Recipe for Trouble

by Sheryl Berk

  “With or without your skateboard?” Jenna teased.

  Sadie turned to face Lexi. “I promise I will not smush it.”

  She returned to the library and delicately placed the cupcake box on top of Jeremy’s green backpack. She hurried back to her tutor but kept a close eye on the clock. Chess club ended at 3:45 p.m. Only fifteen more minutes till Jeremy found his sweet surprise.

  Outside the library door, Lexi paced back and forth while Jenna and Kylie peered through the glass window.

  “I wonder if he’ll eat it right away or take it home and eat it there,” Kylie mused.

  “Do you think he’ll share it with anyone? His chess club friends?” Jenna asked.

  “Would you two stop! You’re making me a nervous wreck,” said Lexi, resting her head against the wall. “The suspense is killing me.”

  Just then the period bell rang and Lexi jumped.

  “Oh my gosh! This is it!” she screamed, grabbing Kylie by the shoulders and shaking her. “He’s going to see it!”

  All three girls pushed to get a glimpse in the tiny door window.

  “I can’t see anything!” whined Lexi. “Is he going to his backpack?”

  Kylie nodded. “He’s walking over right now!”

  “I wanna see!” huffed Jenna, pushing the girls out of the way.

  “No, I wanna see!” Lexi shoved back.

  Just then, the door opened, and all three of them landed in a pile on the library floor.

  “What is going on?” asked Ms. Applebaum, the school librarian. “I thought I heard some commotion out here.”

  “Nothing, nothing,” Kylie smiled. “Just waiting for Sadie…”

  “Um, hi?” Sadie waved from the other side of the room.

  Lexi was at the bottom of the heap, so she couldn’t see what Jeremy was doing. But when she got to her feet, she saw he was holding the cupcake box and reading the note.

  “Oh my gosh,” she swooned. “I feel sick!” Jenna and Kylie grabbed her under both arms and steadied her.

  “Stay cool,” Jenna whispered. “And whatever you do, do not throw up on me!”

  Jeremy read the note for a few seconds. His face was expressionless. Then he opened the box and examined the cupcake. Lexi held her breath.

  “Let’s go, Jeremy,” Jack called. “You’re coming to my house to play my new video game, right?”

  Jeremy was still staring at the cupcake. “Yeah, sure,” he answered Jack. Then he tossed the cupcake—note and all—in the trash and walked out of the library.

  Lexi wiggled loose from her friends’ grip. She stared in horror at the cupcake in the garbage can.

  “Maybe he was full…he didn’t want a snack?” Sadie tried to soothe her.

  “I’m sorry, Lexi,” Kylie added. “We thought for sure he’d love it.”

  “If you ask me, he has no taste,” Jenna threw in. “Anyone with taste would love that cupcake.”

  Lexi was speechless. She felt like a piece of chewing gum, spit out and squashed on the bottom of someone’s sneaker.

  “Lex, say something,” Sadie begged. “You’re scaring us.”

  She looked at her friends, glancing from face to face. “He hates me,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. The words and feelings now came tumbling out. “He knew it was me. He hates me. He hates everything about me.”

  “No! That’s not true!” Kylie insisted. “It was just a mistake. Maybe he didn’t understand what it was?”

  “He understood and he threw it away,” Lexi sobbed. She bolted out of the library. Kylie wanted to run after her, but Jenna held her back.

  “Let her go,” she said. “I think she needs to be alone.”

  “Besides, there’s nothing we can do or say to make it better,” Sadie sighed. “This is a disaster. Poor Lexi!”

  • • •

  When Lexi got home, she dug out the biggest blank canvas she could find and propped it on her easel. Sadie liked to dribble a ball when she was upset, Jenna ate Oreos, Kylie watched a marathon of mummy movies, but the way she handled disappointment was very simple: she got out her palate and painted the way she was feeling.

  She began by blending primary cyan, ultramarine blue, and mars black, till it made a dark, ominous, swirling ocean. Then she dotted it with foamy titanium white to make the waves crash on the beach. Finally, she painted a gray sky with flecks of gold lightning. She stepped back and looked over her artwork: it felt angry, sad, and scared, all at the same time. Lexi sighed. So did she. She was furious for letting Kylie talk her into this whole crazy cupcake plan—and brokenhearted that Jeremy had rejected it and her. She was also terrified to go to school tomorrow. Jeremy would be there. He’d probably have told Jack all about what happened and they’d had a good laugh over it. Lexi dabbed the tears in the corners of her eyes and accidentally smeared blue paint on her cheeks.

  Her big sister, Ava, knocked on the door and poked her head inside.

  “It’s super quiet in here,” she remarked, then laughed out loud. “Lexi, you look like you’re ready for Camp Echo Pond Color War. Is that blue team paint on your face?”

  Lexi scowled. “No. Can you just please leave me alone?”

  Ava looked concerned. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  The last thing Lexi wanted to do was tell her perfect older sister that she had been tossed in the trash by her first crush.

  “Nothing. I just want to be alone with my painting,” she replied.

  “Okay, but if you need to talk…”

  Lexi nodded and went back to painting dark storm clouds. How could Ava—or anyone for that matter—possibly understand how she felt? It was so humiliating! She kept seeing Jeremy throwing her cupcake in the garbage, as if she was hitting the Rewind button on the TV remote.

  She heard her computer ding. She had email. It was probably Kylie, trying to make her feel better. As if…

  Instead, the email was from Great Shakes for Kids. It contained the rehearsal schedule for Romeo and Juliet. Lexi groaned and hit Delete. She’d go to school early tomorrow and tell Juliette she was quitting. The less she saw of Jeremy, the better for both of them.

  The next morning, Lexi arrived at school an hour early. She had been up practically all night, tossing and turning, trying to figure out what she would say if Jeremy confronted her. It was a long night and now it was going to be a long day.

  “Juliette?” she called, knocking on the drama classroom door. Through the window, she could see there were people inside. She peeked in and could make out Juliette and Mr. Higgins in the back of the classroom. Juliette was standing on a chair and Mr. Higgins was kneeling on one knee. They looked pretty silly—and busy—but Lexi couldn’t hear what they were saying. So she pushed the door open a tiny bit more…

  “Be but sworn my love,” Juliette said, touching a hand to her heart.

  “By blessed moon, I vow,” Mr. Higgins replied, taking her hand in his. Juliette leaned forward, and they looked deeply into each other’s eyes.

  Lexi gasped. This looked a little too real to be acting! Could it be…Rodney and Juliette? Could Kylie have been right about them? It certainly looked like it! The doorknob creaked loudly in her hand.

  “Who goes there?” shouted Mr. Higgins. He put his glasses back on and Juliette hopped off her chair.

  “I do,” Lexi said tiptoeing into the classroom. “Sorry,” she apologized to her teachers. “I just needed to talk to you about the play.”

  Juliette motioned for Lexi to come take a seat beside her. “We were just figuring out the staging. What’s up, Lex?”

  Lexi took a deep breath. “I have to quit.”

  “Why?” Mr. Higgins seemed disappointed. “We thought we’d chosen the perfect Juliet…aside from this Juliette.” He looked over at her teacher and winked.


  “I just can’t, that’s all,” Lexi continued. “Besides, I don’t think Jeremy would want me to.”

  “Are you two not getting along?” asked Juliette. “But I thought—”

  “So did I. I was wrong. He hates me,” Lexi replied.

  “Sometimes a relationship starts out on the wrong foot,” Juliette said. “Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding?”

  Mr. Higgins nodded. “Ms. Dubois and I initially had a little misunderstanding.”

  Juliette coughed. “A little? Try humongous!”

  “Anyway, we worked together this past week and discovered we have a lot in common,” he added. They smiled at each other.

  “The point is don’t just give up, Lexi,” Juliette reminded her. “‘The course of true love never does run smooth.’”

  “Shakespeare again?” Lexi asked.

  “Of course!” Mr. Higgins replied. “The bard knew a thing or two about romance. Just give it a try for a few days and see how it goes between you and Romeo. Fair enough?”

  Lexi agreed but felt a knot in the pit of her stomach the moment the class came into the room. Thankfully, Jeremy was late and in a hurry to get to his seat. He didn’t have time to say anything to her.

  “We’re going to break up into small groups today and run lines,” Juliette explained. Lexi was supposed to rehearse a scene with the Nurse aka Meredith. Even acting with Meredith would be better than facing Jeremy.

  “Find a quiet corner with your partners,” Juliette instructed the class. Meredith had already grabbed a spot in the front of the room and was making strange sounds with her mouth.

  “Mama made me eat my M&Ms!” she sang. “Sally sells sweaty socks by the seashore!”

  “What are you doing?” Lexi asked, puzzled.

  “Warm-ups,” replied Meredith. “Every actor knows that.”

  She then began to read her lines in a strange, clipped British accent. Lexi thought she sounded like Mary Poppins.

  “Anon! Anon!” Meredith bellowed. “Come, let us away…”

  Lexi wished she could away!

  “A word, ladies,” Mr. Higgins interrupted.

  “How do you like my accent?” Meredith asked.

  Mr. Higgins wrinkled his nose. “Well, dialect is a difficult thing to master. Why don’t you try delivering the lines without an accent? I think it might be more powerful.”

  Meredith smiled. “I can do that.” It took her almost the entire period to get through the scene. “Don’t you think the nurse should say a little more here? She’s a very important character in the play!”

  Mr. Higgins rubbed his temples. “Yes, yes, every role is important, Meredith,” he replied. “But I don’t recommend rewriting Shakespeare.”

  Meredith shrugged. “Whatever.”

  Lexi was just glad she escaped drama without any drama. She saw that Jeremy was busy rehearsing with Jack who played his enemy, Tybalt. Jack wanted to know when they could practice dueling with swords.

  “Tomorrow,” Mr. Higgins sighed. “I need to make sure we have a first-aid kit handy.”

  “En garde!” Jack yelled, flourishing his sword in the air. “This is going to be awesome!”

  “I also want to do some work on the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene tomorrow,” Juliette added. “Lexi, Jeremy, make sure you memorize your lines for homework tonight.”

  Lexi looked over at Jeremy to see his reaction. He nodded and didn’t seem disgusted by the thought of having to rehearse with her. Phew!

  • • •

  Kylie caught up to Lexi in the hall. “How did it go?”

  “Okay, I guess,” Lexi said. “Jeremy didn’t say anything about the cupcake catastrophe. And I told Mr. Higgins and Juliette I wouldn’t quit the play for a few days.”

  “Good! That’s plenty of time to do some detective work,” Kylie exclaimed.

  “What kind of detective work?”

  “We need to find out why Jeremy threw away your cupcake. Jenna thinks maybe he’s allergic to nuts or something. She saw him going to the nurse last week.”

  Lexi thought it over. Well, that would explain why he tossed the cupcake so quickly. “How do we find out?”

  “We investigate,” Kylie replied. “We can all take turns following Jeremy.”

  Lexi shook her head. “No way!” The last thing she needed was for Jeremy to spot her spying on him.

  “I am an expert at secret intelligence,” Kylie insisted. “I’ve learned from some of the best monster hunters in the movies.”

  “Like you’re an expert at matchmaking?” Lexi pointed out.

  “Exactly! Did you see the look Juliette gave Mr. Higgins this morning? She was cracking up at his jokes, and all he said was ‘Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.’ What’s funny about that?”

  Lexi wasn’t about to fill Kylie in on what she’d seen before class. If Juliette and Mr. Higgins were destined to be a couple, then they didn’t need any help.

  “I’ve always wanted to be a junior bridesmaid at a wedding,” Kylie gushed. “And can you just imagine the huge white cupcake tower we could make for it? You could sculpt little white doves and a bride and groom out of fondant…”

  Lexi couldn’t help but chuckle. Kylie had a knack for getting carried away, especially when cupcakes were involved. “I don’t think we should start baking those wedding cupcakes just yet,” she said.

  “You’re right. We have to focus on Jeremy first.”

  Mr. Higgins gave Jack a long list of rules and regulations before they practiced the fight scene.

  “Do not aim your sword at anyone’s face, is that clear?” he said sternly.

  “Yup.” Jack nodded. “Can we start now?”

  “And every time I lunge forward, you step back. A duel is really a choreographed dance routine. Is that understood?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Can we fight now?” He was getting impatient. “I played a lot of Ninja Reflex on my Wii last night. I’m ready.”

  “Your sword is a prop, not a weapon. The goal here is to make the scene authentic. Not wound your fellow actors…”

  Before Mr. Higgins could finish his speech, Jack charged forward screaming, “Hiyah!”

  The boys in the class cheered, “Get him, Jack! Get him!”

  “The correct term is en garde not hiyah,” Mr. Higgins replied, crossing swords with him. With one lightning-quick move, he sent Jack’s sword flying from his hand and into the air. It landed with a clank on the floor of the classroom.

  “Bravo!” Juliette cheered. Mr. Higgins bowed.

  “Awww, you took my sword!” Jack whined. “No fair!”

  “All’s fair in love and war,” Mr. Higgins corrected him. “Next time, you wait till I show you how to use your sword before you try and spear me.”

  Jack moped but handed his sword back to his teacher.

  “Now, speaking of love and war, it’s time for the love scene. Jeremy and Lexi, please take your places,” said Juliette.

  Oh no! Lexi thought. She had prayed the sword fight would take up all of the third period rehearsal and she wouldn’t have to practice her scene with Jeremy. No such luck. There were fifteen minutes left.

  “Up you go,” Juliette said, motioning for her to take her place on the makeshift balcony. Reluctantly, Lexi climbed the step ladder to the top rung and gazed down on Jeremy. He looked as pale and queasy as she felt.

  “Okay, Lexi, from the top,” Mr. Higgins commanded.

  Lexi cleared her throat. She knew the lines, but for some reason her mouth and her brain were not working together. “Um, Romeo, Romeo, art for where—oh no!”

  Meredith snickered. “I should have been Juliet! She’s a disaster!”

  “The line is, ‘Wherefore art thou?’” Mr. Higgins corrected. “Once
again, please.”

  Lexi took a deep breath and began: “Be but sworn my love…” She looked down at Jeremy who was staring up at her. She imagined him as Romeo, dressed in a blue velvet jacket with gold braiding and buttons. He was so handsome! Suddenly, the room felt like it was spinning, just like the carousel Aunt Dee had taken her on in Central Park. Lexi’s knees were wobbling, and the next thing she knew, she lost her balance and toppled off the top step.

  “Help!” she squeaked as she fell backward. Jeremy reached up and grabbed her around the waist, gently guiding her down to the floor.

  “You okay?” he asked. Juliette and Mr. Higgins had already grabbed her and helped her to a chair. The entire class was gathered around, and Lexi saw that Kylie was right beside her, looking very worried.

  “Lexi, you okay?” Jeremy repeated. Lexi nodded. She was so embarrassed, she couldn’t answer. She noticed that Jeremy looked worried too—which made her feel a tiny bit better.

  “The swoon doesn’t come till much later in the play,” Mr. Higgins teased. “When she takes the poison. But well done.”

  “It must have been the ladder,” Juliette reassured her. “Makes me dizzy too.” She squeezed Lexi’s hand. “You’ll be okay. The real balcony is a lot less wobbly.”

  Lexi wasn’t sure if it was the ladder, her nerves, or Jeremy’s blue eyes that had made her lose her balance.

  “What am I going to do?” she whispered to Kylie.

  “Like Juliette said, you’ll be okay!” her friend attempted to cheer her. But it wasn’t helping. She still felt like everything in her life was spinning out of control.

  She knew what Aunt Dee would say: “Lexi, honey, you have to face your fears—stare them right in the eye and say, ‘Bug off! You don’t bother me!’” That’s what Dee would do. She wouldn’t let a boy or a play or self-doubt hold her back. She’d climb right back up that ladder!

  So that’s what Lexi did. She got to her feet, turned to Mr. Higgins, and said, “Can I try it again?”

  The teachers looked at each other, concerned. “Are you sure?” Juliette asked. “You sure you feel up to it?”

  She got to her feet and made her way up to the top rung once more. This time, Kylie stood behind her, spotting her, just in case…