by Coco Simon
“Honestly, Callie, I had to plead with Principal LaCosta not to ban you from the dance,” Mrs. Wilson said. She sounded really frustrated. “And now you’re not going to go?”
Callie shrugged. “You can’t make me.”
Mrs. Wilson looked at her husband, and they must be telepathic or something, because the next thing I knew, Mr. Wilson said, “Okay, Katie. Looks like it’s just you and me. I’ll give you a ride.”
Riding to the dance without Callie was pretty awkward, but I was also relieved to be away from her for a while.
“I’m sorry about Callie’s behavior tonight,” Mr. Wilson said. “She just hasn’t been herself this year.”
“Yeah, I know,” I agreed. And then the next thing just slipped out. “Or last year, either.”
Mr. Wilson nodded. “Callie’s having a hard time figuring out where she belongs,” he said. “She’s still the same Callie, though.”
I didn’t agree with him, but I didn’t say anything. I was really glad when he pulled up in front of the school.
“Your mom arranged for Emma’s mom to drop you off after the dance,” he said. “See you later, and have a good time!”
“Thanks,” I said, and then I headed inside the school gym.
The place was packed with middle school kids and the parents who were chaperoning. This year, there was a big blue-and-yellow balloon archway over the dj table that looked really cool. Blue-and-yellow crepe paper was strung all across the ceiling.
I spotted Emma, Alexis, and Mia over by the watercoolers. Emma had a pink headband in her hair, and she wore this really cute white dress with tiny pink flowers on it. Mia looked superfashionable, as always, in a dress with a big red-and-purple pattern. (She told me later it’s called color blocking.) And Alexis’s curly hair was straightened, and she had on a black dress, and her heels were kind of high.
“Let me guess,” I said. “Dylan got to you.”
Alexis nodded. “I couldn’t escape.”
“Well, I think you look nice,” I said. “You look like you’re in high school.”
Alexis blushed. “Thanks!”
“You all look nice,” I said.
“You do too,” Emma told me.
I looked at Mia. “Thanks to you. If I didn’t have my own personal fashion consultant, I’d be lost.”
Mia laughed. “Hey, you’re my first client! And here’s the necklace I promised you.” She put it on me, and she was right—it was perfect.
As we were talking, I got that weird feeling someone was looking at me. (Has that ever happened to you?) When I turned around, I saw that Maggie and Bella were sitting at a table, and they were surrounded by a bunch of girls. The girls were pointing and whispering.
I frowned. “What’s that about?” I asked my friends.
“They’ve been talking to anyone who’ll listen,” Alexis said. “They keep saying the whole contest was fixed.”
“That’s crazy,” I said. “They ruined things for themselves.”
Then I heard Maggie get really loud. “Principal LaCosta just didn’t want us to win,” she said. “We were beating the Cupcake Club, and she didn’t want to see her teacher’s pets lose.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if those Cupcake girls were the ones who told on you,” said one of the girls at the table.
I was getting really mad. “That is ridiculous!” I said.
“They can talk all they want,” Alexis said. “We raised almost five hundred dollars. We’re definitely winning.”
But the idea of winning didn’t seem so important anymore—especially if people didn’t think we deserved it. I spotted Principal LaCosta over by the food table, and I decided to do something, right then and there.
“Be right back,” I told my friends.
Usually I would be afraid to talk to Principal LaCosta, but I guess I was just feeling tired of all the rumors and lies and stuff.
“Principal LaCosta, can I talk to you, please?” I asked.
She turned and saw me. “Oh, hi, Katie. Of course.”
“It’s about the Best Friends Club’s cupcakes,” I said. “I used to make those cupcakes with Callie every year, and I know there’s no rum in them. She uses imitation rum extract. So maybe you could let them back in the contest. I know they sold a lot of cupcakes, and if they sold the most, then they deserve to win.”
“It’s nice of you to stand up for your friend,” Principal LaCosta said. “But the girls’ parents already told me about the imitation rum. That’s not the issue here. The issue is we simply can’t have students promoting alcohol use, even if they’re just joking about it. Do you understand?”
I nodded. Mrs. Wilson had said the same thing.
“Thanks,” I said, and then I felt nervous for real, so I walked away. I noticed Maggie and Bella staring at me, and I wondered if they had heard.
I hoped they did, but it didn’t matter. I stood up for Callie, and I felt a lot better.
Then Mia ran up and grabbed my arm. “I love this song!” she cried, and then we were all dancing, and suddenly things were fun again.
CHAPTER 17
One Mystery Is Solved
There’s a funny thing that happens at a middle school dance. When it starts, most of the girls stay on the left side of the gym, and most of the boys hang out on the right side of the gym. The girls dance with girls, and the boys dance with boys. Then, as the night goes on, everyone starts dancing with one another, boys and girls together. And sometimes boys even ask girls to dance.
About halfway through the dance, I was standing around talking to my friends. Sophie and Lucy were with us, and Beth came over with some girls who I think are all into art, because they were dressed really funky, like Beth. Anyway, we were just talking and laughing and having a good time when the subject turned to boys.
“We need more cute boys in this school!” Sophie was wailing.
“I think Eddie Rossi is cute,” admitted Lucy, and Sophie looked shocked.
“He’s, like, two feet taller than you!” Sophie squealed.
“Eddie has a crush on Katie,” Alexis blurted out, and I felt my face get red.
“Alexis! He does not!” I protested.
“Well, I think George Martinez has a crush on Katie,” Sophie said.
I wished I could turn invisible. “How do you know that?” I asked her.
“Because he’s waving at you,” Sophie said, pointing across the gym.
I looked, and Sophie was right. George was walking toward us, and he was smiling and waving at us.
Mia grabbed my arm. “Oh my gosh! He’s going to ask you to dance!”
“He is not!” I said, but secretly I hoped she was right. Or wrong. I’m not sure! I was so nervous.
Before George could get there, Eddie Rossi walked up from the other direction. And he was walking right toward me.
My friends were stunned. Mia was practically pulling off my arm. I could tell she was dying to say something, but thankfully everyone kept quiet.
“Hey, Katie,” Eddie said. “I . . . I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something since school started.”
My heart was pounding so fast. “Oh?”
Eddie nodded. “Yeah, it’s kind of hard to explain, but . . . well, I want to apologize to you.”
That was definitely not what I thought he was going to say!
“Apologize for what?” I asked, confused.
“For the way I made fun of you last year in gym class,” Eddie said. He took a deep breath. “I went to camp this summer with my little brother, and he got teased a lot. It was hard to see. And then we had this whole meeting where we learned about bullying and stuff, and I realized that I did it too.”
I was shocked by Eddie’s confession. I didn’t think people could change like that.
“I’m sorry your brother got bullied,” I said.
“Thanks. And I’m sorry too,” Eddie said. “For the stuff I said to you. That’s one of the things they told us. That it’s never too late to
apologize.”
“Everything’s cool,” I told him. “I really appreciate how you’ve been sticking up for me lately.”
“I’ll have your back from now on,” Eddie promised.
I smiled. “Thanks. I could use it!” I was totally relieved that he didn’t like me in the way everybody thought. He was just trying to make up for his past behavior.
From the corner of my eye, I saw George turn around and walk away. I was going to call out to him, but then Eddie said, “See ya, Katie,” and he was gone too.
I turned to Mia. “What just happened?”
“Maybe George thought Eddie was asking you to dance,” she said.
“But he wasn’t,” I said. “Eddie doesn’t even like me. He’s just nicer now, that’s all.”
That’s when I realized that I was disappointed. And that meant I wanted to dance with George. Wow. Scary.
Then the microphone next to the dj table was turned on, and Principal LaCosta started to talk. The gym got quiet.
“Hello, Park Street Middle School!” she cried, and everyone clapped. “Today’s fund-raiser was a big success. We raised almost three thousand dollars!”
Everyone cheered really loud at that.
“And the club that raised the most money . . . for the second year in a row . . . is the Cupcake Club!” she announced.
We all started squealing and hugging one another. I couldn’t believe it. We had done it again!
We ran up to the dj booth, and Principal LaCosta handed each of us a blue-and-yellow Park Street Middle School blanket. Last year we got sweatshirts. I guess she’s trying to keep us warm.
I wore my blanket like a cape and started spinning and twirling on the dance floor.
“Hey, Supergirl!”
It was George. He started spinning around like I was. We kept dancing like that and laughing. I’m sure we looked totally goofy.
Bella and Maggie walked by.
“It’s so unfair,” Maggie said, loudly enough for me to hear. “Definitely not a fair fight!”
I could have said something back, but I didn’t. Instead, I just kept on spinning with George.
CHAPTER 18
A Sweet Ending
By the time the dance was over I was super-exhausted and happy. I wrapped my winning blanket around me as I rode back to Callie’s in the back of Emma’s car. Alexis and Mia were squished in with me.
“I wish you could go home with me,” Mia said.
“Me too,” I said. “But it’s just a few more nights.”
“Text me any time, okay?” Mia said.
“Me too,” added Alexis.
“And me,” said Emma.
“You guys are the best!” I said with a yawn.
“Okay, Katie, this is your stop,” Mrs. Taylor announced.
“Thanks, Mrs. Taylor!” I said, and I climbed out of the car.
The porch light was on, and Mrs. Wilson was waiting for me with the door open.
“How was the dance, Katie?” she asked.
“It was good,” I said.
“Callie’s up in her bedroom,” she told me. “I’m not sure if she’s awake or not, so you might want to be quiet.”
“Okay,” I said. It would perfect if Callie was asleep. Then I wouldn’t have to talk to her.
But I was not so lucky. Callie was in bed with the lights off, but she was sitting up with her cell phone on.
“Oh, hey,” Callie said.
“Hey,” I said back. I started digging in my bag for my pajamas.
Callie turned on the little lamp on her nightstand. She looked like she had calmed down a lot from how she’d been before the dance. Because I’ve known Callie forever, I know she doesn’t usually stay mad for very long. At least the old Callie didn’t stay mad for very long. A few moments went by, and then she started asking questions. I knew she was dying to find out what happened at the dance.
“So, what dress did Mia wear?” she asked.
“It was color blocked,” I said, glad that Mia had told me so I had something to say. “Purple and red.”
Callie nodded. “Cool. Did Jeremy Paskowski dance with anybody?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know him.”
“He’s that tall blond-haired kid on the basketball team,” Callie said.
I could sort of picture him. “Um, I don’t think so.”
Then Callie blurted out, “I know why you didn’t stick up for me.”
“I did stick up for you,” I told her. “I explained to Principal LaCosta tonight that those aren’t really rum cupcakes. I asked her to include the sales you made in the contest. But she said no.”
Callie looked surprised. “Why did you do that?”
“I’m not sure,” I confessed. “But it was the right thing to do. We used to be good friends.”
We were quiet again, until Callie spoke up.
“You won, right?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Peace Out was a good theme,” Callie said.
“So was school spirit,” I told her. “It was cool that you had a band and everything.”
More silence.
“I’m really sorry about how things turned out,” Callie said finally.
I wasn’t expecting that. Callie was apologizing? I wasn’t sure what to say. It turns out that was okay, because Callie kept talking. “I’m sorry I didn’t stick up for you to Sydney, and I’m sorry I didn’t treat you like a friend.”
“Okay,” I said, because I still didn’t know what else to say.
“Sydney had all these rules about who we should talk to and who we shouldn’t, but I think that’s stupid,” Callie went on. “I can talk to or be friends with whoever I like. And I don’t have to be mean to other people in order to be popular.”
That was interesting. But I guess it made sense. That’s probably why she changed the club name after all.
“But you’re going to stay in the club?” I asked.
“Well, sure!” replied Callie. “I like it.”
I didn’t know what to say. But letting Callie do all the talking was working out pretty well for me so far, so I just nodded.
“Things are just different,” Callie said after a while. “I changed the name of the club because I realized Sydney was pretty horrible. I liked the idea of the club, but not what the club was. It will be different this year.”
I sighed. I really wanted to believe Callie, but with all that hair flipping and stuff, she didn’t seem that much different from Sydney to me. And I didn’t really like Maggie or Bella all that much. And their whole club was pretty silly.
But Callie had apologized. That was pretty big.
“Truce?” Callie asked.
“Truce,” I agreed.
Callie held out her hand. “Shake on it,” she said. “So we can Peace Out.”
I laughed, and we shook hands. Then I grabbed my pajamas.
“I’m going to get changed,” I told her.
As I brushed my teeth, I thought about everything that had happened. What a crazy day! The Cupcake Club won the contest. I figured out the mystery of Eddie Rossi. I danced with George, kind of. Grandma Carole was okay. And the war with Callie looked like it was over. . . . And that all happened without my lucky purple dress or lucky purple shirt or even my lucky nail polish. I felt relieved. I felt, well, peaceful. I guess that theme worked out well in more ways than one.
I smiled at my reflection in the mirror.
Maybe this was going to be my best, grooviest middle school year after all!
A Middle School Miracle?
Oh my gosh, it’s a cupcake plunger!” my friend Katie squealed.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Katie so excited. We were in a shop in the mall called Baker’s Hollow. They sell baking supplies, and inside are all these fake trees with shelves built into them and the supplies are displayed on them.
Katie and I were at one of the cupcake trees that has fake pretty pink cupcakes growing in its fake branches. The shelves were fill
ed with cupcake baking pans, cupcake decorations, and tons of different kinds of cupcake liners.
Katie was holding up a metal tube with a purple top on it. She pulled on the top and it moved up and down, like a plunger.
“This is so cool!” she cried. “You stick this in the top of the cupcake and plunge halfway down, and a perfect little tube of cake comes out. Then you fill the hole with stuff and then put the cake back on top and frost it. Just imagine what you could put in here! Whipped cream! Pudding!”
She turned to me, and her brown eyes were shining with excitement. “You could even do ice cream! Can you imagine biting into a cupcake and there’s ice cream inside? How awesome would that be?”
“Totally awesome,” I agreed. “Plus, it’s purple. Your favorite color.”
Katie dug into her pocket, took out some crumpled bills, and started to count.
“It’s only six dollars. I could get it and still have enough left over for a smoothie,” she said, and then she sighed. “I am so glad they opened this store, but I am going to go broke spending all my money on cupcake supplies. I’m obsessed!”
“I know how you feel,” I said. “I am totally obsessed with shoes lately. I’m trying to find the perfect pair of neutral heels. I want them dressy, but not too dressy—maybe a shiny patent leather, with a high heel. But not too high, I don’t want to fall flat on my face! I can picture them in my mind, but I haven’t seen them anywhere “for real” yet.”
Katie looked down at her sneakers, which were decorated with rainbows drawn on with colored markers. “I don’t think I’ll ever wear heels. They’re too uncomfortable.”
That’s the difference between me and Katie—she doesn’t care about fashion at all, and I pretty much live for it. Like today, Katie was wearing a purple hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. Which is perfectly adorable on her, but not dressed up enough for me. You never know who you could run into at the mall! So I had on black skinny jeans, my furry black boots, a white lace cami, and a sky blue cardigan on top. The beads in my hoop earrings matched my cardigan, and the boho style of the earrings worked perfectly with my boots.
But even though Katie doesn’t care much about fashion, she’s my best friend here in Maple Grove. I moved here after my parents got divorced. Katie was the first friend I met.
