Nixie Ness Read online

  Margaret Ferguson Books

  Text copyright © 2019 by Claudia Mills

  Pictures copyright © 2019 by Grace Zong

  All Rights Reserved

  HOLIDAY HOUSE is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  www.holidayhouse.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Mills, Claudia, author. | Zong, Grace, illustrator. Title: Nixie Ness, cooking star / Claudia Mills; pictures by Grace Zong.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Holiday House, [2019]

  Series: After-School Superstars; [#1] | “Margaret Ferguson Books.”

  Summary: Nixie and Grace have been best and only friends since preschool, but now Nixie must attend an after-school cooking camp while Grace spends her afternoons with classmate Elyse. Identifiers:

  LCCN 2018028213 | ISBN 9780823440931 (hardcover) Subjects: | CYAC: Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Cooking—Fiction.

  After-school programs—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. Classification:

  LCC PZ7.M63963 Nix 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018028213

  Ebook ISBN 9780823442959

  v5.4

  a

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Nixie’s Favorite Recipe from Cooking Camp

  Acknowledgments

  To Wina Mortenson

  “COME back, puppy noses!” Nixie Ness scolded.

  She had just snipped a black jelly bean in half, to make two candy noses for two puppy-face cupcakes. And both noses had practically jumped off the kitchen counter and onto the floor.

  Her best friend, Grace Kenny, burst out laughing, and Nixie laughed, too. She loved whenever she said or did something Grace thought was extra-funny. Nixie and Grace had been best friends since their first day at Sunflower Preschool, when Grace had been crying and two-year-old Nixie had taken her by the hand.

  As far as Nixie was concerned, the only thing better than baking cupcakes was baking cupcakes on a Friday afternoon with your best friend in the whole world. And the only thing better than that was decorating them to look like puppy faces, with jelly-bean eyes and noses, and ears of pink taffy drooping down on either side of their frosted heads.

  Usually Nixie’s mother made Nixie and Grace eat healthy snacks after school, like celery and carrot sticks with hummus, or apple slices spread with peanut butter. But for some reason her mom had been willing to let them make a special snack today. She’d even taken them grocery shopping after school to get the ingredients.

  “Let’s use whole jelly beans instead,” Grace suggested. “That would be easier than trying to cut them in half.”

  “They can be puppies with really big eyes and noses,” Nixie agreed. “Like instead of cocker spaniels, they can be cocker nosels. Or instead of Welsh corgis, they can be Welsh nosies.”

  Grace laughed again and licked buttercream frosting from her fingers.

  “You have chocolate frosting on your cheek,” Nixie informed her.

  Grace swiped at the wrong cheek with her chocolate-covered finger. Now she had a big dark smear across each cheek, matching the long dark hair that Nixie thought was much prettier than her own stubby blonde braids.

  “Well, you have chocolate frosting all over your nose,” Grace said.

  Nixie went to look at herself in the glass door of the microwave. Grace followed. At the sight of their matching chocolate-covered faces, both girls burst out laughing again.

  “We’re the chocolate-frosting twins!” Nixie said.

  Lots of the kids in their third-grade class—including Grace—had parents who worked away from home. Some of the kids stayed at Longwood Elementary for the after-school program; others took the shuttle bus to the YMCA or went to other places until their parents were ready to pick them up. Nixie felt lucky that her mother worked at home as a part-time website designer, so Grace could come to Nixie’s house every afternoon.

  “We still have six more cupcakes to do,” Grace said, as they wiped the chocolate off their faces. “Let’s make some kitten ones, okay?”

  The website Nixie had found on her mother’s tablet showed pictures and instructions for kitten cupcakes, too.

  “The puppy ones are cuter,” Nixie told her.

  “I think the kitten ones are cuter,” Grace replied.

  Nixie stared at Grace. How could her best friend not see that the puppy cupcakes were the cutest cupcakes on planet Earth?

  But just yesterday Grace had said that if her parents ever let her get a pet, she had changed her mind and wanted a cat, not a dog. Even though she and Nixie had been begging their parents for a dog forever. They had already promised each other they’d share the dog, depending on which set of parents relented first. Nixie had zero interest in sharing a cat.

  “Do you know what Elyse said yesterday when we were lining up for library time?” Grace continued. “She’s getting a kitten. This weekend. From the Humane Society. A kitten of her very own. To keep.”

  Nixie gave a shrug. Elyse Sandia was in their class at school, and if she was getting a puppy, Nixie would have tried to think of yet another scheme to make her parents let her get one. But Elyse could have a hundred thousand kittens and Nixie wouldn’t mind a bit.

  “Well, you can make three kitten cupcakes,” Nixie finally said, “and I’ll make three more puppy ones.” It was silly to fuss over how to decorate the cupcakes on their special baking day.

  “You know what I was thinking?” Grace asked.

  “What?” Nixie had already picked up a spoonful of brown frosting to start in on her three puppy faces.

  “We could invite Elyse to come over to your house with us after school sometime. Her dad works at home, like your mom does, so she doesn’t go to any after-school program, either.”

  Nixie stared at Grace again, longer and harder this time. Occasionally, as a favor for somebody’s mom, another classmate came to Nixie’s house after school, but those days were never Nixie’s favorites. Why would Grace spoil their best-friend fun on purpose? But before she could think of what to say in reply, her mother came into the kitchen.

  “Oh, those are adorable, girls!” Nixie’s mother pulled out her phone to snap some pictures of the girls standing next to the two cupcakes that looked most puppylike. Nixie and Grace made normal smiles for the first photo and then hung out their tongues and held up begging puppy paws for the others until they both dissolved in a fit of giggles.

  As Nixie’s mom returned the phone to the pocket of her jeans, her mouth twitched the way it always did when she was about to say something she wasn’t sure Nixie was going to like.

  “Why don’t you take a little decorating break,” she said. “I have some news. It affects both of you, so Grace’s mother said it was all right if I told you together.”

  Nixie’s chest tightened as she and Grace plopped down into chairs at the kitchen table.

  “You know how I’ve been talking about finding a new job?”

  Nixie relaxed. Her mother had been talking about getting a go-off-to-work job ever since Nixie started kindergarten. First she was planning to look for a
job at the public library because she loved books so much. Then she was going to apply for a job at Nixie’s school because she loved kids so much. Nothing ever happened.

  “Well, I heard this morning that I got the job I applied for back in August,” her mother said. “They want me to start right away, on Monday.”

  Nixie and Grace exchanged stunned glances.

  “What kind of job?” Grace asked.

  “A wonderful job. Working in a bookstore. And not just any bookstore. The new children’s bookstore downtown.”

  It did sound like the perfect job for a person who loved books and kids. Her mother looked so happy that Nixie wanted to be happy for her, too. But if this was really such a terrific thing, why had her mother’s mouth been so twitchy? And what was going to happen after school?

  Nixie could hear her voice coming out squeaky. “Will you work all day? Will Grace and I go to the after-school program?”

  She’d bet anything there would be no baking of puppy or kitten cupcakes there. And the after-school teachers, like every grown-up they’d ever known, would tell her and Grace that it wasn’t nice to play by themselves so much. They’d talk on and on about “including others.” Nixie didn’t want to include others, unless the other was a dog.

  “The after-school program is tons of fun,” Grace offered, her face brightening. “It really truly is.”

  “Says who?” Nixie asked.

  “Says everybody,” Grace replied.

  Nixie had heard over morning announcements that Longwood Elementary School had a new program this year called After-School Superstars, with a different “camp” for each grade each month. But she had barely listened to the details, knowing that she and Grace would never have to go to it.

  Grace kept on talking. “I forget what the first camp was, the one we already missed, but the next camp for our grade is—ta-da!—a cooking camp! I think we’ll like it, Nixie.”

  This was vastly worse than Grace saying she thought kitten cupcakes were cuter than puppy cupcakes or wanting to invite Elyse over to play.

  “Actually…,” Nixie’s mom said slowly.

  “Actually, what?” Nixie tried to keep her voice from wobbling.

  Her mother hesitated before replying.

  “Nixie, you’re going to attend the after-school program. Grace’s mother is making other plans.”

  Nixie remembered that the reason Grace had started spending afternoons at Nixie’s house in the first place was because the after-school programs cost too much.

  Nixie reached over for Grace’s hand the same way she had done on the first day of preschool.

  Grace squeezed her hand tight.

  They decorated the last six cupcakes in silence. Nixie no longer cared that Grace was putting kitten whiskers made of strands of black licorice on hers. What did anything matter if they’d never be together at Nixie’s house after school, just the two of them, ever again?

  * * *

  When Grace’s father picked Nixie up for a ride to their soccer game on Saturday morning, Nixie leaned across the backseat to hug Grace as if they had been apart for a month instead of a night.

  “I wish you were coming to cooking camp, too,” Nixie whispered. How could Nixie go to an after-school program without her best friend by her side? And what would Grace do after school every day without her? “Did your mom figure out what you’re doing instead?”

  Grace gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s going to be okay. She found another friend’s house for me to go to every day.”

  “Which friend?” Nixie asked.

  “My mom called Elyse’s mom—they’ve been coming to our church—and I’m going there.”

  To Elyse’s house? With Elyse and her kitten?

  Grace must have seen the tears welling in Nixie’s eyes. “I know,” she said. “I wish I was going to the after-school program with you, Nixie. I really do.”

  Nixie knew Grace meant it. But right now Grace didn’t seem to be as close to tears as Nixie was.

  Having a new job was great for Nixie’s mom.

  Playing with someone else’s kitten was apparently okay for Grace.

  So the only person this was completely, totally, absolutely terrible for was Nixie.

  ON Monday morning Nixie gave her house a long, lingering glance of farewell. She wouldn’t see it again until after one of her parents picked her up from cooking camp at five thirty.

  She did her best to act normal at school. She and Grace whispered together during math until Mrs. Townsend had to shush them. They giggled together during P.E., which started off with some yoga stretches including one called Salute to the Sun. Nixie always said, “Hi, sun!” and Grace always laughed when she did. They ate lunch together, as they did every day, without any mention of cooking camp, or Elyse’s new kitten, or how they’d never have after-school time together again as long as they lived.

  At three o’clock the closing bell rang.

  Grace gave Nixie a good-bye hug. “Don’t have too much fun without me!” she whispered.

  “I won’t!” Nixie whispered back.

  She pretended not to see the smile Grace gave Elyse as the two of them headed out of the classroom together.

  Nixie shouldered her backpack and lined up to trudge off with the other after-school kids from Mrs. Townsend’s third-grade classroom. The cooking camp was meeting in the cafeteria. The little kids, who weren’t old enough for the special camps yet, were having their after-school program in the gym; other camps, Nixie had heard in the morning announcements, were meeting in the library, the music room, and the art room.

  Vera Vance, a new girl in Nixie’s class this year, fell into place behind her at the classroom door.

  “You’re going to cooking camp?” Vera asked. “I thought you always went home after school with Grace.”

  Nixie thought of a remark she had heard her father say once. “That was then. This is now,” she told Vera.

  She liked then better.

  In line ahead of her she saw Nolan Nanda, the smartest boy in Mrs. Townsend’s class. Nolan was a know-it-all, but not a braggy know-it-all, in Nixie’s opinion. He just happened to be a walking library of all kinds of facts (usually weird facts) about all kinds of things (usually weird things). A lot of other kids thought he was weird. But weird wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to be.

  In front of Nolan, Boogie Bass was bouncing up and down as if that would start the line moving forward. “I heard we’re going to make pizza!” he called out to anyone who might be listening. “I heard we’re going to make homemade ice cream!”

  If they did make pizza, Nixie thought, it would probably taste like cardboard with ketchup spread on top. If they did make ice cream, hers would probably fall off its cone and splat onto the floor.

  Was Grace at Elyse’s house yet? Or were they still riding in Elyse’s father’s car? Parents should have to ask their kids first before getting jobs that changed everything!

  The head camp lady, named Colleen, checked off each camper as they filed into the cafeteria, stashed their backpacks in a corner, and sat down in the middle of the bare, hard linoleum floor. The lunchtime tables were all put away, except for four covered with what must be cooking stuff, set up in a row right next to the kitchen.

  When it was Nixie’s turn, Colleen said, “Welcome to After-School Superstars!” as she made a mark by Nixie’s name on her attendance sheet. “I’m sure you’ll have lots of friends here from your grade.”

  Nixie didn’t bother to tell Colleen that the only friend she wanted to be with was Grace.

  Once all the campers had been checked in, Colleen introduced the cooking camp instructors, Chef Michael and Chef Maggie, who ran cooking classes for kids all over the city, and even for grown-ups who wanted to learn how to cook extra-fancy foods.

  “Welcome, future chefs!” Chef Maggie greeted them.

/>   “Be prepared to eat some of the best food of your lives, cooked by you!” Chef Michael exclaimed.

  Nixie gazed down at her shoes as Chef Michael and Chef Maggie kept on talking, talking, talking. She forced herself to listen as Chef Maggie explained the amazing things they would be doing together over the next four weeks.

  Learning how to make their own healthy lunches. Who cared?

  Being filmed for a new episode of Chef Michael and Chef Maggie’s online video series, Kids Can Cook. Parents had already signed the permission slips. All right, that sounded like fun. Or it would have been fun if Grace and Nixie were going to be in the video together.

  Holding a huge bake sale to raise money for a charity the campers would get to vote on. Exploring cuisines from around the world: Italy, Mexico, West Africa, India. Those could both be fun, too. Maybe.

  Even making dog and cat treats. But what if your parents wouldn’t let you have a dog?

  Chef Michael started talking about something called pita pockets. That was what they were going to be making today, as an easy, get-to-know-one-another project. The teams would prepare fillings to stuff into round, flat half circles of bread with a slit in the middle. The slit turned the pita bread into a kind of pocket.

  Chef Maggie told them they could pick their own four-person groups. Nixie peered around to find anyone else who looked lost and lonely, preferably three lost and lonely people who could form one lost and lonely group together.

  Vera was by herself. Should Nixie go over and stand next to her? Nolan and Boogie had already teamed up. They seemed as opposite as two people could be, but they often hung out together. “Opposites attract” was another of her father’s sayings. But Nixie and Grace hadn’t been opposites. They had been exactly the same in every way—except for Grace’s new fondness for cats.

  Nolan and Boogie waved Vera over to join them.

  Go ask if you can be in their group, too! Nixie commanded herself. But she remained stuck in place.

  Then Vera approached Nixie and said, in a super-polite way, as if she was reciting a memorized line from a book on good manners for kids, “Would you like to be in our group?”