by Anna Wilson
‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t,’ Mads said, grinning. Then she bounced over to her idol, barely able to contain her excitement. It was so good to see her happy again and to know we were still friends.
‘Well done, Ellie.’ Ted had been hovering just behind Mads. I blushed: I had not thought to thank him yet.
‘I couldn’t have done this without you, Ted,’ I started. ‘You’re the Top Baker really. I should have told everyone how much you helped me.’
‘No, you’re the one who did it. And no thanks to my sister, or so I hear. Sam just told me about the instructions going missing, and I found these under Georgie’s work station.’ He held out my crumpled crib sheets. ‘I’m so sorry, Ellie. I hope we can still be friends?’
I bit my lip, then before I could think about it, I leaned forward and gave Ted a kiss on the cheek.
‘I’ll take that as a yes then,’ he said with a sheepish grin.
I looked over to check if Mads had seen. She was too busy giggling and flirting with Larry, thank goodness. My heart skipped a beat as I wondered if she would have second thoughts about us being mates again if she had seen me kiss Ted.
Dad was gesturing to me to come over and join them.
‘Charlie’s got one more surprise for you, Ellie,’ said Dad. He nodded to my brother who ran out of the Tepee and reappeared moments later with a wicker basket.
‘This is why Dad wanted to park so close,’ said Charlie. ‘Luckily he slept all the way here, so you had no idea he was in the car with us.’
‘Miaow!’ came a sorrowful sound, then a little black and white face peeped out of the top.
‘You haven’t . . . you have!’ I cried. I picked Kitkat up from the basket and cradled him in my arms.
‘EVERYONE!’ Charlie shouted. ‘You have to meet the real star of The Cake Off – Kitkat!’
‘We thought he should come and share in the glory, seeing as he was so inspirational,’ said Dad.
‘Is someone going to explain why there is a live cat in the Tepee?’ asked Pete.
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’ said Sam, stroking Kitkat’s head. ‘This little fella is the icing on the cake!’
‘Thanks for bringing him, Charlie,’ I said, as everyone cooed over my naughty little kitten. ‘In fact, I never thought I would say this, but thanks for making sure I got a kitten for my birthday, too. If it wasn’t for Kitkat, I’m sure Ted wouldn’t have come up with the idea for the Show Piece.’
‘That’s OK,’ said Charlie. He took Kitkat from me and set him on one of the work surfaces. ‘It’s cool that he got on TV, too isn’t it? Even if it was only the cake version!’
I sighed and shook my head. ‘You and your TV obsession. By the way, I hope you’re not too jealous that I got to go on TV. It’s always been your ambition, after all.’
Charlie screwed his nose up. ‘Nah. I don’t care,’ he said. ‘I had over one thousand hits on my website last night,’ he added. ‘Who needs TV when you have the worldwide web?’
I ruffled his hair. ‘You’re all right sometimes, little bro,’ I said.
‘Everything good, Ells?’ said Mads, coming over with Larry. Sid and Sam joined us, too.
‘What do you think?’ I said, laughing. ‘I said “I just wish something exciting would happen to me,” didn’t I? I guess I got what I wished for! Thanks to my crazy brother and my mad-as-a-hatter best mate.’
‘And your boyfriend,’ said Mads, nudging Ted and winking.
I blushed. Ted grinned and put his arm around me.
‘Actually, I think the prize should really go to Kitkat,’ I said, trying to change the subject.
‘You can’t say fairer than that!’ agreed Sid. ‘In fact from now on, I declare this episode shall be known as “The Great Kitten Cake Off”.’
‘Brilliant!’ agreed Sam.
‘Hey, where is that cheeky kitten anyway?’ asked Larry.
‘He was right here a moment ago,’ replied Charlie, spinning round to look for Kitkat.
‘Miaooow!’
‘Where is that coming from?’ asked Mads.
‘Oh no!’ I cried. Kitkat’s pirate-patch face was peeking out of my Show Piece basket. He was licking the ear of his fondant-icing kitten twin and was purring happily. ‘Kitkat!’ I wailed. ‘Not again!’
Anna Wilson lives in Bradford on Avon with her husband, two children, two cats, one dog and five chickens. She is the author of many young-fiction novels published by Macmillan Children’s Books – and while many of them have been about pets, this is the first to feature cake-obsessed kittens.
Books by Anna Wilson
The Poodle Problem
The Dotty Dalmatian
The Smug Pug
Thee Puppy Plan
Pup Idol
Puppy Power
Puppy Party
Kitten Kaboodle
Kitten Smitten
Kitten Cupid
Monkey Business
Monkey Madness
I’m a Chicken, Get Me Out of Here!
The Great Kitten Cake Off
And for older readers
Summer’s Shadow
www.annawilson.co.uk
First published 2014 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2014 by Macmillan Children’s Books
a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-7183-3
Text copyright © Anna Wilson 2014
Illustrations copyright © Andy Rowland 2014
Cover illustration by Andy Rowland
The right of Anna Wilson and Andy Rowland to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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