Chapter 27

He flips the lid up and closes it again before anyone can get a good look inside. “This one?” he asks. “You sure?”

Leaning forward, Riley plants her elbows on the table and cranes her neck to see better. “Do it again,” she says.

“Let’s make a bet.”

“Derek,” I warn.

But he has Riley’s interest. “What kind of bet?”

“I bet you this isn’t the cheese pizza,” he says.

With a frown, Riley tells him, “I think it is.”

“Okay,” Derek concedes. “If it is, you win, and you can have the whole pizza for yourself.”

Her face lights up. “Allof it?”

Derek nods. “But if it isn’t…”

I shake my head. “Riley, don’t do this.”

Ignoring me, she asks, “If it isn’t, then what?”

Derek’s slick smile reminds me of oil sliding over water. “Then you have to eat a piece of whatever type of pizza it is. And you can’tpick off any of the toppings.”

“Ew!” Riley wrinkles her nose in disgust.

“But if you’re right,” Derek reminds her, “you get the whole pizza.”