Diary of a Shrimpy Kid

Chapter 5: A Shrimp Fried This WHAT?!: Part 1

Chad was tired of being a disappointment. He felt, and knew, that people judged him because of how he looked. His hard exoskeleton had convinced everyone that he was hard inside too, and all he wanted to do was punch, punch, punch. For a while after the incident, Chad hid in his tide pool home to avoid these assumptions, but he couldn't hide from himself. He wondered if the other marine organisms and people were right. Maybe he was incapable of doing anything good, maybe he was the bad guy shrimp they saw him to be. Maybe he was a murderer...

But Chad knew now that that wasn't true. He knew that Goldie had chosen to be his friend and trusted him with his luscious locks. A villain wouldn't have such a kind friend. He also knew how he felt about Shellby. If he was hard inside like he was outside he wouldn't melt every time he saw her. She wouldn't look at him the way she does either, with her sparkling eyes and her perfect lips perched like there's something she wants to say but hasn't quite found the words for yet. Chad had proved to these two humans, and now himself, that he was more than his dactyl clubs. Now, he wanted to prove it to everyone else.

This mission swam around his mind as he crawled towards the school auditorium. It was 3:00, school had just finished for the day and now students milled about saying goodbye. Some ducked into open classrooms hosting clubs like My Little Pony fan club, Idol building for Danny DeVito, and chess. Chad was headed for a much better club though and only took quick, curious peaks into these rooms as he hurried by. He now walked through the open double doors and found a seat. This was culinary club.

Familiar faces from Home Ec filled in the seats next to him, as well as some kids he knew to be faithful members of the Fish Are Friends Not Food club, advocates for the sea. He liked their uniforms, sailors outfits with a barnacle hat. Classy.

Miss Kelp sauntered across the auditorium stage, changing Chad's focus away from the FAFNF. As he listened to her discuss safety with hot plates, the danger of not washing your hands and fins, and the realities of allergic reaction to puffer fish, Chad felt more excited to be here. Cooking was his passion, and had won him many schools of friends back home before, well...before the incident of course. He didn't dwell on this reminder of the lost past, instead he focused on his new opportunity to gain the future. Culinary Club and his talent for cooking would be his way to prove himself to Harbored High.

"Now, today we will be making sand cookies," Miss Kelp lifted a silver bowl on her table, revealing two ten-pound bags of sand, "Has anyone ever made them?"

There was silence in the auditorium as everyone connected the dots between the bags of real sand and cookies. Chad looked at his club mates slowly and realized he was the only marine exchange student in the club. Their silence made sense now, since sand cookies aren't typically made on land, humans rarely enjoy the texture of sand baked goods.

Chad raised a claw and cleared his throat, "I have, Miss Kelp. My great grandma Shrimphilia used to make them every year and she taught me the family recipe."

"That's wonderful, Chad!" Miss Kelp beamed, "Would you please come demonstrate for us the traditional way?"

All eyes were on him. None of the human students seemed excited for this demonstration and none seemed too thrilled that Chad had become the favorite already. He swallowed and focused his swiveling eyes on Miss Kelp.

"I'd be happy to," He said as he climbed the stage. Though he knew his club mates weren't pleased, it felt good to be making Miss Kelp proud.

He picked up the first bag of sand, "First, pour 1 bag into the bowl. Now mix." The club followed his directions, and he led them through the next and final steps.

"Pour your mixture onto the space in front of you and compact it down. Now you'll notice the sand castle tools by your second bag of sand. Use those and be creative in cutting out your cookies."

The club seemed to be having fun for a moment as they played with the sand. Chad held up a finished cookie and used the second bag of sand to decorate. The club followed.

"I understand you guys don't like sand too much so I'll show you how to make a human-approved variant of sand cookies." The club liked this and a few were smiling at him, waiting. He whispered a few things to Miss Kelp who then disappeared and reappeared with the ingredients he requested. With a smile and all the charm he could muster, he taught them to make pecan sandies, sans sand. When he had finished, he went back to his seat.

Miss Kelp was back on the stage, "It is now time to taste our culinary club creations for the day, enjoy!"

Satisfied murmurs bounced around the auditorium and several gave him enthusiastic thumbs ups and a few smiles with their mouths full of cookie crumbs. Chad felt satisfied and he knew he had won their approval...at least for today.

"This is simply magnificent," Miss Kelp said. She was holding the remnant of a sand cookie Chad had made.

"You...you like sand cookies?" Chad was shocked.

She laughed and patted his head,"I'm ¾ mantis shrimp on my dad's side."

Chad raised his eyebrows then nodded in acknowledgement of this new connection.

Culinary club was a success and he was a step closer to changing his reputation.