Boiling Point by Diane Muldrow Read Free Book Online Page B

us cook for these two jobs. And—he actually said yes!”
    “What!” cried Molly. “I cant believe you asked him!”
    “I can’t believe he said yes,” murmured Amanda.
    “But,” protested Molly, “we don’t even know Justin. I dont want a boy in our group. It’ll be weird having him here.”
    “It’ll be better than not having him here,” retorted Amanda. “We need him! And it’s just this once. He won’t be a permanent member of Dish.”
    Molly didn’t say anything. She was too busy sulking.
    Amanda didn’t really care. She had enough to worry about, like all the food they had to cook. And Ihope I don’t do anything stupid around Justin , she thought, like a few weeks ago when I tripped and fell on my face, right in front of him and all of his friends!

    “C’mon, Casey, we’re going to the dog run!” cried Amanda an hour later, as she jogged up the hill to the park. Casey trotted beside her.
    There were only a few people at the dog run—a lady with her poodle, a group of teenagers watching a yellow lab play, a tall blond girl with her terrier...
    Oh, no! thought Amanda. The girl was Natasha.
    It was too late to leave the dog run. Natasha had spotted Amanda at the same time.
    Amanda waved limply, and Natasha eventually came over, with her dog, Willy, trotting behind her.

    Luckily, the dogs helped break the ice. Amanda reached down to give Willy a pat as Natasha said, “Hi, Amanda, who’s this? Down, Willy!
    “This is Casey, our neighbor’s dog. Say hi to Willy, Casey.”
    Natasha and Amanda watched the dogs greet each other.
    It was time for someone to say something.
    “So, what’s new?” asked Amanda. “We missed you in class. We made pies and graduated and got chefs aprons with our names on them.”
    “I know. Carmen called me to tell me they’re holding my apron for me at the store. I just got back from Cape Cod. Uh—how is everyone?”
    Amanda cleared her throat. Should she tell Natasha everything? She didn’t want to be too chatty, as if nothing had gone wrong between them. But she said, “Well, Shawn’s dad had to go to Australia and New Zealand, so she went back down to South Carolina.”
    “Really!”
    “Yeah, and Peichi and Molly are grounded right now—”
    “Wow! Why?”
    “—and Dish got two more cooking jobs, and I’ll have to do a lot of the work. Luckily, Justin’s going to help us out.”
    Natasha’s cold blue eyes widened. “Justin McElroy? Wow!”
    “Uh-huh,” said Amanda, trying to sound casual.
    Natasha stuffed her free hand into her cutoff shorts, something she always did when she was nervous. “Well.” she said, “if you need another cook, you know, uh, I could help you.”
    Yeah, right! Amanda thought. There’s no way I’m trusting this girl again!
    Amanda bent down to pet Casey.
    She glanced back up and saw Natasha’s eyes, looking anxious.
    Sad.
    That’s why Amanda heard herself saying, “Sure, that would be great. Can you come over tomorrow morning?”
    Oh my gosh! Amanda thought. What did I just say?!
    Natasha brightened. “Yeah! I’ll be there!”
    Suddenly, Amanda felt relieved. With four cooks, they could definitely handle all the work. And things wouldn’t be so awkward with Justin if another person was there, too.
    “Great. Thanks.”
    Natasha checked her watch. “Oops , I have to go to the dentist soon,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” She turned to leave, and then stopped. “Amanda?”
    “Yes?”
    “I’m sorry about ... everything. Not showing up to help you that time. Dropping out of Dish without telling you. All that stuff. I—I did everything wrong. And Ive—Ive missed you guys.”
    “It’s okay. Natasha. See you tomorrow.”

    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