by Coco Simon
My mom smiled. “No, of course I miss our little Sissy, with all my heart. But the time she took up . . . and the expense . . .”
“I could take care of a dog,” Jake said, sitting up straight in his chair. “I’m responsible.”
Matt laughed and milk spurted out of his nose.
“Gross!” I cried, covering my eyes.
“Okay, calm down, everyone. Your mom and I will discuss dogsitting for Rocky. We’ll let you know later in the week, okay?”
I shrugged. I didn’t really care one way or another about the dogsitting. I just wanted them to say we could get our own dog. But Jake, I think, misread the whole thing.
“Yesss!” he cried, pumping his fists in the air. “We’re getting a dog! Rocky’s coming to live with us!”
“Oh, brother. Good luck,” Sam said, excusing himself to help clear the table.
My mom rolled her eyes. “Here we go,” she said. Jake tends to be a little spoiled, and when he gets something in his head . . . well, he usually ends up getting his way.
Walking home from school on Monday, Katie was showing us photos of pet cupcakes on her phone.
“And look at these! Aren’t these adorable?” She flashed a pic of cupcakes that had been topped with shaggy white dogs’ heads, with tiny chocolate candy circles for the eyes and noses.
“Ooh!” we squealed. They were adorable. “Let’s do those! Would it be hard?” I asked.
“How much do you think they would cost to make?” asked Alexis.
Katie made the photo bigger so we could see more details. “The top of the cupcake is really high, so they must add a little something extra on top—like a doughnut hole—that they frost. So there’s the cake ingredients and liners, we’ll need extra frosting, and the doughnut holes or whatever, and then the little candies. Not too expensive, actually.”
“Just a lot of labor, it looks like,” Alexis said approvingly. She didn’t mind hard work; it was expensive cupcake decorations she liked to avoid when possible.
“We can call them pupcakes!” said Mia, who is always so creative.
“Love!” I said emphatically.
“I also found these,” Katie said, opening another photo and showing it around. They were cat cupcakes, with colored M&Ms for eyes, set on their edges, and chocolate gel-frosting whiskers coming out of a chocolate chip nose. They were very cute too.
“I like these even better!” said Mia. “High impact and less work. Catcakes!”
Alexis took the phone and studied the picture. “Also reasonably priced components. Good work, Katie!”
Katie beamed.
“I’ll run the pricing and then see what kind of discount we can afford to give them,” offered Alexis.
“Thanks!” I said. Even if we didn’t end up flat out donating the cupcakes, it would still be nice to offer a big discount to ARF. I was glad Alexis was coming around.
“Ooooh, don’t look now, Em, but Diego Diaz is coming this way!” Mia whispered. I looked up quickly, and there was Diego, walking right toward us. I was trying to think of something to say, but Katie beat me to the punch.
“Hey, Diego!” said Katie.
I looked directly at him, and there he was, smiling at me. “Hey!” I said, wiggling my fingers in a little wave. I was grinning from ear to ear.
“I heard you guys are going to bake cupcakes for the ARF event on Saturday,” he said. “That’s awesome! I’d better get there early so I get one!”
“Oh, no rush. We’re making you some of your own,” said Katie.
“Katie!” Alexis scolded, but with a smile. “You guys are giving away all our profits!”
“Alexis! That’s so rude!” I blurted. I couldn’t help myself.
Diego laughed and put his hands out, as if refusing. “Don’t give me any. I’m happy to get one at the event.”
“No, I’m sorry. Emma’s right,” Alexis said, smacking her forehead. “We’re giving you some cupcakes as a commission, for getting us the job. I forgot for a minute.”
“Well, in that case, how can I say no?” Diego laughed. He had a great smile, with strong, white, even teeth that shined against his caramel-colored skin.
“Thank you for referring us,” I said politely, staring daggers at Alexis.
“Oh, no problem. It seemed like a good fit. And I know it will draw people to our table. I’ve seen you Cupcake girls in action. No one can say no to a cupcake.”
“It’s pretty hard to say no to puppies and kittens too, right?” I added. I was trying hard to keep the conversation going. Diego was so nice, and I always felt happy when I was around him.
“You’d be surprised,” he said. “It’s pretty tough to get homes for those little guys.”
“It’s so sad,” I agreed.
He shrugged. “That’s why I like volunteering at ARF. It’s not as sad when you feel like you’re helping.”
I didn’t want to tell him that I pored over all his posts on Instagram and that I really admired what he was doing to raise awareness on this topic.
“Well, we’ll have some cupcakes for you on Saturday, and that will be cheerful,” I said with a big smile, to change the subject.
“Great. Thanks. I’m looking forward to it. Catch you later!” he said.
Mia waited until he was out of earshot and then turned to me and nodded. “He totally likes you,” Mia said knowledgably.
“And you were cool as a cucumber,” Alexis said, shaking her head. “It’s all that practice hanging out with cute boys at home.” Alexis is in love with Matt, which is sometimes fun and convenient and sometimes a total drag, depending on my mood.
“I don’t have any cute boys in my house,” I joked. “Hey, speaking of which . . .” I explained about Jake, and how we might get a dog, and how we might dogsit first.
Mia shook her head with a laugh. “I don’t know if dogsitting is the way to go if you want to get a dog. It could go so wrong that your parents decide against it for good!”
“Oh, that’s true. I hadn’t thought of that,” I said. I frowned; I had been thinking dogsitting would do the opposite.
“But hey, I have an idea! Maybe Jake would like to come look after Tiki and Milkshake for me this Saturday, while I’m at my dad’s? I mean, my mom and Eddie are here, but maybe he’d walk them and play with them a little? I worry that they get so lonely when I’m not there, since no one looks after them the way that I do. I’ll pay him!”
“Thanks. You don’t need to pay him,” I protested. “As if you don’t do enough for that kid already! I’m sure he’ll want to.”
We agreed that she should ask Jake when we had our Cupcake meeting at my house on Wednesday.
“YES!!!” Jake said, pumping his fist in the air. It was Wednesday after school, and Jake made it clear that he wanted to dogsit Tiki and Milkshake.
Mia laughed. “Okay! I like the enthusiasm!”
“And you know why this is a good idea?” asked Jake. “Because we are getting a dog named Rocky soon, and this way I can practice so I’ll be ready.”
Oh dear. “Um, Jake?” I said gently. “We’re not getting Rocky. We just might dogsit him for three days. And if that goes well, then, maybe maybe maybe, Mom and Dad will let us get our own dog. Remember?”
“Right. Named Rocky,” he agreed.
Whatever.
“Mia, do you want to just write out a little schedule for Jake so he knows what you need?” Over Jake’s head, I mouthed, Not too much. Mia got my drift and nodded back at me.
“That’s a great idea,” said Mia. “Jake, I’m putting this on the list. Please come over and walk Tiki and Milkshake at ten o’clock on Saturday, okay? Their leashes hang on a hook right inside the front door. How about twice around the block? They’ll need to do their bathroom business. And when you bring them back in, would you give them each a treat from the jar on the front hall table, please?”
“Yup. Uh-huh. I can do that. No prob.” Jake drew himself up to his full height. Maybe this would be a good learni
ng experience for him, I thought. We’d just have to work out who was going to bring him over. It obviously couldn’t be me, because I did not want to run into Sebastian while I was there. Also, it might be kind of strange to be at Mia’s without her. I’d let my parents work it out. It wasn’t my problem.
Mia wrote it all out and left the sheet on the kitchen counter. I’d make sure my mom saw it when she got home from work.
Meanwhile, our sample cupcakes had come out of the oven and cooled for long enough; it was time to frost them.
“Okay, Jake. Time for homework. We’ll call you when it’s time to taste the cupcakes. Run along now.” I scooted him out of the kitchen.
Jake headed up to his room, and I turned my attention to our cupcake supplies. I poured some of the little chocolate circles into a dish, as well as some M&Ms in another little dish, and some mini chocolate chips. Then I snipped off the top from a chocolate gel-frosting tube and set that out, too, all neatly aligned.
I checked on everyone else’s progress. Katie had made a big batch of light, fluffy, white frosting. Mia was cutting doughnut holes in half on a cutting board, and Alexis was on her calculator, figuring out the unit cost of each of the cupcakes. I love when we’re in a groove and working hard on a new recipe or design. We’re like a well-oiled machine. It makes me so happy.
“So?” I asked, peering over Lex’s shoulder at her laptop.
“Hmm,” she said. Then she looked up. “I guess we could charge them half price. The only thing I worry about is if it goes really well and they want to reorder on another weekend, and then we’re stuck with this low pricing.”
She had a point. And what if they became good clients? Regular clients? Like Mona at The Special Day bridal salon and who we deliver to every week.
Luckily, Mia piped up. “Just offer them at half price and say it’s an introductory discount and we hope the cupcakes add a lot of value to their event.”
Alexis nodded. She loves business terminology. “Introductory discount is the way to go. Good call, Mia.”
“So half price?” I asked.
“Yup,” agreed Alexis.
“Thanks!” I said and squeezed her in a half-hug, since she really doesn’t like hugs. “You’re the best CEO ever! Those poor animals are lucky to have you as their friend.”
She patted my hand briskly and slid out from under my arm. “Let’s see how these turn out, first.”
Mia and Katie assembled a few of the doughnut hole–and-cupcake combos, and then Mia began piping the frosting over them, referring to the photos I’d pulled up on my laptop. I helped frost and assemble the cat cupcakes, and soon we had completed about six each of the pupcakes and catcakes. They looked fantastic!
“Wow, you guys!” Mia said. “These are some of our cutest cupcakes ever!”
Katie was snapping pics with her phone to upload on to our website. “I agree. They came out just as well as the ones in the photos I found online!”
“Wait till Diego sees them!” I blurted.
“We have to remember to bake the extra cakes for him too, Alexis,” said Katie.
“Uhhhhn.” Alexis sighed heavily, and made a note on her laptop, but she didn’t complain further.
“Whatever happened with your crush on Sebastian?” asked Mia, sidling up to me as the other girls discussed which platters we should use for display.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, I think I was interested just because he was new and different. I’m over him.” It wasn’t totally true because if I saw him (like the other day in the van), I would definitely get all shaky. Seeing him was to be avoided. But also, Diego was a nice distraction, and now he’d popped back up again. So yes, I was technically over Sebastian.
“Good,” said Mia. “I just don’t want things to continue to be awkward. Especially when you have to come to my house.”
I panicked. “Oh, I’m not coming to your house! Not if Sebastian’s going to be there!”
Mia smacked her forehead. “That’s what I’m talking about. So you’re not over him!”
“Let’s just take it day by day,” I said. “Día a día.”
Katie and Alexis came back from the pantry. “Hey, Em? Why don’t we just give these samples to Diego?” suggested Alexis. “What else would we do with them, anyway?”
Just then Jake walked in from the front hall, and Matt came in the back door, both right on cue. “Cupcakes!” they cried in unison.
We laughed. It was perfect timing, like on a TV show.
“Okay, all but two,” Alexis said, softening at the sight of Matt.
“I can have all but two?” he said happily.
“No!” we all shouted.
Alexis clarified. “Someone else gets all but two. You two get the two. Get it?”
“Okay, take it easy, bossy pants!”
I boxed up all but two cupcakes and wrote Diego’s name on a piece of masking tape on the box. “Matt, will you please take these to Diego Diaz tomorrow at school?”
“Uh-uhn.” He shook his head, because his mouth was full of cupcake. I’d known he would say that.
“You do it, Emma!” Katie said with a smile and a meaningful look.
I felt a blush start to rise, and I didn’t want Matt to see it. “Fine,” I said, ducking my head. “Fine.”
CHAPTER 3
Treats!
I got to school early with my cupcake box and wandered the halls, looking for Diego’s locker and feeling like a nerd. Was I really going to hand him this thing? It wouldn’t fit in his locker. He’d have to stash them in his homeroom, and then everyone will be begging cupcakes from him all day. We should have just waited and made extra cupcakes for him on Saturday. Oh, why did I let Alexis pawn our samples like this, just to save money?! I was so nervous and frustrated.
After doing a few laps of the areas where I thought his locker might be, I was getting ready to give up and stash the cupcakes in my homeroom, and then I spied him.
“Diego!” I called, blushing from saying his name.
He turned, and his face broke into a wide grin. He was so cute!
I waved my usual little wave and walked to meet him halfway.
“Hi!” he said.
“Hi! I have your commission here. Sorry. I just realized it’s kind of bulky. I hope it’s not a hassle.”
“Are you kidding?” His eyes lit up. “This is awesome. You guys didn’t need to do this. But I am so glad you did!” His brown eyes sparkled, and his whole face crinkled up when he smiled.
I shrugged awkwardly. “Well, we really appreciate you referring us. And for such a good cause. Thanks.” I wanted to keep chatting, but I also didn’t want to keep him too long, in case there was somewhere he needed to be.
“Thanks so much,” he said.
We both stood there for a minute, looking around nervously and smiling.
“Well, I should be . . .”
“Anyway . . .”
We’d both spoken at the same time, and we laughed.
“Thanks, Emma. I’ve got to run. I will really enjoy these.” He took a peek at the cupcakes. “Oh! Dogs and cats, I get it. Funny! Thanks again. Maybe they’ll even let me have one at the event on Saturday. Will you be there?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yup.”
“Great. So if I don’t see you before then, till Saturday.” He gave me a funny salute, smiled at me, and then walked off.
“Bye,” I said, smiling, and I kept smiling even after he had walked away. Then I spun on my heel and hurried up to class.
On Friday, we went to Alexis’s to bake. Mia had left for her dad’s, so it was just the three of us. We had our standing order of mini white-on-white cupcakes for Mona, at The Special Day. We could make those with our eyes closed. Then we had the five dozen cupcakes for the ARF event, which was a little more time-consuming with only the three of us working.
“So what time do we need to be at the park for this?” I asked, looking at my watch. It was getting late—close to six—and I wondered if maybe we shou
ld finish up in the morning.
“Eleven o’clock,” said Alexis.
“That’s not too bad,” I said.
“It’s too bad Mia’s not here,” said Katie. “I miss her skills!”
“I know,” agreed Alexis. Her tongue poked out between her teeth, and she carefully piped white “dog fur” onto yet another cupcake.
“So we’ll meet here at around ten thirty?” I asked.
Alexis nodded. “My dad will drive us over. I’ll take Mona’s minis, too.”
“I can’t wait to see all the animals tomorrow morning,” said Katie.
“Wait! Animals . . . tomorrow morning! Jake’s supposed to be taking care of Tiki and Milkshake tomorrow at ten, and I forgot to give my mom that sheet Mia wrote down!” I panicked. Quickly, I texted my parents to see who could take Jake over there.
I tapped my fingers impatiently while I waited for a reply.
My phone chirped, and I looked down. Sorry, love. Have to work half day. Ask Dad, texted my mom.
At the exact same time, a reply came in from my dad. Driving Matt’s crew to a game an hour away. Leaving at 8. Ask Mom. Love, Dad.
“Noooo!” I wailed and collapsed on the counter.
“Bad news?” Alexis asked ironically.
I stood up straight. “I volunteered Jake to take care of Mia’s dogs and now I have to get him over there by ten and have him walk the dogs around the block twice.” The worst part was not only that I’d be late for the ARF event (and Diego!), but that I might have to see Sebastian, since he was always over there, hanging with Mia’s stepbrother. But I didn’t want to get into that.
“We’ll be fine, just the two of us. You don’t need to come to the ARF thing. It’s okay,” Katie said kindly.
“Well, but . . . I hate to leave you in a lurch. . . .” I began awkwardly.
“Oh, I know! It’s Diego!” said Alexis, teasing me. “You don’t even care about us. You are so busted. You just want to see Diego! Admit it!”
I laughed and blushed.
“Ooh! She’s blushing!” exclaimed Katie, but she wasn’t being mean, just funny.
“Okay, that is part of it,” I said.
“Like ninety percent of it, I’d say,” joked Alexis.
