Recipe for Trouble

by Sheryl Berk

  “Well, not exactly,” continued Kylie. “But that’s not a bad idea. We could probably use another pair of hands, especially when the orders start rolling in again. And Delaney is amazingly cool. She knows every Lady Gaga song by heart!”

  Lexi bit her lip. She wanted to scream at Kylie, “I don’t care if she’s cool! I don’t care if you liked her in camp! I don’t care if she can sing ‘Born This Way’ backward! PLC is our club!” But instead, she shrugged and headed for the kitchen.

  Jenna was already nibbling chocolate chips out of the bag.

  “Amiga!” she squealed, picking up Lexi and swinging her around.

  Lexi smiled, but she was still upset from her talk with Kylie. She tried to shake it off and be bright and cheery. “Jenna, you look great! You cut your hair!” Jenna’s waist-long braid was now replaced with bouncy, shoulder-length waves. Her hair was dark and shiny and reminded Lexi of a rich chocolate ganache.

  “You like it? My cousins thought it made me look more ‘sophisticated.’ More like a fifth grader. And check out this awesome scarf I knitted!” She rested a hand on her hip and struck a pose.

  “I think you look awesome, Jenna,” said Kylie, grabbing her purple apron and tying it around her waist. “Did you have fun in Ecuador with your family?”

  “It was fantástico!” Jenna enthused. “My abuela is the most amazing cook, and she taught me all her secrets. I can make the best arroz con pollo now. And I got to swim in the sea with dolphins and turtles and bike around a volcano!”

  “Wow! A volcano?” Kylie gasped. “With lava and smoke and everything? That tops my zip-lining for sure.”

  Zip-lining? Swimming with dolphins? Volcanoes? Lexi’s summer in the city couldn’t compare to her friends’ adventures. And even worse, Kylie and Jenna looked and seemed so much more grown-up.

  “We’re just waiting for Sadie, and we can get down to business,” Kylie said. “I think we should start putting up some Back-to-School Cupcake flyers and emailing our clients…”

  “I thought the same thing!” said Lexi, opening to a page in her sketchbook. She had drawn a cupcake with a book and ruler on top. Across the page she wrote “A is for Awesome! B is for Best! C is for Cupcakes! Happy Back to School from Peace, Love, and Cupcakes!”

  “Wow, you come prepared!” said Jenna. “That’s really clever.”

  Kylie nodded. “I love it. Just one thing I would change: the frosting should probably be another color, not yellow.”

  Lexi winced. “Well, yellow is the color of a school bus. That’s why I chose it,” she said quietly.

  “I get it,” said Kylie. “But yellow makes me think of sour lemons. And people want to start the school year off sweet, not sour, right?”

  Lexi stared down at her sneakers. “Um, I guess so. But I really think the yellow pops…”

  “Maybe bright pink or purple?” Kylie continued.

  “How about tie-dye—always a crowd-pleaser?” suggested Jenna.

  Lexi wished she could really say what she was thinking. Her Aunt Dee would. She would never let anyone drown out her opinions. She would simply stand up, shoulders back, head held high, and announce what she thought. But if I do that, thought Lexi, my friends might be angry with me. Then again, I’m an important member of this club. They can’t do beautiful, artistic cupcakes without me!

  Lexi took a deep breath and declared loudly, “The cupcakes should be yellow!”

  Kylie and Jenna looked stunned. They had never seen Lexi take a stand so strongly. In fact, they’d never heard her raise her voice at all!

  “Yellow? Really?” said Kylie. “I don’t know…”

  “I do know,” replied Lexi. “I’ve spent the whole summer studying art, and yellow is a bright, happy color. It’s the color of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.”

  “But I really think white would be better—a delicious vanilla bean frosting,” Kylie persisted.

  Lexi stood her ground: “Yellow!”

  “Hey, cupcakers!” called Sadie, knocking on the front door. “Anybody home?”

  “In here!” shouted Jenna. She was relieved that Sadie had arrived to help referee. Sadie hugged and high-fived all the girls.

  “Oh my gosh, did you get taller? How could you possibly get any taller?” Jenna teased her friend. “You’re going to be ten feet tall by middle school!” Sadie straddled the kitchen stool with her long legs and took off her baseball cap.

  “And you cut your hair while mine got longer!” Sadie said. Her once curly short ’do was now a shoulder-length ponytail. “Ya like? My brothers say I look like a girl now. Whatever!”

  Kylie gave her the thumbs-up and playfully tugged at her pony. “We need your help with Back-to-School cupcakes, Sadie,” she began, holding up Lexi’s sketch. “What do you think?”

  Sadie tilted her head one way, than the other, looking at the cupcake drawing from every angle. “I think it’s cool.”

  Lexi smirked. “Told you, Kylie.”

  “But don’t you think yellow is the wrong color for the frosting?” Kylie elbowed Sadie.

  “Um, I guess?” said Sadie. “Maybe it should be green, like the color of the Blakely basketball uniforms?”

  “Ugh!” Lexi cried. “Is everyone going to agree with Kylie? Why does she get to make all the decisions for Peace, Love, and Cupcakes?”

  “Well, she is the president of our club,” Sadie said, trying to help. “Kind of like the captain of the team. The captain always calls the shots.”

  Lexi could feel her temper bubbling up inside her—like the time she was trying to make chocolate ganache and overheated cream on the stove. It suddenly swelled up and exploded over the sides of the pot. Lexi felt the same way. She was going to explode!

  “I’m tired of Kylie calling the shots!” she finally yelled. “She’s always bossing us around!”

  “I’m bossy?” Kylie said. “You’re the one who said the cupcakes have to be yellow.”

  Jenna looked puzzled. “What’s going on? Why are you guys fighting like this? I thought everyone would be so happy to see each other!”

  “I was,” said Lexi. “Until Kylie told me she’s inviting her new friends to join PLC.”

  “We never talked about letting more people join,” said Sadie. “I’m not great with math, but I know that if we divide up our profits more ways, they’ll be less for each of us.”

  “Plus, we built PLC from scratch,” Jenna pointed out. “It’s our cupcake club—we don’t want tons of people getting involved. Too many cooks spoil the cupcake batter.”

  “I said one friend,” insisted Kylie. “My camp friend, Delaney. I thought she could help if we get really busy.”

  Jenna shrugged. “Well, maybe that would be okay. Kind of like a baking assistant. Can we make her do the hard stuff, like crack eggs and roll fondant?”

  Lexi fumed. “Stop siding with her! We worked so hard last year to make PLC a success, and now we’re going to let someone who doesn’t know the first thing about cupcakes come in and ruin it?”

  Kylie sighed. “Okay, Lexi, if it really means that much to you, I’ll tell Delaney she can’t help.” She tried to put her arm around her friend, but Lexi pulled away.

  “Fine,” she said, then ran out of the kitchen, practically knocking Mrs. Carson over in the process.

  “Wow, where was Lexi going in such a hurry?” Kylie’s mom asked.

  Kylie shrugged. “She just got mad at everything I said. It was weird.”

  “Maybe she’s nervous about starting fifth grade,” her mom suggested. “It’s a big year. Let her cool down. I’m sure once you guys get back to baking, everything will smooth out between you.”

  • • •

  Lexi bolted out the front door of Kylie’s house onto Frisbee Street, hopped on her bicycle, and pedaled straight for her home three
blocks away. She was nearly there when she parked her bike, sat down on the curb, and rested her head in her hands. She didn’t want her mom to see her like this and ask what was wrong.

  Honestly, she didn’t know! She had no idea why she was so mad at Kylie or why her talking about other friends or changing the color of frosting made her feel so left out. The tears rolled down her cheeks and landed on the cover of the sketchbook in her lap, turning the markered letters PLC into a rainbow-colored puddle.

  The entire day had been nothing like how she’d imagined it. Instead of the girls giggling in the kitchen and trying out yummy new cupcake recipes, there was just arguing and hurt feelings. What was wrong with Kylie? Why was she trying to ruin PLC? And why didn’t Jenna or Sadie speak up and stop her? The fun they had last year felt a million miles away. Why was everything changing?

  “Lexi?” said a voice suddenly.

  It was Kylie. She had followed her. “Can I talk to you?”

  Lexi wiped the tears away with the back of her hoodie sleeve. “What do you want?”

  “I’m sorry. Really sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  “Whatever.” Lexi sniffed. She was trying her hardest to sound tough.

  “I was just so excited to tell you all about camp. I didn’t know it would make you feel bad. I didn’t even get to ask you how your summer was.”

  Lexi shrugged. “Fine.”

  “Please come back to my house. We want to bake a batch of Back-to-School cupcakes—and we can’t do it without you.”

  “You can’t?” Lexi dried her tears.

  “Have you seen the way Jenna pipes? She’ll use up the entire bag of frosting on one cupcake!”

  Lexi managed a weak smile. “She does like a mountain of frosting, doesn’t she?”

  “Yellow frosting. We decided it would catch people’s eyes and look great in the Golden Spoon’s window. You were right,” replied Kylie. “Please come back.”

  Lexi nodded and stood up. “Thanks, Kylie.”

  Kylie smiled and linked arms with Lexi for the walk. “What are friends for?”

  The first day of fifth grade at Blakely Elementary started off with a bang.

  “You won’t believe it,” Lexi said, catching up with Kylie, Sadie, and Jenna at lunch. “Jeremy Saperstone accidentally blew up our science experiment!”

  “What? How?” the girls gasped.

  “It was so crazy! We were supposed to combine a little vinegar and baking soda so it would fizz. But Jeremy poured in too much and put a lid on the container so Mr. Reidy wouldn’t see. Then he shook it up and the lid blew off, and the whole table was covered with a foamy mess!”

  “Did he get in trouble?” asked Jenna.

  “No. He explained that he was trying to prove the powerful chemical reaction between acetic acid and sodium bicarbonate, and Mr. Reidy was very impressed. Jeremy’s really smart!” Lexi unpacked her lunch. “I’m lucky to have him as my science partner.”

  Jenna raised an eyebrow. “Hmmm…is it me, or does somebody sound like she has a crush on Jeremy Saperstone?”

  Sadie and Kylie giggled. “No! I mean, that’s ridiculous!” said Lexi, taking a big bite out of her cream cheese and cucumber sandwich. “I just said he’s smart, that’s all.”

  “And cute. Kind of like Justin Bieber, don’t you think?” Kylie teased.

  “No, I don’t think he’s cute,” Lexi insisted. “And I’m not talking about this anymore.”

  “If you say so,” said Jenna, winking at Lexi. “But we can keep a secret.”

  “Ugh,” groaned Lexi, ducking her head under the lid of her lunch box. “I’m sorry I mentioned it!”

  • • •

  Right after school, Peace, Love, and Cupcakes had its first official meeting with Juliette. “Welcome back, girls!” she said, hugging each of them. “You all got so tall—and, Jenna, I love your new ’do! And, Kylie, you got your ears pierced! Fill me in, girls! What’s new with all of you?”

  “Why don’t you tell her about your crush on Jeremy?” Jenna teased Lexi.

  Lexi’s cheeks turned red. “Seriously? Can you please stop? I am not crushing on him.” Lexi retreated into a corner. Juliette followed.

  “‘The lady doth protest too much,’” her teacher said quietly.

  “What does that mean?” asked Lexi.

  “It’s a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It means if there wasn’t some truth to it, you wouldn’t get so upset with what your friends are teasing you about.”

  Lexi thought for a minute. “So what? I mean, what if I do think Jeremy is a little cute? And smart. Is that such a big deal?”

  “No, it’s not. And it’s your business, no one else’s. Just ignore them, Lexi. The more you get mad—”

  “The more they’ll tease me, I get it.”

  Juliette smiled. “Good! Let’s get down to baking business!”

  The girls ran through their entire list of special orders for the next few weeks, everything from a Star Wars–themed birthday party (Jenna suggested Darth Vader Dark Chocolate Cupcakes) to a luncheon for the Horticulture Society (Lexi was excited to pipe cupcakes that looked like chrysanthemums).

  “Principal Fontina asked if we could make 750 cupcakes to sell at the Back-to-School Bash in two weeks,” said Juliette. “Doable?”

  “I dunno,” said Sadie, eyeing her schedule. “I have track team tryouts next Thursday and basketball practice Fridays, plus special tutoring every Monday for my dyslexia. You should see the pile of homework I have—and it’s just the first day!”

  “I can make the fondant decorations ahead of time, so we’ll just have to bake and pipe,” said Lexi. “That should cut down a lot on the time we need to make them. How about this?”

  She pulled out her summer sketchbook and showed the girls her drawing of a cupcake topped with a red fondant apple. “It’s very simple to make—a little ball with a stem, and I can shine it up with edible glitter.”

  “Cute!” said Jenna. “We could call them ‘Appealing Cupcakes.’ Get it? Apples have a peel?”

  “I was thinking an apple cinnamon cupcake with a salted caramel butter cream,” continued Lexi.

  “Yum!” said Sadie. “Great idea, Lex! How did you come up with it?”

  “My Aunt Dee. She dips pretzels in caramel and it’s really good.”

  Kylie nodded. “I like it. And we could bake an extra 250 for Mr. Ludwig at the Golden Spoon as the week’s special.”

  “I think Principal Fontina will be very happy,” said Juliette. “What other events do we have coming up?”

  Kylie’s hand shot up. “Only my favorite holiday, Halloween! I am counting the days! What should we make this year? Ghostly Guava? Mummy Marshmallow? Bloody Red Velvet?”

  Once again, Lexi flipped through the pages of her sketchbook. “How about this?” she said, holding up a drawing of an oozing eyeball on top of a cupcake. “I call it, ‘Eye Love Halloween!’” She giggled at her own pun.

  “It’s gross—which is a good thing for Halloween,” said Jenna.

  “But we could go even grosser! How about a bloody knife sticking out of a cupcake?” said Sadie.

  “How about we pipe pink frosting on a cupcake and make it look like brains?” said Kylie with a devilish glint in her eye. She pulled her notebook out and produced a sketch.

  “Ewww!” squealed Jenna and Sadie. “That’s awesome!”

  Lexi was quiet. “What do you think, Lexi?” asked Juliette.

  Lexi closed her sketchbook. “I think nobody cares what I think,” she said.

  “That isn’t true, Lex!” said Kylie. “We make decisions as a club. Every idea is important!”

  “Sure, as long as they’re your ideas,” Lexi replied.

  “Here we go again,” sighed Jenna. “It’s going to be
another fight.”

  Juliette clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Will someone please tell me what’s going here? What happened to the peace in Peace, Love, and Cupcakes?”

  Neither Kylie or Lexi responded. “Okay then,” said Juliette. “I’m all for drama, but when it comes to theater, not cupcakes. What can we do to compromise?”

  Lexi grabbed her pink-colored pencil and sketched a cupcake with fat, pink, zigzag lines—it looked just like brains. She held it up to Kylie. “I could use a number ten round tip to pipe the frosting.”

  Kylie smiled. “Love it. That’s so much better than my flat pink frosting.”

  “Now that’s using your brains, Lex,” joked Jenna. The girls all groaned at the joke.

  “I suggest we do both eyeballs and brains for Halloween,” added Juliette. “Since they’re both inspired ideas.” Lexi and Kylie nodded. It sounded fair.

  Sadie glanced at the clock on the wall. “Uh-oh. It’s 3:25—my mom’s picking me up in five minutes!”

  “Then this meeting of PLC is adjourned,” said Kylie, gathering up her notebook. She looked over at Lexi, realizing that she might have sounded too bossy. “Unless we have something more to talk about?”

  Lexi shook her head. She was done talking. It only seemed to get her into more trouble, whether it was about her cupcake ideas or her secret crush on Jeremy.

  “‘Parting is such sweet sorrow,’” sighed Juliette.

  Lexi looked confused. “What does that mean?” Her teacher was certainly speaking in strange riddles today.

  “It’s from Romeo and Juliet,” Juliette replied. “It means saying good-bye is both sad and happy. I guess I have Shakespeare on the brain.”

  “Why?” asked Lexi.

  Juliette smiled mischievously. “That’s for me to know and you guys to find out…tomorrow in drama class.”

  When Lexi walked into third-period drama class Tuesday morning, she could barely believe her eyes. There was Juliette wearing a long, flowing, purple velvet gown and a strange crocheted cap on her head.

  “Um, does she think it’s Halloween? ’Cause that’s not for at least a month and a half,” Meredith Mitchell whispered to Emily Dutter.