Free Pink & Green is the New Black by Lisa Greenwald Page A

there. He said his mom misses it a lot. Smooches, Lucy
    I click SEND and then draft an e-mail to Yamir:
    Well, I rocked the cafeteria thing! Going green in a major way. Call/text/whatever and I will fill you in. Sushi tonight. I know you’re jealous, xo
    I hit SEND before I can change my mind about the “xo.” It was probably a mistake. Maybe we’re not at the “xo” point anymore. Who knows where we are now. Probably “sincerely” or “talk soon.”
    I decide to write a quick e-mail to Mrs. Deleccio too. I don’t want my work with Earth Club to be over, and I think there’s one more project I can take on before I graduate: composting. It’s something people are talking about a lot these days. Some towns are even instituting mandatory composting programs. It seems like the logical next step for us.
    Hi Mrs. Deleccio,
    I had an idea I wanted to run by you. Now that the cafeteria will be green, we need to focus on our food waste! What if we started a composting program? I’d love to take this on. Let me know what you think.
    Thanks, Lucy
    I love that we can e-mail teachers. It makes everything so much easier. And it means I might not have to wait until next Monday’s meeting to hear what she thinks of my idea.
    Dad texts me to say that he’ll pick us up and drive us to the sushi place, since he’s already out running errands and will be passing the house anyway. This may be true, but I think hejust wants to show off his new car. He got some revamped old convertible, and he’ll probably ask if we want the top down even though it’s freezing outside. It’s silly now, but it’s going to be awesome when the weather warms up.
    I text Sunny that we’re going out for sushi, because she loves it almost as much as I do, and I’m secretly hoping she’ll say something about Yamir, mention where he is or that he’s heard about the cafeteria.
    But she doesn’t write back. That is so unlike her. I wonder if she lost her phone.
    I finish getting ready and go downstairs to wait for Dad. He picks us up exactly on time. Mom sits in front and Grandma and I sit in the backseat. It’s a rare four-door convertible, bright red with beige leather seats. I wonder if Dad will let Claudia drive it when she’s home on break. We can drive around together and go to the movies in style! I hope he still has this car when I get my license in three years. Maybe he’ll be bored of it by then and let me drive it all the time.
    Dad drops us off in front of Sushi of Gari, because the parking lot is full and he needs to look for street parking. This isn’t unusual. It’s the most popular sushi place in all of Connecticut. People drive for hours to eat here.
    I see two things as soon as I walk in. And even though thesushi here is the most delicious in the world, I immediately want to run out and go home.
    Travis and his family are sitting in the booth by the side window.
    And the Ramals are sitting at the round table in the back.
    My stomach hurts so much that I don’t think I’ll be able to eat a single piece of sushi tonight. In fact, I may never be able to eat again.

Lucy’s tip for surviving eighth grade:
    When in doubt, eat sushi.
    Thankfully, no one else in my family sees the Ramals, and they don’t really know Travis so they don’t notice that he’s there. I text Sunny:
    Meet me in the bathroom. I’m at Gari too.
    I wait and wait and wait, but again, no text back. She must have left her phone at home. It’s the only explanation, since she never turns it off.
    The hostess seats us at a table by the window on the other side of the restaurant. My back is to Travis, but out of the corner of my eye I can kind of see Yamir. I think they’re approaching the end of their meal, since most of their plates are empty except for a few stray pieces of ginger and uneven clumps of wasabi.
    â€œWell, this is