Story 5
An 8th-grade party goes well guests despite gossip and food that tastes like soap.
An 8th Grade Soap Opera
“Mom says we can have the party,” Darcy squealed! “We can each invite 20 friends.
“Great!” Collin said. “But, how did you get Mom to agree?”
“Well, I did have to make a couple little promisesߪ.” Darcy said
“Oh, no! What did you promise?
“I said we would pull all the weeds around the house and shed. I also said we would plan and make the food for the party,” Darcy said.
“That’s not bad at all. I thought it would be a lot worse,” Collin said. “Dad already said that we had to weed this weekend. And, planning and making the food will be fun. Good job, Darcy—no extra work!”
Darcy Arn and Collin Beezo were both in 8th grade. They were step-siblings. Ten years ago, her mother and his father got married. They had a lot of the same friends. A joint party made sense.
The first thing they did was to make their guest list. Mrs. Beezo looked at the list. She asked, “You both have Chris on your list. Is Chris a boy or a girl?”
“Both,” Darcy laughed. “You know my friend, Chris Young. The boy is Chris Martez. He’s really funny and cute. All the girls like him. We can’t tell who he likes.”
Mrs. Beezo said, “You 8th graders are so complicated! Well, you’ve got your list. Now you better get busy. The last mail pick up is at 5:00.”
“That’s old-fashioned, Mom,” Darcy said. “We’re going to invite them on Facebook. We’ll send the note right now. We’ll probably start getting answers in about 10 minutes.”
“What a different world!” Mrs. Beezo said as she raised her eyebrows.
Darcy laughed. Then she said, “I’m going to leave the list here by the computer. We can keep track of our RSVPs.” She used a magnet to stick it to the side of a shelf. By 10:00 that night, they knew that 37 of the 40 people were coming.
A few days later, Darcy and Collin were outside pulling weeds. Grandma Beezo drove up in front of the house. Darcy asked, “How old do you think Grandma Beezo is?”
“Well, I know she was born in 1962, so….”
Just then Mrs. Beezo stuck her head out the door and said, “Hey, you two!” Darcy came running. “Don’t run!” her mother said. “The patio is wet.” Darcy slowed down. Her mother continued, “Dad says he’ll get the nettles behind the shed. Don’t touch them. But, pull all the other weeds. And, make sure you get the roots.”
The weekend before the party came, Darcy and Collin sat down to plan the food. Collin said, “My favorite food is grilled catfish. But, I don’t think that will work very well.”
“No, it won’t. We need easy food that most people like. I think we should have pizza, barbecue, or tacos.”
“I vote for barbecue. We have a good recipe for that!”
“OK,” Darcy agreed. “And, we can have veggies, a cheese tray, and chips.”
“What about something sweet?... I know! Cookies!”
“Good idea! Everyone likes cookies, and they are easy to make.”
Darcy and Collin were excited about the party. They got up early when the day came. By 10:00, they had baked eight dozen cookies. After that, they made a cheese tray and a veggie tray. At 5:00, they started the meat. Everything was ready when the first person arrived at 6:30. Soon talk and laughter filled the deck, patio, and yard.
Darcy’s friend Carrie said, “Is there soap in this barbecue?” Darcy was upset. Carrie took another bite. Then she said, “I guess not. This tastes great.” So Darcy let it go. She and Carrie walked over to join Ami, Tripp, and Louis. It was hard to hear over the music and all the talking. But, Darcy still heard Ami say, “The word is that Darcy asked Chris out.”
Darcy yelled, “Well, that’s a mistaken word!”
“Oh, hi Darcy! I didn’t see you.”
“Be careful what you repeat, Ami. I haven’t asked anyone out,” Darcy yelled over all the noise.
Tripp changed the topic. “I could swear I taste soap in this meat. I know that sounds crazy. The funny thing is that the meat is tangy and sweet. So, I must be wrong. I guess it couldn’t have been too bad. We ate all of it. I took the last of the meat.”
After the party was over, Darcy and Collin cleaned up. Collin got the video camera down from a plant pot. He turned it off. Then they went to bed. The next morning, they hooked the camera up to the TV. They sat down to watch the video of the party.
Suddenly, Darcy said, “What’s Don doing? Why is he slouching over the food?” Then they saw Don pick up a knife.
Collin said, “What’s he doing? It looks like he has a bar of soap. I don’t believe this! He is cutting soap into the meat. Now he’s stirring it in! Clearly, he has no idea he is being caught in the act.”
“Yeah, well, he’s about to have an idea. I’m going to call and give him a piece of my mind.” She called Don, but he didn’t answer. Darcy left a message. What do you suppose she said?
What do you think?
At the party, Ami was talking about Darcy asking Chris out. What do you think about her choice of something to talk about?
Ami was talking about Darcy. Darcy heard Ami and said, “Be careful what you repeat, Ami. I haven’t asked anyone out.”
What would you do?
If you were Darcy, what message would you have left for Don?
