mr. Moore. “This is for ingredients,” she explained. Then she paid each of the boys.

“If you ever need help again, let us know,” Omar said enthusiastically.

“Thanks, you guys,” Peichi said. “You’ve been great.”

“No problem,” Connor said as the boys headed out the door. Peichi was about to walk out right behind them. But she stopped a moment, looking around the quiet house. From down the hall she could hear Mrs. Moore chatting on the kitchen phone.

With a burst of speed, she raced up the front stairs. She just had to tell Amanda and Molly how it had all turned out so well. Peichi found the girls sprawled across their beds reading magazines.

“Peichi!” Molly cried in an excited whisper. “Did Mom say you could come up?”

“Not really,” Peichi admitted, shutting the door. She sat at the end of Amanda’s bed and told the twins how great Carmen, Freddie, and the boys had been. “Your parents are even doing the cleanup. Everyone’s been really helpful.”

“Were the guys happy with the money?” Amanda asked.

“They were
extremely
happy,” Peichi reported.

“Good,” Molly said. “At first I didn’t want them here because I didn’t want a bunch of boys having to help us girls out, like we couldn’t handle it alone. But, you know, that wasn’t right. I was just thinking of them as boys—”

“One
very
cute boy,” Amanda cut in.

Molly rolled her eyes at her. “As I was saying, I was thinking of them as goof-off boys and not as friends-friends who know how to cook. It’s important for Dish to have some backup chefs just for times like these.”

“You’re a good businesswoman, Molls,” Amanda said.

“Thanks,” she replied. “Now I just have to work on being a
healthy
businesswoman.”

B
y Tuesday, all the Chef Girls were recovered and back in school.

“I’m so glad you’re all back!” Peichi exclaimed. “And guess what! I’ve got good news—you’re all invited to my house for the New Year’s Eve party tomorrow night!”

“Your parents said we can come?” asked Natasha.

“Yep. I brought home a couple of really good grades, and they
really
liked what I’ve done with my extra-credit project, so I’m on their good side again,” Peichi replied. “I’ll be filming the party for the end of my film, so look good.”

“We
always
look good,” Shawn said, laughing.

Amanda noticed a red sheet of paper tacked to the cafeteria bulletin board. Getting up from her seat, she went to see what it was about. She returned to the table, practically jumping with excitement.

“What is it?” Molly asked.

“I can’t believe we didn’t know about this sooner!” Amanda announced. “There’s going to be a Valentine’s Day dance this very Saturday. This Saturday! I’ve
got
to go shopping.”

“Why would you want to waste your money on a fancy dress that you probably won’t even wear again until next Christmas? And it probably won’t fit you by then, anyway!” Molly said.

“We know why she needs a new dress,” Natasha said with a smile.

“Justin,” the girls sang out.

“Quiet!” Amanda shushed them. “He’ll hear you.”

Athena stopped by the table. “Hi, girls,” she said.

“Athena! Guess what! I got a ninety on my last math test!” Peichi told her. “Those tutoring sessions with you helped so much.”

“You go, Peichi!” Athena cheered. “Molly, I just wanted to remind you that tryouts for the softball team are next Monday in the field behind the gym. Are you still thinking of trying out?”

“Yeah,” Molly said. “I’ll be there. Thanks.”

“Bye,” Athena said, waving to the girls.

“Athena is awesome,” Peichi commented.

“She is,” Molly agreed.

When the twins got home from school that day, they were surprised to find both of their parents at home—and in bed.

“Oh,
no!”
Amanda cried. “We gave you the flu!”

“I’m sorry, Mom and Dad,” Molly said.

Mrs. Moore smiled weakly. “That’s okay, sweetheart,” she said in a raspy voice. “You get used to it when you’re a parent.”

“Is there anything we can get you?” Molly asked, concerned.

Mr. Moore opened one eye. “Orange juice?” he croaked.

“I’m on it,” Amanda said, dashing out the door.

“I’d love some chicken soup,” Mrs. Moore told Molly. “Do you think you girls could make some?”

“No problem,” Molly replied. “Amanda and I will do the cooking and take care of Matthew while you guys are sick!”

When Molly, Amanda, Shawn, and Natasha arrived at Peichi’s house on Wednesday night, they didn’t know quite what to expect. Mrs. Cheng greeted the girls at the front door, wearing a beautiful red silk dress. “Come in, girls. Happy New Year!”

“Happy New Year!” they replied all together. All the girls were wearing red. Shawn had on the red silk blouse she had bought in Chinatown, and it looked great against her coffee-colored skin.