Daring Dreamers Club #2 Read online

  “If you’re going to be in the audience as my guest,” Piper said firmly, “you’re going to need to practice a few cooking basics first. You all probably should. They could call any one of you onto the set, and I need to be sure you know what you’re doing in a kitchen before I can risk having you there with me. They’ve called on audience members during three out of thirty-seven shows, which means there’s an eight percent chance they’ll make me work with one of you during one of my surprise challenges….”

  “Does this mean we all get to go to Piper’s Cooking School?” Ruby said, laughing.

  “I have a better idea,” Piper said, thinking quickly. “What’s everyone doing after school on Thursday?”

  “I have soccer practice at six-thirty,” Ruby said. “But I’m free until then.”

  “Same,” Mari echoed. “Swimming at six. But I could maybe skip it. Why?”

  Piper explained, “My family volunteers at a place called Helping Hands on the last Thursday of every month. We make meals for people who can’t cook for themselves because they are seriously ill or disabled. Do you guys want to come along? It would be a good place to practice some basics; Helping Hands is where I learned a lot of fundamentals. My brother was a lousy cook until we started volunteering, and now he’s not totally useless in the kitchen.”

  Everyone agreed that it was a great idea, so they made a plan to join Piper’s family during their shift at Helping Hands on Thursday. “What about you, Ms. B?” Piper asked. “You wanna come, too?”

  “It sounds like a really nice idea,” their advisor said hesitantly.

  “Come on, Ms. Bancroft,” Milla urged. “It’ll be fun.”

  “Please?” Piper begged. “You’ve got to start somewhere.”

  “Okay, I’m in,” Ms. Bancroft said with a smile. “I guess I can’t live on takeout and frozen dinners forever, much as I’d like to dream it’s possible.” She laughed the deep, rumbling laugh that Piper loved and said, “Now that we have that settled, we really need to spend the last few minutes of today’s session discussing your next journal writing assignment.”

  Piper groaned inwardly. She loved meetings of the Daring Dreamers Club, but she did not love the journal writing assignments. Unlike Milla, who would spend her day writing if she could, Piper found writing overwhelming and frustrating. It took her a really long time to write a whole page in her journal, and that was time she would much rather spend testing experiments and new recipes. “Aw, Ms. B,” she muttered. “Maybe we could just skip the journal assignment this week? I’ll bake you a batch of homemade cookies if you say yes!”

  “I’m afraid we can’t do that,” Ms. Bancroft said kindly. “Journal writing is a required part of advisory. However, I would like to get your input on the next assignment, to make sure we’re all on the same page.” She gestured for the girls to take a seat and then went on. “Remind me what you all thought of the princess project?”

  “I loved the princess assignment, Ms. B,” Ruby blurted out. She glanced around at the rest of the group and shrugged. “I know I was a little meh about your journal assignment at first, but I actually had fun finding connections between myself and Mulan. She’s fierce and clever. Like me!”

  For the group’s first journal writing assignment, Ms. Bancroft had asked each girl in the club to think about a Disney Princess they connected with or felt inspired by, and explain why. With one quick look around the music classroom, anyone could see that Ms. Bancroft was seriously into princesses. The walls were plastered with pictures of Belle and Cinderella and Snow White and Ariel…along with inspiring quotes from dozens of important people.

  During their first meeting, Ms. B had told the group that watching Disney movies had helped her dare to dream big as a kid, which is what inspired her to pick princesses as their first advisory journal theme.

  “I liked it, too,” Milla chimed in. “And I definitely felt more comfortable writing about my dreams of adventure when I was also writing about Belle and Beauty and the Beast.”

  “I thought it was fun to think about how much I have in common with Ariel,” Mari added. “I rewatched The Little Mermaid with my sisters this weekend, and I haven’t been able to stop singing ‘Part of Your World’ since!”

  “What about you, Zahra and Piper?” Ms. Bancroft prompted.

  “I enjoyed the assignment,” Zahra said thoughtfully. “I’d actually really like to continue with the princess theme, if we can. I feel like I’ve just started to figure out how I relate to Cinderella, and I think it would be interesting to keep writing about my connection to her in my journal.”

  “Me too,” Piper said, nodding. She had always found an easy parallel between herself and Tiana from The Princess and the Frog. Surely she would be able to find more things she could write about in her journal if she had her favorite princess as a partner. “Do you think,” Piper began, “that we could keep writing about our princesses all year? I mean, what if we used the same princess for inspiration every week? It could be a sort of theme for our journals.”

  There was a murmur of agreement from the other girls. Ms. Bancroft looked around the circle, her smile widening. “Of course,” she said. “There are some great things to explore in the worlds and minds of our princesses, and having a partner on this journey through fifth grade will hopefully help each of you develop new insight into yourselves.”

  When Ms. Bancroft said this, Piper and Ruby exchanged small smiles—they both loved Ms. B to pieces, but the way she worded things sometimes made them giggle.

  Ms. Bancroft cleared her throat and went on, “If we all agree, then I have your next assignment, Daring Dreamers: At some point, every princess must face a fear or overcome an obstacle standing in her way. Using your princess for inspiration, talk about a time you’ve had to confront a fear or deal with a difficult issue. Sound good?”

  Everyone nodded. While Piper shoved her journal into her backpack, she turned to Milla and whispered, “Compared to Tiana’s, my life looks pretty easy. At least I’ve never been turned into a frog!”

  Piper

  Assignment: Using your princess for inspiration, talk about a time you’ve had to face a fear or overcome an obstacle standing in your way.

  I guess I should thank my lucky stars that I’ve never been turned into a frog. At least that’s one thing I’ve got going for me. But I have a feeling I’m supposed to dig a little deeper (Ha ha! Get it? That’s a song from The Princess and the Frog!) with this assignment, huh?

  Maybe you’ve read my school file and already know this, but I found out in second grade that I have dyslexia. I guess that’s sort of an obstacle that stands in my way. I sometimes mix up my letters, and I’m a slow reader and writer (I should get bonus points, since getting these journals right takes me forever, Ms. B!).

  It took me a really long time to learn to read, and for a while I worried that maybe it was because I’m not very smart. I thought my brother had gotten all the brains in the family and there weren’t any left for me. But then I learned more about why I have so much trouble reading and writing, and now I know it’s not my fault.

  Did you know there are some supersmart and creative people who had dyslexia? Like the artist Pablo Picasso, Apple founder Steve Jobs, movie director Steven Spielberg…And no one’s one hundred percent sure, but there are lots of articles that say Agatha Christie did, too (it’s crazy to think that an author could be dyslexic since her whole job was working with words!). They are all really important creators, so I’m in some pretty good company.

  Dyslexia is the reason I started playing around with my own inventions in the kitchen. I’ve always liked to cook, but it was hard for me to follow written recipes. So I started making up my own. I like figuring things out for myself, and when I’m in the kitchen, I get to do just that! That’s one way I’ve worked around my challenge.

  I try not to let my reading and writin
g troubles get me down. But I hate that I have such a hard time in school. My brother, Dan, is a total smarty-pants, and it seems like everything comes easily to him. And Finley, my little sister, is already reading, and she just started kindergarten. I hate messing up in school, and I really don’t like having to ask for extra help. And knowing my brother and sister are super perfect makes things even worse.

  At my house, it sometimes feels a little bit like I’m competing with my siblings. Every time I bring home a report card or test, I know my parents are going to be disappointed it’s nothing like my brother’s. And my sister is always saying and doing funny (or naughty) stuff that gets everyone’s attention and makes people laugh. It sometimes feels like it’s me against them. Whoever stands out more wins. So that’s why I need to win The Future of Food. Then everyone will see that I’m the best at something, too!

  Whoa. I wrote way more than a page this time. Go, me! (Does this mean I can skip next week’s assignment?)

  Piper dropped her head into her hands and groaned. She had been staring at her math workbook for over an hour (maybe more like fifteen minutes, but it felt like an hour), but nothing was clicking. The longer she stared at the page, the more the word problems swirled into a mixed-up stew of letters and numbers that made absolutely no sense to her.

  “Want some help?” Dan asked through a mouthful of freshly baked cheddar crackers. Piper was pleased to see that her brother was enjoying her latest creation. She had spent the afternoon trying to make bread. To keep things interesting, she’d decided to play around with moisture levels and rise time. The fact that the dough had turned into crackers was a mistake, but it was one of those experiments that fell into the category of “happy accident.” Instead of the flaky cheddar loaf she had set out to make, she’d ended up with tasty, crisp crackers instead. They tasted a little bit like the matzo her family ate during Passover—but with added flavor baked in!

  Dan leaned over Piper’s shoulder and ran his finger across the page. “First you need to figure out how many muffins Mr. Mancini brought to the bake sale, and then you’ll—”

  “I know,” Piper snapped, brushing cracker crumbs off her math workbook. “I can figure it out myself.”

  Dan lifted his eyebrows. “Oookay, I was offering to help.”

  Piper felt bad for snapping at him, but it was sometimes annoying having a brother who was a total know-it-all. Everything came really easily to Dan. And Piper had never liked taking help from anyone. Back in kindergarten and first grade, she had often been pulled out of class for extra sight-word practice in the hall. She’d hated the way she felt singled out when someone called her name and removed her from the larger class activities. It almost felt like she was wearing a sign that read BAD STUDENT.

  One of the reasons Piper had always loved playing around in the kitchen was that she was the only one in her family who loved cooking, so it was the one place where no one could say she was doing things wrong. Plus, creating her own recipes and experiments meant there was no right or wrong outcome. In food science, whatever happened happened. She got to be the boss, and Piper alone knew when she’d succeeded or failed. Of course, she always jotted her results down in her lab notebook, no matter how things turned out. It was important to keep a record of her experiments. Mistakes helped her learn and become a better cook!

  Piper draped her arm across her math workbook and pretended to scribble something on the page. While she drew curlicues, she thought about the quiz she had crammed into the back of her notebook. She had done terribly. Her score was so low that she had to have one of her parents sign it to prove she’d shown it to them.

  She really didn’t want her parents to see the quiz, but Mr. Mohan was the kind of teacher who would call them if she didn’t bring it back with a signature. Piper was nervous to show her mom and dad. What if they got mad at her? Still, she knew that she just needed to work harder and she would eventually catch up. That was her hope, at least.

  As Piper doodled cupcakes on the edge of her paper, her mom strolled into the dining room. She hollered, “What is one of your biggest weaknesses?”

  “Huh?” Piper asked, looking up. Her mom, Renee, grinned at her as she gestured toward the living room.

  A second later, Piper’s dad called, “Am I allowed to say ‘my biceps’?”

  Piper’s mom laughed. “I don’t think any companies will care about your arm muscles. I meant, what’s one of your greatest weaknesses in a business sense.”

  “What are you guys talking about?” Piper asked.

  Her dad wandered into the dining room and snagged a cracker off the table. He glanced at his wife, then explained, “Well…I have an interview on Thursday. Your mom is helping me dust off the ol’ résumé and practice my interviewing skills.”

  “An interview for what?” Dan asked, pouring himself a glass of milk. He downed it, then refilled the glass. Piper was grateful he wasn’t drinking straight out of the carton.

  “A full-time gig,” their dad said casually. “I’m sure nothing will come of it, but I figure it can’t hurt to give it a shot.”

  Piper gaped at him. “What kind of full-time gig?” she asked.

  “A full-time design job,” he explained.

  “Like, in an office?” she asked.

  Her dad laughed. “Yeah, in an office.”

  “When did you decide to get a full-time job?” Dan asked. Piper was relieved to discover she wasn’t the only one surprised by this news.

  For as long as Piper could remember, her dad had worked from home doing part-time freelance graphic design projects. Her mom had a regular office job, something to do with marketing or advertising. But her dad had always been around in the morning to get them out the door to school and welcome them home at the end of the day. In a slightly panicked voice, Piper asked, “How’s that going to work?”

  “First of all,” their mom said, settling in at the table across from her, “nothing’s been decided yet. This is just one interview, and it’s a cool opportunity.”

  “Now that Finley is in kindergarten,” her dad added, “I have a lot more time on my hands. A full-time job would really help with the family finances, so I’ve been looking around a bit. I’m not sure this is the right job, but it’s worth exploring. We haven’t talked to you guys about it because I have no idea what will come of it.”

  Piper swallowed, her tongue feeling thick in her mouth. She couldn’t believe her dad hadn’t said something about this interview. She liked having him around before and after school, and she didn’t want that to change. Besides, she reasoned, if her dad had to go to an office every day, she and Finley might be stuck taking orders from Dan. Finley had already gone to bed for the night, but Piper could predict that her little sister would freak out if she heard this news.

  “Are we broke?” Piper asked.

  Piper’s dad snorted out a laugh. She didn’t understand what was so funny about her question. “No, we’re not broke,” he said. He set his glasses on the table and then rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Work has been a little hot-and-cold lately, but it’s nothing for you guys to worry about. I’m just exploring options right now, okay?”

  “Okay,” Piper muttered.

  “How’s your homework going?” her mom asked suddenly, nudging Piper’s notebook.

  “Great,” Piper lied, draping her arm across the open page again. Dan gave her a look that told her he knew she wasn’t being entirely honest. But Piper wasn’t about to admit she was having problems. If her parents were stressed about her dad’s interview and money, the last thing they needed to worry about was her fifth-grade math homework.

  “I’m happy to see you working on math,” her mom said. “I’ve noticed you’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen this week. We still have our deal, right?”

  Piper cringed. Her mom had made her promise that her preparations for The Future of Food
wouldn’t get in the way of her schoolwork. “Totally,” she lied again. “I’m actually working ahead so I can spend the weekend in my lab, or as you call it, the kitchen.”

  “Good plan.” Her mom smiled and nodded, trusting her completely.

  Piper immediately felt guilty for lying. While her mom continued to quiz her dad with more practice interview questions, Piper stared down at her unfinished homework. Once again, her mind wandered to the paper crammed into the back of her notebook. Now definitely wasn’t the best time to show her parents the failed quiz—she would wait until after her dad’s interview, and after The Future of Food. By then, she would have caught up with the rest of the class, and her parents would see that one bad score was no big deal.

  With time, she could figure it out on her own. She knew that was what Tiana would tell her, too. Her favorite princess had taught her that hard work was the secret to success, and it was the only way to get what you wanted. She didn’t need anyone’s help to get caught up. Besides, her parents had kept her dad’s job search a secret. So her keeping one little quiz inside her notebook for a few extra days was no big deal, either. Piper just hoped her parents would see it that way, too.

  On Thursday after school, the Daring Dreamers met outside the front doors of Walter Roy Elementary. Piper’s mom had left work early to pick up the girls and drive them and Finley over to Helping Hands for their volunteer shift. Ms. Bancroft was going to meet them there.

  Usually, Piper’s dad would be the one picking the girls up from school to go to Helping Hands, since he had the more flexible schedule. But he had to miss their family’s volunteer shift that week to go to his interview. Piper couldn’t help but see this as a very bad sign for how everything would change if he got a full-time job.

  Finley sang and meowed the whole way to the Helping Hands kitchen. By the time Piper’s mom pulled their minivan into the lot at the volunteer center, every single one of them had memorized the lyrics to “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. Piper loved Moana, but sometimes she wished Finley would change favorite movies as often as she changed favorite animals. They had been listening to the same soundtrack for six months. It would be nice to hear a few different songs from time to time.