The Worst Best Day Ever

Today just has to be perfect, Autumn thought to herself as she laced up her green sneakers.

She would be spending the whole day with her best friend, Summer—something she had done a million times before. But this time was different. Because this was the last day they would spend together before Summer and her family moved away.

Summer and Autumn had been best friends since the first day of kindergarten. That was the day they learned their names fit together, and so did they. Just like the seasons, Summer and Autumn sat next to each other. And played with each other. And laughed with each other. And grew with each other. For four whole years.

But now things were about to change. Instead of living only two blocks apart, Summer and Autumn would live 2,000 miles apart. Autumn felt sad, but she was determined to make sure their last day together would be memorable.

They were going to have the best, most perfect last day together ever! Autumn was sure of it.

Autumn put on her helmet and hopped excitedly onto her bike. It was a warm, sunny day with a nice breeze. The perfect day to have the best day ever, Autumn thought happily.

When she got to Summer’s house, Autumn saw the giant moving truck sitting in the driveway. The truck was almost full, which meant that Summer’s house was probably almost empty. Just as Autumn parked her bike, Summer jumped down her front steps, and the two girls hugged.

“Are you ready to have the best day ever?” Autumn asked brightly.

“Yeah!” Summer answered without missing a beat.

Summer’s parents waved as the two girls rode off down the street. Autumn and Summer pedaled to their first destination: the comic book store. The girls had spent so many hours there reading comics and graphic novels that the owner of the store, Ms. Martel, called them her favorite customers.

But when they arrived, they were devastated to see that the comic book store was closed. A handwritten note on the door said that Ms. Martel was on vacation.

“Oh no,” Autumn said sadly.

Summer replied, “It’s OK! Today can still be the best day ever, even without comic books. What’s next on the list?”

“Pepperoni pizza and orange sodas from Frankie’s.”

“Good, ’cause I’m hungry,” Summer said with a laugh. And with that, they hopped back on their bikes.

This perfect day is not off to a perfect start, Autumn thought to herself.

Unlike the comic book store, Frankie’s Pizza was open. But there was a long line of people waiting to order. Had the entire town decided to eat pizza today too? Summer and Autumn were eager to order a small pepperoni pizza and two orange sodas, like they always did. So they waited. And they waited. And then they waited some more.

When they finally got to the counter, Frankie was sorry to say he was sold out of pepperoni pizza AND orange soda. This had never happened before. So the two of them left with a small plain cheese pizza and two bottles of apple juice instead.

“Cheese pizza is still better than no pizza,” Summer said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Autumn sighed. “Want to go sit by the fountain?”

They crossed the street to the large fountain near the entrance of the park. They sat on the edge of the fountain and ate their pizza. Summer was right, cheese pizza was still good, even if pepperoni pizza would’ve been better.

Just then, a furry blur zoomed past them and leaped into the fountain, splashing both girls and their pizza! A dog had gotten off its leash and decided to cool down in the fountain. The dog’s owner ran up and apologized to the girls, but the damage was done. Autumn and Summer were dripping wet.

“I was starting to feel a little hot,” Summer said to Autumn with a smile. But Autumn was not smiling. Everything was going wrong!

To save the day, Autumn knew that their last activity had to go perfectly.

“Let’s just ride back to my house. Then we can bake our cake,” Autumn said, shaking the water out of her hair.

They threw out their soggy pizza and went back to their bikes. Then Summer noticed something wrong with hers.

“My bike has a flat tire,” Summer said with surprise.

“I guess we’ll walk back to my house then,” said Autumn, feeling disappointed.

By the time they walked their bikes back to Autumn’s house, it was late in the afternoon. But at least their hair and clothes were all dry.

They went straight to the kitchen, where they pulled together all the ingredients for their raspberry chocolate cake. This was the cake they baked at every one of their sleepovers. So they knew this recipe backward and forward. But when Autumn’s mom took the cake out of the oven, Autumn couldn’t believe her eyes.

The cake was sunken and goopy. Autumn wouldn’t give this cake to her worst enemy. She had had enough.

“Today has been terrible!” Autumn shouted in frustration. “I just wanted you to have the best last day here, but everything went wrong. The comic book store was closed, and there was no pepperoni pizza, and that dog splashed us, and your bike got a flat tire, and now the cake is ruined! This was the worst best day ever.”

Then Summer did something Autumn didn’t expect: She laughed.

“Autumn, today wasn’t the worst best day ever, it was the best worst day ever!” she said, still laughing. “We’ve never had a day like this before. It was so bad that I’ll never forget it.”

Autumn thought back on their day, and the memories washed over her. She remembered the thrill of being splashed by the dog and the jokes Summer told on their long walk home. The day hadn’t been perfect. But it sure had been memorable.

Autumn burst into laughter with her best friend.

Later that evening, Summer’s dad picked her and her bike up from Autumn’s house.

“Hey, kiddos! How was your big day together?” he asked.

“It was horrible!” Summer giggled.

“Absolutely terrible!” Autumn added while laughing.

Then the friends hugged and said their goodbyes. They knew that if their friendship could survive the best worst day ever, it could survive anything. Even being 2,000 miles apart.