Damnable dinner

Hi, I’m Callie! “I’m so excited to invite my friends Zoey and Pablo over for dinner tonight.” I think to myself as I walk to school on this lovely lush green dewy morning. The birds are chirping and the wind is blowing. Everything is amazing! My dad said that it would be a perfect night to invite someone over. He is a Meteorologist, so he’s always obsessed with telling me, and my two brothers the weather every day. A lot of the time he’s not right, but I really hoped he was right today. My two brothers are Luca, and Tyler. Luca is fourteen and Tyler is five. I’m twelve, so I’m in the middle of everything. 

After school, I caught up with Pablo and Zoey. They’ve been my best friends ever since the big protesting spree. You see, Pablo and Zoey are Asian, and my school didn’t allow foreign kids to come to our “American” school. But, almost every single person in our school district protested to let them in! I tried to make my sign really bright, so I colored it bright green and orange. No one could look at it for more than thirty seconds! Anyway, I walked up to Pablo and Zoey with the important question. “Hey guys!” I said in excitement. 

“Hi Callie!” Said Pablo. “What’s up?”.

“I was wondering if you guys are free tonight for dinner?” My brothers won’t be there and My dad’s going with them, so we won't have to listen to weather facts or get our food smashed in our faces by a football or baseball!” I said in a convincing voice. 

“Sure I’d love to come!” Answered Pablo. “Is-that-good-you-for?” Pablo asked Zoey. Zoey has Aphasia, it’s where you can't communicate the way most people can. Like, you can’t hear words in a certain order and know what it means. But somehow Pablo has learned how to talk in the way Zoey can understand. And not even their parents know how to do it, it’s only Pablo. Oh, they're also twins! Maybe it's a twin thing. “Aaaaaaaooooouuuu, Whaaaaaaa, Phoooooooeeeyyyyy!” Zoey answers back. All I heard was a bunch of mumbles, but Pablo heard: 

“Yep, we’re good! How about we come at, let's say… six thirty?” Suggested Pablo. 

“Ya, that works! See you then!” I say.

“Later!” Pablo replies. Great, I only have three hours to get everything ready.

When I get home, I take one look at the dining room and Kitchen, then get straight to cleaning. 

Sixty minutes later:

“Ohhhhhhhh!!!!!! I can’t get the smell out of my nose!” I say lying on the coach covered in dirt and smells I never thought even were smells. Even though I want to have dinner outside, I still want it to be clean inside in case they have to go inside for something. I look at the clock and see it’s already four o’clock! I only have two and a half hours to finish getting ready! 

I call mom to see when she will be done at the restaurant (where she works) intime for dinner. 

“Oh, sorry hunny, I have to work until eight!” Say’s my mom on the phone. And that’s when my bad night started.

I decided that I would make my grandma's (my mom’s mom) famous Mac and Cheese! They are both amazing cooks! Grandma taught my mom how to cook, and my mom is starting to teach me how to cook. She hasn't gotten that far with teaching me, but she’s taught me some stuff. I ran to the kitchen, trying not to make it dirty again. I grab the recipe for the mac and cheese, and quickly get everything on the counter. First, I mix all of the dry ingredients in a big bowl, and then I mix all of the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. I have to sprint downstairs to get a big bag of cheese. When I came back upstairs, I saw that the pot of water I put on top of the stove to boil was overflowing with bubbles! I walk fast with the cheese bag in my hands to turn down the temperature on the stove from high to low. About five minutes later I heard something I really hoped was my stomach. “BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!” It couldn’t be... thunder! 

I can’t believe it! There’s no way! WOW! 

It’s pouring out! Dad said, “It’s going to be lovely out”. And here I am, at six o’clock and it’s awful out. There goes my “Eating outside” idea. Okay, I can still do this, I will just set something, cool up in the dining room. I open the door, grab an umbrella, and run as fast as I can to go pick some pretty flowers from my dad's garden.  I quickly picked some roses, daisies, and lilacs. I jog to the house and get a vase from the cabinet, and put the flowers in with some water. “Callie! We have to leave” I hear my dad yelling. Telling me that he and my brothers have to go to their sports. Luca has flag football practice and Tyler has a t-ball game, which my dad has to go and watch. At least I have those three gone.

 “*knock, knock, knock*” And, of course, it’s six thirty, and Pablo and Zoey are right on time.  I ran to grab the mac and cheese to put it on the table, but when I took it out of the oven I forgot that I didn't put on oven mitts and I burned my hands. “Aaaaaaawwww!!!!!!” I screamed and dropped the mac and cheese all over the floor! “Nooooooo!!!!” I yelled again. The door fled open, “Are you okay? We heard a really loud scream and a big crash!” Asked Pablo.

“No! I burned my hands and I dropped the mac and cheese all over the clean floor!” I answered.

“Well, okay. First we need to fix your hands. Come to the bathroom and I’ll bandage them up! “You-Zo-ey-here-wait!” He said and told Zoey.

After Pablo bandaged my hands, we came out to the living room where Zoey was sitting. But suddenly the door jolted open again and, of course, it was my dad and my brothers. The one good thing that happened was that my hands stopped hurting! Because Luca football hit me in the head, so then my head was hurting more than my hands. I sit down and start thinking about what I should make for dinner. Then it hit me, I should make quesadillas. I love making them, it’s always so much fun to put in whatever I want. My brothers also like quesadillas, so they won’t be complaining about not having anything to eat. I go to the kitchen and put them together. “Hmmm…. Where’s the paprika?” I think to myself. “Oh, there it is!”. I grab it and add it to the tray of quesadilla goodness. I put it in the oven. 

Ten minutes later: I looked at the quesadillas and they were still not cooked. But then I looked at the temperature setting and it was set on the off setting. I quickly turn it on, and set the timer for five minutes. 

“*Ding, Ding!!!*” I gallop all the way to the stove, make sure to put my oven mitts on, and grab the awesomeness out of the oven. I quietly cut the quesadillas because our cutter thingy is really loud.

I give the plates to my friends and family. Everyone takes a bite at the same time. But about two seconds after the bite was taken, we all spit it out. “Sweaty, what is this?” Asked my dad. 

“Oh my gosh! I must have put in cinnamon instead of paprika!” I said in alarm. Uuuuuuuuuugggg! Nothing could go right!!! “Okay, that's it!” I take everybody's plates and put them in the sink. I grab some cinnamon toast crunch, some buffalo-chicken sauce, and some chocolate chips. I put each thing on a new plate, and lie it down on each person's seat. Thankfully, we all enjoy those things together. I was finally happy with everything that was happening. All I know is that I’m never inviting friends over for dinner ever again.