Ice Cream Queen Page 2

  Then I texted the image to Allie and Sierra. What do you think? 7 hours before the deadline!

  Allie replied first. I love this! I’m going to show it to my mom as soon as she gets home!

  I texted her back. Tx. How was your first day at the luxury spa known as Vista Green?

  I was teasing Allie about her school. She, Sierra, and I had all gone to the same elementary school together, which was how we’d become besties. But then Allie’s parents had divorced, and Allie had moved to a different part of Bayville with her mom. That’s why Allie went to Vista Green School instead of MLK with Sierra and me. Vista Green had just gotten remodeled a few years ago, so everyone around town knew that Vista Green had much better school equipment and cafeteria food than we did. I thought it bugged Allie when we teased her about it, but sometimes I couldn’t resist.

  LOL! she replied. It’s been a good day so far. Lots of classes with my friends.

  You mean your OTHER friends, I teased. Seriously, tho, that’s nice. Homework?

  Nope, she replied. We had getting-to-know-you games all day, and pizza.

  !!!! I typed back. No work, no homework, and pizza on top of it! It was hard not to be jealous of the Vista Greenies sometimes.

  Sierra chimed in. Your cover looks great, Tamiko!

  I was typing a response to her when I heard the front door open.

  “Tamiko, we’re home!” Mom yelled up the stairs. “Come on down and tell us about how your first day of school went.”

  I went downstairs to meet them. Dad was behind Mom, carrying two pizza boxes with white bags piled on top, and Kai was walking in the door after them.

  “Where’ve you been?” I asked. “Business club meeting?”

  “What else?” Kai asked, and he walked past me without another word.

  “Since it’s a special day, Dad and I picked up dinner from Calabria’s,” Mom announced. “Can you two please set the table?”

  “Yay, pizza!” I cheered.

  I ran into the kitchen, where Kai was pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher in the fridge.

  “Mom wants us to set the table,” I said.

  “What’s stopping you?” Kai asked.

  “Wow, looks like somebody ordered their pizza with a slice of attitude,” I said, surprised. As big brothers went, Kai was a really good one. He never teased me or bugged me, and he was generally a chill person. Chill emotionally, I mean. When it came to schoolwork and his goals, he was on fire. He wanted to be a billionaire businessman someday.

  I was hungry, so I grabbed plates from the cabinet and napkins from the drawer and didn’t argue with Kai. Soon the four of us were seated around the kitchen table, and Dad opened the pizza boxes. I inhaled the steam that came out of them.

  “Half plain for Kai, half pepperoni for me, half olive and anchovy for your mom, and half veggie for Tamiko,” Dad said.

  That might sound like a lot of pizza, and it was—we always had leftovers. But we Satos were very picky about our pizza and could never agree on just one kind to share. So this had been our family pizza order for at least the last two years.

  “Now tell me about school,” Mom said, and I chatted away about how Sierra and I had one class together, and what a big hit my outfit was, and how I had cracked everyone up in Mr. O.’s class.

  “And Allie didn’t even have regular classes or homework today!” I went on. “And they had pizza! And I was having pizza envy until you walked in the door, and now I’m not.”

  I turned to Kai. “Did you get a ton of homework too?”

  Kai shrugged. “It’s school. There’s homework. What did you expect, Tamiko? A band playing live music and balloons?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, I didn’t expect a ton of homework on the very first day, that’s for sure.”

  “And how much of that homework have you started?” Mom asked.

  I shifted in my seat. “Well, none, actually. I had to finish this art project for—”

  Dad shook his head. “You know the rule, Tamiko. Homework first, then fun.”

  “Do we have to send you back to the after-school program?” Mom asked.

  “No!” I said quickly. “I’ll do my homework right after pizza, I promise.”

  Mom squinted at me, like she did when she was trying to make a point. “And the rule?”

  “Homework first, then fun,” I promised.

  Then things got quiet as we ate our pizza. Stupid rule, I thought. Rules kill creativity! I imagined living on my own when I grew up and making my own rules, and I smiled. Then I sighed. That was such a long time to wait!

  Kai got up from the table before anybody else and left without being excused. When he got upstairs, I looked at my parents.

  “What’s up with him?” I asked.

  Mom shrugged. “He’s probably exhausted. The first day of school can do that to you.”

  I frowned. I’d just had my first day of school, and I wasn’t snappy or exhausted. Also, Kai regularly could spend all day at school, run in a track meet, and then come up with a business plan for his club without even yawning.

  What was up with my big brother?

  CHAPTER THREE FABULOUS FALL FLAVORS

  Beads of sweat poured down my back as I ran along the concrete trail. Up ahead, I could see the bouncing ponytail of one of my teammates. I quickly glanced behind me and didn’t see anyone, but the path had curved.

  It was the first cross-country meet of the season. I wasn’t really into playing sports, and neither was Kai, but Grandpa Sato had said he didn’t want his grandchildren getting lazy, so we’d both started running to prove him wrong. Kai liked running as fast as he could, so he’d joined the track team. I was more of a slow and steady runner, so I’d joined cross-country.

  Some cross-country teams were intense, but I liked how low-key it was at my school. You showed up, you ran, you went home. I wasn’t terrible, and I wasn’t great. I usually finished the two miles in about seventeen minutes, which was pretty average for girls on my team. I had never placed higher than fifteenth in a meet, but that had never bothered me. I was running to be healthy and prove to Grandpa Sato that I wasn’t lazy.

  The muscles in my legs were starting to burn, and as I turned another corner, I was glad to see the finish line in sight, flanked by the coaches and a few parents. When I crossed the line, Coach Furman yelled out, “Sixteen minutes and forty-two seconds. Great job, Tamiko!”

  I grabbed my water bottle and took a sip. “Really? That’s my best time.”

  “And you’re in ninth place out of forty girls,” Coach Furman said. “I knew you had it in you.”

  Coach Furman was a young guy with a crew cut, the kind of person who liked to use motivational sayings. He told me to dig deep, and he said things like, I’ll never give up on you; you can only give up on yourself! This was the first time I’d gotten an I knew you had it in you from him. And then I realized something else.

  “Ninth place,” I repeated. That was in the top ten!

  “Keep pushing yourself, Tamiko,” Coach Furman said, “and you’ll go far.”

  I was so excited that I video-chatted with Grandpa Sato as soon as I got home, and told him the news.

  “Very good, Tamiko,” he said. “I knew you had it in you.”

  I laughed.

  “What is so funny?” he asked.

  “You sound like my coach,” I told him.

  “Then you have a very good coach,” Grandpa Sato said.

  While I was talking to Grandpa Sato, Kai walked into the kitchen.

  “Kai, I placed ninth in my cross-country meet today!” I told him.

  To my surprise, Kai didn’t say anything in response. He just took a bag of crackers out of the cabinet and walked away.

  “Was that your brother?” Grandpa asked me.

  “I’m not sure,” I replied. “I think an alien has taken over his body. He’s not acting like the Kai I know.”

  “We all have times when we do not feel like ourselves,” Grandpa S
ato said. “If you are worried about him, why not just ask him?”

  “I should,” I said, and I meant to, after I got off the video chat with our grandpa. But Kai holed himself up in his room for the rest of the day, and he was still asleep when Mom drove me to Molly’s Ice Cream shop the next morning.

  “Bring home a pint of the Coffee Caramel Chip, please,” Mom said, shoving cash into my hand as I got out of the car. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want one of our new fall flavors?” I asked her. “We’re featuring them today.”

  “Coffee. Caramel. Chip,” Mom said, very slowly. “Please.”

  “Got it, Ayumi,” I replied, because it bugged Mom when I called her by her first name, and then I made a quick getaway into the shop.

  I usually arrived about fifteen minutes early to take photos or get ideas from Mrs. S. for the Sunday social media post that would bring customers into the store. That was just before the lunch rush. Today I found Sierra already there, filling napkin dispensers, and Allie was writing on the small chalkboard next to the ice cream counter.

  “You’re an early bird today, Si,” I said.

  “Don’t be so surprised,” Sierra replied. “I just wanted to get some extra Allie time in. I miss her now that school’s started.”

  “Well, I miss her too,” I said, and I walked over to Allie. “New quote? Or an ice cream pairing?”

  Allie wrote a column for her school paper where she paired books with ice cream flavors, and she had started writing pairings on the board in the shop as well, or literary quotes about food. The customers seemed to like it.

  “Pairing,” Allie replied, without turning back to look at me. “Almost finished.”

  Seconds later she stepped back from the board. She’d written:

  Today’s Pairing

  Read: The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson

  Eat: Vanilla Cookie Dough Ice Cream

  She’d even drawn a cute little cow.

  “That’s adorable, Allie,” I said.

  She grinned. “Thanks! I brought in my copy of the book from home, so if a kid actually wants to read it, they can.”

  She propped the book up on top of the counter.

  “Brilliant!” I said, and I took out my phone. “I need to do a post about the new fall flavors. I was thinking, ‘Come on down to Molly’s for our Fall Flavor Fiesta,’ but I don’t think ‘fiesta’ is quite right. That makes it sound like we’re actually throwing a party.”

  “How about ‘It’s always a party at Molly’s!’ ” Sierra suggested. “We always have fun, don’t we?”

  “That’s true, but we don’t want customers to show up and be disappointed,” I said. “Mrs. S. said to promote the Pumpkin Caramel Swirl, Maple Butter Pecan, and Apple Pie flavors. I need a word that sounds more fall-like.”

  I turned to Allie. “What about ‘Come on down to Molly’s for our Fall Flavor Extravaganza’?”

  “I kind of miss the F alliteration,” Allie said. “How about, ‘Come on down to Molly’s for our fabulous fall flavors’?”

  “What about ‘festive’?” Sierra asked. “Festive fall flavors.”

  I ran through the possibilities. “Fierce fall flavors? Finest fall flavors? Fresh fall flavors? Fattening fall flavors?”

  Allie gasped. “Don’t you dare!”

  “Just kidding, Ali-li,” I said. “I like ‘fabulous.’ I’m going with that.”

  I typed out the post, being sure to mention the shop’s hours and the featured fabulous fall flavors. Then I took photos of the ice cream to add to the post.

  Sierra glanced outside. “There are some people still wearing shorts. It doesn’t feel like fall.”

  “If we waited for it to feel like fall, we’d miss out on the whole fall-flavor trend,” Allie said. “Mom researched it, and customers expect fall flavors in stores right after Labor Day.”

  “If fall flavors are what they want, fall flavors are what we’ll give them!” I vowed.

  Then the little bells on the door chimed as our first customers arrived. Since we’d started working together, the Sprinkle Squad, as we called ourselves (as well as the Sprinkle Sundays sisters), had divided up the tasks. I took the orders. Allie made the orders with an assist from me, and Sierra took the payments and made the change.

  Two teenage girls walked up to the counter.

  “Welcome to Molly’s! Would you like to try one of our fabulous fall flavors?” I asked in a cheerful voice.

  The girls were not in a fabulous fall mood, because they ordered chocolate milkshakes, and I didn’t try to change their minds, like I sometimes liked to do. They looked happy with their order.

  “I finished in the top ten at my cross-country meet yesterday,” I announced to Allie and Sierra when the girls had left.

  “Tamiko, that’s awesome!” Sierra said.

  “Congratulations!” Allie added.

  “Well, you know, Coach Furman said he always knew I had it in me,” I said. “Just another thing to add to the list of things I’m good at.”

  I caught Sierra raising her eyebrows at Allie.

  “What’s wrong with me saying that?” I asked. “We’re all multitalented. Allie, you’re an amazing writer and reader and you help your mom run the shop. Sierra, you’re a great singer and athlete and you’re super-friendly. What’s wrong with being proud of your talents?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that,” Allie said. “Just maybe there’s a difference between being proud and, you know…”

  “Bragging,” Sierra finished. “Bragging is so uncool. Like those people who brag on social media all the time about their new clothes, and the fancy trips they go on, and—”

  “You mean like when I went to Tokyo?” I asked, feeling defensive.

  “No! I mean, that was different, because you have a blog, and you’re just letting your friends know what’s going on in your life,” Sierra said, brushing a strand of curly hair away from her face. “I didn’t mean you, chica, honestly.”

  I still had the feeling that Sierra and Allie thought I was bragging all the time, but I didn’t get a chance to ask them because more customers came in, and time moved quickly. I talked up the fall flavors, which was easy. A lot of people wanted our Pumpkin Caramel Swirl ice cream. After the first hour Allie’s mom came in from the back freezer with a new tub of it.

  “You girls must be doing a great job pushing the new flavors,” she said. She had the same dark brown hair as Allie, and she held it back with a bandana printed with ice cream cones.

  “I think the social media post is bringing them in, Mrs. S.,” I said, and right after she headed into the back room, a man and a woman stepped up to the counter.

  “You’re right,” the woman told me. “As soon as I saw online that you had Pumpkin Caramel Swirl ice cream, I made a beeline here. I love pumpkin ice cream!”

  “And pumpkin spices, and pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin candles,” the man teased her. “I’m surprised you didn’t marry a pumpkin instead of me!”

  “Are you a pumpkin hater?” I asked him.

  “Pretty much,” he replied. “I mean, I’ve eaten pumpkin pie, but all the pumpkin stuff out there is just…” He made a face.

  “Molly’s flavors are all-natural, so our Pumpkin Caramel Swirl ice cream is nothing like the sugary artificial flavor that you might find in other stores,” I said. Then I smiled at him. “I can make you a special sundae that will convert you one hundred percent into a pumpkin lover!”

  The man looked at his wife. “What do you think, Nilsa?”

  “Do it, Michael!” she said. “I’ll take the same sundae too.”

  Michael nodded at me. “I accept your challenge!”

  I thought quickly about what flavors might go well with pumpkin. I wasn’t too worried, because I knew Mrs. S.’s ice cream would probably be enough to convince him on its own. But I wanted to wow this pumpkin hater.

  “Two scoops of pumpkin in a sundae dish, Allie,” I said.
“Times two.”

  Allie, who’d heard the whole exchange, was giving me that What are you up to now? look, but she didn’t like to argue in front of customers. I took the ice cream from her and topped it with a dash of cinnamon, a generous helping of candied ginger, and a swirl of chocolate sauce. Before I handed them their sundaes, I topped them with chocolate sprinkles.

  “Here’s your sprinkle of happy!” I said, pushing the sundaes forward on the counter.

  “Oh my goodness, this looks delicious!” Nilsa said.

  “We will see,” Michael said in a skeptical tone.

  He took a bite right in front of me, and I watched his face carefully. He didn’t say a word or change his expression, but he took another bite. Then he looked at me and smiled.

  “The sweet creaminess of the pumpkin is well balanced by the spicy ginger, and the chocolate adds extra depth,” he said. “I’ve never tasted anything like this before. I love it!”

  “Welcome to the pumpkin family!” his wife teased him, and she turned to me. “I’ve been trying to get him to like pumpkin for as long as we’ve been married. It’s a miracle! Thank you!”

  “Just doing my bit for the pumpkin lovers of the world,” I said.

  They moved down the counter and paid, and then sat down. Sierra ran over to me.

  “That was so cool,” she whispered. “How did you know that the pumpkin and ginger would work together? Have you had it before?”

  “It was just a guess,” I admitted. “It sounded good in my head, so I went for it.”

  Allie was behind us. “That was risky,” she said. “What if he didn’t like it? He might have refused to pay for it.”

  I shrugged. “Well, he loved it, so relax, Ali-li!” I said.

  Allie frowned, but she went back to her station as more customers came in. I knew she had a point. It was risky to serve something that you haven’t tasted. But I was feeling really confident about everything in general. School and cross-country were going great. I was still the queen of social media.

  Why couldn’t I be the ice cream queen, too?