Just Grace and the Trouble with Cupcakes

by Charise Mericle Harper

  It’s hard to wait for cupcakes to cook and cool down when you are excited about decorating them. While Grandma and I were waiting, we made the frosting. It was so good. If Grandma hadn’t been watching, I would have taken take a big spoonful of it and just stuffed it into my mouth. Instead I only licked the spinner things from the mixer.

  THE GOOD THING ABOUT GRANDMAS

  Grandma let me pick three colors to color the frosting. I picked purple, blue, and light pink. Mom usually only lets me pick one color, so I was glad that Grandma was in charge. Sometimes grandparents are more fun than parents. It’s probably because they don’t see you every day. If I weren’t around every day, Mom would probably be nicer too.

  WHAT CUPCAKES LOOK LIKE WITHOUT ICING

  WHAT CUPCAKES LOOK LIKE WITH ICING

  THE FUN PART

  Decorating the cupcakes was just as fun as I thought it would be. Grandma is a pretty good at it, but she said I was better. When we were done, I took photos of all my cupcakes so I could to remember them. They looked almost too good to eat (but I knew I would eat them, so it was a good thing to do). Mom said I was only allowed to have one cupcake or I wouldn’t be hungry for dinner, but when she wasn’t looking, Grandma winked at me and said, “You can have two.”

  It was hard to pick which cupcakes to eat first. I decided to save the best ones for last and picked two that were not my favorites. As soon as I took my first bite, I knew that Grandma had been telling the truth. These were the best cupcakes I had ever tasted. I was glad that she said I could have two. To only eat one would have been almost impossible. “These are amazing!” I said. Grandma smiled. “I told you they would be,” she said. I was too busy eating to do any more talking, but my brain wasn’t too busy to think, and it was thinking something that was a surprise.

  Grandma says that sometimes if you are lucky, bad things can turn into good things. Suddenly I was feeling lucky, because this was definitely one of those times.

  WHAT MOM WAS RIGHT ABOUT

  I wasn’t hungry for dinner. It was hard to eat everything Mom put on my plate, even though we were having salmon and mashed potatoes and I like both those things. But I made myself eat everything because I knew if I didn’t, Mom would say, “No cupcakes for dessert!” And I had to have another cupcake. Mom is not a big cupcake person, but when she took a bite of Grandma’s cupcake, she closed her eyes and said, “MMMMM!” Dad liked them too, but that was no surprise, because he loves anything sweet.

  Grandma likes card games, so before bed we played a couple of games of Uno. I was proud of myself. I didn’t get one bit upset even though I lost all three games in a row.

  When I got to my room, I looked across at Mimi’s window to see if she was still up, but she wasn’t—her curtains were closed. I really wanted us to flash our lights to each other, but it was too late. When you are used to doing something, not doing it can make you feel a little bit sad. Even though Mimi wasn’t watching, I still flashed my lights three times for her. It helped. I felt better.

  SUNDAY

  Today was the special brunch at the castle. Even though it wasn’t a real French castle like the one Grandma was going to see, it was still a castle, and that was pretty exciting. Mom said to wear something nice, so I put on my best dress, the one I’d worn to Augustine Dupre’s wedding.

  THE CASTLE

  It took a while to get to the restaurant, but it was worth it, because as soon as we saw it, we all said, “Oooh!” and Ahhh!” It looked like a real castle. The inside did not look as much like a castle as the outside. Mom said she was happy about that. She said modern things were more comfortable.

  When French toast is on a menu, it’s almost impossible for me to order something else. Favorite things are like that—you can’t ignore them. It was a good choice because the French toast was excellent. I was glad that Mom didn’t ask if it was better than hers, because it was, and I’m not very good at lying.

  THE LIE I DIDN’T HAVE TO SAY

  After we finished eating, there wasn’t much to do, so we went home. Mom said she had been hoping there were gardens to walk through, but there weren’t. Mom and Grandma were the only ones disappointed about that, because Dad and I both think that looking at plants is pretty boring.

  As soon as we got home I went upstairs and got changed. A fancy dress is not a good choice for playing ball with a dog. Grandma was getting changed too, and she called me to come to her room. “You were sneaky,” she said. She held up a bunch of the notes I had made her. “Did I find them all?” she asked. I looked around the room to see if there were any left. The only one she missed was under the bed. “Oh, I’m too old to go crawling under there,” said Grandma. “Okay,” I said, “next time I’ll do them all higher.” Saying that made me think about how Grandma was almost leaving, and how I didn’t want her to go. “You didn’t even see Mimi,” I said. “Well, is she home?” asked Grandma. “She could come over now.” “Oh, Grandma!” I said. “You’re the best!” I gave her a hug and ran to get Mimi.

  I’d been dying to see Mimi all morning. I couldn’t wait to give her one of the cupcakes we’d made. I raced down the stairs, out the door, and across the lawn to Mimi’s house. I was in too much of a rush to do my special knock, so I just rang the bell. A few seconds later Mimi’s dad came to the door. That was a bad sign. He only answers the door if Mimi and her mom aren’t there.

  “I’m sorry, Grace,” he said. “Mimi’s out with her mom and Robert for the day.” “For the whole day?” I asked. “Are you sure?” Mimi’s dad nodded, and then we both just stood there. Finally I said, “Oh. Okay then,” and turned around and walked home. It was not what I wanted.

  I didn’t want Grandma to know I was sad, so as soon as I got home, I pretended like Mimi not being there was okay. The rest of the day went by super fast. Grandma showed me a map of France, and we found Paris and two of the castles she was going to visit. Even though we’d eaten in a restaurant that looked like a castle, I had a feeling that real castles were probably more exciting. She was so lucky. It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes you can be jealous of a grandma.

  I told Grandma that it was too bad we couldn’t ask Augustine Dupre for some France tips. “She’s away in France for one whole month,” I said. “Maybe you’ll see her.” Grandma laughed and said, “That would be amazing.” I didn’t want it to, but it made me feel even worse about not going.

  GOING TO SAY GOODBYE

  This time when Mom went to the airport, I came too. Mom was glad about that—she said it would make her feel better. I didn’t say anything, but I wasn’t sure how having another sad person in the car was going to be better than being sad all by herself. Grandma’s plane was late, so we sat with her while she waited. When Mom went to the bathroom, Grandma said, “Mr. Scruffers is a wonderful dog. Seeing you together makes me a little bit jealous. I wish I had my Barnaby back.” Barnaby was Grandma’s old dog. He died two years ago. It was sad that she still missed him, but it was a nice compliment for Mr. Scruffers. I could see why Mom got sad at the airport. Unless you were going somewhere or meeting someone, it wasn’t a very fun place to be. It’s no fun to say goodbye.

  WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

  Nothing. Mom and I went home, and then it was just me and Mr. Scruffers hanging around for the whole rest of the day. The only fun thing we did was go for a walk around the block, and it wasn’t even that fun. Plus we didn’t see a single squirrel, and that’s her favorite part about walks.

  WHAT YOU CAN EAT FOR BREAKFAST IF YOUR MOM IS NOT LOOKING

  Cupcakes have special powers. When I started the cupcake I was still a little grumpy from yesterday, but by the time I took the last bite, I felt 100 percent better. I would have had another one, but Mom walked into the kitchen, so I had a banana instead.

  WHY I WAS EXCITED TO GO TO SCHOOL

  So I could tell Mimi all about my visit with Grandma.

  To find out where she had been all yesterday.

  So I could give her a cupcake.

>   Because Miss Lois was going to talk about the spring fair.

  Mom saw me putting a cupcake in my lunch bag and shook her head. “You already had one of those today,” she said. I looked up like I didn’t know what she was talking about, but inside I was shocked. How did she know I’d had a cupcake? Sometimes moms have super powers about food. It’s too bad they can’t get powers that are more useful.

  “It’s not for me—it’s for Mimi,” I said. “Can’t I take it to give to her at lunch?” Mom looked at me like she was trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. Finally she nodded and said, “Okay, but only one.”

  MIMI’S SURPRISE

  Two minutes later Mimi knocked on the door. She was super early, but it didn’t matter—I was happy to see her. It was too early to leave for school, so she dropped her backpack at the door and came in. She had a paper bag in her hand and was shaking it front of me. “Look,” she said. She shook it again. “I got you something.” “Should I guess?” I asked. “You’ll never guess,” she said. “It’s impossible.” She handed me the bag. I looked inside. It was some kind of ball.

  “It’s a superpower guessing ball,” said Mimi. “And it’s got the real Unlikely Heroes logo printed on the side of it.” I pulled the ball out of the bag and looked at it. Mimi was right. I couldn’t believe it. Unlikely Heroes was our favorite show in the whole world, and there right on the side of the ball was the logo for the show. This was a real Unlikely Heroes souvenir! My mouth dropped open.

  Unlikely Heroes was a show about how regular people or animals used a sudden superpower or skill to save other people from getting hurt. It was hard to believe that such amazing things could happen, but they did. Everything on the show was 100 percent all true!

  I smiled at Mimi. It was the best present ever. “Where did you get it?” I asked. “You’ll never believe this,” said Mimi. “But my mom has a friend named Maureen whose daughter got to work on the show for six weeks last summer, and she got a whole bunch of Unlikely Heroes stuff for free. Yesterday we went to visit Maureen and she let us pick a few things out. Robert got a ball that says Unlikely Heroes, but this is way better.” “Did you just get this one?” I asked. Suddenly I felt weird about taking Mimi’s present. “No, don’t worry,” said Mimi. “I told her my best friend was a huge fan too, so she let me have two of them. I used mine last night, and it really works.”

  The only bad thing about the present was that I couldn’t bring it to school. Miss Lois has a rule about toys at school. I only had time to try it once before we left, but Mimi was right—it really worked!

  It was hard to stop playing with the ball and go to school, but Mom made it easier by yelling at me that I was going to be late. A yelling mom can really get you moving.

  THE TWO GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED AT SCHOOL IN THE MORNING

  We used up a big part of the morning talking about the fair.

  Owen 1 got sent to the not-paying-attention chair almost as soon as we all sat down. It was nice to have him not sitting behind me, because one of his favorite things to do is poke me in the back with his pencil every two minutes.

  At lunchtime I gave Mimi the cupcake I’d brought. She said it was the best cupcake her mouth had ever tasted. “Did you bring any more?” she asked. I shook my head. I knew exactly how she felt. It was hard to eat only one.

  MIMI’S MOUTH IS WANTING MORE CUPCAKES

  AFTER LUNCH

  Miss Lois said the first thing we needed to do was to decide on our theme for the spring fair. She said, “I don’t want to do anything I’ve done before, so I’m going to write down all the ideas that you CANNOT pick.” After she said this, she wrote down the ideas her old classes had already done.

  MISS LOIS’S FIVE IDEAS THAT WE CAN’T PICK BECAUSE SHE’S DONE THEM BEFORE

  Birds

  Seasons

  Pets

  The Beach

  Haunted House

  WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

  Miss Lois said she was ready to hear our suggestions, and instantly everyone put their hands up. There were a lot of ideas and Miss Lois wrote them all on the board.

  Some ideas were good, some were bad, and some were not a surprise. No one was surprised when Marta said “Fairies.” She loves fairies, and she and her friends play fairy games every recess. It would have been a surprise if she’d said something else.

  HOW BOYS FEEL ABOUT FAIRIES

  As the idea list got longer, fewer and fewer people had their hands up. I looked over at Mimi—neither of us had said our ideas yet. She saw me looking at her, and put her hand up and waved it around. When Miss Lois pointed to her Mimi said, “Candy.” Instantly everyone was talking. Everyone loves candy. I could tell, candy was definitely going to win. Mimi had a big smile on her face—she was really happy. No one else’s idea had gotten everyone so excited.

  Suddenly I thought of a new idea, something better than my superpowers idea. It was something people loved maybe even more than candy. Without even thinking about it, I put my hand in the air and shouted out what I was thinking.

  Now everyone was talking again. But not everyone was excited. Miss Lois pointed at me and said, “Just Grace, you know better than to shout.” I looked down. She was right. I looked over at Mimi for a smile to make me feel better, but she wasn’t smiling. She was glaring at me. And then I knew. A horrible and terrible thing had just happened!

  THE TERRIBLE THING

  I’d done that exact thing that I’d promised Mimi I wouldn’t do. Now my new idea was fighting Mimi’s idea. And Mimi was probably thinking it was all on purpose. But it wasn’t; it was an accident. I looked up. Miss Lois was writing the word cupcakes right under the word candy.

  WHAT I WAS HOPING FOR

  That someone was going to give Miss Lois a suggestion that was even better than cupcakes or candy. If that happened and the class picked the new suggestion, then maybe Mimi wouldn’t be mad at me. I looked around the room. There was only one hand up—it was Ruth’s. Miss Lois pointed at her and I held my breath. I closed my eyes and tried to think good thoughts.

  “Pickles,” said Ruth. Suddenly I felt sick. Pickles was not a good suggestion. Pickles could not beat cupcakes. Miss Lois didn’t think so either, because even though she wrote it down, she said, “Okay, no more food items please!” And then after that, there were no more hands up. I couldn’t look at Mimi. I felt guilty. Why didn’t I say superpowers like I was supposed to? I had no idea why my mouth had said what it did. But I knew what Mimi was thinking. She was thinking I was happy about it. She didn’t know I was sorry and wishing that it had never happened.

  BEING UNCOMFORTABLE

  It’s no fun to know that something bad is coming up and then to have to sit there and watch the bad thing happen right in front of you. Before we started the voting, Miss Lois told us the voting rules. “You only have one vote per person,” she said. “If you like an idea put your hand up, and I will count the hands and write the number of votes next to it.” And then, because a lot of kids don’t pay attention, she said, “You can only put your hand up one time. You cannot vote more than once.” She looked around the class to see if anyone looked confused, and then she said, “Okay, let’s start.”

  Some ideas didn’t get any votes. When Miss Lois said “Monkeys,” no hands went up. But when Miss Lois said “Candy,” a lot of hands went up. I put my hand up too, and crossed my fingers—maybe candy would win. Miss Lois counted the hands and wrote the number on the board.

  Cupcakes was next. When Miss Lois asked for hands, I looked down at the floor. I didn’t want to know how many hands were up. I heard Miss Lois write the number on the board and then the class cheered. I didn’t have to look up to know what had happened. Cupcakes had won.

  CAN A WINNER FEEL TERRIBLE?

  YES! And sometimes a winner can even wish, with all her heart, that she was not the winner. If I were at home, I would have run up to my bedroom and made that exact wish while holding my last lucky penny.

  WHAT MISS LOIS DID
NEXT

  Miss Lois erased everything and then wrote the word CUPCAKES in big letters right in the middle of the board. It was hard to believe, but every second, things were getting worse. If I had asked the universe, “Is it going to get better?” the universe would have said, “I’m sorry, but the answer to that is NO!”

  “Now let’s put you all into groups,” said Miss Lois. Everyone groaned. Nobody likes to be put into groups. “Can’t we pick our own groups?” asked Owen 2. Miss Lois looked surprised. Owen 2 hardly ever asks questions. Miss Lois thought for a minute and then said yes, though it was a yes with a but attached to it.

  WHAT THE BUT WAS

  Miss Lois said, “We’re going to choose the group leaders randomly, but after that I’ll let you pick the rest of your team.” Miss Lois put everyone’s name in a bowl and then pulled out six pieces of paper. “Owen 1, Grace F., Mimi, Owen 2, Marta, and Abigail. You are the group leaders,” said Miss Lois. “Please come and stand at the front of the class.” When they were all there Miss Lois said, “We’ll do this in order. Each of you can pick one person until everyone is on a team. Owen 1, you can start. ”