The Cupcake Diaries Collection: Katie and the Cupcake Cure; Mia in the Mix; Emma on Thin Icing; Alexis and the Perfect Recipe

by Simon, Coco

  CHAPTER 11

  I Finally Get It

  A few minutes later, Mom knocked on my door.

  “Come in,” I said.

  I quickly wiped away my tears and sat up as Mom walked in.

  “Mia, can we talk?” Mom asked. “I understand that you’re upset. Honestly I do. I also know that there’s a lot more than a pink shirt that’s bothering you.”

  I nodded. “Living here is hard sometimes.”

  “I know it’s a big change,” Mom said. “For all of us, really. But Eddie and I are trying really hard to make it good for you here. And you know I wanted to move away from Manhattan even before I met Eddie. I love Manhattan, but it’s too fast there. I needed to slow down, you know?”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  “And I thought you liked Eddie?” Mom asked. “You were the one who told me I should keep dating him.”

  I realized that was true. When Mom first introduced me to Eddie, I thought he was supernice. He still is.

  “I do like him,” I said. “But I miss Manhattan. I miss my friends. I miss being close to Dad.”

  I started to cry again. I couldn’t help it. It was like the floodgates had opened and everything kept pouring out.

  “I feel like an alien here sometimes. Even my room doesn’t feel like me—I mean look at this room!” I said.

  Mom was quiet for a minute and looked around my room. It was like she was looking at it for the first time.

  “I guess I’ve been so busy lately I hadn’t noticed. I’m sorry,” Mom said. “You’re right, this room is kind of depressing. Wow, look at that wallpaper. . . . I bet Eddie picked it out.”

  We both started to laugh. Mom hugged me and we sat there laughing about the room for a bit.

  “Here’s the thing,” she said finally. “I love Eddie, and I think being here is a good place for us. But I’ll do what I can to make things easier, okay? For example, I’ll get you your own laundry basket with your name on it. Then you can do your own laundry just the way you like it. And we’ll redo your room over the next few weeks.”

  “That sounds good,” I said.

  “And maybe when I have meetings in the city in the afternoons, you can come along,” Mom said. “You could have dinner with your dad or see your friends. But only if you have little or no homework!”

  “Oh yes, yes! Thanks, Mom!” I squealed with delight.

  Mom kissed me on the head. “I love you, Mia.”

  “I love you too, Mom.”

  “And Mia?” Mom said. “It’s a little hard for Dan, too. Just try to remember that, okay?”

  I thought about Dan watching us in the kitchen. It was just Dan and Eddie before we moved in. Just like it was just Mom and me before.

  “Okay,” I said.

  I felt better after that. But I had one more thing to worry about. I would have to tell Katie, Alexis, and Emma that I wasn’t eating lunch with them. And I really did not want to do that. Of course, I had to do it on a Monday.

  I tried to tell Katie on the bus ride, but I chickened out. Then I tried to tell Alexis in the hallway, but I chickened out again.

  Then it was time for lunch. I had no choice. I had to tell them. I walked up to our usual table before Alexis and Emma got in the lunch line.

  “Hey,” I said. “Um, listen, guys, today I’m sitting with Sydney and Callie and those guys. Just for today.”

  A hurt look crossed Katie’s face, and I felt terrible.

  “You mean the PGC?” Alexis asked. “Why on earth would you sit with them?”

  “It’s just—we keep meeting at the mall, and we like to talk about fashion and stuff,” I said. “They invited me to eat with them today, and I didn’t want to be rude or anything.”

  “If you want to talk about sweaters and skirts for forty minutes, then be my guest,” Alexis said.

  “Yeah, have fun,” Emma said.

  “It’s cool,” Katie said, but I could tell it was definitely not cool with her.

  “Okay then. See you in English class,” I said.

  When I got to the PGC table, there was an empty seat between Callie and Maggie. I sat down.

  “So, did the cupcake crew give you clearance to sit with us?” Sydney asked.

  “It’s not like that,” I said. “I mean, I can sit where I want.”

  “I’m glad you’re sitting with us,” Callie said. “You know, my sister, Jenna, has known your stepbrother since kindergarten. She says he’s really cute and nice.”

  “She must be confusing him with someone else,” I said. “I mean, I guess he’s cute. And he can be nice sometimes. But mostly he’s seriously annoying.”

  “So is Jenna,” Callie said. “No wonder they get along!”

  Sydney rolled her eyes. “I’m an only child, thank goodness!”

  “You can have my little sisters if you want,” Maggie chimed in. “They drive me crazy!”

  “I wouldn’t mind having a brother or a sister,” Bella said. “Sometimes it can be really lonely being an only child.”

  “Bella, you have said some ridiculous things before, but that might be the most ridiculous,” Sydney told her, and I quickly looked at Bella. Were her feelings hurt?

  But it didn’t seem to faze her. “One day someone will recognize the beauty of my lonely soul,” Bella said. “Until then, I will suffer alone.”

  Callie laughed. “Bella, you need to go to drama school, seriously.”

  “So, did anyone else take Mrs. Moore’s quiz today?” Maggie asked. “It was superhard, I swear!”

  “Oh, great,” Callie moaned. “Not another one!”

  “I’ve got a better one,” Sydney said. “Did anyone see that outfit Sophie’s wearing today? A plaid skirt and a top with a matching plaid collar? It looks like she’s wearing a school uniform or something.”

  I happen to like Sophie a lot, so I wasn’t happy with Sydney’s comment.

  “I loved the skirt,” I said. “Maybe the top isn’t a great match, but she’s got the right idea.”

  “Yeah,” Callie agreed. “She definitely gets points for that skirt. It’s adorable.”

  Sydney just rolled her eyes.

  The rest of the lunch went kind of like that. Maggie chattered on a mile a minute. Bella occasionally said something weird and dramatic. Sydney made slightly mean comments, and Callie and I had a completely normal conversation.

  I wonder what Callie’s doing with the rest of these girls? I found myself thinking. She’s really friendly and cool.

  Then it hit me. That’s what Katie had been upset about since the first day of school. I tried to imagine if Ava stopped hanging out with me and hung out with other girls instead. It would be totally weird, and I wouldn’t like it one bit. And now here I was doing kind of the same thing Callie had.

  Katie wasn’t trying to be the friendship police. She just didn’t want to lose another friend. (You probably figured that out already, but what can I say? I really didn’t get it until just then.)

  When the bell rang, I walked up to Katie as she was leaving the cafeteria.

  “How was your lunch?” she asked, and I noticed that she wasn’t looking directly at me.

  “Fine,” I said. “But you know, it wasn’t a permanent thing or anything. Tomorrow it’s back to normal.”

  “Cool,” Katie said.

  I’m not sure if that made her feel any better, but I hope it did. Katie was one of the nicest things about Park Street School, and I didn’t want to lose her as a friend.

  CHAPTER 12

  Not a Good Mix

  At dinner that night it was Mom, Eddie, Dan, and me all at the same time. That doesn’t happen a lot because of Eddie’s work or Mom’s meetings or Dan’s basketball. I still felt a little bad about my freak-out in front of Eddie, but he hadn’t said anything to me about it.

  Eddie, as usual, was in a happy mood.

  “Mmm, this is delicious, Sara,” he said, swallowing a bite of food. “What is this called again?”

  “Chicken picca
ta,” Mom replied. “Piccata means ‘larded’ in Italian but there’s no lard in this, just a sauce of butter and lemon juice.”

  “What are these little hard round things?” Dan asked.

  “Capers,” Mom said. “It’s a pickled flower bud.”

  “They taste kind of weird,” Dan said. “But the chicken’s really good.”

  “I always pick the capers out,” I said, and then it hit me—I was agreeing with Dan. Double weird!

  “Well, I love it, capers and all,” Eddie said, taking another bite.

  Mom put down her fork and smiled at us. “So, I have some good news. I’m going to hold a fashion show to launch my new business. Right here in town!”

  “That’s wonderful news, honey!” Eddie said. “When will it be?”

  “Two weeks,” Mom said. “Yes, I know that’s not a lot of time. But I made friends with a woman who owns the big banquet hall downtown, and they have an opening, and the space is terrific. . . . I couldn’t resist.”

  “I’ll help!” I offered.

  “I was hoping you would,” Mom said. “Especially backstage, styling the models. But I’ll also need help from the Cupcake Club.”

  “Really?”

  “Really,” Mom said. “The show’s going to be on a Sunday, so you’ll have all Saturday to bake. And you’ll need it. I’m going to need eight dozen cupcakes.”

  “If we bake them here, we can do four dozen at a time,” I said, thinking quickly. “So that’s about four to six hours together. We could do that in a day.”

  “Nice math, Mia!” said Eddie, and I smiled. Eddie sometimes had to help me with my math homework.

  “The whole theme is going to be how to spice up your look with key pieces and accessories,” Mom said. “So maybe you can use that idea for your cupcakes somehow. I’ll pay you for the ingredients plus a dollar per cupcake. How does that sound?”

  “I’ve got to tell everyone, but I’m sure it’ll be okay,” I said. I was starting to feel excited. “This is going to be really fun.”

  After dinner I grabbed my cell phone and texted Katie, Emma, and Alexis at the same time.

  Mom’s got a big job for us! Must talk at lunch tomorrow.

  Yay! Katie replied.

  Can’t wait! texted Emma.

  I hope she doesn’t want lemon lol, was Alexis’s response.

  Another text came in. I figured it was from someone in the Cupcake Club, but it was Sydney.

  Lunch 2morrow?

  Can’t, I texted back. Maybe next time. Thanks though!

  I knew that probably meant I’d never be asked to sit with the PGC again, but I couldn’t worry about that now. The Cupcake Club had a lot of planning to do!

  The next day at lunch we got down to business. Alexis had her notebook, of course, and Katie had brought a book full of cupcake recipes.

  I told them what details I knew—how much Mom was paying us, how we’d have a whole Saturday to do it, and about the whole “spice up your wardrobe” theme.

  “There are lots of recipes for spiced cupcakes in here,” Katie said, flipping through the recipe book. “Like zucchini spice cupcakes, and chocolate spice cupcakes, and tea spice cupcakes, and applesauce . . .”

  “How can we pick just one?” Emma wondered aloud.

  “Maybe we don’t have to,” Alexis said. “We’re baking two batches of cupcakes anyway. We might as well bake two different flavors.”

  “That’s a great idea,” I said. “That way if somebody doesn’t like one flavor, they can choose a different one.”

  Alexis looked at her notebook and frowned. “We have so much to do. We have to figure out what we’re making and make an ingredients list and figure out how to decorate.”

  “We probably need to think of how to display them too,” I said. “This is going to be a pretty classy event. We can’t just put the cupcakes out on paper plates.”

  Katie looked excited. “I saw a cupcake show on TV where they made cupcakes for a party at an amusement park, and the display looked like a roller coaster with all these cupcakes on it.”

  “So you think we should make a roller coaster?” Alexis asked.

  “Of course not,” Katie said. “But I bet we could come up with something just as awesome.”

  “We should meet this weekend,” I said, and then I remembered. “Oh wait, I can’t. I’m going to Dad’s this weekend.”

  “How about after school?” Katie suggested. “Mom gets home early on Wednesdays. We could do it at my house.”

  “That would be great,” I said, and Alexis and Emma agreed.

  After lunch, Callie came up to me in the hallway.

  “Hey, we’re going to the mall after school,” she said. “Maggie’s mom is driving us. Do you want to come?”

  “Sure,” I said. “I need to get there soon anyway. My mom’s doing a big fashion show in a few weeks, and I’m going to help style the models.”

  I hadn’t told Katie and the others this part of it all, but I was really excited to talk to Callie.

  “Oh, wow, that sounds really awesome,” Callie said. “I’ve never been to a fashion show before. I’ve always wanted to go to one. I bet Sydney would love to go too.”

  I was about to blurt out to Callie that she and the PGC could come, but I stopped myself. It was Mom’s show for her business, and I didn’t know if she had any extra tickets or not. Besides, even though it was a fashion show, it was still a Cupcake Club thing, you know? And one thing I’ve figured out is that the PGC and the Cupcake Club are not a good mix.

  “Yeah, it’s really amazing to see them in person,” I said. I didn’t want to promise Callie anything just yet.

  I had some thinking to do.

  CHAPTER 13

  General Sydney

  After school I texted Mom and asked if I could go to the mall with Callie and the others. She made me get the number of Maggie’s mom so she could make sure an adult was going with us. But then she said it was okay.

  I realized I was a little bit nervous when Maggie’s mom pulled up in her blue minivan. Before, I’d only met the PGC at the mall by accident. But now I was going with them, as part of the group. I’ve never felt nervous about going out with friends before in my life. So why was this different?

  We climbed into the van. Maggie sat in front with her mom, Sydney and Bella took the second row, and Callie and I sat in the last row. I didn’t see a crumb or speck of dirt anywhere, and everything smelled like vanilla.

  Maggie’s mom had brown hair, like Maggie, but hers was superstraight. She wore a large pair of sunglasses that were half as big as her face. I know all the celebrities wear those big sunglasses, but whenever I see them on someone it always makes me think of bugs.

  “Mia, I spoke to your mother on the phone,” Mrs. Rodriguez said, looking in the rearview mirror so she could see me. “What a lovely woman.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  Callie leaned forward. “Mia’s mom is holding a fashion show for her new business! Can you believe it?”

  Maggie turned around so fast, I thought her head might fly off. “Oooh, a real fashion show! When is it? Where is it? Will Damien Francis be there?”

  “It’s in two weeks, at the banquet hall downtown,” I replied. “I’m not sure who’s going to be there yet. It’s all happening so fast.”

  Maggie, Bella, and Callie started chattering with excitement.

  “I wonder what kind of clothes the models will be wearing,” Bella wondered.

  “And where is she getting the models? From here in town?” Maggie asked. “Ooh, maybe there’ll be a model competition.”

  “I’d love to take photos during the show,” Callie said.

  Sydney was the only one who remained cool about it. But when the talking died down, she turned and looked right at me.

  “Of course we can go with you, right?”

  And of course, I didn’t know what to tell her. “Um, I’m not sure,” I said. “I’m going to be backstage helping Mom, so . . .”

/>   “But she must have extra tickets she can give out.” Sydney wasn’t giving up. “We could go, even if you’re backstage.”

  “I have to ask her,” I said honestly. “I don’t know how many tickets she has.”

  “Well, it all sounds very exciting,” Maggie’s mom said as we pulled into the mall. “Now, let’s meet back up at five o’clock. Where should we meet?”

  “We’ll be at the smoothie place at five,” said Sydney. I thought it was kind of interesting that Sydney was the one who answered, not Maggie.

  “We have to go to Forever Young first,” Sydney said as we walked through the door. “I saw some dresses on their website that I just have to try on.”

  That sounded good to me. The clothes in Forever Young are really cute. They blast really loud dance music, though, so it’s hard to have a conversation.

  After about twenty minutes in there I was ready to leave. But Sydney tried on dress after dress after dress. I noticed that Maggie and Bella always said the same things each time.

  “That one’s fabulous!”

  “You look sooooooo cute!”

  “You have to get that.”

  Callie and I were definitely more honest. For example, I thought the blue dress with the bubble skirt was way too short, so I said so.

  Sydney looked in the mirror. “Wow, you’re right, Mia.”

  “That is way too short,” Maggie quickly agreed.

  “Definitely,” Bella added.

  We finally left Forever Young. Then we went up to the second floor and I saw the sign for Icon, which, as you know, is my favorite store there.

  “I think they’ve got new jackets,” I said, heading for the door.

  Sydney grabbed my arm. “We can’t go in there. It’s Tuesday.”

  I was puzzled. “So?”

  “Tuesday is the day that this salesgirl named Denise works there,” Maggie explained for Sydney. “She is, like, so totally rude. Once Sydney wanted to take ten items into the dressing room, and she was like, ‘Sorry, it’s store policy.’ Can you imagine? Like, what’s the big deal?”

  “Oh,” I said. “Okay. Fine.” But it seemed like a silly reason not to go into the store.