The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies Read Free Book Online

to Becky. "Why is she breaking up the club?" she asked.
    Becky gave her a sour look. She'd been grumpy all morning. "Don't you get it, you dummy? WHJ doesn't stand for Wild Hot Jellybeans. We just said that to Mrs. Soren. It stands for We Hate Jessie. It's the We Hate Jessie Club, and everyone in the class is a member."
    Jessie stared at Becky. Why did they hate her? What had she ever done to them? It didn't make
sense. And then Lorelei, Andrea, and Eileen had laughed, and even Becky had managed a smirky grin.
    "Jerks," Evan said later, when Jessie told him the whole story. "They've got rocks for brains. But Jess, you gotta be on the lookout for girls like that."
    Standing in Megan's front hall, Jessie stared at Carly. Something inside told her Carly was a "girl like that."
    "Look," said Jessie. "It doesn't matter. Evan can't come over. He's busy. And we've got to get going on our lemonade stand. I've got a great idea."
    "We don't want to do a lemonade stand," said Carly.
    Jessie looked at Megan.
    "It's just that..." Megan fiddled with the bottles of nail polish in her hand the same way she'd fiddled with her band bracelets the day before. "It's kind of hot. And we did the lemonade thing already. And now Carly is over. So. Ya know?"
    "You said you wanted to," said Jessie.
And I thought you liked me,
she added in her head. She felt her lower lip tremble.
Not now,
she shouted
inside.
Don't you be a big baby!
    Megan stood there, saying nothing, fiddling with the bottles. Then she turned to Carly. "Aw, c'mon, Carly. It'll be fun. We made a
ton
of money yesterday. And it was really ... fun."
    Carly crossed her arms, tightened her lips, and raised one eyebrow. It was amazing how high she could raise that eyebrow. Jessie had never seen an eyebrow go that high.
    "Aw, c'mon, Carly," Megan said again. Carly didn't move a muscle.
    "Well, then I guess..." Megan's voice trailed off. She clicked one bottle of nail polish against another so that it made a tapping sound that filled the long silence. "I guess me and Jessie will do the lemonade stand alone then."
    Carly dropped her eyebrow and her arms. "What-
ever
;" she said as she walked out the door. "Spend the day baby-sitting if you want." The screen door slammed, followed by a huge bucketful of silence.
    "What-
ever
;" said Megan, imitating Carly's voice.
    Jessie laughed, even though she was still stinging from the baby-sitting remark. "Thanks for doing the lemonade stand with me," she said.
    "Are you kidding?" said Megan. "She's such a stuck-up jerk. I didn't even invite her over. She just rode by, and when I said that you and Evan might be coming over, she just walked into the house."
    "Are all the girls in fourth grade like her?" asked Jessie. She tried to sound casual.
    "Some are, some aren't," said Megan. She sat down on the stairs and opened a bottle of sky blue nail polish. With quick expert strokes, she started painting her toenails. "Hey, that's right. You're going to be in our class this year. That's so weird. Jumping a grade."
    "A lot of people skip a grade," said Jessie.
    "Really? I never met one before. Here. Do your toes green and then we'll be coordinated."
    Jessie ended up getting more polish on her toes than on her toenails. But by the time they were done, Jessie had explained her plan for the day: Value-added.
    "See," she said, pulling
Ten Bright Ideas to Light Up Your Sales
from the back pocket of her shorts. She turned to Bright Idea #2 and pointed with her finger.

    "That means we give customers something extra they didn't expect," explained Jessie. "I mean, anyone can go home and mix up their own batch of lemonade. Right? So if we want them to buy from us, we've got to give them something extra. We
add value.
"
    "Great," said Megan. "What are we going to add?"
    "Well, how about chips? And maybe pretzels. Everyone likes chips and pretzels. We'll just have a bowl on the table, and anyone who buys lemonade can have some free snacks."
    "So we're adding