Chapter 1  Project Renway

 

  “Did everyone get a chance to take their turn during today’s popcorn reading?” Mrs. Nelson scanned the room while everyone nodded yes, except for me. I love playing popcorn—it’s one of the few times I actually feel comfortable enough to speak aloud in class—but today I was skipped. Why am I surprised? I thought.

  I just moved here, and being in a new school filled with people who already know one another is really hard. And I can be kind of quiet until you get to know me, so it’s a bit harder for me to make friends.

  Rrriing!

   

  The sound of the bell was music to my ears. It was lunchtime! I shut my history textbook and stuffed it in my backpack. As soon as I was in the hallway, I made a beeline for the cafeteria.

   

  At the start of the Fenton Street School year, I felt pretty lonely. But then I met Alana, Natalie, and Emily, and things have been great since then! We formed the Mini Cupcake Club, and we even won a baking competition with our first-ever entry: mini chocolate cupcakes with a cinnamon twist, topped with a family recipe for salted caramel frosting from Natalie’s abuela!

  Right before I made the final turn toward the cafeteria’s double doors, I heard my name.

  “Hey, Ren! Wait up!” I stopped in my tracks. It wasn’t a girl’s voice, so who else would be calling my name in the hallway? I don’t really know anyone other than the members of the Mini Cupcake Club.

   

  That meant it could only be one person. I turned and saw him.

  “Hi, Ethan!” Ethan helps out with the Mini Cupcake Club. Sometimes he gets wild ideas for cupcake flavors, but he’s also a super hard worker and a lot of fun to be around.

   

  As we headed to lunch together, we saw a colorful poster taped to the wall. KINDNESS WEEK was written on the top in big bold letters.

  Ethan and I stopped to read it. We learned that next week, Fenton would be offering lots of activities to encourage us to be kinder to one another. Students were invited to write poetry and make artwork about kindness that would be displayed in the hallways. There were even music and dance events planned in the gym after classes.

  As I read, I felt a flicker of excitement. “I wonder if we can make cupcakes for all our classmates during Kindness Week?” I said to Ethan. “After all, what’s kinder than cupcakes?”

  Ethan grinned. “I love it! Let’s show the school how much we care, cupcake-style!”

 

   

 

“But first… lunch,” I said.

  Ethan laughed, and we raced to the cafeteria. By the time Ethan and I got to our usual table, Alana was already there. Alana is our club’s manager, which means she keeps track of our baking events and makes sure we don’t overbook our calendar.

  “What’s new, Ren?” she asked me.

   

  “I’ve got an idea for Kindness Week!” I told Alana about making cupcakes for students.

  “That’s awesome!” Alana liked the idea so much, she bounced in her seat a little. “Maybe we could make a different flavor for every activity. With a different design for each one too! Ethan, you could totally come up with some rad flavors!”

  I paused. I really like Alana, but this was my idea. I wanted to be in charge of it and take the lead for once. “Maybe,” I said, and then turned to Ethan to change the subject. “Hey, you were amazing in the basketball game yesterday afternoon!”

   

   

  Just then the other two members of the Mini Cupcake Club, Natalie and Emily, joined us at our table. They were deep in conversation about the new soccer cleats that Natalie wants. They said hi to us and immediately went back to their discussion.

  For the rest of lunch, Ethan, Alana, and I talked about Ethan’s winning basket. I thought I’d dodged Alana’s ideas, but later that night she called me.

  “What’s up, Alana?”

  “I’ve got it all planned out,” she said.

  I sighed. “I kind of would like…”

  “Just hear me out,” she continued. “For the library, we can make cupcakes with rainbow frosting and little letter sprinkles.”

  I frowned. “That could be fun, but—”

  “And then for the music events, we could decorate the tops with little musical notes cut out of fruit leather! You’re already an expert at that!” said Alana.

 

   

 

“Alana!” I knew I said her name a little too loudly, but I was tired of feeling ignored. “I don’t need your help. I just wanted to know if you liked the idea.”

  “Oh,” Alana said. There was a pause. “So… you don’t want to hear what else I came up with?”

  “No. Ethan and I will handle everything,” I blurted out.

  “Well, fine,” Alana said in a weird voice.

  “See you tomorrow at school,” I said, and we hung up.

  I sat with the tablet on my lap for a few seconds with a weird feeling I couldn’t put my finger on. That was the shortest conversation I’d ever had with Alana. I started feeling guilty and thought about calling her back, but then I decided to call Ethan instead.

   

  The more I thought about it, the more I didn’t want to discuss my idea with Emily and Natalie, either. I wanted to show everyone that Ethan and I could do this on our own. I gave him a call.

   

  “Hey, can you come over tomorrow after basketball practice so we can plan our Kindness Week cupcakes?” I asked him.

  “I’ll ask my parents, but I’m sure they’ll say yes,” Ethan said cheerfully.

   

  “Great.” I took a deep breath. “One more thing. Could you not tell Emily and Natalie about our idea?”

  He didn’t say anything for a while. “Okay, but why?” he asked.

  “It’s our idea, and we don’t need anyone’s help. We got this,” I told him. “The Mini Cupcake Club has other projects right now, and I know they’ll be really impressed and happy for us when we pull this off.”

  “Are you sure, Ren?” Ethan asked.

  “I’m sure,” I said firmly.