by Sheryl Berk
“I hate swings,” Sophie muttered, staring up at the ceiling. “That looks really, really high.”
“I’d say it’s about twenty feet,” Corey said, munching on a bag of potato chips. “Give or take a foot or two.”
Sophie grabbed Delaney’s arm. “I am not going up there. It’s way too high!”
Delaney held out the harness and began to wrap it around Sophie’s waist. “It’s really easy, I promise. Have you ever done one of those fun bungee trampolines at the Firemen’s Carnival? The one where they pull you up, and you bounce and do backflips?”
Sophie nodded. “Oh, yeah. I did it once.”
“See! And it was no biggie, right?”
“I threw up,” Sophie said. “Like ten times.”
“I wish you had told us to bring an umbrella,” Tyler said, making a face.
“You’re gonna be fine,” Delaney said, crossing her fingers. “Let’s take it slow and see how it goes.” She secured the helmet on Sophie’s head and took a step back.
Corey stood in front of Tyler and began to pull the rope. Sophie jolted into the air.
“Eeek!” she screamed. “This is scary! Put me down!”
“You’re only about six inches off the ground,” Corey said, chuckling. “What a wimp!”
“Point your toes and wave your arms in the air like a spider,” Delaney coached her. “Like this.”
“Easy for you to say,” Sophie shot back. “Your feet are on the ground.”
“Going up!” Corey called, and Sophie climbed a few feet above the stage.
Sophie squeezed her eyes tightly shut. “I can’t look!” Corey tugged once again, and she rose even higher.
“Try and swing. Use your legs and arms, and we’ll pull you left and right,” Delaney directed her. “Cue the lights!”
“Aye, aye, captain!” Sadie shouted from the lighting panel in the back of the theater. With the flip of a switch, the entire auditorium went dark. Sophie screamed.
“I’m scared of the dark!”
“I thought you said she was scared of heights,” Tyler said to Delaney.
“I’m scared of both!” Sophie yelled.
“Where’s the spotlight?” Delaney shouted to Sadie.
“Working on it! There are so many buttons on this thing…”
Suddenly, a bright, white light hit Sophie midair.
“Awesome!” Delaney called to her. “You’re a star!”
Sophie opened her eyes and looked down. Everything and everyone looked so small and far away. “OMG. I’m going to be sick.”
“No! No!” Tyler ducked behind Corey for cover. “No puking, please!”
“You’re doing great, Soph,” Delaney said. “Wanna try a few spidery moves?”
Corey pulled the rope sharply to the right, and Sophie soared across the stage.
“Not so fast!” she screamed. “I’m getting dizzy!”
He tugged in the opposite direction, and she flew back the other way.
“She’s a spider…not a jet plane!” Delaney scolded him. “Slow and steady.”
“Yeah, slow and steady,” Sophie repeated. “What she said!”
Sophie began to swing back and forth like a pendulum. She stretched out her legs and arms. “You look great!” Delaney said. “How do you feel?”
“Okay, I guess,” she replied. “I think I’m getting used to it.”
“See? I told you there was nothing to it.” Delaney smiled.
The rope suddenly slipped, and Sophie lurched in the air.
“EEEEEEE!” she screamed. “I’m falling!”
“Relax,” Corey said. “My hand slipped. Potato-chip grease.”
“Amateurs!” Delaney barked. “Take her up again. Let’s try and make the swinging more rhythmic and graceful.”
Just then the spotlight cut off and they were once again in the pitch-dark.
“I hate the dark!” Sophie screamed. “Remember?”
“I know, I know!” Sadie was hitting buttons frantically on the panel. “I think we blew a fuse.”
Suddenly, there was a loud thump.
“What was that?” Delaney gulped. “Soph, you okay?”
“Fine!” Sophie called back. “I landed on something soft.” The lights came up.
“That would be me!” Tyler said. He was lying facedown on the stage, and Sophie was standing on top of him. “Get off!”
Tyler rose to his feet and punched his younger brother in the arm. “You just had to eat those chips, didn’t you?”
Corey waved his fingers in the air. “Oops. I guess I slipped again.”
Delaney helped Sophie out of her helmet and harness. “The important thing is that we learned this will work—if Corey skips the greasy snack food.” She shot him a look, then turned back to Sophie.
“What do you think? Can Charlotte do some spinning in the musical?”
Sophie rested her hands on her hips. “You know, I think I might just have a future in Cirque du Soleil.”
Delaney hugged her. “You were air-mazing,” she teased. “Gussy the Goose couldn’t have flown any better.”
“Chip?” Corey offered them the bag. “All this flying made me hungry.”
Delaney had never summoned the girls together for a cupcake club meeting—but this was a cupcake 911. When they all gathered in her living room, she stood on the coffee table and clapped her hands so they’d all stop talking and pay close attention.
“PLCers, listen up,” she began. “We have a cupcake crisis that needs our help.” She was actually getting a lot better at this “serious” stuff!
“We’re all ears,” Kylie said. “What’s up, Laney?”
“Ms. Roveen called, and the baker who was doing Milly’s birthday cake broke her arm,” she explained. “Her party is this weekend!”
“Wait, who’s Milly?” Jenna asked. “And what kind of party?”
“A two-year-old Cinderella birthday party,” Delaney replied. “With about two dozen little kids coming!”
“No sweat,” Sadie said. “We’ve done tons of kid birthday parties. We can do some of those confetti cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles…”
Lexi grabbed her sketchbook. “How ’bout the usual: little fondant balloons on top?”
“No! No! No!” Delaney protested. “This isn’t just any kid’s birthday. It’s Milly! I want it to be really special for her.”
Kylie nodded. She knew Delaney’s first babysitting job had meant a lot to her. Obviously, the little girl did too. “What were you thinking, Laney? Little glass slippers on top of the cupcakes?”
“Bigger,” Delaney commanded. “Think bigger.”
“Well, we could do a coach made out of mini cupcakes,” Lexi thought out loud. “Like a centerpiece for the table.”
Delaney shook her head. “Bigger.”
“Ooh! How about Cinderella’s castle made out of cupcakes?” Jenna suggested. “A three-foot-tall castle made of cupcakes would be muy bonita—very pretty!”
“Even bigger,” Delaney insisted. “I want Princess Milly’s cupcakes to be magical. Like the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.”
Her eyes lit up. “That’s it! That’s what we should do! We should make the Fairy Godmother’s skirt out of cupcakes—and she should come to the party and cast a magic spell!”
Lexi raised an eyebrow. “A skirt made out of cupcakes? Can we do that? I mean, this isn’t an episode of Project Runway!”
“I think the cupcakes would fall off the fabric.” Sadie pondered. “How would we pin them on? Cupcakes are heavy!”
“I’m not sure. We’d have to try it out,” Delaney said. “Please, let’s try!”
“All in favor of Delaney’s project-cupcake skirt say ‘sprinkles!’” Kylie said.
“Sprinkles!” Sadie, Delaney, Lexi, and Kylie all shouted.
Jenna frowned. “Okay, you’ve got my vote—but I’m just not sure about this. Besides the obvious fashion emergency, where are we gonna find a Fairy Godmother on this short notice?”
All eyes turned to Delaney. “You are a really good singer…” Lexi said. “I could totally see you Bibbidi- Bobbidi-Booing…”
Delaney pictured herself waltzing around Milly’s party, waving a magic wand, as the toddlers squealed with delight. “I’ll do it. On one condition.”
“Oh, boy…here it comes!” Sadie chuckled.
“I want the cupcakes to be Milly’s favorite flavors.”
“I knew we were in trouble,” Jenna groaned. “Okay, let’s have it. What are Milly’s fave flavors?”
Delaney jumped off the table, grabbed a spoon, and waved it in the air like a wand. “Cheerios and applesauce!”
•••
The next day, the cupcake club gathered in the teachers’ lounge at Blakely Elementary to make some magic in the kitchen.
“Okay, I found a few cupcakes that use applesauce,” Kylie said, pulling out her binder of recipes. “It actually makes the cake very moist.”
The first version called for real chunks of apple in the center of the cupcake. “What is this?” Jenna asked, picking a seed out of her teeth. She looked at Sadie who was coring the apples and slicing them. “You can’t have any seeds in the batter.”
Sadie sighed. “I’m sorry. They just keep sneaking in there…”
Kylie pulled a seed out of Sadie’s hair. “They keep sneaking in here too!”
The next recipe called for caramel to ooze out of the center of the apple cupcake.
Jenna took a bite and licked her lips. “It’s a little sticky,” she said.
“Define sticky,” Lexi said. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“I’ll let you know when I can open my mouth. My gums are glued together.”
Kylie took out the very last recipe she had found. This one was an apple spice cupcake with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon.
“Easy on the spices,” Jenna warned them as they measured a teaspoon into the batter. “Just a hint—not a handful.”
They popped the batter in the muffin tin and watched the cupcakes rise and turn golden brown in the oven.
“Looks good,” Jenna said, sniffing the finished product. Lexi had piped on a dollop of vanilla buttercream frosting. She broke the cupcake open with a fork and sampled the cake. Then the frosting. Then the cake and the frosting together.
“Well?” Delaney asked anxiously. “Is it a winner?”
Jenna gave them the thumbs-up. “This one has a really nice, spicy apple flavor,” she said. “Like warm apple pie. And the sweet frosting is a nice balance.”
Lexi passed out her sketches. “I think we should color the frosting purple—just like the Fairy Godmother’s cape and skirt. I could maybe use some luster dust to give them a magical sparkle.”
“Let’s not forget the Cheerios!” Delaney reminded them. She popped one in her mouth and stuck out her tongue.
“Oh, right.” Jenna rolled her eyes. “How could we forget?”
“I gave that a lot of thought,” Lexi said, smiling, “and I think I have a great solution.” She pulled a plastic bag out of her backpack. Inside were a “necklace” and “bracelet” made out of Cheerios and mini-marshmallows. “I think we could do Cheerios jewelry for all the little princesses at the party. Whaddaya think, Delaney?”
Delaney slipped the necklace over her head and bit off a crunchy O. “I think Milly will love it.”
“So all that leaves us is making the cupcake costume,” Kylie said, checking items off her list. “Sadie, do you think your dad can build us something?”
“My dad is a contractor—not a fashion designer,” Sadie said, considering the idea.
“My mom can help with the design and sewing,” Jenna offered. “She’s an amazing seamstress. She can make a beautiful cape and hood. But your dad will have to find a way to make the cupcakes stick to the skirt. And the skirt to stick to Delaney.”
Delaney looked at the sketch Lexi had made on her pad. It showed a giant dome made out of cupcakes and a little head and arms perched on top. “Is that supposed to be me?” she asked. “How am I supposed to get into that thing? And how do I move around?”
“I hadn’t really thought about that,” Lexi admitted. “Maybe you can climb up a ladder in the back? And we can carry you inside?”
“Forklift?” Jenna teased. “We could just hoist you off the back of Sadie’s dad’s pickup truck.”
•••
It was clear that the cupcake club needed some expert advice. So the next evening, the girls all gathered in Mr. Harris’s home workshop.
“My dad has some great ideas,” Sadie said proudly. “Tell them!”
“I think we can do a frame for the skirt out of chicken wire and spray foam filler,” he explained. “How many cupcakes were you thinking?”
“Three hundred…give or take a few,” Lexi replied. “That should cover all sides of the skirt.”
Delaney’s eyes grew wide. “Three hundred cupcakes? That’s gonna weigh a ton!”
“Which is why your skirt will have wheels,” Mr. Harris continued. “So you can roll around the room.”
“Did I happen to mention I am a total klutz on roller skates, skateboards, bikes, or anything involving wheels?” Delaney sighed.
“It’s true,” Kylie agreed. “We made go-carts at Camp Chicopee, and Delaney crashed hers right into the lake.”
“It’ll look like you’re magically gliding around the room,” Sadie assured Delaney. “Maybe we can even add some lights.”
Mr. Harris examined his blueprint. “I think I could run some fiber-optic cable through the skirt frame—give it a little twinkle.”
Delaney wasn’t quite sure—but there was no time to waste. They had three days to bake, decorate, sew, and construct the entire costume. Kylie read her mind.
“It’ll be awesome, Laney,” she said, giving her friend a hug. “You just practice your song and your wand waving, and leave everything else to us.”
Without a real Fairy Godmother to make it come together, Delaney wasn’t sure the costume would be ready in time for Milly’s birthday. But she crossed her fingers…and hoped for the best!
Delaney looked in the mirror and admired her reflection. The purple hooded cape Jenna’s mom had made her was amazing! It was tied with a huge pink bow and beaded with clear sequins so that it shimmered as she waved her arms in the air. She’d even sprinkled flour in her hair to look like a real fairy godmother—white hair and all!
“Can I sneak a peek pre-performance?” her mom said, poking her head into the bedroom.
“Whaddaya think?” Delaney asked. “Does it scream ‘Fairy Godmother’?”
Mrs. Noonan motioned for her to do a twirl. “I think it’s gorgeous. But aren’t you missing something?” She pointed to Delaney’s legs, which were bare—except for a pair of frayed denim shorts and high-top purple sneakers. “I’ve never seen a Fairy Godmother in shorts and Nikes.”
“I haven’t seen the skirt yet,” Delaney said. “I’m kind of scared to.”
Her mom planted a kiss on her forehead. “I’m sure it’ll be great—and you’ll be a fabulous Fairy Godmother. Milly will love it.”
Her tummy gave a kick. “Ooh! Did you feel that? The baby likes your look!”
Delaney rolled her eyes. “The baby can’t see through your belly,” she said. “But thanks Baby Noonan for the thumbs-up.”
Her mom sat down on Delaney’s bed. It was getting harder and harder for her to stand for too long. The baby was growing like crazy! “So, are you feeling a little better about the whole baby situation?” she asked Delaney. “I want you to be happy, honey.”
“I am,” Delaney said. “I guess at first I was j
ust scared and kind of in shock. I really didn’t know what kind of a big sister I’d be.”
Her mom placed Delaney’s hand on her belly. “And you know now?” she asked.
“I think I can handle it,” Delaney replied. “Thanks to Silly Milly and all the PLC girls showing me how.”
Her mom nodded. “I always knew you could. And I know you’re going to be such a great help to me when the baby comes.”
Delaney smiled. “Do you kind of wish you didn’t have to wait two more months to meet Baby Noonan?”
Her mom picked up the purple glittery wand that was resting on Delaney’s bed. “It would be so much easier if a fairy godmother could just wave this and I could skip the entire labor and delivery!”
Delaney could tell that her mom was nervous. “It’ll be okay,” she said, hugging her. “You did a pretty good job with me.”
Mrs. Noonan playfully tapped Delaney on the head with the wand. “I certainly did. Now you’d better get to Milly’s party before I turn you into a pumpkin!”
•••
When Mr. Harris pulled up in his truck, Kylie was already in the back and Sadie was seated up front next to her dad. “We’re meeting Jenna and Lexi at the party,” she explained. “There kind of wasn’t enough room for everyone and the skirt.”
She motioned to the back of the truck where there appeared to be a huge mountain covered in purple cupcakes. “Whaddaya think of your costume, Laney?” Sadie asked.
Mr. Harris had molded chicken wire into a dome and stuffed it with newspaper and spray foam, then painted it over with lavender paint. The cupcakes were tacked to the hardened foam with toothpicks. Delaney stared. The skirt looked like the piñata she had made for her Spanish class project out of papier-mâché—only about ten times the size. And there was no candy going in it—she was the filling!
“It’s huge!” she gasped. “Seriously! You guys got carried away!”
“You did say you wanted to give Milly a birthday she’d never forget,” Kylie reminded her. “So we went a little over the top.”
“Dad did a really great job,” Sadie boasted. “You just climb on in there, stand on the platform, give a little kick, and roll around. I tried it out and it works perfectly.”
