Molly convinced me to help her out with our school's recycling program. Well, she actually lied to me and told me that there was a book signing in town. "We did it, guys!" Molly exclaimed. "Brighton Middle School's recycling program is officially a go! It is my honor to kick off Volunteer Week by recycling the very first can." Scratch finished his can of soda and belched. "Consider the week kicked." Scratch said, about to recycle his can, but he was crushed by one of the doors to the school, which was opened by none other than Andrea Davenport. "Happy Volunteer Week, Fan-dreas!" Andrea exclaimed on her live stream, recycling her paper cup. "Be like me and give Mother Nature a perfectly manicured hand by recycling!" Suddenly, the rest of the school ran to Andrea as her mom picked her up and drove off. "Typical." I grunted. "That someone was us!" Scratch complained. "Who does this Andrea think she is? She's gonna just roll it in, take all the credit?" "She did get people to recycle." Molly said. "And that's what matters." "Really?" Scratch and I asked. "Yes." Molly replied. "So, you know, what if she's got the adoration of thousands of online followers? We have grimy fingers from a job well done." "Gross." I mumbled.
Molly, Scratch, and I headed to the dog park to clean up after the dogs. "There! Brighton's Bark Park is clean again!" Molly sighed with relief. "Let the puppy kisses commence." "Uh, Moll, you might want to see this." I said, turning her attention to Andrea, getting recognized by the local news. "I love what you've done here, Andrea!" Joanie Pataky of the local news station complimented. ""Local do-gooder proves that anything is paw-sible!"" "I don't mind getting a little dirty to help our furry friends." Andrea said, gently pushing a dog aside. "Okay, that's enough." "Clearly, she's a friend to all animals." I rolled my eyes. "My puppy kisses." Molly whimpered. "That should be your face covered in dog slobber!" Scratch snapped. "Nah. No, I mean, Andrea gets the fancy photo ops and beagle smooches." Molly said in denial. "But we got... uh..." "Grimy fingers?" I asked. "I'm thinking. Give me a minute." Molly replied. "Mm-hmm." I nodded.
Our next stop was picking up trash by the Brighton River. Gotta say, that was not pleasant. I helped Molly pile up the filled trash bags. "Done! Now we can officially downgrade the Brighton River from health nightmare to health hazard." Molly said. "Uh, you've got something on your head there." Scratch pointed out as an opossum was laying on Molly's head. I couldn't believe it. I wasn't the victim for once. I tried my best to help Molly deal with the opossum, just as Andrea was getting interviewed again. "I'm here with hometown do-gooder, Andrea Davenport." Joanie announced on camera. "How does it feel to be Volunteer of the Week of Volunteer Week?" "They named her what?!" Scratch snapped, trying to get his revenge, but Molly and I pulled him back. "No, Scratch! Stop it!" Molly exclaimed. "Look, Andrea's getting an award, and of course she is! Why not since she has everything else she wants? But you know what she doesn't have?" "Your extreme capacity for delusion?" Scratch and I asked. "Yeah, probably." Molly sighed. "Just let me give her one pin!" Scratch shouted. "We can't let you do that!" Molly exclaimed. "Let's just go home." "You got some real nerve taking credit for my sister's work, Davenport." I mumbled as I caught up with Molly and Scratch.
Back at the house, Molly insisted that we watched the news. She knew Andrea was going to be on TV, and she was likely going to get humiliated. "Volunteer of the Week of Volunteer Week? Ugh. Wow! I'm just doing my part to "enhappify" Brighton." Andrea lied. "That's just a silly little word I came up with. And trademarked." "No she didn't!" I gasped. "Are you insane, Davenport?" "What?!" Molly snapped. "Enhappify is my word!" "Yes! It is your word, Molly." Scratch repeated. "And Fraud-drea just used your word on the hyper local news for the whole world to see! Destroy her." "Molly volunteers for the right reasons. Helping others." Dad said. "Right. You don't need to be on TV." Mom added. "Hey, look! Molly and Amber are on TV!" Darryl pointed out as we saw ourselves trying to get an opossum away from Molly. "Mom, let's not send this to Grandma Nin, okay?" Molly begged. "I second that." I added. "Uh, whoops." Dad said, accidentally sending Grandma Nin the news coverage.
The next day at school, I sat with Cleo at lunch. Basically everyone was talking about Andrea's "hard work" that she was honored for. "I'm guessing you saw the news?" I asked. "Yeah, I did." Cleo replied. "How you holding up?" "Well, my grandma shared the video with my uncle and with my younger cousin, Emmy." I explained. "That's besides the point. Molly's getting thrown into the dirt with Andrea's lies. She worked really hard to clean up the town. Scratch and I even went to help her out." "I bet Molly isn't taking this too well." Cleo said. "I had to wake her up this morning." I explained. "Usually it's the other way around." "Acting strange, huh?" Cleo wondered. "Yeah, Molly is acting pretty weird, but this is normal for her." I replied. "You know her. Always fighting for what she believes in." "Oh, I'm not talking about Molly." Cleo corrected. "I was actually talking about you, Amber." "Me? Acting strange?" I asked. "How so?" "Well, you're not venting about how annoying her positivity is." Cleo replied. "And despite being dragged along by Molly to pick up trash, you still did your part to help Brighton, and you made that decision yourself." "Now onto the Charity Competition! We're raising money for much needed school marquee!" Principal O'Connor announced. "As the final event for Volunteer Week, whoever sells the most nougat bars will get a big fancy trophy! Sign up now for the Tournament of Nougat!" To no one's surprise, Andrea signed the form, as well as Molly, who was definitely wanting revenge. "Hey, why don't we help Molly?" Cleo suggested. "Maybe that'll help promote your hard work as well." "This is gonna be brutal." I sighed, banging my head against the table.
Molly, Cleo, and I went all around town to sell these nougat bars for the school. I have to admit, I was actually impressed that people would buy these things from us. I would've thought Andrea would have bribed the town.
Principal O'Connor called an assembly on Friday to announce the winner of the fundraiser. "We worked twice as hard and cared nine times as much!" Molly exclaimed. "We're gonna win that award! There's no way we won't! We're going to crush Andrea." "For charity, of course." Scratch added. "Yeah... charity." Molly replied. "It's for revenge." Cleo and I whispered in unison. "The winner of Volunteer Week's Tournament of Nougat is..." Principal O'Connor announced with suspense. "I'm kidding. You know who it is. Andrea Davenport!" "What?!" Molly, Cleo, and I gasped. "Hard work truly does pay off." Andrea said, walking up onstage to claim her reward.
Cleo and I joined Molly and Scratch outside after the assembly concluded. Molly was enraged. "You kidding me? She has everything!" Molly vented. "She gets everything." I added. "Why does she have to take the one thing I have?!" Molly continued. "And she didn't even try!" "Yeah, between you guys working so hard, and me sabotaging her sales..." Scratch began. "Wait, what?" Cleo asked. "And the bottom line is, I smell something funky." Scratch finished. "What you smell is the soul-rotting stench of a charity cheater." Molly said. "A-a-a don't-gooder!" "A don't what?" Scratch asked. "Not your best. It doesn't exactly..." "It works and it's what Andrea is!" Molly snapped. "And we're gonna expose her, okay?" "Whoa! Calm down, Moll!" I warned.
The next day, the school held a special ceremony for the unveiling of the new marquee. Molly filled me and Darryl in that morning with the truth. Turns out that her and Scratch found many boxes of nougat bars in Andrea's garage last night and she bought every one of them. Molly, Darryl, Scratch, and I were on the roof of the school during the unveiling. "Darryl, when Miss Lightfoot calls Andrea's name, you get these photos on that marquee. Got it?" Molly asked. "Oh, so now you want to hack the school server, but when I suggest it, it's "wrong"!" Darryl complained. "That's because it is wrong." I scoffed. "Moll, it's not too late to step back from the brink of madness." Scratch reassured her. "Oh, yes it is." Molly said, climbing down the ladder. "Don't worry, I'll try to stop her." I sighed, following Molly down.
I caught up to Molly before she could confront Andrea about the sales. "Molly, wait! You don't have to do this!" I warned. "This isn't you!" "I'm doing this for do-gooders everywhere." Molly explained. "Andrea will pay for this." "If you say so." I sighed. "Congratulations, Andrea." Molly said. "You must've worked so hard to sell all that candy." "I guess I'm just a born salesman, like my parents." Andrea smiled, about to hug her father. "Right, Daddy?" "Hold that hug for the cameras, Button." Mr Davenport replied. "We'll get more likes if it feels real." Those words were enough to punch me in the gut. Andrea's plan was never about upstaging Molly. "Oh, no. Oh, I've made a horrible mistake!" Molly exclaimed. "Andrea wasn't trying to steal my credit." "She was just trying to get her parents' attention." I added, feeling guilty. "Oof. That is sad." Scratch commented. "Honestly, I almost feel bad for her. And you know me. I have very little empathy for others." "Guys, what have I done?" Molly panicked. "I let my jealousy get in the way of charity! I'm the don't-gooder!" "That still doesn't work." I said. "The winner of the Tournament of Nougat, and our hearts, is..." Principal O'Connor began. "You gotta stop Darryl before he releases those pictures, please!" Molly begged. "Do we have time for an "I told you so"?" I asked. "No! You both can say it twice later!" Molly snapped as she threw Scratch back on the roof. "...Andrea Davenport!" Principal O'Connor finished, but it was too late. Darryl had posted the photos on the marquee. "Oh, no." I whispered. "What is the meaning of all this excess nougat?" Mr Davenport asked. "Uh, um, so this is all of the nougat Andrea sold!" Molly explained, running up to the mic. "In her garage! Because she sold it all to herself." "What are you doing?" Andrea asked. "I can explain everything." Molly explained. "You see, Andrea wanted to make sure we got the new marquee, and that no one had to eat nougat. Because nougat is terrible for your teeth. So she knew that everyone eating that much nougat would give everyone cavities and wanted to protect Brighton's overworked dentistry community." "And also, nougat is disgusting!" I added, running up to the mic. "So, now, we give you the Volunteer of the Week of Volunteer Week, Andrea Davenport!" "Thank you." Andrea mouthed to us as everyone applauded her.
After the ceremony ended, Andrea rejoined her parents in front of a camera crew for a hug. "Our baby girl did it!" Mr Davenport exclaimed. "That's the brand." "Never doubted it." His wife added. "She's just like us!" At that moment, I looked to Molly, as we both had the same idea.
We ran back to the house and into the kitchen, just to hug Mom and Dad, who were in the middle of making dinner. "Whoa! Both our daughters hugging us?" Mom asked. "What's this for?" "I just realized I have everything that matters right here." Molly replied. "I just thought you guys could use some McGee twin love." I chuckled. "Hey, where did Scratch go?" Molly wondered.
Later that night, I couldn't sleep. It wasn't from Scratch snoring for once, but from my own thoughts. I took this as an opportunity to reflect. Was Cleo right? Have I changed?