The Recipe for That One Special Pie

A girl named Jackie has been attending a special school where only the talented are allowed to go. Jackie is able to cook anything. Now her cooking skills are put the the test when one of her friends,a model, turns anorexic.

Preface
��������This story starts out in a small cottage located in a thriving, lush forest. The lights in the cottage are burning as bright as ever in the dark, starry night. As we peer into the window we see a little girl, Jackie, busy at work making her cr�me br�l�e. Jackie wiped her brow with her yellow polka-dotted sleeve and went back to perfecting her dessert. Although all parents do boast about their little ones being special, Jackie is indeed a gifted child in the art of cooking.
��������When Jackie was younger she made a promise to her parents that she would always be herself and that she would be the most famous female cook in the world. Her parents supported her in her dreams to become famous. Some parents would exploit their child's talents to the world, but Jackie's parents sheltered her and helped improve her cooking skills.
��������That was all in till she was 9 years old and her parents both passed away in a car accident. She then was passed to her grandparents, where they fed her and let her talent of cooking grow. Her grandparents then decided to send her to Royal Academy where only the talented of the talented could improve their skills and live there.
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��������It was lunch time and I decided to go to the lunch room. Most people here at Royal Academy would just buy their lunch, but me? I actually go and cook my lunch. I skipped to the door that was labeled "Kitchen" in bold, black letters and pushed the door open. All the lunch ladies dressed in casual clothes and a white aprons peered over their shoulders to see who was coming through the door and casually smiled and greeted me enthusiastically, "Why hello Jackie! Come to cook your food again?" I quickly replied, "Yes! I'm here again! Hope you guys don't mind!" They chuckled, "No we don't, we're happy you're here! You're practically 16. We all know that you cam take care of yourself and the kitchen!"
��������I put on the identical white apron and went to work as the kitchen ladies bustled around the kitchen hoping to not get in my way. I danced around the kitchen grabbing all my ingredients off the counters and in the big, silver refrigerator and went straight to the stove where I cooked beef stew since it was a cold day. I sprinkled on some fresh herbs grown by the Gardening Club and said my "Thanks" to the kitchen ladies for letting me use the kitchen and their ingredients. I exited the kitchen with a flourish, beef stew in hand.
I scanned the tables for my friends, it took me a few minutes since the cafeteria is so big, but I finally found them. They were sitting at a grey circular table with 10 chairs filled with my friends eating. The only person we were missing was Michelle, she often took time off school to model, so it isn't unusual to not see her at school. I pulled up a black chair and sat right next to my best friend, Robin. She was eating what the school was serving which was: spaghetti, milk, fruit, salad, soup, and your choice of ice cream.
��������I steadily slurped my beef stew and one of my friends laughed and exclaimed, "Can you stop slurping Jackie? It sounds weird!" I smiled and instead of slurping it, I gulped it down. Just as everyone was putting away their trays, the bell made a obnoxious ringing sound like my alarm clock when it's broken. Robin grabbed me and we sprinted to class, if we were tardy again we would be sentenced to the dreadful study hall. We split ways, Robin going to archery class to improve her talent at aiming and me going to cooking class.
��������I open the door and enter my very own world where there are ovens and every cooking appliance available. I am in heaven. As I take my seat in the front of the class, I couldn't help but over-hear something. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't eavesdropping! They were talking in normal voices and I'm pretty sure anyone could've heard them! So I put my head down on the cool, metal table and focused on their voices.
"Hey did you hear? Michelle's commercial appearance got canceled."
"No way! But she had a huge role in it!"
"Yeah that's what I heard too, but I guess the director needed her to lose some more weight to be---"
"Hey you guys cut it out! Don't gossip so much!"��������
��������I immediately recognized the voice and my head shot up. "Oh! Hey Kaci! This seat next to me is open!" Kaci shot me a smile and sat down. I decided to point out that Michelle wasn't here today either. Kaci sighed and mumbled, "Yeah, I know. I brought her food yesterday but she didn't eat anything, she wouldn't even take it. I guess she's still pushing herself to the limit to be in that commercial but the thing is, she's been removed because they decided not to use her."
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��������My door opened and my mother stepped into the dark room. She turned on the lights and looked at me. "Michelle, what's the matter with you? You missed your chance to be in the commercial. I thought you were dieting for it? I was really looking forward to you being in the commercial too." She gracefully walked over to my side and propped me up. My eyes searched her inquiring eyes and I managed to say, "I'm sorry mom. I know that you used to be a top-model but you had to quit because you had me. You really wanted me to be in that commercial because I was almost at the top of the modeling agency. I'm sorry."
��������I tucked my entire body under the blankets and peeped out at my beautiful mother. "If you try harder next time you'll get another chance. You're different from other girls sweetie. You're the daughter of an ex top-model! Try harder okay?" She sweetly kissed my forehead and placed a bowl of chicken noodle soup at my bedside. When she was done making sure I was comfortable, she stood up and carefully and left the room in a mist of her scent, roses.
��������I looked at the bowl of chicken noodle soup and put a spoonful up to my mouth. As soon as it touched my mouth, I wanted to vomit. My mind didn't want me to eat! I started coughing up what had already slipped down my throat and stammered in a low whisper, "Somebody please help me."
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��������I decided to gather every one of my friends to help Michelle, since my friends are her friends! After everyone gathered around my messy bed I decided to start , "Well to me it seems like some kind of eating disorder. Especially since Michelle is in a world where everyone has to be perfect and skinny." Robin decided to interrupt me, "Are you sure Jackie? A eating disorder sounds serious." I decided to continue, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure Robin. I think Michelle's extreme diet was what set it off. I remember one of my childhood friends back when I was living with my grandparents had it. I think it was called anorexia. Right now Michelle is afraid of gaining weight. Her body and mind will not accept any food. It's like her heart wants to continue to be on the diet. But if this continues, it'll be bad."
��������Eli suddenly exclaimed, "Isn't that serious? We should go help her now instead of wasting out time!" Eli grabbed Robin's hand and worriedly held it while I whispered, "If this gets worse and she continues to not eat she may lose her hair and her skin would turn an unhealthy color. She could even die." As I said the word die everyone in my dorm room gasped. Kaci even fell off my bed when she heard it, she fell with a muted thump. I looked around my room to all the worried faces that looked right back at me with those sad, puppy eyes.
��������I sighed and looked down at my lap, "If there was something her mind, body, and heart would accept and eat then I could probably cook it." Ace cleared his throat and every one of our heads whipped over to his direction where he calmly sat in my purple beanbag chair and declared, "I think I know something that she loved to eat when she was younger." All our bodies seem to be pulled to Ace, we all inched closer as we waiting for him to finish his sentence and tell us what Michelle loved to eat. Ace seemed to like the attention and so we waiting for what seemed like a millennium of not knowing, in till I threw a pillow directly at him getting a headshot, score! He chuckled and purred, "Pumpkin pie."
��������Jade suddenly jumped up and yelled, "That's right! Michelle was really close to her grandmother. It seemed like a chain was connecting them and there was no key to separate them! Her parents were barely ever home and so Michelle started living at her Grandmother's house. When we were little, every time Ace and I went over to play with her she would kindly smile at us and make some pumpkin pie for us."
��������I stood up and brushed myself up, "Well then, lets go over to her grandmother's house and ask if she can make the pie again for Michelle!" Jade and Ace suddenly got sad and Ace breathed out, "That's impossible. Her grandmother's been dead for about 4 years. Michelle's mom would try and make them for her but she always complained that it didn't taste the same as her grandmother's." I put on my confident smile and said, "It's okay! I'll make it myself! Ace, Robin, Jade, and Eli come help me!"
��������We all ran to the cafeteria and pushed through the door to the kitchen. "Since Robin and Eli doesn't know what Michelle's grandma's pie taste like go buy me some supplies to make the pie!" Robin and Eli scurried away with the list I made for them and then I set to work cleaning up the kitchen so that I wouldn't bump into kitchen appliances. The kitchen lady also helped me clean up too. She decided to stay and watch me cook and will later help me clean up the mess we will make.
��������A half hour later Robin and Eli came back with four bags dragged behind them. I set to work making the pumpkin pie. I scurried over to Ace and Jade and gave them the pie. While Robin, Eli, and the kitchen lady took a piece just to taste it.
��������"Here taste this one!"
��������"No. It's tasty but this definitely isn't it! But you know what? It's better than the one at the stores."
��������I put the pumpkin pie in the oven for a about 30 minutes already so it should probably come out right now! I carefully placed the scalding pie on a towel and cut it into equal pieces.
��������"Now taste this one! I put more butter into it!"
��������"Nope, it still doesn't taste the same as Michelle's Grandmother's. Sorry Jackie."
��������The kitchen was scattered with half eaten pumpkin pies and messy dishes with pies that only had a bite out of it. It would take days to clean up this mess! But now I have to focus on making the pies! If I can perfect the taste, then Michelle will get better. She has to get better! Just as I was thinking that the pie in the oven dinged, signaling that it was time to get it out of the oven. I put on the heat-safe mittens and put it on the same towel. I was cut the pumpkin pie and distributed it to Ace and Jade.
��������They looked at the pie like it was some kind of monster and dejectedly said, "I can't eat anymore Jackie. It's too much! We ate more than six pies already!" I looked at Jade and Ace desperately and asked them, "Do you remember anything else? Anything at all about how she made the pie?" They both looked at each other and thought for a second. "Well, let me see. I think she made the pie surprisingly fast! I think it took less than 30 minutes to make it." I looked at them amazed at the speed it took her to make the pie. "Are you sure? It takes more than an hour to make the dough and then put it in the refrigerator!" It seemed to me that Michelle's grandmother had to have used some kind of magic to make her pie!
As I stared at the pieces of pie strewn across the kitchen counters, one of the kitchen ladies that was watching me cook was eating some pumpkin filling right from the jar, I think she got the jar from one of the cabinets in the kitchen. She calmly exclaimed, "The preserved pumpkin filling is really good these days. But you know what? Time and effort isn't required to make delicious food." That's it! Time and effort isn't needed to make good food! This time I'll re-create her Grandmother's pumpkin pie!
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��������My mother knocked on my door and stepped inside. "Are you okay Michelle? You need to eat something." This time she didn't turn on my lights, I liked it that way now. I looked at her dim figure from where she stood. "I can't do it. I can't seem to eat." Her beautiful face distorted into a confused expression then she gave me a frown and said, "Just try honey. You can-" She seemed to be in the mist of giving me a lecture about something but then she got cut off by the sound of someone ringing our door bell.
��������I wonder who it is. I usually don't get many visitors because I'm barely ever at school. I watched as my mother took one last look at me and then left the room to go downstairs and open the door for whoever it was that was ringing the doorbell. I watched as she slowly walked away in till I couldn't see her anymore from my bed.
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��������Ace, Jade, and I all ran to Michelle's house with the perfected pie in a silver serving platter. We left Robin and Eli at the school so that they can clean up the mess that we left in the kitchen. Ace sprinted ahead when he saw Michelle's house in sight. We picked up our speed and met him at the doorstep. Jade rang the doorbell and after a few seconds of waiting, a beautiful lady came and opened the door. She looked absolutely beautiful, just like a porcelain doll. She smiled sweetly and greeted us. I stared at her amazing beauty until she looked at me and with a sort of musical voice she said, "Hello. I'm Michelle's mother. I haven't seen you around before. What's your name?"
��������I told her my name and my talent of cooking. She let us in to the house and I went upstairs to Michelle's room. As I went into her dark room, it looked like a room of a princess. Her bed had a pink canopy over it and her bed size seemed like a king. Her walls were covered with pictures from modeling and she pinned up posters of recently famous bands. I stared in awe in till she noticed me at her doorway and in a soft almost inaudible voice she whispered, "Hey Jackie. What are you doing here?"
��������I looked at her and smiled. "You'll see Michelle. I know you haven't been eating lately and I want to help you." I pranced over to her bed and gave her a piggy-back ride down her stairs. All the while, she was wildly looking around like a lost puppy and asking where I was taking her. It wasn't quite difficult to take her downstairs because she was somewhat light. As I approached the kitchen where Jade and Ace held the pie, I excitedly said, "Get ready Michelle!" I put her down and she walked into the kitchen, eyes wide with amazement and fear of what was waiting for her.
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��������I braced myself for whatever was in the kitchen. I slowly willed my feet forward to where a chair was pushed out by Ace and Jade. "Hey Michelle! Do you still remember the time when we always came over and your grandmother would go and make us pumpkin pie?" My eyes started to water just from the thought of my kind grandmother who always took care of me because my parents were rarely ever home. I sat down on the wooden chair and they cut me a slice of the pumpkin pie. As I chewed the heartwarming pumpkin pie, one of my memories played over again.
��������"Michelle come eat!" My grandmother would come and usher me to the warm kitchen. "I can't grandma! I promised my mama that I would finish 20 pages of a book!" Then I would show her this somewhat think book. Just as I would say that, my stomach would growl loud enough for the both of us to hear. My grandmother looked at my stomach and my face and smiles this one-of-a-kind smile that was just for me. She rushed to the kitchen and in what seemed like a short while, she came back with a pumpkin pie. "Remember Michelle, you don't have to suffer when you're hungry."
��������I came back to reality and found that tears have been streaming down my cheek. My friends peer back at me and gave me a tissue. To everyone else this pie may taste normal, but to me it tastes just like the one I used to eat with my Grandmother. Jackie came next to me and said in a soft voice, "Ace and Jade gave me some hints about how your grandmother cooked the pie. It turns out that she used a frozen pie crust and some canned pumpkin filling. All that took less that 30 minutes to make." I smiled at them and slowly savored the taste of that pie I once ate when I was younger. We all smiled and laughed as I ate the pie, sitting on the wooden chair in my yellow polka-dotted pajamas.

Author's Note

You may notice some grammar mistakes and so forth, so please ignore them(:
P.S. I did this story for one of my final assessments in English. This wasn't the final draft because the final draft is on the school's computer and I kind of [totally] forgot to save it to my thumbdrive.