The story so far: Jenny lives with her family on Long Island in New York. She overheard her parents talking and caught just twowords – “moving” and “Philadelphia.”

Jenny tiptoed silently but swiftly back to her room and got under the safety of her blankets.She thought about what she just heard her parents say. “Moving.” “Philadelphia.” At first, a feeling ofpanic crept from her tingling toes up her spine to the top of her head. It actually felt like her ha irs werestanding up.She forced herself to calm down and to think about it. They couldn't be moving toPhiladelphia. Why on earth would they do something that nuts? Her whole life was here. They wouldnever make her do that, would they? No, seriously, they wouldn't. So Jenny decided she must haveheard wrong. Or that they were talking about someone else. She wasn't moving. Not ever.The next day, when she got up and went downstairs, things all looked the same, and thatmeant she was right. If their lives were about to be turned totally upside down, it would show. Jenn ywould see the turmoil, right? If her mom was feeding Stevie his breakfast and Marnie was sitting atthe table reading a newspaper, clearly life that day was just as normal as it was any other day.Jenny put away her last tiny bit of worry and dismissed the thought of moving. She headed out to sch ool. Shespotted her best friend, Mark, outside and ran to catch up with him.Mark was Jenny's best friend in the whole world. He lived across the street with his mom, dad, and s ister, Melissa. Since Mark and Melissa had little incommon, and Jenny and Marnie were, like, from two different planets, he and Jenny had bonded like br other and sister long ago.Mark was already having a great day. His birthday was this weekend and his party was already planned and fabulous. A bunch of the kids were going toSweets & Treats Ice Cream Parlor to dive headfirst into the “ìkitchen sink.” That was the name of th e ultimate dessert that, up until that point, Mark and Jenny hadonly dreamed about. It was an ice cream delight with everything the parlor had to offer. They called it the “kitchen sink” because, they said, they put everythinginto it except the kitchen sink. Twenty-eight flavors of ice cream, split bananas, chocolate and but terscotch sauce, marshmallow topping, wet walnuts, rainbowsprinkles, chocolate jimmies, crushed peanuts, chopped peanut butter cups, strawberry syrup, and, of course, cherries on the top.Life just didn't get any better than that, did it?So they talked about the party all the way to school. Jenny and Mark had waited all their lives to h ave this party, eating this exact dessert, but each yeartheir parents said that it was too much. They were too little. The feast would make them sick. But f or some mysterious reason, just after Jenny's dad had talked toMark's mom last week, they said it was finally time.When Jenny got home from school, the house was in an uproar. Marnie's baby turtle Fuzzy (yes, an inc redibly odd name for a turtle that clearly had nofuzz whatsoever) had somehow escaped from his bowl and disappeared. Mom and Marnie were crawling aro und on the floor desperately feeling around underfurniture for him. Jenny joined in the search, although she thought that Fuzzy was the dumbest pet e ver.And she really couldn't see why Mom and Marnie were so upset. Big whoop. The turtle was lo st. He'dshow up eventually. But then Mom said that they needed to find Fuzzy before Stevie found him and put him intohis mouth. Hence, the panic.After several hours, it was dinnertime, and Fuzzy was still among the missing. Marnie was so upset allthrough dinner that she wasn't able to eat anything. Jenny didn't have that problem. Especially beca use lasagnawas her favorite meal. But she couldn't quite enjoy it as she usually did because Marnie had the wor st look onher face and was almost crying. Maybe Marnie wasn't interested only in reading after all. Maybe she really didfeel things like Jenny did. Was it possible that she felt happy and sad like regular people? Jenny h ad neverthought it possible, but Marnie was just so sad about Fuzzy that Jenny had to wonder.By Saturday, when Jenny left for Mark's party, Fuzzy was still lost. Jenny wasn't about to let that botherher, though. Not with the kitchen sink just minutes away. As they got to Sweets & Treats, everyone w as alreadyinside. Jenny started chatting with some of her and Mark's friends and planning which parts of the s ink to eatfirst.Just as everyone was sitting down, Jenny realized that she was still holding Mark's presen t and sheskipped into the back room to put the box on the present table. She opened the door and heard her Mo m tellingMark's mom, “I hope Jenny and Mark enjoy the ice cream, because hearing the news is going to be so h ard. Ijust dread telling them that we are moving to Philadelphia at the end of the school year.”Jenny went out to the party, but she couldn't eat a bite.<br></br>&Copy; Hot Topics Hot Serials 2006<br></bR>

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