As we were going into the hall, Sophia grabbed my arm and hissed, “What is going on?”

I sighed and shrugged. “She is really good at soccer,” I said.

“Well, Riley may be good at soccer, but she’d better be good at being our friend,” said Sophia, and before I could respond, she shot off down the hall.

Isabella, Riley, and Michelle turned in a different direction, heading toward language arts, where they were in a class with my sister Molly. Before they went into their class, I caught Molly’s eye as she walked by in the hallway.

It was obvious she could tell something was up. She was looking at me as if to say, What’s going on?

But I just said, “You’d better catch up to your potential new soccer teammates,” and hurried off to my own class.

Middle school was different, that’s for sure, and I don’t think I like change.

Chapter 2 Sisterly Love

My dad is usually home after school. He teaches woodshop at the high school during the year, and in the summer he works for a construction company that his brother owns.

Molly and I dumped our stuff in the cubbies that he built us, kind of like lockers, near the back door and found him in the kitchen, making a snack.

You’d think that because Mom’s family owns a restaurant she’d be a really good cook, but she totally is not. She jokes that’s why she married Dad, because he can whip up anything and it’s always delicious.

I sniffed. “Ooh, popcorn!”

“And hello to you too, honey,” said Dad.

He was popping kernels in a deep pot on the stove, and the kitchen smelled like a movie theater. He pushed a plate of sliced bananas and peanut butter toward us.

“Dad, where are the raisins on top?” Molly asked.

Dad used to call this snack “ants on a log,” which we thought was hysterical. He slices the bananas lengthwise, smears on peanut butter, then scatters raisins on top. He used to tell us that they were ants crawling on a banana log. We thought it was funny, but it could also explain why I hate raisins… I mean, eww, eating ants! I always pick them off.

“We’re out,” said Dad. “It’s still back-to-school season, and Mom and I have been so crazed and busy we haven’t been able to get to the market.”

“So, ant-less?” asked Molly.

“Yes, I’m afraid we are out of ants, Molls,” said Dad. “So I am making it up to you with some popcorn.”

“If we put these on top…,” said Molly, cocking her head and thinking.

“They could be clouds on a log,” I said, taking a piece of hot popcorn.

“They could be fluffy sheep on a log,” said Molly. “That makes more sense. Why would clouds be on a log?”