Love Stinks!

by Nancy Krulik

  Oooh. Suddenly, Katie didn’t feel so good. Her stomach hurt. And she had a headache. It figured. Those stupid heart-shaped candies had gotten her sick! Even further proof that there should be no Valentine’s Day!

  Angrily, Katie grabbed the candy order forms her friends had filled out. “LOVE STINKS!” she shouted as she tore them into little pieces.

  Chapter 8

  Katie sat there for a moment, staring at the pile of shredded paper she had just made. She couldn’t believe what she’d done! Why did she rip up the forms? She was Cinnamon, and she had to make the hearts! That was bad. Really bad.

  Katie looked at the clock. It was 5:15 already and the mailman was coming at 6:00! That didn’t leave much time.

  She jumped up and raced into the kitchen. She had spotted some of the big candy hearts there on a shelf. Katie grabbed three of them and laid them out on Cinnamon’s work area. She picked up the candy chisel from the counter. She’d seen Cinnamon make the hearts just the other day, when she and Jeremy were at the shop. Chiseling messages hadn’t looked so hard then.

  The messages! Oh, no! Katie had torn them up. She had no idea what she was supposed to write!

  Quickly, she zoomed back into the front of the shop and picked up all the little scraps of paper. Uh-oh. She’d really torn them up. It was impossible to make out what words the girls had written.

  But Katie was going to have to try. “It’s just like a puzzle,” she told herself. “All I have to do is put the pieces together.”

  Eventually, Katie actually managed to put together some messages. But the sentences didn’t make a whole lot of sense. At least not to her.

  She looked up at the clock. Yikes! There was no more time to figure things out. She’d have to work with what she had.

  All she could do was start writing and hope for the best.

  Chapter 9

  Katie was just putting the last address label on the candy boxes when the mail carrier arrived. He knocked on the door, and Katie let him into the shop.

  “Hi, Cinnamon,” he greeted her. “Closing early today?”

  “I, um, I had to make a lot of candy, so I shut the shop,” Katie answered quickly.

  “You have any packages for me?”

  Katie nodded. “Just these three boxes. They’re all going to Cherrydale Elementary School.”

  “The elementary school!” the mailman exclaimed. “Boy, oh, boy. Don’t kids just send those little paper cards anymore?”

  Katie shrugged. “Some do. These girls didn’t think that was enough, I guess.”

  “Kids today,” the mail carrier sighed.

  “I know,” Katie agreed, sounding very much like a grown-up.

  “This is a busy time of year for both of us.” He patted his mailbag and smiled. “Love is definitely in the air.”

  Katie rolled her eyes. “Yes, it is,” she replied.

  “Well, see ya tomorrow,” he said as he took the boxes and left the shop.

  Katie locked the door behind him and took a deep breath. She was glad she’d managed to get the hearts finished in time. Now all she had to do was clean up the mess she’d made in the kitchen. Katie was not a very neat candy maker. There was sugar everywhere!

  But as soon as she walked into the kitchen, Katie felt a slight draft on the back of her neck. She didn’t have to look to see if there was a breeze anywhere else in the shop. She knew there wouldn’t be.

  The magic wind was back.

  And that wind only blew around Katie.

  The magic wind picked up speed, spinning wildly around her like a full-blown tornado. Katie gripped onto the kitchen counter and shut her eyes tight.

  And then the wind stopped. Just like that.

  Katie opened her eyes slowly and looked around. She was still in the shop’s kitchen. But she wasn’t alone anymore. Cinnamon was there, too. She looked very confused.

  “What happened here?” Cinnamon asked Katie. “This place is a mess.”

  “I think you were in a hurry to get those candy hearts finished,” Katie told her.

  “Candy hearts?”

  Katie nodded. “You know the ones that Jessica, Mandy, and Becky ordered?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Cinnamon said. “I have to make those. Or did I already do that? I’m not sure. It’s all kind of foggy.”

  “You made them, and you gave them to the mailman,” Katie assured her.

  Cinnamon shook her head and sat down on a stool. “I think I need to get a breath of fresh air,” she said. “I’m going to take a walk.”

  “Okay,” Katie said quickly.

  “Do you want me to help clean up?” Katie asked.

  “No. I’ll straighten the kitchen when I get back. After all, I made the mess.”

  Katie frowned. Not exactly. But she couldn’t explain that to Cinnamon. “Okay, bye!” she shouted as she darted out of the store as fast as she could.

  Chapter 10

  Katie groaned as her alarm clock went off on Friday morning. She was not looking forward to this day. Today, class 4A was celebrating Valentine’s Day. And Katie hated Valentine’s Day.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day, sleepyhead,” Katie’s mom called cheerfully as she walked into Katie’s room.

  “Grr ...” Katie pulled the covers over her head.

  “I got you an early Valentine’s Day gift,” her mother said, peeling back the covers and handing Katie a small package.

  Katie unwrapped the gift and sighed. Inside was a package of new tights—white ones with tiny black hearts on them.

  “I thought you could wear them to your class party today,” Mrs. Carew suggested.

  Katie didn’t want to disappoint her mother. “Thanks, Mom,” she said, forcing a smile.

  Katie’s new tights fit right in with her classroom. On Friday, class 4A was the Valentine’s Day capital of the world! Mr. Guthrie had made a giant mobile with all the cards he’d received from his students. It was hanging from the ceiling. Cardboard cupids flew joyously over the blackboard, and red construction paper hearts were plastered to the side of Slinky’s glass tank. Katie thought the whole room looked horrible!

  And of course, all the kids had decorated their beanbag chairs with the cards they’d given one another. All the kids except Katie, that is. Her beanbag wasn’t decorated at all.

  Katie spent most of the morning watching the door to her classroom. The candy hearts would be delivered sometime today. She didn’t know when. But she did know that once they were, there would be big trouble.

  The boys were already sick of all the girls looking at them and giggling. When they got those candy hearts, they were going to go crazy!

  But there weren’t any special deliveries that morning. By lunchtime, Katie began to relax. Maybe the hearts weren’t coming after all. Maybe Katie had gotten something wrong on the address labels. Or maybe the school didn’t let kids get mail during the school day, or ...

  No such luck!

  As soon as the fourth grade entered the lunchroom, Mrs. Davidson, the school secretary, walked in. She was carrying three big boxes.

  “I have special packages,” she announced. “Will Jeremy Fox, Andrew Epstein, and Kevin Camilleri come get their mail?”

  Katie gulped. This was the moment Katie had been dreading.

  Jeremy was the first boy to open his box. “Oh, no, it’s a heart,” he groaned.

  Becky ran over to him. “It says just how I feel.”

  “Ooooh,” the boys teased.

  Jeremy read the message on the candy.

  “Huh?” Jeremy asked.

  “She thinks she can crush you,” Kadeem laughed. “That’s just wrong, dude.”

  Katie looked over at Jeremy. He looked furious!

  Becky looked down at the heart. “That’s not the message I wrote,” she insisted. She sounded like she was going to cry.

  Andrew was the next to open his box. “Who is this from?” he asked.

  “Mandy,” Suzanne and Jessica shouted out.

  Mandy blushed. An
drew blushed harder as he opened the box.

  “Love your what?” Andrew asked her.

  Mandy looked at the heart curiously. “That’s not right. Cinnamon was supposed to write ‘Won’t You Be Mine?’ ”

  “Well, I won‘t,” Andrew told her.

  Now it was Kevin’s turn.

  “Oh, look, it’s another lover boy!” George squealed, making his voice go up really high.

  “Ooh, Kev’s got a girlfriend,” Manny added.

  “Why me?” Kevin moaned. As he opened his box, Kevin looked like he was going to be sick. But when he read the heart, a smile returned to his face.

  “I don’t have a secret admirer after all,” he said as he held up the candy heart. “This isn’t for me!”

  Kevin turned proudly to the guys. “See, it’s for some people named Val and Tim.”

  “It’s not supposed to say that!” Jessica announced suddenly. “It was supposed to say ‘Love, Your Secret Valentine’!”

  Oops! Now everyone knew Jessica was Kevin’s secret admirer.

  “Jessica and Kevin sitting in a tree,” George began to sing. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

  That made Kevin plenty mad. “Stop it, George. Or I’ll tell everyone you still sleep with a teddy bear.”

  That sure made Kadeem laugh. “A teddy bear! What a baby!” he exclaimed.

  Now George was mad. “You swore you’d never tell,” he shouted at Kevin.

  “I’ll tell you something. I’m never going back to that candy store!” Becky announced.

  “Me, neither,” Mandy agreed.

  “I’ll never forgive Cinnamon for this,” Jessica added.

  Katie frowned. This was so not good.

  Chapter 11

  After school, Katie went to the mall with her mother. Mrs. Carew had to stop by the Book Nook to wait for an order of books that was due to arrive.

  As they passed by Cinnamon’s Candy Shop, Katie got very sad. Usually, the store would be filled with kids buying penny candy. But today there were only adults in there—buying last-minute gifts, Katie guessed.

  “Katie!” Cinnamon came running out of the store as Katie and her mom walked by.

  “Oh, hi,” Katie said quietly.

  “Weren’t you going to visit me today?” asked Cinnamon.

  Katie had been too ashamed of what she had done to visit Cinnamon. “Well, I, uh ...” she began.

  “You know, it’s the strangest thing,” Cinnamon told Katie and her mother. “None of the fourth-graders have come to the store today. Usually they’re here by now.”

  “That is strange,” Mrs. Carew agreed. “Your store has become quite a hangout.”

  “I know. But today, they all just walked by. Some of the girls even looked angry with me.”

  Now Katie felt really bad. “You don’t think you’ll go out of business, do you?” she asked nervously.

  Cinnamon smiled kindly. “No, sweetie. I actually make most of my money from adults who buy chocolate gift boxes. I just like having the kids around. That’s why I opened a candy store. Kids always come when there’s candy around.” She paused for a moment. “At least they did until now.”

  “Do you have any idea what might have changed?” Mrs. Carew asked.

  Cinnamon shook her head. “That’s the strange thing.”

  Katie knew what was wrong. She also knew it was all her fault.

  Just then, Katie got one of her great ideas. “You should have a party!” she blurted out.

  “A party?” Cinnamon asked.

  Katie nodded. “A great big Valentine’s Day party. With balloons and music. I’ll bet the kids would come to that. I could call all the fourth-graders and invite them.”

  Cinnamon thought for a moment. “I could give out little bags of candy hearts as favors.”

  Katie flinched. “I think the kids have had enough of those,” she said quickly. “Maybe you could just give out regular candies.”

  Cinnamon shrugged. “Okay. I’ll do it. I hope this brings the kids back to the store.”

  So do I, Katie thought to herself.

  “But you have to come, Suzanne,” Katie begged her best friend. The girls were talking to one another on the phone later that evening. “If you don‘t, nobody will.”

  “Well, I do set the trends in our grade,” Suzanne agreed.

  Katie sighed. Suzanne was such a show-off. But she wasn’t wrong. Most of the girls did copy whatever Suzanne did.

  “Still, Cinnamon really messed things up,” Suzanne continued.

  “Not for you,” Katie told her. “Your heart came to your house Wednesday night. It said exactly what it was supposed to.”

  “I guess,” Suzanne agreed. “But ...”

  “Cinnamon probably only made the mistakes since she was rushing. You guys did have a last-minute order, after all. Cinnamon is a really nice person,” Katie said. “She keeps secrets really well.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Suzanne asked.

  “She didn’t tell anyone about your secret admirer,” Katie told her.

  “She said she couldn’t.”

  “I know,” Katie agreed. “But I can tell if I want to.”

  “Tell what?” Suzanne sounded nervous.

  “Who your secret admirer is. I figured it out. But I kept your secret. And so did Cinnamon. You owe us.”

  Suzanne was quiet for a minute. Katie crossed her fingers. She would never really tell Suzanne’s secret, but this was the only plan she had. Katie hoped it would work!

  “All right,” Suzanne agreed. “I’ll come.”

  Katie was relieved. “And you’ll get some of the other girls to come, too?”

  “I’ll try,” Suzanne said slowly.

  Katie smiled as she hung up the phone. That took care of the girls. Now she had to deal with the boys.

  Quickly, she dialed Jeremy’s phone number. When he answered the phone, she told him all about the party.

  “I’m not going anywhere near there,” he told Katie. “I’m staying as far from Becky as I can.”

  “I don’t think that’s too smart,” Katie replied.

  “Why?”

  “Well, look what happened the last time Becky went to Cinnamon’s. She got you a heart. At least if you’re there, you can make sure she doesn’t do anything like that again.”

  Jeremy was quiet for a moment. Finally, he said, “I guess you’re right.”

  “I know I am,” Katie assured him. “We’ll go to the party right after our cooking club meeting. It’ll be fun, I promise.”

  Chapter 12

  Katie spent the whole evening calling her friends. Her phone calls really worked. Almost everyone in the fourth grade agreed to come to Cinnamon’s Valentine’s Day party.

  The next day, the kids arrived at Cinnamon’s Candy Shop. But they didn’t look like they were in the mood to party. Instead, they all looked angry. The girls still hadn’t forgiven Cinnamon for what was written on their hearts. And the boys hadn’t forgiven the girls for sending the hearts in the first place.

  Cinnamon wasn’t about to let the kids have a bad time. She just kept smiling and handing out candy. Her smiles—and her sweets—were too much to ignore.

  “Wow! Free candy!” Jeremy exclaimed. “Awesome.”

  “Can I have some more jelly beans?” George asked Cinnamon.

  “Sure,” Cinnamon replied. She handed him a bag of red and white ones. “Eat up.”

  “Woohoo!” George exclaimed.

  “This is my favorite song,” Suzanne said as a Bayside Boys song came on the radio. She started to dance.

  So did Jessica. She always did whatever Suzanne was doing.

  “Admit it. Cinnamon throws a great party,” Katie said, dancing over to the girls.

  “Yeah, well, she owed it to us after the mess she made,” Jessica told Katie.

  “But I think we can find it in our hearts to forgive her,” Suzanne said.

  Jessica laughed. “I guess so.”

  Before long, it seemed as though e
veryone had put the candy heart mess behind them. They just wanted to have a good time.

  But no one was having as good a time as Cinnamon. Seeing her smiling again almost made Katie forget just how much she hated Valentine’s Day.

  “Come in the back room with me,” Cinnamon said as she walked over to put her arm around Katie. “I have a special surprise.”

  “For me?”

  Cinnamon nodded. “I think you’ll like it.”

  Katie followed Cinnamon back into the kitchen.

  “Here you go.” Cinnamon handed Katie a big cardboard box.

  Katie smiled as she quickly whipped the top off of the box. Inside was a candy heart that read:

  “Valentine’s Day is a nice time to thank your friends for how happy they make you,” Cinnamon explained.

  Katie smiled. “I never thought of it that way,” she admitted. “I figured it was just about love and crushes and mushy stuff.”

  Cinnamon shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be.” Cinnamon peeked out into the front of the shop. The kids were laughing, talking, and snacking on candy. “See, no one’s acting mushy out there.”

  “Do you think this whole crush thing is over?” Katie asked hopefully.

  “For now,” Cinnamon told her.

  That was going to have to be good enough. “In that case, I have to leave for a few minutes,” Katie said suddenly.

  “Leave? Why?”

  “I have to get to the pet shop. I didn’t get Pepper a valentine this year. And he’s my very best friend. Maybe they have a heart-shaped liver treat for him.”

  Cinnamon made a face. “Liver? Yuck. I’m glad I make treats for people.”

  Katie laughed.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day,” Cinnamon said as Katie turned to leave.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day,” Katie answered. And she really meant it.

  A Card Idea from Katie Kazoo to You!

  Are you puzzled about what kind of Valentine’s Day card to send to your friends? This jigsaw-puzzle card is a great way to give a piece of your heart.