Lunch Will Never Be the Same! Read online

  When I got home that day, I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to make the most important list I’ve ever made:

  REASONS WHY I STILL LIKE SAGE

  (AS LONG AS HE ISN’T MEAN TO CAMILLE EVER AGAIN)

  1. Because he always makes me laugh, or at least he used to until recently

  2. Because we have the same favorite song, “Twist and Shout,” by the Beatles

  3. Because he finds the coolest bugs

  4. Because we went on our first roller coaster together and we both weren’t scared at all

  5. Because we’ve known each other since we were two

  6. Because I couldn’t ever, ever imagine NOT being friends

  I showed the list to Molly, who didn’t mind being interrupted during her clarinet practice since I don’t think she really likes playing it, she just likes saying that she plays it. Molly has lots more friends than I do, so I figured she’d be a good person to show the list to.

  Molly smiled and handed it back to me. “If he isn’t friends with you after this, then it’s his loss.”

  “Yeah!” I said with my hands on my hips, not knowing exactly what she meant, but she liked my note, so that was good enough.

  I decided not to decorate it with stickers since it was very serious. But I drew pictures of guitars in the corners and added a few stars because stars can be serious or funny depending on the note.

  I put it in an envelope and wrote his name on the front in extra-serious black bubble letters. Before I could think about it any more, I went over to his house and slipped it under his front door.

  The next morning I waited for Sage early to make sure we walked to school together. My heart was beating so hard, I could hear it in my ears.

  “Hi!” I said to Sage, waving at him, almost forgetting that I was mad, so then I stopped smiling and tried to look very serious.

  “Hey,” Sage said, saying what his older brother always says.

  “Hay is for horses,” I said, because that’s what my dad says when people say “Hey.”

  Then we walked together quietly for a little while.

  “I’m sorry I was mean to Camille,” Sage said, and when I looked at him, I could tell he really was.

  “You should tell Camille,” I said. “Because she thinks you hate her.”

  “Okay, I will,” he said, now looking down, digging at the dirt with his foot.

  “Do you hate me?” I asked, my bottom lip feeling a little trembly.

  “How could I hate someone whose favorite song is ‘Twist and Shout’?”

  I looked back at him and he was smiling.

  “You just seem to like Camille a lot,” he said.

  “It’s okay to have more than one friend,” I said to Sage just the way Mom said it to me. “You’re friends with Will.”

  Sage shrugged. “I know.”

  “But no one is like you, Sage, no matter how yummy their food is.”

  “Pinkie swear?” Sage said.

  “Pinkie swear,” I said back, and we linked pinkies. Then we sang “Twist and Shout” all the way to school.

  “Here’s the menu,” I told my mom a few days later, and showed her my list for my Spectacular Picnic Playdate. I invited both Sage and Camille to come over. Actually, it was my mom’s idea to have them both over, and then I got the idea for the picnic. This is what we’re having:

  1. Hot dogs cut up with little toothpicks in them because Sage loves hot dogs

  2. Not-smelly goat cheese on little slices of bread for Camille

  3. My special recipe for chickpea salad with cilantro (which is actually called cilantro)

  I put out the picnic blanket under our dogwood tree, and Mom let me use our bright green plastic plates. I put the salad in a bowl, and the other stuff on platters so it would look fancy and a little French. Then Dad and I made lemonade and I set that out on a table with cups. I stood back and checked out my work.

  “You know what you are?” said Mom, looking at my spread. “A foodie.”

  “A foodie?” I asked. “Is it something terrible? Am I going to be okay?”

  Mom laughed. “Of course, sweetie. A foodie is a great thing to be. I wish I was more of one.”

  “But what is it?” I asked, kind of yelling now.

  “A foodie is someone who really likes interesting, good food,” my dad said. “Someone who’s looking for a good food adventure, you know what I mean?”

  “I think I do know what you mean,” I said, relieved. “I guess I am a foodie!”

  Pretty cool, huh? I never thought I’d grow up to be a foodie, even though I’m not really grown up yet.

  Then Sage and Camille came over. Sage had already apologized to her at school, and yesterday Camille, Sage, Will, and I all sat together at lunch.

  The picnic was awesome. Here’s why:

  1. Everyone liked the food. Sage even tasted the salad and didn’t spit it out. Then he ate seventeen hot-dog pieces. I counted.

  2. Camille brought her dad’s special tiny raspberry tarts and we ate them up in about seventeen seconds. Sage even put a hot-dog piece on one and ate it.

  3. >Sage also balanced two forks on his head, a spoon on his nose, and stood on one foot at the same time. That’s a talent of his.

  4. When he did this, Camille laughed so hard, lemonade came out of her nose.

  5. We were all friends. Because no matter how good or bad the food is, that’s all that really matters.