Mia's Boiling Point

by Coco Simon

  After school, I waited outside the bus for Olivia, so we could go to my house like we planned. I waited until every single person got on the bus, but there was no sign of Olivia anywhere. Then when the bus driver said, “Time to go, Mia,” I had no choice but to get on the bus.

  Katie gave me a quizzical look.

  “Olivia was supposed to take the bus with us,” I explained. “But I don’t see her.”

  “Maybe because she’s with them,” she said, pointing out the window, and I looked over her shoulder to see Olivia walking down the street with Callie, Maggie, and Bella.

  “Oh,” was all I said, because I wasn’t sure what to say. I felt even more hurt than I did at lunch.

  Then I waited to hear what Katie would say, because she could have said something like, “Wow, she dumped you” or something like that. But Katie is too nice to say something like that. So she said, “Maybe she just forgot.”

  “Yeah,” I said, thinking of the forty-one dollars. “She forgets a lot of things.”

  I was starting to think Olivia might not be a silver friend or even a bronze friend. And then I got even madder at her later, when I was doing my homework and Mom came home from a meeting in the city.

  “Mia, you’re not going to believe this,” Mom said after she bent down to give me a kiss on the head. “I was walking past the Kara Karen store, and they’re having a forty-percent off sale this weekend! I think you have enough to pay for your half now, don’t you? I’ll take you on Sunday.”

  I quickly did the math in my head. I definitely had enough . . . except for the fact that I had laid out that money for Olivia’s locker.

  “Well, kind of,” I said. “I used part of my money to buy stuff when I redecorated Olivia’s locker. She said she would pay me back, but she keeps forgetting.”

  Mom shook her head. “Mia, that’s not right,” she said. “It was very nice of you to help out your new friend, but she needs to pay you back.”

  “I asked her yesterday,” I said.

  “Then ask her again,” Mom said firmly.

  I cringed at the thought, but I knew Mom was right.

  “You know, Mia, I have some concerns about Olivia,” Mom said, sitting down next to me. “This business of forgetting to pay you back, when she knows how much you want those shoes. She doesn’t seem as . . . well, as nice as your other friends.”

  For once, I didn’t have the heart to defend Olivia. Mom was right.

  “I know,” I said. “It’s just . . . She was new, and I didn’t want her to feel weird or alone or anything.”

  “And that’s one thing I love about you, Mia,” Mom said. “You have such a good heart. Helping out Olivia was the right thing to do. But if she’s not being a good friend to you, then you don’t have to remain friends with her.”

  I thought about Olivia ditching me for the BFC today. “She might have already found some other friends, anyway,” I told her.

  I didn’t know what felt worse—realizing I might have lost a new friend or knowing that the Kara Karen shoes were in my grasp, but I couldn’t get them. I decided to text Olivia again that night.

  What happened after school?

  Oh no! Totally spaced. Callie asked me to walk home with BFC, she replied.

  I noticed that the word “sorry” was completely absent from her text.

  So those shoes I want are on sale, I typed. Can u pls bring in the $ 2mrw?

  K, Olivia texted back, and she didn’t say anything else.

  The next morning I just asked Olivia outright, “So, do you have the money?”

  She immediately got defensive. “Come on, Mia, chill out! I’ve got a lot on my mind, you know? I’ll bring it on Saturday.”

  “That would be good,” I said. “Because I need the money on Sunday.”

  “Okay, okay,” Olivia said, acting really dramatic about it. “It’s not like I borrowed a million dollars or anything.”

  I couldn’t wait for the day to be over, so I could go to Katie’s and make cupcakes. But instead of going quietly, the day dragged on. And then gym was a nightmare.

  We have, like, more than thirty kids in our gym class, and Ms. Chen divides us into two groups to play volleyball at the two nets set up in the gym. Then she picks two people from each group to pick team members (four teams, two nets), so there’s eight people on a team.

  Anyway, on Friday I was in a group with all of my Cupcake Club friends, as well as Olivia and Maggie and Bella. Ms. Chen picked Olivia and Wes Kinney to be captains.

  Olivia got to pick first, and she picked me. Then she picked Maggie and Bella next, and then some boys. Emma and Alexis got picked for Wes’s team. And then it came down to two people: Katie and Jacob Lobel, who’s the shortest kid in our whole class.

  It was Olivia’s turn, and I was sure she was going to pick Katie. But instead she pointed to Jacob.

  “I’ll take Jacob,” she said.

  I couldn’t believe it. Then Wes made it worse, because he groaned and said, “Oh, great, we’re stuck with Katie!” On our team, Maggie and Bella started to crack up.

  I was really angry this time.

  “Why did you do that?” I asked, pulling Olivia aside. “Katie’s our friend. You should have picked her!”

  Olivia shrugged. “I’m the captain. I’m supposed to pick the best players. We want to win, don’t we?”

  It was another perfectly reasonable-sounding Olivia excuse. Except this time I wasn’t buying it.

  “Some things are more important than winning,” I said, and then I walked away.

  CHAPTER 18

  The Real Olivia

  I was so relieved when school was over on Friday and we all headed over to Katie’s for some cupcake baking. Her mom ordered pizzas, we cranked up the oven and the music on my iPod, and then we got down to the business of cupcake baking.

  The whole process was kind of complicated because both kinds of cupcakes were filled with different things. First, we baked seven dozen vanilla cupcakes. Even though the basketball and swim-team cupcakes were different, they both started with plain vanilla cupcakes. At first we were going to make six dozen, but we agreed it’s always good to make a few extra. While they cooled, we ate our pizza and talked.

  I didn’t want things to be tense between me and Katie anymore, so I just jumped right in.

  “So, that wasn’t nice what Olivia did in gym today,” I said.

  Katie shrugged. “That’s all right. I’m used to being picked last.”

  “Well, I thought it was wrong, and I told her so,” I said, because I wanted Katie to know. She smiled.

  “Thanks, Mia.”

  “Anyway, it didn’t matter because we beat you guys, anyway,” Alexis pointed out. “So maybe Olivia’s team-picking strategies aren’t so great.”

  “Yeah, you kicked our butts,” I admitted, because it was true.

  “Do you think she’ll still come to the party tomorrow?” Emma wondered.

  “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I’ll try texting her later. I know she’s been hanging with the BFC, but she really wanted to come.”

  When we finished our pizza, it was time to fill the cupcakes. Katie and Emma made some instant vanilla pudding from a box to fill the swim-team cupcakes. Alexis and I got to work on filling three dozen of the cupcakes with jelly. We used Katie’s cupcake injector, which is kind of like the cupcake plunger she bought, but instead of removing the cake, you fill the injector with jelly or whatever, and then you stick it into the cupcake and squirt the jelly right into the middle.

  It’s kind of messy, and pretty soon, Alexis and I were laughing and getting jelly all over the place.

  “Hey, you’re supposed to fill cupcakes with it, not paint with it!” Katie teased.

  “Oh yeah, well, let’s see how well you guys do with the pudding,” I teased back.

  Katie held up the bowl to show me the vanilla pudding inside. “So far, no spills,” she said.

  Looking at the pudding gave me an idea. “Oh my g
osh, we should totally dye the pudding blue!” I cried. “Then when you bite into it, the pudding will kind of look like water.”

  “Nice! Plus, it will be a real surprise,” Emma agreed.

  Katie picked up a tube of gel coloring. “Blue it is,” she said, and she added some drops and stirred until the pudding was a perfect shade of swimming-pool blue.

  After both kinds of cupcakes were filled, we put peanut-butter frosting on the jelly ones and piped blue frosting on the pudding ones to look like waves.

  “Those peanut-butter cupcakes will look even better with the basketballs,” I said.

  Alexis slapped her forehead. “Oh my gosh, the basketballs!” she said. “We still need to make them.”

  I looked up at the clock, and it was already eight. “We can do them in an hour, I promise.”

  Emma had picked up some plastic chocolate molds with small circles. We melted orange-colored chocolate pieces in the microwave, poured them into the molds, and then put the molds in the freezer until the chocolate got firm. Then we popped them out and used a toothpick dipped in dark chocolate to draw dark lines on each piece to look like a basketball.

  “We can only do one side at a time,” I realized as we carefully placed the chocolate pieces on a cookie sheet. “Otherwise, the lines on the other half will get smooshed.”

  Katie yawned. “Maybe we should do the other sides tomorrow.”

  We all agreed. “Definitely,” I said. “That way the lines can set overnight.”

  The next day, Mom drove me to Katie’s, so I could help her pack up the car with all our cupcakes, plus the chocolate basketballs. When we got to the Taylors’ house, Alexis was already there, and Emma’s mom and dad were running around, getting everything ready. As soon as Katie and I placed the cupcake carriers onto the kitchen table, Matt walked up and lifted the lid.

  “Dibs on the first cupcake!” he said, reaching for one.

  Emma slapped his hand. “Not yet, Matt. Wait until the party starts.”

  “But it’s my birthday,” Matt argued. “I get special tasting rights.”

  Then Sam came into the kitchen. He looks kind of like Matt, except taller, and he was wearing his swim-team T-shirt.

  “Matt’s right,” Sam said. “Come on, birthday rights.”

  It’s easy to argue with Matt, but Katie and I both have a little crush on Sam. We looked at each other, and then at Emma.

  She sighed. “Okay. One each.”

  I handed Matt a P-B-and-J cupcake. “It’s not really done yet. It’s going to have a basketball on top.”

  Matt took a big bite. “Awesome! Jelly explosion.”

  “I’ve got pudding in mine,” Sam said. “I bet that was your idea, right, Katie? You’re cupcake geniuses.”

  Katie turned bright red. “It was Mia’s idea to make the pudding blue.”

  “All right, enough!” Emma yelled. “Out of the kitchen! We’ve got work to do.”

  We got busy finishing the chocolate basketballs, and we were almost finished when Mrs. Taylor ran into the kitchen. A few strands of hair had come loose from her ponytail, and she looked frazzled.

  “Girls, I’m setting out all the food on the dining room table, and it’s getting pretty crowded,” she said. “So maybe you could just put out one tray of each kind of cupcake to start and keep them filled during the party.”

  Alexis nodded. “No problem, Mrs. Taylor. We’ve got it under control.”

  Emma’s mom gave us a grateful smile and then raced out of the kitchen.

  We had the cupcakes set up in about an hour, and then we pitched in and helped Emma’s mom and dad set up the folding chairs in the backyard. It was a slightly chilly day, but still sunny and warm enough to be outside.

  “So, it looks like Olivia’s not coming after all,” Alexis remarked as we positioned the chairs around a large table.

  “I guess not,” I said. “She never answered the text I sent last night.”

  Then a football came sailing out of the sky and knocked over one of the chairs. We looked up to see a small army of teenage boys walking up the Taylors’ driveway and into the backyard.

  “Yo! Where’s the party?” one of them yelled.

  “Quick! Let’s retreat to the kitchen!” Emma suggested, and we followed her without question. Mrs. Taylor whizzed by us.

  “What was I thinking? Two parties at once?” she asked no one in particular.

  Then we heard a knock on Emma’s back door.

  “Hello? Emma?”

  It was Olivia! Emma went to answer the door, and Olivia walked in.

  “Your dad said you girls were in here,” she said. “I hope I’m not too late.”

  None of us said anything right away, because we were all sort of stunned by Olivia’s outfit. We were all dressed in jeans and T-shirts or sporty shirts, to go with the sports team theme. But Olivia had completely ignored my advice and was dressed up like she was going to a dance or something. She had on a black bubble skirt with pink polka dots, a black top with lace down the front, tights, and heels.

  Then I noticed—they weren’t just any heels. They were my heels! Olivia was wearing the Kara Karen shoes!

  “The shoes!” I blurted out, pointing.

  “Aren’t they fabulous?” Olivia asked, lifting up a foot so we could all see.

  “Yes, I know they’re fabulous, because I’m the one who told you about them,” I said. “When did you get them?”

  “Well, my dad took me into the city last night, and wouldn’t you believe it, they were on sale! I couldn’t resist,” Olivia said.

  I didn’t know whether to scream or cry. I was sure Olivia had used the forty-one dollars she owed me to get those shoes. Alexis must have noticed the look on my face, and she quickly handed Olivia a tray of P-B-and-J cupcakes.

  “Olivia, since you’re here to help, would you mind seeing if the cupcake tray in the dining room needs to be refilled?” she asked.

  Olivia made a face and stepped back. “I don’t want to get icing all over my new shirt!” she said. “You guys are better dressed for that than I am. Besides, these shoes are really hard to walk in. The toes are so pointy!”

  It was all I could do to keep from screaming.

  Katie took the tray from Alexis. “I’ll do it. The dining room is full of boys. I bet they’ve emptied both trays by now.”

  “Boys?” Olivia asked. She walked (or wobbled, is more like it) over to the doorway and peeked inside the dining room. Then she turned around and took the plate from Katie.

  “That’s okay, I’ll do it,” she said. “I’ll just be extra careful.”

  She put one hand on her hip and walked into the dining room. We headed in after her to watch the scene unfold. Olivia strolled right up to Matt and Sam. They were talking with their friends and didn’t notice her. Olivia began to twirl her hair.

  “I heard you boys needed some more cupcakes,” she said.

  “Oh my goodness!” Alexis cried, turning to us. “Do you know what we’re seeing? The rise of Sydney the Second!”

  Katie, Emma, and I gasped. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before.

  “Well, she’s not exactly like Sydney,” Katie said. “But they do have some things in common.”

  “They’re both mean,” Alexis said.

  “And boy crazy,” Emma added.

  “And underhanded,” I said, thinking of how Olivia bought the shoes. “And self-absorbed.”

  It was like I was seeing Olivia clearly for the first time. Every time she tried to make me feel sorry for her, she was just manipulating me. Olivia wasn’t a silver friend or even a bronze friend. She was a totally fake, plastic friend.

  Olivia pranced over with an empty tray. “Emma, your brothers are so adorable! They need more cupcakes. Can you get me a plate so I can bring them some more?”

  “You can get them yourself, Olivia,” Emma said. “They’re on the kitchen table.”

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “Well, I didn’t know I’d be, like, part of the wait
staff!” she huffed, and marched into the kitchen.

  “What does she thinking ‘helping’ means?” Alexis muttered.

  Olivia stomped back out with an annoyed look on her face. She still had one hand on her hip and was holding the tray on the other hand. She started wandering around and she must have been looking for Sam, but I had seen him take his plate of food outside.

  Then all of a sudden . . . Blam! Olivia lost her balance in the shoes and fell forward. Matt was nearby, and he sprinted forward and grabbed her arm, keeping her from hitting the floor. But the cupcakes went flying everywhere, and a bunch of them hit Olivia. She had a blob of blue icing on her forehead, and her new shirt was streaked with peanut-butter frosting.

  CHAPTER 19

  The Cupcaketeers: Together Again

  Oh nooooo!” Olivia wailed.

  There was a big commotion as the boys scraped cupcakes off their jeans and picked up the fallen cupcakes from the floor. Then Matt yelled out, “Hey, it’s not a party until somebody smashes a cupcake!”

  Everybody started laughing, and Olivia’s face turned red. She spun around and pointed at Katie.

  “Hey, Silly Arms, you really need to control yourself!” she yelled.

  The room got quiet, and Katie turned pale. I quickly stepped in.

  “Olivia, Katie wasn’t anywhere near you,” I said. “You tripped over your pointy shoes. And calling Katie names is not cool.”

  Olivia looked furious. She wiped icing off her shirt. “I don’t get this club, Mia. I mean, you’re just waitresses. This is not cool. Or fun. I’d rather hang out at the mall with the BFCs.”

  “No one is stopping you,” I said evenly, and Olivia started to storm out with her head held high.

  “Say, Olivia, when you have a chance, I’d really like that money you owe me,” I called after her.

  Olivia stopped and then turned around.

  “You know, for all the stuff I bought when I decorated your locker. So I could buy the shoes,” I said, pointing to her feet. “Those shoes I showed you. I think it’s so great that we both have the same taste in decorating and fashion, don’t you?”