Free The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

because of the suddenly cool air.
    Salley waved her hand. "Done," she said. "I sold out in, like, half an hour. It's so darn hot. We made twenty-four dollars, besides tips. Do I get to keep the tips?"
    "Sure," said Jessie. Tips! She'd forgotten about those on her calculations page. Salley handed Jessie some crumpled bills and an avalanche of coins: eight dollars for Jessie and Megan,
each.
    "You wanna stay and have some ice cream?" Salley asked.
    "Okay," said Megan. "And we brought you a thank-you brownie. You know, for being part of our team." That had been Bright Idea #9.
    After a bowl of The Moose Is Loose ice cream, Jessie and Megan headed out. The story was the same at every girl's house: The lemonade had sold
out quickly and the money just kept rolling in.
    "I can't believe we made—how much did we make?" squealed Megan once they got back to her house.
    "One hundred and four dollars each.
Each!
" shouted Jessie. She couldn't stop hopping from one foot to the other.
    "I've never seen so much money in my life!"
    Jessie was already running numbers in her head. Subtracting the eighty dollars that she and Megan had spent on lemonade and cups, each girl had made a profit of sixty-four dollars. If they increased the number of franchises from thirteen to twenty-six, they could each make one hundred and twenty-eight dollars in one day. If they ran the twenty-six franchises every day for one week, they could each make eight hundred and ninety-six dollars! Jessie pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled a graph.
    The sky was the limit!
    Megan pretended to faint when Jessie showed her the graph. "What are you going to do with your money?" she asked from the floor.

    Win the war!
thought Jessie. Oops. She couldn't say
that
to Megan. Megan didn't even know about the Lemonade War. After all, Megan
liked
Evan.
    Jessie suddenly wondered,
If Megan knew about the war, whose side would she be on?
    All at once, Jessie felt as if Evan were a hawk, circling above, waiting to swoop down and snatch Megan away. Oh, she was so mad at him! He deserved to lose
everything.
    Is one hundred and four dollars enough to win?
wondered Jessie. Surely Evan couldn't have earned more than
that.
Still ... better safe than sorry. She would work all day tomorrow, Sunday, selling lemonade.
    "So?" said Megan. "What are you gonna do with the money?" She was kicking off her sneakers and fanning herself with a magazine.
    Jessie said, "I'm going to donate all my money to the Animal Rescue League."
    Megan stopped waving the magazine. "Oh, that is
so
nice of you. I want to donate my money, too." She dropped the magazine and started shoving her money toward Jessie. "Here. Give mine to the Animal Rescue League, too. On the card, just put both our names."
    The money came at her so fast, Jessie didn't know what to say. There it was. Two hundred and
eight dollars. Two hundred and eight dollars! All in her hands.
    She had won. She had really and truly won the Lemonade War.
    "Just promise me one thing," said Megan. "No lemonade stand tomorrow! Okay?"
    "O-
kay,
" said Jessie. She didn't need a lemonade stand on Sunday if she had two hundred and eight dollars today!
    "My dad said tomorrow's the last day before the heat breaks," said Megan. "So we're going to the beach for the whole day. Wanna come?"
    "Sure!" said Jessie.
    "Maybe Evan wants to come, too?" said Megan.
    Jessie shook her head. "No. Evan's busy all day tomorrow. He told me he's got plans."
    Megan shrugged. "Too bad for him."
    "Yep," said Jessie, thinking of all that money. "Too bad for him."

Chapter 9
Negotiation
negotiation () n. A method of bargaining so that you can reach an agreement.
    Evan looked up from the marble track he was building when Jessie walked in the front door. She looked hot. She looked sweaty. She looked ... happy. Really happy. Like she'd just gotten an A+. Or like ... like she'd just won a war.
    "What are you smiling for?" asked Evan, holding a marble at the top of the track.
    "No reason."