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Frida.
    Sorry I can’t be there. Busy on set!
    And she’d sent a picture too, of her and Brady McCoy drinking out of a soda can with two straws in it and making funny faces.
    â€œOh my gosh!” Emma squealed. “Look how close her lips are to his!”
    â€œI think they’re just goofing around,” I said.
    Emma sighed. “I wish I could goof around with Brady McCoy like that.”
    Mrs. Dukes dropped us off in front of the Sun Center mall. We walked through a row of palm trees to the entrance.
    â€œWhere to first?” I asked.
    â€œSports World!” said Jessi and Zoe.
    â€œCute Emporium!” said Emma at the same time.
    She turned to Jessi and Zoe. “Uh-uh. No Sports World today. We’re here so I can forget about not making the soccer team, remember?”
    â€œYou’re right!” Zoe said, linking elbows with Emma. “Cute Emporium it is!”
    I didn’t go to Cute Emporium a lot, but it was like the store had been created especially for Emma. Everything the store sold had a supercute animal face on it—big eyes and a little pink nose. Adorable faces stared out at us from mugs, notebooks, T-shirts, backpacks, and just about any other item you could think of.
    Emma made a beeline for an alarm clock with a spotted fawn on it.
    â€œSooooo cute!” she said. “Almost as cute as Brady.”
    Zoe groaned. “I know this is your day, Emma, but do you think we could get through this without you mentioning Brady’s name every five minutes?”
    Emma looked thoughtful. “Um, no.”
    I would have been happier in Sports World myself, but I looked around and found a cute key chain with a puppy sitting on top of a soccer ball. It was only a few dollars, so I bought it.
    â€œMaisie will love this,” I told Jessi, holding it up to show her.
    â€œPoor Maisie,” Jessi said. “We still need to think of a fund-raiser for her soccer program.”
    â€œMaybe we could talk about it when we eat,” I suggested.
    â€œEat? Did somebody say ‘eat’?” Emma asked, looking up from a pile of plush baby seals.
    â€œHave you had your fill of cuteness yet?” Zoe asked.
    â€œI will never have my fill of cuteness, but right now I’m hungry,” Emma said. “On to Atomic Burrito!”
    We left Cute Emporium and took the escalator up to the food court. Emma walked right to Atomic Burrito, her favorite stand in the whole place. As you might have guessed, Atomic Burrito sold burritos that were mostly on the spicy side.
    Emma was the first one at the counter. “One Atomic Super Special, please. Extra spicy.”
    I followed her. “One Sub-Atomic Chicken, extra wimpy,” I said. I hated to say the words “extra wimpy,” but that was the only way you could get something to eat that wouldn’t set your mouth on fire.
    They made their burritos pretty fast there, so soon we were all sitting around eating our burritos and talking about Maisie’s soccer program.
    â€œIt’s so unfair that Maisie and her friends can’t play soccer,” Emma said between bites of her superspicy burrito. “I love the idea of a fund-raiser.”
    â€œMaybe a craft fair,” Zoe suggested.
    â€œOr what about a bake sale?” I suggested.
    â€œI’d love to see us do, like, a soccer clinic for kids,” Jessi said. “We could charge a small fee and donate it to Maisie’s school for the soccer program.”
    â€œThat would be fun,” I said.
    â€œWhat would be fun?”
    I turned around and saw two boys standing behind me—Steven and Cody. Jessi kind of had the same relationship with Cody that I had with Steven. They liked each other, but they weren’t boyfriend-girlfriend or anything. (None of our parents thought we were old enough to go out on dates, so we kept it loose.)
    â€œHey, sit down!” Jessi said, pulling over two orange metal chairs for the boys. I