by Coco Simon
We laughed. “Thanks,” I said.
“It seems like you’re really enjoying camp,” said my mom.
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I love it. And I’ve made so many good, new friends. …” I bit my lip.
“Wait, why do you suddenly look so sad?” my mom asked with a laugh. “It’s like someone just flipped a switch! I thought you were happy!”
“I am. It’s just …” I proceeded to fill her in on the conflict for Elle’s party and the Cupcakers, as well as the incident a couple of weeks ago when Alexis and I had to bake for our camp friends.
“Cupcakes, Hotcakes … How do you keep all these people straight?” My mom was smiling. “Seriously, though, I agree with Alexis. Look, the sleepover is a onetime thing. These are new friends; they might not be lifelong friends. Or they might be, who knows? You just need to let Katie and Mia know that they come first, but on this one special occasion, you want to go to this special event. And just make a plan to do something fun with them on a different night. I think it will be fine. Old friends are very important, but you have to have room in your life for new friends, too, right?”
I sighed. “Yeah. I just wish they could all be friends together,” I said.
My mom thought for a minute. “Then maybe you should figure out how to make that happen!”
Hmm. Maybe she had a point! I thought about it for a second.
“Wait, maybe I should have them all over—like not all the Hotcakes, but maybe just Elle and Kira? Along with the Cupcakers? That could be fun!”
My mom smiled and lifted her hands in the air, palms up. “Why not?” she said enthusiastically.
I reached across and gave her a hug. “Thanks, Mom. Great thinking.”
“Oooh! Those words are music to my ears!”
CHAPTER 10
Friendship, Favors, and Flute Practice
A week had passed before I got the e-mail from Mrs. Shipley, Romaine’s aunt, but it was a doozy, in good ways and in bad! The good parts were, it had three great photos from The Special Day attached—one group shot and two of me and Romaine that were amazing! (I instantly made it my desktop background!) And it had an order for ten dozen mini cupcakes!
The bad part was that the shower was going to be on a Saturday morning—the morning after Elle’s Friday night party and the same day as our camp’s talent show. Now, it’s one thing to bake a day in advance for Mona, a regular customer. But I did not want Romaine Ford’s cupcakes to be anything less than fresh and perfect. For starters, it was such a big job, and it might lead to other big jobs. Our cupcakes had to be at their very best that day!
I forwarded the e-mail to Alexis and then called her.
“Hi, Emma,” she answered. She also has caller ID, so she knew it was me.
“Hey. Did you see my e-mail?”
“Just opening it. Wow, great photos! Oh, the order! Goody! Oh. Not goody. Hmm.”
“I know.”
We sat there in silence, thinking.
“Well, we could get up early and bake Saturday morning?” she suggested.
“I guess,” I said. “It’s cutting it a little close. I mean, ten dozen cupcakes! We’d have to leave Elle’s at, like, six in the morning.”
“Hmm,” said Alexis.
“It’s too bad we couldn’t have Mia and Katie bake the cupcakes Friday night, then we get together at, like, eight o’clock Saturday morning and do the frosting and delivery.”
“That would be kind of mean. Like, ‘Hey, we’re taking the night off, but why don’t you two do this big job for us, and we’ll catch up with you later?’” said Alexis in an annoyed voice.
I had to giggle. “But maybe we could ask them. Maybe we’ll just offer them something in return—a night off, or whatever. And we are helping Katie for her cooking class’s bake-off, remember?”
Alexis sighed. “I guess.”
“Honesty is the best policy, remember?”
“I’ll call a meeting,” said Alexis.
The next afternoon, we had an emergency Cupcake meeting at Mia’s house. Alexis hadn’t told Mia and Katie exactly why we needed to meet (she just said we had major scheduling issues), so they were a little in the dark.
Alexis wasted no time in calling the meeting to order. “First topic on today’s list, Jake’s birthday party. Emma, please confirm the details.”
“Well … Jake loved the dirt with worms cupcakes! He said they were his ‘most favoritest ever.’”
I rolled my eyes while Mia and Katie said, “Awww …”
I continued, “His party is next Saturday afternoon, so we can bake Friday night and then assemble Saturday morning. They have fourteen boys coming—my worst nightmare—so they’ll need four dozen cupcakes, accounting for Matt and Sam and various babysitters and parents.”
Alexis interrupted me. “Now, if you’d like, Emma and I can handle the baking on Friday and give you girls the night off. We’ll do Mona and Jake all in one marathon session, and you two can, like, go out or something.” She tried to look really casual as she said this, but I could see she was nervous.
Mia and Katie were confused. “Where would we go without you guys?” asked Katie, her eyebrows knit together, like she didn’t understand.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t we want to do the baking for the Jakester?” asked Mia.
“Well, I was just saying. I mean, maybe we don’t all need to be there …,” said Alexis, shrugging.
Honesty is the best policy, I reminded myself. I took a deep breath and plunged in. “Guys. The weekend after that, Alexis and I were invited to a sleepover on Friday night by our friend Elle from camp. Our whole team is going. But, drumroll, please, Romaine Ford’s wedding shower is the next day, and they ordered ten dozen cupcakes!”
Mia and Katie squealed and jumped in the air. They hugged each other, then me, then Alexis, who received them awkwardly. She was still nervous.
“Oh, Emma, that is so awesome! I can’t wait to meet Romaine Ford!” said Mia.
“I know.” I smiled.
“It’s just a bummer that you have to miss your sleepover,” said Katie.
Gulp.
“Um … well …” I looked helplessly at Alexis. She wouldn’t meet my eye. “We were actually thinking, maybe …”
“Oh! Wait! I get it!” said Mia, who is usually much quicker on the uptake. “You’ll give us the Friday before off, so we’ll work while you’re at the slumber party.”
I nodded, feeling like a jerk.
“Wow,” said Katie. “Um …”
“The other thing is, I’m having a sleepover at my house the night before Jake’s party. It’s for the Cupcake Club and two of my friends from camp, Elle and Kira. It’s going to be really fun, and I won’t do it unless you two will come,” I said impulsively.
Alexis’s head whipped to the side and she stared at me with a question in her eyes.
There was a pause in the room that seemed to drag on forever. Then Mia said, “You know what? We’ll do it. Right, Katie? That’s what friends are for.”
I looked at Katie. She still had kind of a hurt, skeptical look on her face. I knew this would be hardest on her, because of the Callie/Sydney history.
“Katie, we’re not going to dump you for our camp friends. I promise,” I said quietly. “They’re fun, you’ll see, but they’re not like the Cupcake Club. It’s not at the same level, and it never will be.” I knew in my heart that that was true. Once school started again and the Cupcake Club was together every day, I knew I’d drift a little apart from Elle and Kira.
Katie took a deep breath in and then sighed. “Okay. I understand. New friends are great, really. I’m just so cautious ever since Callie.”
Mia hugged her. “We know. Don’t worry. You’ll always have us hanging around, right, Cupcakers?”
“Right!” Alexis and I yelled, then we piled in for a group hug.
It was settled. Now I just had to break the news to my mom about the sleepover.
Okay, that last part didn’t go so
well.
“Wait, the night before Jake’s party you want to have a sleepover for six friends? Are you joking?” said my mother in exasperation.
“Well, actually, it’s five friends, plus me. So that’s not so—”
She interrupted me. “I’m sorry. I don’t care how many friends it’s for. There is not going to be a sleepover the night before we’re having fifteen six-year-olds running all over this house for the day. You’ll have the whole house up all night, you’ll have the place a mess, and Jake will be overtired for his party, not to mention me!”
I was starting to fume. The worst part was, I could kind of see what she meant.
“You’re the one who had the brilliant idea to get all my friends together from camp and school!”
“Not for a sleepover on that particular night I didn’t!” she said firmly.
I knew I wouldn’t win this one, but I couldn’t face undoing the plan. I’d be so embarrassed. After all, Kira and Elle barely knew me when it came right down to it. They might think I was nuts or that my mom was a mean psycho.
“How am I going to tell everyone they’re uninvited, then?” I said. I knew I was being bratty, but I didn’t care.
“Just like that. You’re uninvited!” said my mom with a toss of her head. “Think of a new plan,” she said, and she stormed into her bathroom to take a shower.
I left her room and went into mine, slamming the door behind me. When my anger had cleared, I sat and thought about all the things that were coming up and needed attention.
There was the Camp Olympics, which our team was pretty well set for. There was another superjocky team of girls, the Wolverines, who would probably give us a run for our money, but it wouldn’t kill me to lose to them, in that they were so athletic and talented. I just wanted to make sure we beat Sydney’s team.
Next, there was Jake’s party to bake for and survive. It was going to be hard work.
Then there was Elle’s slumber party, my non–slumber party, and Romaine’s shower—they were all tied up into one big snarl that needed untangling.
And finally, there was the Camp Finale. Was I in or not? And if I was in, where was I going to find some charm? Time was running out.
CHAPTER 11
Cupcakes, Meet the Hotcakes
Raoul passed around an official sign-up sheet the next morning at camp.
“Okay, girls! Everyone needs to sign up and give a description of their act. They’re printing the programs this week, so this is final. If you’re in, you’re in, and if you’re out, you’re out, but don’t make the mistake of being out!” He laughed. “We’ve got a lot of talent in this group, and I know my Hotcakes are going to bring home the gold!” He pumped his fist in the air, and everyone cheered.
When the clipboard reached me, I stared down at it, unsure and paralyzed. Suddenly, Alexis reached across, grabbed the clipboard, and quickly wrote down my name. Then she wrote “Flute Performance” and passed the pen and clipboard to the next person. She folded her arms across her chest and smiled at me smugly.
I just shook my head slowly from side to side. Finally I said, “But what about charm?”
“Leave it to me,” said Alexis, but she didn’t look too confident.
I had already e-mailed Alexis, Mia, and Katie the bad news about Friday’s sleepover. We’d just have a regular baking session instead, so that was okay. But all morning I had been dreading uninviting Elle and Kira. I had a pit in my stomach and could think of nothing else. Finally, at lunch, Kira said, “I can’t wait for Friday night! Should I bring an air mattress?” Alexis and I looked at each other, and sighed.
“Guys, I have bad news. My mom said no sleepover on Friday,” I admitted, wincing at the mom reference. (I had been avoiding any mention of mine when I was around Kira.)
“Oh, don’t worry about it!” said Elle with a wave of her hand. “No problem.” She took a bite out of her sandwich, unfazed. Elle was a trooper, and I loved her for it. She didn’t even need an explanation. “You’re still coming to mine though, right?” she asked, through a mouthful of turkey.
“Yes,” I said. “The problem with my sleepover plan is, it’s my little brother’s birthday party at our house the next day, and, well, my mom said we’d all be exhausted if I had a sleepover the night before. I could do it another time, though.”
“Bummer,” said Kira. I could see that she’d been looking forward to it.
“I know.” I wondered if she understood, not having a mom and all that.
“But maybe we could still do something?” Alexis suggested brightly. “Like maybe the girls want to come bake Jake’s cupcakes with us!” she said with a smile.
“I’m not sure how much fun that would be, with all that work?” I said, glaring at her. What was she thinking? It would be boring for Elle and Kira, and what would Katie and Mia think about us inviting non-Cupcakers to join us at work? But before I could say anything, in jumped Kira and Elle.
“We’d love to!” said Kira enthusiastically. “That would be so fun!”
“I’m in,” said Elle with a grin.
“Ookaaay … Great, then!” I said, faking confidence. “You guys can just come home on the bus with me from camp.” I’d let Alexis do the explaining to Mia and Katie since it was her idea.
Just as I suspected, Katie was not thrilled. I guess she felt threatened by our new friends and kind of resentful of them and the time they got to spend with us all day while she was with a bunch of strangers down at the Y. I totally understood, but at the same time it couldn’t always just be the four of us, could it?
When Friday rolled around and we all showed up in my kitchen, things were a little awkward to say the least, even though everyone had been prepared in advance for the new plan.
Mia was nice, if not all that chatty at first. But Katie was downright cold. I saw Elle and Kira exchange a look of confusion after Katie basically said hi and turned her back on them, but Alexis, bless her heart, kept on chattering away to make up for it. I had brought Jake home from camp and settled him in front of the TV, and my other two brothers would be home soon to look after him.
We set out the ingredients and told the new girls what we were doing. Alexis designated Kira as the Oreo smasher and Elle as the cupcake-liner person, meaning she’d set the papers into the baking tins. Alexis had found awesome camouflage patterned cupcake liners in green, so that’s what we were using for the Jake Cakes, as we were calling them.
Katie busied herself at the mixer, and Mia and I were working on the frosting. Alexis was setting out the necessities for Mona’s minis, which also needed to be made. It was a regular assembly line!
Elle started telling funny stories about camp, and that kind of broke the ice. Mia offered up some stories from the fashion world, and Kira was really interested in that. But the more they chatted, the more withdrawn Katie became. I knew she was insecure, but it was really annoying me, and rude. Finally, I stood up to talk to her in private, but right then my older brothers came crashing through the door in their usual noisy style.
“Hey, Cupcakers! What’s up!” called Sam. Did I mention that Sam is gorgeous? All my friends basically pass out whenever he is around, which makes me feel kind of proud and kind of annoyed. He’s a lot older than us (seventeen) and not around that much, but he’s tall with blond, wavy hair and bright blue eyes like my dad. Plus, he’s superathletic, so he’s in really good shape. He also likes to joke around.
“Ooh! Batter!” he said, spying Katie at the mixer.
“Not so fast, mister!” said Katie, covering the mixer with her arms.
Elle and Kira were just watching, speechless. Neither of them had brothers, of course, so these guys were like aliens to them.
Meanwhile, Matt, who, I guess, is also pretty good-looking (according to Alexis, with her on-again off-again crush on him), was talking to Alexis and Mia, teasing them about camp and cupcakes and everything, trying to get them to give him gummy worms and promise him the first cupcakes out of the oven.
It was kind of total boy chaos, but Sam and Matt were making my old friends laugh and making a big deal out of them. I interrupted to introduce Elle and Kira, and although my brothers were polite, they went right back to teasing the Cupcakers.
Finally, I shooed them out, and they went in to take over the TV from Jake. The room was very, very quiet after they left. Katie was standing at the mixer, smiling to herself, Kira and Elle were wide-eyed, and Alexis and Mia were still laughing.
“Phew!” I said. “Those two are a nightmare!” I was kind of embarrassed by all the commotion.
“No, they’re not!” whispered Elle, her eyebrows raised up high on her forehead. “They’re gorgeous!”
“And they’re in love with all the Cupcake girls!” Kira sighed, genuinely wistful. “You’re so lucky!”
“Aw, no, they’re not,” protested Mia and Alexis, but they were pleased.
Katie looked up, unsure if Kira was for real, but when she saw that Kira was serious, she allowed herself to smile at her. My anger at Katie melted a little bit then.
“Seriously,” said Elle.
Then Jake came running into the room, crying about how the big boys had taken over the TV and changed SpongeBob to SportsCenter. He ran straight to Mia, buried his head in her legs, and wailed.
Mia scooped him up and began to soothe him, but he whined that he wanted Katie, too, and wouldn’t settle down until the two of them were fawning over him, feeding him gummy worms and setting him up with a little workstation of his own.
I was apologetic and mortified, but Elle and Kira were just bowled over by my brothers and how much the boys loved my Cupcake friends.
“You girls are so lucky,” Kira said admiringly. “Especially you, Emma, to have all these boys around all the time.”
“Ha! As if!” I laughed.
But I could see Katie smiling out of the corner of my eyes.
Against all odds, my annoying brothers had broken the ice. Hotcakes and Cupcakers united as the afternoon wore on, and by the time my parents got home at six and ordered pizza for everyone, we were well ahead of schedule on both baking jobs. All us girls were sitting around the kitchen table, laughing and talking, as the boys periodically wandered in and out and caused silences and then outbursts of giggles. It was so fun!