Top Chef #6

Master Plan

When it was time for the Flavors of Brookside, my school’s bake sale, I knew my family was going to bring it. Each year, I strutted through the door showing off their goodies and cheesing at friends like I was the top chef of the school.

In second grade, Dad made his sweet potato bread. Even my teacher, Miss Langley, got in line for more. In third grade, Mom made her yummy banana pudding. I helped her add the vanilla wafers and bananas. When the pudding came out of the oven, it looked like a dish on a TV cooking show. As soon as we set the pudding cups down at school, people wanted to gobble them up. I already knew what I wanted to bring this year—Nana’s famous tea cakes. They tasted kinda like a cross between sugar cookies and pound cake. Soft and decorated with cinnamon sugar or sprinkles, they were melt-in-your-mouth good. They’d sell out in minutes.

I couldn’t wait to see what everyone else brought. Usually, my school talked about eating healthy. But at the bake sale, every student got a ticket to taste a treat. I always tried something new, like the sandwich cookies called alfajores I loved last year. They had powdered sugar on top and a delicious filling called dulce de leche that tasted kinda like caramel.

Every table in the cafeteria was like a bakery shelf, showing off something different. I didn’t know there were so many kinds of brownies, biscuits, and muffins. There were gluten-free treats, too, made with rice flour, in case people had allergies.

“Are you bringing something for the bake sale?” I asked RJ on our bus ride to school.

“What? Huh? I don’t know,” he said, like he wasn’t really listening.

I knew something was up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

RJ looked out the window. It wasn’t like him to not talk. I hoped he would tell me what was bothering him, but I didn’t push it. He would share when he was ready.

When we pulled up at Brookside, I thought of something that could bring RJ out of his funk.

“Want to play basketball after school?”

RJ shook his head.

Now, I knew something was wrong.

“You never turn down a chance to hoop. What’s going on?”

He sighed.

“I broke my mom’s keepsake box. She always tells me not to dribble in the house. I just did it a little. But I bumped into her special wooden box and broke it. What am I going to do?”

“Whoa. That’s tough. Why don’t you just tell her what happened? I bet Miss Nikki will understand.”

“That box came from my grandpa.”

He put his head down.

RJ didn’t have to say anything else. I knew what breaking a box from his grandpa meant. He lived across the country in Oklahoma and just had surgery on his leg. Miss Nikki flew out there to help as he recovered. Gifts from his grandpa meant a lot.

We walked to class in silence. Our desks were next to each other. RJ usually joked around until it was time to get to work. This time, he didn’t say a word.

When Miss Taylor hit the chime for our morning meeting, we headed for the orange-and-blue carpet.

“We’re going to do a special project,” she said and grinned.

Friends whispered to each other, trying to guess what it could be.

“Who likes to bake?”

Hands shot up. I shrugged. I liked to help Nana when she baked. But the last time I tried to bake something on my own, even I didn’t want to eat it.

“This week, we’re going to learn the connections between chemistry and baking.”

I leaned in to make sure I heard her right. Chemistry? That was the key? I smiled and relaxed. Now, that was more like it.

“And I have great news. A local bakery is sponsoring a writing contest and a baking contest for students at our school this year. You can write an essay about your favorite food. Or you can bake something and bring it in for the Flavors of Brookside. The top prize for each contest is a hundred dollars. If you want an entry form, let me know.”

RJ stood up and raised his hand when she mentioned money.

“I have two questions: Can you enter both contests? Also, can you work in a team for the bake sale?”

“Sure. You can only win one prize, but you can enter both. If you want to have what you make judged for the bakery contest, you can work with a friend. You just can’t have an adult do it for you.”

RJ looked at me. I looked at him. I could see his mind working. After the morning meeting, he got the entry forms from Miss Taylor.

“I know what to do,” RJ said, clutching the papers. “I can buy Mom a new box that’s just like the old one. My big cousin helped me look it up. It costs forty-five dollars. I have to win one of those contests.”

“I don’t know, RJ. I still think you should tell Miss Nikki when she gets back.”

He made a sour face and shook his head.

“She’s already worried about my grandpa. I just want to get her a new box. You always bring the best stuff for the bake sale. Can you help me make something good?”

My stomach rocked like I was riding a roller coaster. I wanted to help RJ. But was it okay to pretend a new box was the one his grandpa gave his mom? I wasn’t sure.

RJ’s eyes pleaded with me to say yes. I nodded and told myself to stop worrying.

“I’m in.”

Now how could we win that prize? I stared into space like the answer was there. What did I get myself into? Then, it came to me! Instead of asking Nana to make tea cakes, RJ and I could make them together. I had flopped at baking before. But now we had a secret weapon—science. What could go wrong?