Boiling Point (13 page)

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Authors: Diane Muldrow

BOOK: Boiling Point
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Plus, I had to handle Justin,
thought Amanda, and
Molly didn’t even want him here. And I had tohandle Peichi.
“Wow! I rock!” she said in a perky voice, which made Mom and Dad chuckle.
Molly squirmed. All of Amandas wonderfulness was making her look bad. She felt as if the word SLACKER were stamped on her forehead.
She cleared her throat. “I cooked, too,” she said. “And I did all the cleanup after everybody left.”
“And she broke something,” Matthew blurted out. He grinned wickedly. “There was glass all over the floor!”
“What did you break?” asked Mom, looking alarmed.
Molly’s cheeks burned.
“A measuring cup,” she said, glaring at Matthew. “Nothing valuable. Sorry.”
She felt the word SLACKER change to LOSER. She pretended to scratch her forehead, to make sure it wasn’t really there. Molly sighed.
Why did I go to Chinatown with Peichi?
she wondered for the hundredth time.
As the twins brought the dishes into the kitchen after dinner, Amanda fold Molly, “I want to go to bed. Right now. And I want to stay there all day tomorrow.”
“We really need to write Shawn,” Molly reminded her.
Amanda sighed dramatically. “Oh, yeah. Okay.”
The twins headed info the den, turned on the computer, and began to type.
chapter 11
T
he next morning, Molly and Amanda were awakened by the squeaking, scraping sounds of Matthew practicing his violin.
“
Ugh
,” moaned Molly. She put her pillow over her head, but it was no use. “Why is he practicing so early?” she complained. “Do you think he’ll ever be any good at it?”
“Are you still grounded?” asked Amanda.
“Nope.”
“Good. You can go with me to Ms. Tightwad’s house right after breakfast.”
An hour later, Molly led the way up the steps of Brenda Barlow’s brick row house and rang the bell. The twins listened for the sound of footsteps.
No one came to the door.
But Molly put her ear closer to the door and looked at Amanda with big eyes.
Amanda moved her ear closer, too.
“Sounds like footsteps,” whispered Molly
Annoyed, Molly rang the bell again.
No one answered.
“I guess she’s not home,” said Amanda. The twins turned and walked down the steps. As they walked away, Molly turned back and looked up.
Was someone moving the drapes upstairs?
Molly stopped walking. “I think she’s upstairs!” she whispered.
“What’s
with
this lady?” said Amanda. “That’s it. I’m ringing the bell one more time!”
But still no one came to the door.
“What should we do?” the twins asked their parents that night.
“Hmmm,”
said Mom. “I’m not sure. I think you should give her a few more days—”
“But do we have to keep going over there?” asked Amanda.
“Give her a call tomorrow,” suggested Dad. “Ask Ms. Barlow what time you should drop by for the money.”
Both Molly and Amanda wrinkled their noses.
“Oh, I hate to call grown-ups,” whined Molly.
“Me, too,” said Amanda. “Can’t you call, Dad? Or you, Mom?”
“I think you should do it. It’s good experience!” said Mom in her “peppy” voice.
The twins groaned.
“And you shouldn’t feel weird about calling her,” added Dad. “She owes you money!”
The twins sighed.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Dad. “If you don’t have any luck on the phone with this Ms. What’s-Her-Name, then Mom and I will help you talk to her. Okay?”
The twins nodded.
“Okay,” they said.
Later that night, the twins checked their e-mail. They were surprised that Shawn hadn’t written them back.
“Wow, she must be really mad at us,” said Amanda.
“I know,” said Molly.
“Should we write her again?” asked Amanda.
Molly shook her head. “What else can we say? We already said we’re sorry. Anyway, Shawn never stays mad at us for long. She’ll probably write us tomorrow.”
“Hey, I know! I’m gonna send Justin an e-mail. Should I?” said Amanda.
“Why?”
“Oh, just because. I guess I want him to know that we’re trying to get the money out of Brenda Barlow.”
Molly shrugged. “I really don’t think he cares about the money, Amanda. Besides, how do you know his e-mail address?”
“We were all talking about our e-mail addresses in the car.”
“Go ahead,” said Molly with a sigh. She watched over Amanda’s shoulder as Amanda began to type.
“There,” said Amanda. “Do you think it’s okay?”
Molly chuckled. “You misspelled ‘sorry.”’
“Do you think he’ll write back?” asked Amanda, typing in the other ‘r’ in “sorry.”
“How should I know? Enough already. Just send it!”
Amanda sent it.
“Hey, here’s an e-mail from Shawn! It just got here.” said Amanda. She clicked on it.
Molly and Amanda look at each other and laughed.
“Kangaroo
potholders?
” Amanda said.
“Whatever, I’m just glad Shawn’s not mad at us anymore. What a relief!” Molly said.
“I know. At least one thing is going right for us!” Amanda said, still laughing.
“I can’t wait for Shawn to get home!” exclaimed Molly. “And for Peichi to not be grounded anymore. Things need to pick up again.”
“Are you kidding?” asked Amanda. “I still need a break.” She logged off the computer, and the twins went upstairs.
chapter 12
E
arly Sunday morning. Peichi called.
The Moores were in the kitchen, which was full of good smells: brewing coffee, sizzling turkey bacon, and blueberry pancakes cooking on the griddle.
“Hello?” said Amanda, answering the phone.
“Hi!” Peichi practically shouted. “I’m not grounded anymore! And we’re having a big cookout today! It’s for our family but my mom said I could invite you and Molly. Do you wanna come over at two o’clock?”

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