All You'll Ever Need by Sharon C. Cooper

out.
    A short while later, Zack pulled up to Christina’s house. Shutting off the engine, he turned to face her.
    “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t need to go to the hospital?”
    Jada shook her head, still feeling a slight ache on the side of her forehead. “I’ll be fine.”
    “Thanks for being such a trooper today. I know you were concerned about us not reaching the goal I had set, but we got a lot done. Typically, for every full basket of fruits and vegetables collected, three families will receive enough fresh produce to last a couple of weeks. You did great. There were a lot of volunteers out there today so I have no doubt that many families will receive some assistance.”
    Despite having ruined a brand new pair of tennis shoes, broken a nail, and then passing out  from heat exhaustion, Jada felt good in knowing that she helped someone in need. She could see why people did volunteer work. Even without knowing who would receive the boxes of food, she knew a family wouldn’t go hungry because of the work she did that day.
    “Thanks for inviting me. It’s been awhile since I’ve done any volunteer work, and I’m glad you suggested we help out today. It wasn’t so bad.” She smiled when his eyebrows shot upward as if he didn’t believe her. “Seriously, it wasn’t. If ever I do something like that again, I’ll make sure I drink plenty of water and eat breakfast.”
    “Good. I’m glad to know that I didn’t scare you away.” Jada didn’t have the heart to tell him she had no intention of digging in anyone’s garden no time soon.
    He climbed out of the truck and walked around to the passenger side. Grabbing the pizza from the back seat, he opened her door and helped her out.
    “If you give me your car keys,” he said walking her to the door, “I’ll have your car delivered as well as another little surprise to you within the hour.”
    Her heart sang with delight. She loved surprises and thought it sweet of him to take care of her car. She could have easily gotten one of her cousins to go back out to the farm with her later that day. Yet, she was glad she didn’t have to. As for the surprise he had for her, she just hoped it wasn’t more purple tools.
    After seeing Zack off, Jada walked into the house and closed the door. Placing her handbag on the table in the entryway, she kicked off her muddy tennis shoes. Relief flowed through her as she walked farther into the house with the pizza box, happy to be home.
    Jada stopped short. “What?” Christina stood frozen in the middle of the hallway, staring at her.
    “What happened to you?”
    “What do you mean?” She glanced down at herself, knowing that her clothes were a little dirty, but the way Christina was looking at her one would think Jada had two heads.
    Christina continued staring at her before she burst out laughing. “Are you serious? You come in here with a streak of dirt across your face, hair standing on top of your head, and filthy clothes and think nothing of it? What’s wrong with you and what have you done with my superficial, vain cousin?”
    Anyone else would have taken offense to the insult, but not Jada. She was more concerned about what Christina saw when she looked at her.
    Jada narrowed her eyes at her cousin and shoved the pizza box into her hands. She hurried into the half bath on the first floor, turned on the light and stood before the full-length mirror.
    “Oh my God!” she screamed, her hands flying to her hair and then her face. “I look a hot mess!” Most of her hair had come out of her ponytail holder and looked as if birds had made a nest on top of her head. And the dirt that CJ had referred to was mud that had dried on her face. Not only had she ruined her tennis shoes, but the expensive yellow T-shirt might never come clean.
    She stormed out of the bathroom and ran up the stairs, ignoring her hunger pains and CJ’s laughter that followed behind her. If Jada ever saw Zack again, she was going to