365 New Days

Chapter 8

Two days before Halloween, Mark got Tina, Toby, Dan and Alex to meet him in the pizzaria after school to discuss their plan.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do," Mark said. He laid out printed sheets of recipes and facts that he found online. " The day Jacob gets back, we are going to decorate his mom's grave, make traditional food, that sort of thing."

"I've been taking cooking lessons." Dan said. "I got the food." He took the recipe sheets.

"'I'll help Mark with more research and stuff." Said Toby as he looked over the sheets. "Alex, Tina, Can you guys handle the decorations?"

Alex grabbed a packet on the table. "Sure!" She said.

Tina bounced happily. "Oh this is so exciting! He's having pizza with us right?"

"I think he said he could only come for an hour," Alex recalled. "Then he has to pack and get ready to go to the airport at 11:00."

"That late at night?"

She shrugged. "His dad had to work."

Dan's phone buzzed and he checked it. "Um guys. Jacob's class just finished and he's on his way. Hide the papers."

They shoved the packets in their backpacks as fast as they could and tried their best to act natural when Jacob sat with them.

"Hey guys." He said as he put his bag under the table.

"Hey Jacob," Tina greeted. "Can I ask you a weird question?"

"Um, ok?"

"What's your family member's favorite foods?"

Jacob looked confused and his friends mentally smacked their foreheads.

"Why?"

Tina tried to act as normal as possible. "Eh it's just something I'm curious about."

"Oh, well, my favorite food is rice because you can add anything to it. I think my dad's is ice cream and my mom's was Gazpacho."

"Thanks! I'm going to get the pizza."

Toby got up. "I'll go with you!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the line.

"I can not believe you just did that." He said
"Oh come on, my plan worked! Now we know what to make for the party."

Toby got twenty dollars out of his wallet. "He could have figured it out!"

"But he didn't."

"Luckily."

"Oh, just pay for the pizza!"

He paid and brought the pizza to the group.

"Half cheese half pepperoni," Toby informed them. "Enjoy."

Everyone grabbed a slice except Jacob. He told them that he wasn't very hungry.

"So you're worried about something?" Dan asked.

"Why would-"

"You don't eat when you're worried. Take last week for example, we had a science test and you studied instead of eating lunch." They all stared at him in disbelief. "What? It's just something I've noticed."

"Are you going to be a chef or a detective when you graduate?" asked Alex.

He shrugged "It just seemed obvious to me."

Alex looked over at Jacob next. "So, are you going to be a tomato?"

"What?"

He handed him her phone which had the front camera open.