Surviving the Andersen Brothers

Feeling Under the Weather

Charlotte punched my arm and smiled knowingly, breaking my gaze with Vincent. She wiggled her eyebrows. I pushed her back to my room.

“We will be there,” I told him, following behind Charlotte.

“Miss Clark,” Vincent called, causing me to stop. I turned to face him. “Would you mind if I catch a ride to the field with you? I have a motorcycle and would rather not be wet before my time.”

“Sure,” I allowed. Charlotte was wiggling her eyebrows again. I pushed her, playfully, into my room, preventing Vincent from seeing her.

Vincent closed the secret door and Charlotte and I burst into laughter.

“What?” I demanded, unable to contain my giggles.

“The way he watches you!” she told me, grabbing her stomach. “I think he likes you.”

“You cannot possibly know that from the way he looks at me.”

Charlotte shrugged. “You don’t have to believe me. Come on, let’s go make the ill better again.”

Charlotte and I went to the kitchen. I grabbed a pot and filled it with water as she sniffed out the spice cabinet. I pulled out the vegetables as she loaded the counter with spices, cutting knives, and cutting boards.

“I will chop the potatoes and carrots. You take the onions and celery. Whoever finishes first can take the rest of the veggies.”

“If you say so.”

I put in the beef broth flavoring, and added some spices to the water. I set the flame on high with the pot over top while she washed off her set of vegetables.

I washed off mine while Charlotte began chopping. Soon I was chopping too, quickly passing her up. Looks like I would be cutting the extra ones.

“Shouldn’t you skin those potatoes?” Charlotte asked as I dropped them into the water.

“You can, but the skin has all the nutrients. Jacob needs those.”

Already finished with my job, I began cutting everything else.

“Wow, you sure are fast.” Charlotte barely finished the onions. “Tell me, how can you hurt yourself with a weed-wacker yet be a ninja with a knife?”

I smiled, trying not to laugh. “I love cooking. I’ve been cooking since I was little. I’m not very good when it comes to anything other than this—” I gestured to the food in front of me— “and Track and Field. I always get hurt.”

I added the extra vegetables to the pot as Charlotte added the celery. I went to the cupboards and pulled out the bottle of hot sauce.

“What are you doing with that?” she asked.

“I’m adding it to the soup,” I said as if it was obvious.

She snatched the spoon from my hand. “That’s just rude, Jasmine.”

I shrugged. I’ll just add it when no one is looking.

We let the soup warm for twenty minutes. We talked about cooking and about Track and Field. Charlotte ran the hundred-meter dash and the hundred meter hurdles. As a Field event, she threw the discus.

I tasted the soup when it was finished to make sure that everything was good and it was. The soup was nearly perfect—it would be better with the hot sauce.

I filled a glass with ice water and placed it next to the bowl Charlotte poured the soup in.

“Can you get the bed tray in the cupboard next to the spice cabinet?” I asked Charlotte.