When we got home, I dumped all my earnings onto my bedroom floor and called Piper and Charlie.
“Get over here,” I said into the phone. “You have to see this.”
Twenty minutes later, they were both sitting on my carpet, staring at the pile of bills and coins spread out in front of us.
“How much is it?” Charlie asked in a whisper.
I’d already counted it three times, but I counted again just to be sure. “Thirty-four dollars and fifty-nine cents. In two days.”
Piper’s mouth fell open. “Thirty-four fifty-nine? Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.” I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. “And that’s profit. After I paid for all the snacks.”
“Profit,” Charlie repeated, like she was testing out the word.
“It means the money left over after expenses,” I explained, feeling very businesslike.
Piper picked up a five-dollar bill and held it up to the light like she was checking if it was real. “You made this selling candy bars? Are you sure you didn’t rob a bank?” She squinted at the bill. “This doesn’t look fake.”
“And sodas. Kids love cold sodas when they’re playing.”
“This is insane,” Charlie said. “At this rate, you’ll have six hundred dollars in… ” She grabbed my calculator and started punching numbers. “Like, eight weeks!”
“Eight weeks is way less than I thought it would take,” I said.
“It’s less than two months!” Piper added. “You could have the money before school starts!”
We all looked at each other, the excitement building.
“You’re actually going to do it,” Charlie said slowly. “You’re actually going to earn six hundred dollars.”
“We should celebrate,” Piper announced. “Ice cream?”
“I can afford ice cream now,” I said, which made us all laugh.
“You know what’s funny?” I said, thinking back to the day. “Two different parents asked me if I sold water bottles today.”
“Water?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah. They said it was so hot, and their kids needed water after playing. I only had sodas.”
“That makes sense,” Piper said. “My mom always makes me bring a water bottle to soccer practice.”
As we headed downstairs, I heard the first rumble of thunder outside.
I stopped on the stairs. “What was that?”
Charlie listened. “Thunder?”
We all looked toward the window. The sky was getting darker.
“What if it rains tomorrow?” I asked, suddenly worried.
The three of us stared at each other as another rumble echoed overhead.