Baking fortune cookies: very fast. Waiting for them to cool: soooooo slow. And I wanted to get going with Olivia's excellent plan. Yes, I was into the plan for selfish reasons. I knew that. But is that so bad? If you know you're into it for selfish reasons, it's better than not knowing it, right?
Anyway, the fortune cookies would bring me to Brendan, and put this whole Valentine's Day back on track. In my building of all places! Finally, Olivia and Georgia and I would be doing something. I mean, I'd been thinking about Valentine's Day for months, had an outfit all planned out and everything, and now I was stuck inside? Not fair. Not fair at all.
"So you girls are going to knock on doors right now?" Georgia's mom asked.
"Yes we are!" I yelled like I was at some kind of political rally. The kind my sister Marie was always going to at college.
I couldn't really tell what Georgia's mom thought of the idea. But truthfully, there wasn't anything bad about it. It's not like we were gonna get in trouble. If people didn't want to answer their doors, they didn't have to. Well, everyone except Brendan's friend! He had to open his door.
"Text text!" I said as I felt my phone vibrating in my sweatshirt pocket.
It was from Kelly. I showed it to Olivia and Georgia, and they just shrugged. They didn't know Kelly, since she was new and she'd been placed into my cluster. And they didn't really care to get to know her. I didn't get that. What about "the more the merrier"?
Lately Olivia and Georgia were so anti-meeting new people. They just wanted to do the same stuff we've always done, and go to the same places, and talk about the same things. I mean, of course we'd always be best friends. But we could have new friends too, couldn't we? And new traditions?
Look at Olivia and PBJ—every day the same thing. She said she liked him, but she couldn't really—she never did anything about it! Maybe if she liked a new boy, she'd make new friends, and have something else to think about.
"Okay, let's go, guys," I said. Georgia and Olivia got up, ready to follow me. They'd just been sitting there silently. Georgia was staring into space like she'd just lost her puppy (she didn't have a puppy, but she really wanted one), and Olivia was still writing in that silly notebook. There were actual people around her: us, her friends, and yet she still preferred that notebook.
"You can't just carry them on wire racks," Georgia's mom said. "They'll fall all over the place." She looked at Georgia. "Georgia, you know that! Come on, what is going on with you? You're on another planet or something."
She had that right. It was like Georgia had a summer home on Saturn and every month was July!
Georgia just shrugged, and her mom took a bunch of the Chen's Kitchen Fortune Cookie boxes off the shelf. She started putting cookies into them, and even though Georgia and Olivia just stood there, I helped her. We needed to get moving.
The fortune cookie boxes at Chen's were completely awesome. They were huge versions of Chinese food containers, the kind with the white background and the red lettering and the metal handle, only five times as big.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting around, we went back into the building carrying the fortune cookies. I'm not gonna lie—I felt a little stupid.
Like, what would Brendan say if he saw me carrying a massive box of fortune cookies? Well, actually, he'd probably just say he wanted one.
So I guess it wasn't so bad. My mom always jokes that a way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Then my sister Marie calls her sexist even though that doesn't really make any sense because why is it sexist to be a good cook? But a lot of Marie's ideas are confusing if you think about them too much.
"My favorite seventh graders on the seventh floor," Eddie said as we were walking past the doorman desk. He always said stuff like this. It was probably just a way for him to remember who everyone was. But it made people feel good at the same time.
"Want a fortune cookie, Eddie?" I asked. As usual (well, as usual lately; it hadn't always been like this) Olivia and Georgia were just standing there, so I had to be the one to talk first. I hoped by the end of the day they'd speak up a little more. Especially since this whole thing was Olivia's idea.
"A Chen's Kitchen fortune cookie?" He smiled. "Of course I do!"
Georgia was closest to him, so he took one of hers.
"Eat it now, Eddie," I said. "You know you can't resist." He wasn't just going to leave it on his desk all day—was he?
"Yeah, you'll just see it sitting there, staring at you, saying 'eat me, eat me,'" Olivia said, and I laughed out loud.
She could be really funny and really fun. And that's why I loved her. The problem was, why couldn't she be that way all the time? Or even most of the time?
"Okay, okay, you twisted my arm," Eddie said. He broke the cookie in half, and the little slip of paper with the fortune on it popped out just like it was supposed to. Georgia's mom told us that if the paper was put in the cookie the exact right way, that would happen.
"'Tonight will be a lucky night,'" Eddie read from the paper.
"Ooh la la," I said. "Who wrote that one?" I knew it wasn't one of mine.
"I did," Georgia said. She'd been quiet so long I almost forgot what her voice sounded like! Sheesh.
"Do you need luck tonight, Eddie?" I asked.
He sat back in his seat like he was deep in thought. "We always need luck. Don't you think?"
I shrugged. Olivia nodded. Georgia looked confused.
"Yeah, but I mean, is anything, like, extra special going on?" I had no idea why I was asking Eddie, of all people, these questions. Maybe I was just stalling because I wanted to see if I'd get another text from Kelly about where Brendan was.
"Well, Kate, if you must know," Eddie said. "I'm supposed to be performing in the Riverdale Community Center's production of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. We always put on a love-themed show on Valentine's Day. But I bet it'll be canceled because of the blizzard."
"I see. Well, good luck, not that you need me to say it after you just got that fortune!" By the end of the sentence I was yelling. I didn't mean to, but I can't help yelling when I get excited. I got in trouble for that kind of a lot. Though I've been getting in trouble for a lot of things lately. Most of all, talking back to my mom.
"That is a really big coincidence that you got that fortune," Olivia said like she had just discovered a major mathematical theory or something. "A fortune about luck, and you're gonna be in a play? Hmmm."
She got that look on her face as though she were filing something away. Of course she would read into this a little too much. Like she read too much into everything. Like when she got a wrong number on her cell phone the other day and she googled the number and it was PBJ's. But then I explained to her that his best friend is Jake Feinman, right below her in the school directory. And so he probably just read the wrong number. But then she was, like, well, wouldn't he have his best friend's number memorized?
And I said no. Boys never memorize numbers. And they never bother storing numbers in their phones either.
Basically, boys are dumb. But we like them anyway.
"Bye, Eddie," we said and walked toward the elevator.
If Olivia was going to read some special meaning into every single fortune, this was going to be a really long day. But I guess it was partially my fault because I did ask Eddie all those extra questions. Next time we'd ring a bell, look for Brendan, leave a cookie, and move on.
"Where to?" I asked. "Olivia, you're in charge of this whole plan, so you have to tell us where to go."
"Fine. Second floor. We'll work our way up."
We could have easily taken the stairs up one floor, but most of the time we were lazy and took the elevator. Today was one of those times.
"You guys, look at this," Georgia said. "This guy seems really mad. And about dry cleaning! Who cares this much about their dry cleaning?"
The note taped above the elevator buttons said:
"He even taped up his receipt! That is crazy." Georgia pointed to the bottom of the note. "And look at his signature. You can't even read it."
"His dry cleaning bill was over a hundred dollars," Olivia said. "That's what's crazy." She started cracking up.
"Okay, guys, calm down, it's just dry cleaning." I rolled my eyes. Did they even realize how weird they were being? How could they think about some stranger's dry cleaning when we had to think about finding Brendan?
Sometimes I didn't understand my friends at all.