by Coco Simon
Our business, the Cupcake Club, bakes and sells custom cupcakes for all kinds of events. Along with Mia and Katie, Emma and I have built a pretty good business of baking, with regular clients and signature recipes and great reviews on our website. PTA meetings and things like that are good venues for us, because there are lots of local parents all in one place, so we get to wow them with our skills and hopefully get new business out of some of them. It’s a great way to earn some money and it’s a ton of fun, too.
I am the business-minded brain of the group—the CEO. I plan our schedules, do the purchasing and manage the inventory, work out pricing—stuff like that. I realize it’s funny that I am great at plans and schedules for work and for school, but terrible at it socially. It’s just the way I am. My mom always says, you can’t be great at everything, so be great at the most important things. That’s what I try to do.
Anyway, during our meeting yesterday, all four of us had different ideas. Some of us wanted to go plain and basic, others wanted to really go wild and show what we were capable of. Two of us felt it was all about how great the cupcakes would look, while one said it was all about how they would taste, and the fourth member couldn’t decide which was more important.
“All I know is, we need something really great because it’s an ideal marketing opportunity for us. All those parents in one place . . . Those are our customers! Think of the birthday parties they organize, never mind book clubs and baby showers!” I said now to Emma.
Emma agreed. “I know, I know. I don’t know why that turned into such a big fight. Mia and Katie were pretty upset.”
“Well, they did seem better today, but that’s probably because none of us brought it up.”
Emma nodded. “We’ll need to figure it out soon.”
“A stitch in time saves nine,” I agreed soberly.
Later, when Emma was leaving, she said, “Hey, don’t forget Mia and Katie are around next weekend . . . at least for part of it. They’ll have something fun going on for sure. Call them!”
“Right,” I said. “Will do.” But, in fact, I probably wouldn’t. Even though I spend a lot of time with Mia and Katie, it’s kind of like our foursome is a combination of two pairs: Mia and Katie are one, and Emma and I are the other. All together, the four of us are a great group, and two by two, we are good pairs. But I have never really hung out with just Mia or just Katie, and I don’t really ever hang out with them without Emma. It’s just the way it works out. I would almost be kind of nervous to hang out with them without Emma. I know it sounds nuts, but that’s just how I feel. Anyway, I still had weird feelings about them since the PTA fight. I figured I’d be laying low for a while.
As soon as I shut the door after Emma, I called up to my mom, “Mom! Can you call Grandma to see if I can go stay with her this week?”
Then I ran to my desk and sent out an e-mail asking the Cupcakers to meet next Sunday to brainstorm some ideas for the PTA meeting. It was chicken of me to do it via e-mail and to put it off for another week, but whatever. At least it was being addressed. Phew.
Anyway, that’s how it came to be Thursday morning and how I was putting my toothbrush into my already-packed overnight bag to go to my grandma’s house. My granddad Jim was picking me up at nine, and I was really looking forward to my two nights at their house. (Jim is actually my stepgranddad, but he’s the only one I’ve ever known.) Tonight we would have a feast and watch scary movies and eat popcorn and my grandma’s caramel brownies. Tomorrow we’re going to go on a long hike around the property and then to see the new kittens in the barn and lots of other fun stuff. My grandma is a great cook, and she isn’t stingy with the butter or sugar the way my health-nut mom is. I knew I’d be eating well and sleeping well and getting lots of personal attention at the farmhouse, since Dylan was staying home so that she could go to the city with friends for the day. (She always has major plans, way in advance.) It was going to be great.
I heard the phone ring as I started down the stairs and kind of absentmindedly noticed it was a little early for the phone to ring. When I got to the kitchen, my mom was speaking urgently and had one hand gripping the countertop so hard, her knuckles were white.
My mom spoke anxiously into the phone. “Is she going to be okay? What did the doctor say it was?” She looked at me but didn’t really register my presence. I dropped my bag to the floor. Who was she talking about?
“How long are they keeping her?”
Pause.
“Can we come out and help you?”
Dylan walked in and stood next to me, and we watched my mom talk on the phone.
Who? mouthed Dylan.
My mom stared blankly at us.
“Okay, well, please call me as soon as she comes back, and I can drive out there later this morning. Thanks so much, Jim. Give her a huge hug from us.”
Dylan and I looked at each other in shock. Grandma?
Our mom hung up the phone and sat heavily at the kitchen table.
“Mom?” I asked quietly.
She looked up, and her eyes were teary. “It’s fine. It just caught me off guard. Sorry. It’s Grandma, but they think she’s going to be okay. She fell down the stairs in the basement and bumped her head, so they took her to the hospital to make sure she was okay.”
“Oh!” My hand flew to my mouth.
My mom smiled. “Well, you know Grandma can be a little clumsy. Jim said it could have been a lot worse, and she’s in very good hands. They really think she’s going to be fine. They’re keeping her at the hospital for observation, just to be safe. She’ll just need to rest and take it easy for a few days.”
“That’s scary, Mom,” said Dylan, reaching over to rub my mom’s back. I wished I’d thought of that.
“Poor Grandma!” I said. “You’re going to see her later?”
My mom nodded. “Jim said I didn’t need to come, but I hate to think of him out there at the hospital all alone. I’ll go into work for a bit this morning, then head straight out and probably spend the night at the house. And you girls can—Oh, Lexi! I just realized! It was your special trip today. I’m so sorry, honey!” She got up to give me a hug.
“That’s okay,” I said into her shoulder. “Do you want me to come with you to the hospital, anyway?”
She let go and smoothed back my hair. “No, but thank you. I think I’d better go alone. Maybe Dad could take you girls out for a treat tonight, since you’re missing your trip, Lexi.”
I nodded. “Okay. And maybe we could watch a movie.”
“Sure,” she said. She picked up her cell phone to look at her day’s schedule and then she called my dad to tell him the new plan.
Dylan and I looked at each other. “Well . . . ,” she said.
“I’m going to just do my homework today,” I said. I could see her relief.
“Okay, are you sure?” Dylan asked.
“Totally,” I said. Nobody wants to go where they’re not welcome.
“Okay.”
And that was that.
Coco Simon always dreamed of opening a cupcake bakery but was afraid she would eat all of the profits. When she’s not daydreaming about cupcakes, Coco edits children’s books and has written close to one hundred books for children, tweens, and young adults, which is a lot less than the number of cupcakes she’s eaten. Cupcake Diaries is the first time Coco has mixed her love of cupcakes with writing.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON SPOTLIGHT
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2013 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the righ
t of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Text by Elizabeth Doyle Carey
Chapter header illustrations by Emmy Reis
Designed by Laura Roode
ISBN 978-1-4424-7481-9 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4424-7488-8 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4424-7489-5 (eBook)
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2013939387
