Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt Page B

come on out.”
    I lean against the wall for a minute more because it’s easier to say my next thing without seeing anyone. It comes from a place so deep inside, it’s like it’s coming out of the ground. “I just . . . I just want to fit in for once. I mean, I really do. Just to be the same as everyone else.”
    Keisha doesn’t answer for a while. “Look. You don’t fit in. I don’t fit in. Albert doesn’t fit in, either. Who says who fits in, anyway? People like Shay? That girl is just mean. Who cares what she thinks?”
    The stall door is still closed, but I smile as I imagine Keisha’s expression. I’m lucky to have her.
    “Come on, Ally. Who wants to fit in with people like Shay and her worse-than-awful friends? Thankfully we’ll never fit in with people like that.” Keisha laughs again. “One thing’s for sure. We’re not gonna fit in, but we’re gonna stand out. All three of us. You wait and see. You’re going to be a famous artist and Albert is going to cure cancer or invent talking fish or something.”
    “Talking fish? What would they say? ‘Please don’t fry me’?” I push the door open, and her face is just like I imagined. “And you’re going to have a big baking business, right?”
    “Maybe in my spare time. I’m also going to rule the world.”
    I laugh. Then swallow hard. “Thanks for being my friend, Keisha.”
    “Don’t go thanking me for that. Thank me for this: I’m going to go tell Shay she has a spot on the back of her fancy riding jacket so we can watch her try to look. Then we can eat that ice cream that you won.”

CHAPTER 27
    H a l f - B a k e d A f t e r n o o n
    Keisha invites Albert and me over to her house for a “surprise.” When I arrive, Albert is already there and Keisha is wearing a baker’s hat and apron.
    “So, when do we eat?” Albert asks.
    “No free ride here, Albert. We have to cook first,” Keisha says, putting a cookbook on the table.
    Albert seems disappointed.
    “You’ll be able to eat. Don’t worry. And in the meantime, think of this as a science experiment. So it’s two of your most favorite things, Albert.”
    I am pretty happy until she opens the cookbook and slides it over to me. “You’re in charge.”
    “Of what?”
    “The recipe! What do you think?”
    What? Is she kidding?
    “And Albert, you can be in charge of rolling the dough. Going to try cookie dough today to see if the letters cook at a similar rate to cake.”
    I’m freaking out over having to be in charge of the book. I’d rather be in charge of teaching cats to play hockey.
    And my mind spins into
that
mind movie. When I start laughing, Keisha asks me what I’m doing. I have to shrug. Push the picture of a goalie cat with skates and a mouth guard out of my head.
    “
Ally?
” Keisha pokes me.
    “Yeah?”
    “I asked, what’s the first thing?”
    Albert appears next to me. “I’d rather do the book. You want to trade, Ally? You can roll out the dough.”
    “Sure, Albert. If that’s what you’d rather do, I don’t mind switching.”
    Albert begins reading the ingredients while I roll out the cookie dough. It’s sticky and hard to roll. Keisha points to a package of flour. “Hey, sprinkle some of that on.”
    I manage to get the dough rolled out, but I have my doubts about all of this. I look at the alphabet cookie cutters she uses to make letters. “What do you want me to spell?”
    “Well, the letters are kind of big for cupcakes, so it can only be three-letter words. Spell whatever you want.”
    I spell “cow” because it’s the first word I think of. Then we stand the letters up in the bottom of each cupcake mold and cover them with batter.
    Once Keisha slides the first batch into the oven, Albert asks, “Can I have some milk?”
    Keisha shrugs. “Sure,” she says, taking a glass and filling it.
    Albert gulps it all down and asks, “May I possibly have some more? We switched to water at home. I really miss milk.”
    She hands him the