The Startup Squad by Brian Weisfeld

Author:Brian Weisfeld
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Imprint

14

The next morning, Resa stood in front of ShopMart’s automatic sliding doors five full minutes before the store opened. She leaned against the store window and tapped the toes of her electric-blue Converse until, finally, a woman wearing a ShopMart vest unlocked the doors. As soon as they glided open, Resa was through the doorway. She ran down the fruit aisle, through the frozen-food section, and up the aisle that housed assorted juices and drinks. There, just above her head, she found the shelf for instant lemonade.

It was empty.

Resa stood on tiptoes and reached way back on the shelf until her fingers hit the wall.

Nothing.

“Excuse me!” she called up the aisle to the saleswoman who’d opened the doors for her. “Where’s your powdered lemonade?”

The woman frowned. “You too?”

“Huh?” asked Resa.

“What’s with the lemonade craze? All week, we’ve been overrun by kids desperate for something, anything, to make lemonade out of.” She smirked. “Is there some kind of lemonade festival going on?”

“So you’re all out?” Resa asked.

The saleswoman nodded. “Out of lemons, too. But we’ll get more of both—maybe tomorrow.”

Resa slumped her shoulders and groaned loudly.

“Me, personally, I prefer apple juice,” said the saleswoman. “And it’s on sale this week.”

Resa shook her head. “It’s got to be lemonade.”

The saleswoman shrugged. “Check Harris Fullers. It won’t be cheap, but they might have some.”

“Thanks!” Resa yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted out of the store. She pounded the pavement, pumping her arms, and made it home in five minutes. She hated doing conditioning in tennis, but she had to admit, it paid off sometimes.

Resa raced up the stairs and into her parents’ bedroom, where she found Ricky and her mom, still in their pj’s, snuggled up in bed, reading—what else?—Ricky’s massive book of wizard spells.

Resa ran over to the bed, shut the book, and hefted it out of their hands. It took both hands. The thing was enormous.

“Lemonade emergency!” Resa pronounced. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.”

“Am I hallucinating, or did she just snatch that right out of my hand?” Resa’s mom asked Ricky.

“Taceo! Nova figura!” Ricky shouted, pointing his finger at her. “Et e eruca figura!”

“Cut it out, Ricky!” Resa snapped. And then, after considering for a second, she asked, “What does that mean?”

“I turned you into a caterpillar.”

“Can you turn me into a cheetah instead?” Resa replied. “I need to move fast.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.