Chapter thirty-three
The front-desk girl smiles when she sees me. “I ’ave package for you!”
Résidence Lambert’s door opens again, and my friends troop in behind me.The girl hands over a large brown box, and I happily sign for it. “From your
mom?” Mer asks. Her cheeks are pink from the cold.
“Yes!” Today is my birthday. And I know exactly what’s inside. I carry the box eagerly to the lobby sofas and dig for something to open it with. Josh pul s out his room key and slices through the tape.
“AHH!” he screams.
Rashmi, Mer, and Étienne peek inside, and I gloat triumphantly.
“No!” Mer says.
“Yes,” I say.
Étienne picks up a slender green box. “Cookies?”
Josh snatches it from him. “Not just any cookies, my fine English fel ow. Thin Mints.” He turns to me. “Can I open this?”
“Of course!” Every year, my family celebrates my birthday with a feast of Girl Scout cookies instead of cake. The timing is always perfect.
Rashmi pul s out a box of Lemon Chalet Cremes. “Your mom is the best.”
“What’s so special about . . . Tagalongs?” Étienne says, inspecting another box.
“TAGALONGS?” Mer rips them from his hands.
“They’re only the tastiest morsels on the entire planet,” I explain to Étienne. “They only sel them this time of year. Haven’t you ever had a Girl Scout cookie?”
“Did someone say Girl Scout cookies?”
I’m surprised to find Amanda Spitterton-Watts peering over my shoulder. Her eyes bulge when she sees my stash.
“Girl Scout cookies?” Another face appears behind us, wearing a familiar expression of confusion. It’s Cheeseburger. Amanda curls her lip in disgust
and turns back to me.
“You have to give me a Thin Mint,” she says.
“Uh, yeah. Sure,” I say. Josh makes a face, but I hand one over anyway. Amanda sinks her teeth into the chocolate wafer and grips Étienne’s arm. She
groans with pleasure. He tries to pul away, but her grasp is tight. She licks her lips. I’m amazed she doesn’t have crumbs on her mouth. How does she do that?
“Have you ever tasted one of these?” she asks him.
“Yes,” he lies.
Rashmi snorts.
There’s a cough behind me, and I find Cheeseburger staring anxiously at my box. I glare at Amanda, the Arm-Toucher, and pul out an entire sleeve of
Thin Mints. “Here you go, Cheeseburger.”
He looks at me in surprise, but then again, that’s how he always looks. “Wow. Thanks, Anna.” Cheeseburger takes the cookies and lumbers toward the
stairwel .