Truly the Best Summer Ever

Margherite Overlander

Age 11

Truly the Best Summer Ever

Chapter 1

SLAM. The car door shuts behind me as I jump out of the car and stumble onto the soft green grass. I look up and see a decent sized light blue house. It has white shutters, a shiny new black door, and a white fence bordering the whole thing. It looks as if a big plane just dropped it off from a factory shiny and new, like a brand new coat of nail polish. My fingers run against the word “Sold” on the sign nailed in the front yard as I go to take a closer look. The air is nice here; it smells of sweet flowers and nice fertile, green grass, like that good September smell.

“JANA, get over here. Let’s start getting boxes out,” my dad says in his “let’s hurry up” voice.

“Trust me, Dad, I want to look inside as much as you do,” I say back in my voice. And so, we start unloading the first of the boxes.

“This one’s for the front room, Jennie Bean,” my mom says as she hands me the box.

“I know how to read, Mom,” I say as I look down at the box label. “And stop calling me Jennie Bean.”

The day goes on, box after box after box after box until the first moving truck is all unloaded. As I bring boxes up the stairs, I get a couple glances of my new room, but I want to get the whole experience. I take a deep breath in as I turn the doorknob and look inside.

“OMGMYROOMISGORGEOUS,” I shout across the house. It is painted a very light blue with white hexagon shelves on one corner and on the other is a big bed with decorative shelves over it. At the foot of my bed is a dresser and mirror, and then across from that, there’s a desk. And to top it all off, between my bed and the hexagon shelves, is a huge window with a window seat. I have never been in such a cute room. So on I go curving around boxes and packing paper, unpacking my stuff. These go on my shelves, the alarm clock goes on the storage above my bed. One thing at a time until I have most stuff unpacked. “Let’s stop here,” I say to myself. I look around my new room, and I’m happy with my progress. It looks great, except for some moving boxes in the corner.

Chapter 2

“DINNER, LET’S GO,” my dad shouts in his army voice, “MARCH PEOPLE, LET’S GO,” he shouts again. Even when he is not in training or on the battlefield, he thinks of us as his own private army. For as long as I can remember, he has always been part of the army, even when he is not deployed. I guess he chose the career because grandpa is the colonel. Whatever makes him happy, as long as he stays alive. “DINNER, JANA. DO NOT MAKE ME WAIT,” he shouts again from downstairs.

“COMING, SIR,” I shout back as I run down the stairs as fast as I can. The warm and delightful smell of soup hits my face as I dash into the kitchen.

“What do you think, Jennie Bean?” my mom says as she stirs the pot.

“Wow, it looks great,” I say in amazement, “How did you get it set up so fast?”

“Just a little bit of mom power,” she says back with a smirk.

“I guess I was so wrapped up with my room that I totally forgot the rest of the house,” I say embarrassed.

“Come taste it,” Mom says excitedly.

“OK,” I say back. I get a spoon and taste the soup. “It’s good but needs more salt,” I say in an official tone.

“OK, masterchef,” my mom says to me in a British accent, mocking me.

“Thank you for the lovely introduction, ma’am. Yes, I am the masterchef,” I say in my most ladylike tone. Two can play at that game, I thought to myself as I walked to the table. But it is true, I am the main chef in this house. When it comes to the kitchen, I have quite a gift.

Chapter 3

Splash. “AHHH,” I scream as something cold and wet comes splashing down on me. Without a second thought, I jump out of bed and sprint into my brother’s room, which I may add, smells weirdly of ketchup. A lightning fast figure tries to sneak past me and dash out the door, but it’s too late. I grab his arm and pull him back. “You want to explain this?” I ask the boy.

“Not really,” he says in a sly tone.

“You are going to wake up everybody in the world,” I protest.

“Not if they catch me. I am going to go get breakfast,” he says quickly, then darts down the stairs.

“DANNYJARVISWRIGHT, you get back here now,” I yell down the stairs. Not a great first morning; well, at least not for some people. Maybe it will get better. I will get back at Danny, but in the meantime I will keep asking myself why I have to have a brother, especially this crazy one.

I slowly walk downstairs careful of any possible traps, none so far.

“Come on, Jana, breakfast,” my mom says.

“No thanks, Mom. I am going to check out the cafe I saw a couple blocks away,” I say.

“OK, just don’t go too far,” she says as I start to head out the door.

“You got it mom,” I say in my “I am responsible enough to do this” voice.

Do I want to check out the cafe? Yes. Do I want to get away from my crazy family even more? Yes. Today, it is slightly breezy but warm enough to wear a thin sweater. After a couple minutes of walking, I see a big green building with a sign saying, “Two Cups Sweater.” Sensible name, I think to myself as I walk inside. The inside has nice white walls, some comfy sofas, and corner tables. Your regular cafe, but I am lucky to have one two blocks away, so I order a smoothie, sit down at a table, and wait.

Chapter 4

“Hi,” I hear a voice behind me say, I flip my head around in alarm.

“Ow, sorry, just me,” says a girl who I guess was standing behind me. She is blonde with blue brown eyes and is wearing a pink top and jeans.

“Hi, my name is Lilyan, but my friend calls me Lilly,” she says in an energetic tone. “Or maybe they should call me Lil,” she says in an even more energetic voice. She starts talking again, but I cut her off.

“Hi, I am Jana,” I say, offering her my hand.

“I’m Lilly,” she says back.

“Yup, you already told me,” I say, slightly annoyed. Just then, a lady in a green apron comes up to the table and gives me my smoothie. I slip back into my seat and start drinking sips of it.

Lilly starts to talk again, “Hey, I was just going to ask you where you lived, I’ve never seen you before.”

“Oh, I just moved here,” I answer. I guess she really wants something to do because the next thing I know I am getting a tour of the whole town. Lilly half drags me out the door until I regain balance again. We walk side-by-side past apartments, stores, and other buildings. We walk past a huge building that has to be a school. It says, Community Middle, on it.

“And that’s the school you will be at when summer ends,” Lilly says excitedly. Then, we walk past a poster that grabs my attention. It is decorated with summer fun activities and has the words, “Bake Till You Drop On It.”

“What’s that?” I ask Lilly.

“Oh, that’s just the summer baking competition,” she says doubtfully.

“Amanda Green wins it every year.” Now she sounds sad, so I try to bring a bright side to it.

“Hey, what if we enter?” I suggest. “I am pretty good in the kitchen.”

“Maybe, what are you good at making?” she says a little more hopefully.

“Everything,” I reply. “Come over later today, and I will show you how good I am. My address is 8710 Farwell Drive.”

“I will be there,” she says in a confident voice.

Chapter 5

Ding Dong. The doorbell sounds throughout the house.

“Come in, Lilly,” I yell from the kitchen. Though there are moving boxes everywhere, I was able to find the ingredients I needed to bake my special muffins. Now, my muffins are cooling on the stove.

“Hi,” Lilly says, greeting me. “Whatever you made smells delicious,” she says, looking around.

“Thanks,” I say, “They’re muffins.”

“Yummy, muffins,” my brother, Danny, says running into the kitchen. “Can I have one? Can I have one? Can I have one?” he keeps repeating.

“You can both have one,” I say to Lilly and Danny. They each grab a muffin from the cooling tray and dig in. As they inhale the muffins, I hear them say, “This is delicious,” and “Yummy,” between mouthfuls. They finish the whole tray.

“With muffins like that, we could win,” Lilly says, overjoyed.

“Just wait until you taste her triple sweet cream cheese carrot cake, or the TS triple C for short,” Danny says, looking mesmerized.

“If it’s better than the muffins, then we should totally make it for the competition,” says Lilly. “If you still want to enter, that is.”

“Of course I want to enter,” I say overjoyed.

Chapter 6

Lilly has been over for the last four hours helping me perfect my carrot cake recipe. We changed one-third of a cup to half a cup and three tablespoons to two as well as some other changes. Right now, Lilly and I are staring at the cake while it bakes. Only thirty more seconds until it is done.

DING, my timer goes off.

“It’s done,” Lilly says, half anxious, half excited. I carefully move the hot pan to the stove and let it cool. My frosting is out and ready to go. As we wait for the cake to cool, we talk about the competition. It’s next week at Joey Park.

My mom signed me and Lilly up with the online form this morning. Amber Green and Lucy Conwell have won for the last three years. But too bad for them because Lilly and I decided we are going to beat them. Now, the cake is cool enough to take out of the pan, so I do just that. As it sits on the cooling rack, I begin frosting the cake, and then I sprinkle carrot shreds onto it.

“Done,” I say, confident that my cake will be delicious. Lilly and I both grab a piece and dig in. I was stunned. “This is the best cake I’ve ever made,” I say with enough joy to power a whole town. After Lilly leaves, I put the recipe in my lock box. I can’t wait for the competition.

Chapter 7

The next morning, I go to Lilly’s house. We have to go meet the other competitors. We walk down the street to get to Joey Park. We have to bring the recipe to show the people who get all the ingredients for the show. When we get there, a group of about twenty people are there. If there are groups of two, that means we are going against ten other teams. I show the helpers the list. As they look over it, the girl who must be Amanda comes up to me. She peeks over my shoulder and looks at the recipe before I can stop her. Her face looks astonished as she reads it.

“That would make the perfect carrot cake,’’ she says to me. Without hesitation she asks, “Want to team up?”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” I say as I hand the recipe to the helper, turn around, and walk away.

Lilly and I headed back to her house to hang out, and I told her all about what just happened. But about three hours after we arrived back at Lilly’s, we got a call.

Chapter 8

“Hello, is this Lilly?” a voice on the other end says.

“Yes, this is Lilly,” Lilly says into her phone.

“I’m so sorry to tell you this, but as we were retrieving the ingredients for your cake, your recipe was lost.” Lilly and I both gasp. “Lost?” Lilly says to herself, not believing what the lady said.

“Yes, everything was in Mrs. Green’s bag, and then your list disappeared. I am very sorry, girls.”

And with that, she hangs up. Lilly and I are still in disbelief.

“Mrs. Green, is that Amanda’s mom?” Lilly says, “Do you think Amanda took it, so she wouldn’t lose?”

“Maybe,” I say, angry that she probably did. We still had a recipe as I took a picture of it earlier. Lilly calls the lady back and reads off the list to her, but the bad thing is that Amanda now has the same recipe.

“I guess we’ll just have to see what she does with it,” I say, defeated.

Chapter 9

Lilly and I can’t stop thinking about what Amanda will do with the recipe. Try to pass it off as her own? Sell it for money? The possibilities are limitless. But we need to start focusing on the competition tomorrow. Lilly and I have been in my room for the past few hours, doing nothing, and saying nothing. Just thinking. We are brought out of our daydreams by my mom.

“Jana, Lilly, come down for lunch.”

“OK,” I yell down the stairs. Lunch is turkey sandwiches and pears. We go and sit at the counter and start eating. But she seems to notice something.

“You guys OK?”she says in her almost worried tone.

“Never better,” I say not too convincingly.

“I think you are worried about the competition. You guys will do just fine.”

“Thanks,” I say. Lilly and I are a little less worried knowing that Amanda can’t do too much damage with the recipe. We just have to be ready.

Chapter 10

All the hard work has led up to this day. Winning this competition has been my dream since three days ago. Though, it feels like it has been a lifetime. Lilly and I rub our hands together as we walk to the park. It’s not cold; it’s actually warm outside. It’s just the nerves. The park has fold-out tables set up in a big circle. Each table has a name on it along with the ingredients that the team asked for. Lilly and I find the table with our names and sit down, waiting for the opening speech.

“Hello, my name is Claire Everstone. Welcome to this year’s baking challenge. As most of you know, I founded this challenge many summers ago. I wish you all the best. You may start at the buzzer,” says a woman talking through a speaker. BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ, a loud sound bursts out of the speaker. Everybody is grabbing ingredients, including Lilly, so I do the same. We get out the flour, milk, and salt, and start mixing. Next is the eggs and baking soda. And it goes on, me grabbing one thing, Lilly grabbing another until the batter was done. We put the cake in one of the ovens next to the judging stand. Then, we walk back to the table and wait. It’s about twenty-five minutes later, and the cake is ready to come out. I slowly remove

the cake pan. OMG, it is the most perfect cake I have ever made. Lilly and I carefully layer the frosting on the cake and then top it off with little carrots I made out of sugar. The cake is PERFECT. It sits on the presenting dish as Lilly and I sit nervously.

Chapter 11

The judges are starting to come around. I can see them at the first table. I turn around to look at Amanda’s cake. It is pink in the shape of a heart. Then, just when the judges leave, she starts walking over.

“I really thought I could trip you up if I took the recipe. I guess you had a picture,” she says smugly. “But I don’t need your recipe to win. My cake is better than ever.”

“Well, better than ever is not going to be good enough because this year we are going to win,” Lilly says, almost angry.

“Just leave us alone,” I say. Amanda walks away, and just in time, because the judges are walking toward our table. They stand in front of the cake and stare at it. Then, the judge on the right grabs a knife and cuts it. The judges eat the cake as Lilly and I sit in anticipation. Just as quickly as they came, they stand up and move to the next table. Both Lilly and I can’t say a word. We just sit there and watch the judges. After ten long, long, long minutes later, they head back to their table and start talking to each other. Then, after five of the longest minutes of my life, they stand up and walk toward the center of the tables. Then, a loud voice comes over the loudspeaker.

“I want to thank each and everyone of you for entering this year’s baking contest. But there is a clear winner among us, so if you would please join me in congratulating JANAANDLILLY.”

Everybody falls silent.

“WE WON,” I shout. Just then, Lilly and I erupt like active volcanoes, jumping and screaming. This is truly the best summer ever.