by Coco Simon
But they were still playing when Emma got there. (Once again, I only knew because the dogs went crazy.) When I opened the door, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Emma was wearing skinny jeans. Jeans! And one of the knees was ripped. She had black canvas sneakers on her feet, and she wore a black T-shirt with a crazy shark coming out of an ocean of flames on it.
And then there was her hair. The pale pink headband was gone, and she had added some kind of product to make her hair look messy instead of shiny and straight.
“Emma, what is this?” I asked. I didn’t have to be specific. She knew what I meant.
Emma shrugged and blushed a little. “What’s the big deal? Aren’t you guys always telling me I should wear jeans? They’re comfortable.”
“But I mean . . .” I pointed to the shark shirt.
“Oh, that’s Sam’s,” she replied. “It doesn’t fit him, so he gave it to me.”
“He gave it you?” I asked. “Why would he give that to you?”
“Because I asked him,” Emma said, and there was a tone in her voice that told me I should back off. Which was not easy to do, because this was a major deal! Pretty-in-pink Emma wearing ripped jeans and a weird shirt, with messy hair? What the heck was going on?
But I took the hint and dropped it. “We can work in the dining room,” I said.
Mom had already set up the table for us with some cut-up apples and a pitcher of water. I had put out some poster paper and my bin of art supplies—scissors, markers (thin and thick), colored pencils—I basically had everything we would need to make our timelines.
“Are you sure the music isn’t bothering you?” I asked.
“I told you, I don’t mind,” Emma said. “Now, how were you going to do your timeline? Printing out pictures or drawing them?”
“I was thinking of sketching, but I think we can do a mix of both,” I said. “Some of the images will be harder to draw, like pictures of military leaders and stuff like that.”
So we got to work, and it was definitely much easier doing it together. We were about a half hour into it when things suddenly got quiet.
“Practice must be over,” I said. “That’s weird. I kind of got used to the music.”
Then we heard the sound of the guys stomping up the basement steps, and just like before, two guys quickly left out the front door, Dan went up to his room, and Sebastian came over to talk to us.
“Hi, Mia,” he said. “And hi . . . I forget your name.”
“It’s Emma,” she replied, and her cheeks turned pink—the only pink accessory she was wearing at the moment, in fact.
“Right, Emma. How could I forget a pretty name like that?” Sebastian asked, and he sat down across from us. “This does not look like a Cupcake meeting.”
“No, it’s an English project,” I replied.
Sebastian made a face. “Homework.”
Mom must have ears like a . . . some kind of animal with great hearing, because she popped into the dining room.
“Speaking of homework, Sebastian, your mom asked me to remind you to do yours,” she said. “She’s picking you up at eight so you have until then, okay?”
“Are you staying over for dinner again?” I asked.
Sebastian nodded. “Tomorrow, too. My mom’s been working crazy hours at this new job. But she likes it, so . . .” He shrugged.
“Your practice sounded great,” Emma piped up.
Sebastian smiled. “Really? Thank you. We still need a lot more practice, though.”
Oh great, I thought.
“So you like our kind of music?” Sebastian asked. “Dan told me that Mia, you, and your friends like pop music.”
“I like metal too,” Emma said. “Have you heard As Glory Fades yet? They play them on the metal station.”
Sebastian shook his head. “Are they good?”
“The bass player is amazing,” Emma said.
For the second time that day, I was stunned. Emma and Sebastian might as well have been speaking a foreign language. Since when did Emma like screaming metal music?
I just watched them, dazed, as they talked about bands with weird names and Emma was nodding and laughing at everything Sebastian said.
Then it hit me.
Emma liked Sebastian. I mean, she liked him. She had a crush on him!
How did you not notice this sooner? asked Critical Mia.
Well, maybe because she only met him, like, once, and they have nothing in common, I answered myself.
Now that I had figured it out, I watched Emma and Sebastian carefully. Yes, she was definitely laughing too hard at his jokes. She must have a crush on him.
That made me wonder—did Sebastian like her back? He was a freshman in high school, which made him only about a year older than me and Emma, so that was cool. I knew that Lauren Reese in my Spanish class was dating a freshman, and nobody thought that was weird or anything.
So I studied Sebastian. He was smiling and stuff, but he’s a smiley kind of boy, so it was hard to tell.
Then Sebastian stood up. “I should go do my own homework and let you finish yours. Nice talking with you, Emma.”
“Yeah, you too,” Emma said, and Sebastian went upstairs, I guess to do his homework in Dan’s room. As soon as I heard Dan’s door shut, I turned to Emma.
“You like him!” I said.
Emma blushed. “Yeah,” she said. “It’s weird. There’s just something about him.”
“So is that why you’re dressed like that?” I asked.
“Well, partly yes and partly no,” Emma said. “I mean, I really do like that music. Sam listens to it and I got into it, but I don’t know anybody else who likes it. I never talked to Dan about it because he’s a senior, but Sebastian is, like, our age. And I didn’t think he’d take me seriously if I were wearing pink. You don’t see a lot of metal fans wearing pink.”
“Well, you look supercute, even if your T-shirt is oddly disturbing,” I said. “So you should go for it! Mom has clients who pay her to give them a new look every year.”
Emma looked down at her jeans. “This is definitely comfortable. But I don’t know if I could dress like this to school. And I miss my pink!” She laughed. “Life is so complicated sometimes.”
I nodded. “Yeah,” I agreed.
Emma turned to me. “I can’t tell if Sebastian likes me or not. Can you find out?”
“You mean like ask him?” I was a little startled. I’m not a fan of drama, especially relationship drama. Back in elementary school in Manhattan, there was always drama about who said what and who did what, but I didn’t participate in any of that.
Then I looked at Emma’s big blue eyes. She really is a huge sweetheart, and one of my best friends. Saying no to her wouldn’t be easy.
“Okay, I’ll try to ask him,” I sort of promised.
“Oh, thank you, Mia!” Emma cried, hugging me. Then she got a worried look. “It’s not weird that I like your cousin, is it?”
I had to think about it. “Well, kind of weird,” I said. “Like, what if you guys go out, and then you break up in some horrible fight, and then you don’t want to ever see him again, but he’s always here at my house? That would be majorly awkward.”
“Not more awkward than Alexis liking my brother, Matt,” Emma said. “And that’s worked out fine so far. Seriously, I promise things would never be awkward between us. Friends first, right?”
I nodded. “Friends first.”
That’s always a good rule to follow.
Then you’d better hope that this whole Sebastian thing doesn’t ruin your friendship with Emma, Worried Mia said.
It won’t, I told myself, but I hoped I was right!
CHAPTER 8
Needles and Pins
After we’d finished the project and Emma had left, Eddie came home with a small box under his arm.
“Mia, this was outside,” he said. “It’s for you.”
“My book!” I cried happily, and then I tore open the box.
One of the good things about the Cupcake Club is that Katie, Emma, Alexis, and I split the profits. That means I have spending money. Katie spends all hers on cookbooks and cooking supplies. Emma saved up to buy one of those expensive stand mixers (in pink, of course). And I don’t think Alexis spends her money—I bet she’s saved every penny.
I mostly spend mine on clothes, and fabric to make my own clothes. But this package didn’t contain any of those things—it was a book on cupcake decorating.
It’s not like I need ideas for cupcake decorations—I have lots of those. But sometimes I need help figuring out how to make my ideas edible and look good on a cupcake. For example, how about a cupcake with coconut icing that looks like snow, and a pine tree on top for winter? I loved that idea, and I knew the icing would look like snow, but the question was: How do you make a pine tree look like it’s growing out of a cupcake? By piping icing? By sticking a tree-shape cookie in the top? Upside-down mini ice-cream cone covered in green frosting?
I tested all those ideas to see if they worked. The cookie was cute but a lot of extra work, and the cone looked awkward. When I tried the icing, I couldn’t get it fluffy enough or stiff enough to make a tree that stood up on top of the cupcake. Then Katie found a recipe in one of her books, and when I tried it with the new icing, it came out perfect.
“You really need to get some cupcake decorating books of your own,” Katie had told me. “After all, you are the chief decorator of a cupcake business.”
“Yeah, I should,” I had agreed, but I never got around to it. Then, when I had promised Sophie’s mom that we could do cupcakes with a sewing theme, I realized once again I had ideas but not ways to execute them. So I quickly ordered a cupcake decorating book online.
And now our Cupcake meeting to plan the cupcakes for the historical society was tomorrow, and I needed some solid ideas to present to everyone. I couldn’t wait to dig into the book. After dinner, I went right up to my room and started reading.
It was perfect! They had all kinds of tips for using fondant, which is a thick paste of sugar and water that you can mold or press into shapes. And in a section called “Cupcake Themes,” there were four pages of sewing-themed cupcakes! I couldn’t believe my luck.
Or could I? I looked down at my bracelet and smiled.
So I made lots of notes and did some sketches with color pencils for the meeting, and before I knew it I was yawning.
What about your social studies reading? Practical Mia prodded me.
I’ll do it tomorrow on the bus, I promised myself, yawning. Besides, I got my English report finished, and that was a big deal, right? How much homework was a person supposed to do in one day, anyway?
The next morning on the bus, I told Katie about my new book, and, of course, she had a million questions, and she recognized the author and had to tell me all about this other book the author had written that she knew I would love.
So once again—no reading! I was really sweating when I got to Mrs. Kratzer’s class, waiting to see if she would spring a pop quiz on us.
“It’s good to be back,” Mrs. Kratzer announced when class started. “Let’s review what you went over with Mr. Cohen these last two days.”
I stopped sweating. No pop quiz! Everything was working out just great.
Now, I could have done my social studies reading after school, except I had a Cupcake Club meeting. Before Katie, Emma, and Alexis got there, I saw that Sebastian was over again, doing his homework at the dining room table this time and drinking a glass of milk.
“Hey, Mia,” Sebastian said. “Your mom says you have a Cupcake Club meeting. Should I move?”
“No, that’s okay. We can meet up in my room,” I told him.
Then I remembered I was supposed to ask him if he liked Emma. Awkward! But I was saved by the bell—the doorbell. Katie lives just a few blocks away, so she got to my house first, as usual.
Katie grinned when she saw my cousin. “Oh no, Sebastian’s here! I should have worn my ear protectors,” she teased.
Sebastian laughed. “Are you criticizing my drumming?”
“No, it’s great,” Katie said. “It reminds me of the jackhammer that the guys fixing my street are using. I hear it every morning. It’s better than birds singing.”
Sebastian laughed again. “Come on. I do not sound like a jackhammer!”
“Well, kind of,” Katie said. “But, anyway, you drum really fast, and that must be hard to do. Seriously.”
He nodded. “I practice a lot.”
“Yeah, I figured that,” Katie said.
Then the doorbell rang again, and this time it was Emma and Alexis. Emma waved shyly at Sebastian, but he was looking down at his math book and didn’t notice.
“So, I guess we can meet up in my room,” I said, nodding to Sebastian. “He’s doing his homework.”
So we made our way up the stairs. When Mom and I first moved into the house with Eddie and Dan, I wasn’t crazy about my room. But Eddie helped me redo it. We painted the walls pale turquoise, and then we painted the old furniture—a dresser, desk, and night table—gleaming white with black trim so they all matched.
I wish I could say that I kept my room super-clean, but I don’t. Mostly, there are clothes on the floor because sometimes I try on three or four outfits in the morning and just toss the rejects there. So I quickly kicked the stray clothes under the bed, and we sat on the floor on my turquoise rug. I have these big throw pillows—two black and two white—that are supercomfy and perfect for floor sitting.
Katie crossed her legs and closed her eyes. “Ohhhhhm,” she said.
“Are you going to meditate during this meeting?” I asked. “Come on. That’s not fair. I have a whole presentation and everything.”
Katie opened her eyes. “Now I am at peace. We may begin.”
Alexis laughed and shook her head. “Okay, so the event for the historical society is next week. The theme of the event is to celebrate the history of the textile and sewing industry in Maple Grove. Mia, do you have decoration ideas?”
I opened up my sketchbook and held it up so everyone could see my designs. “So, I had been thinking that we could do really cute sewing decorations, like spools of thread, buttons, and balls of yarn.”
Emma leaned in to look at my sketches, which I’d done with my color pencils. One cupcake had a tiny spool of blue thread and three buttons in happy yellow and pink colors. Another one had a red ball of yarn.
“That is so cute!” she said.
“Thanks,” I said. “The problem was, I had no idea how to make them. So I ordered a cupcake decorating book, and I got some ideas.”
I pointed to the buttons. “The buttons are easy. You just use real buttons almost like rubber stamps and press them into the fondant. Then you cut around the edges.”
“That’s genius!” Katie cried.
“The spool of thread is a little trickier,” I explained. “You start with a sheet cake. Then you use a cutter in the shape of a tube to cut out the spool. Mini cookies make the top and bottom of the spool. For the thread, you pipe on frosting.”
Alexis frowned. “That’s pretty cool, but it sounds supercomplicated.”
I nodded. “It is, definitely,” I said. “But the results are amazing.”
I held up the page in my book that had a color photo of the spools of thread. They looked adorable.
“Again, so cute!” said Emma. “We have to do these. It’ll be fun.”
“And impressive,” Katie added. “That’s the kind of thing people will talk about.”
“Good point,” agreed Alexis. “What about the ball of yarn?”
“We can make those out of skinny licorice ropes,” I replied. “The only thing is, the colors are limited to black or red. We should probably stick to red.”
“I love it,” said Katie. “And I was thinking for flavors, we could do a maple cupcake. For Maple Grove, get it?”
“Perfect! I’ll pass that by Mrs. Baudin,” said Alexis. Then she frowne
d a little. “The only issue I see is that the cupcakes are due by five thirty on a Thursday night. It’s not like we can spend all day working on them.”
“How about, next Wednesday night we can bake and frost, and Thursday after school we can assemble the decorations?” I suggested. “We should have plenty of time. I’ll get everything in advance. Besides, my luck has been great lately. We’ll be fine.”
“We don’t need to be lucky—we need to be fast,” Alexis pointed out. “And perfect.”
“They will be perfect,” I promised.
“Speaking of perfect,” Katie said. “Emma, why is there a hole in your jeans? And now that I think about it, why are you wearing jeans? I thought you never wore them.”
Emma blushed, and Alexis looked at her and raised her eyebrows, as if she were saying, Tell her! I figured Alexis knew all about Emma’s crush, because Emma and Alexis are best friends.
“What’s going on? Tell me!” Katie pleaded.
“Emma likes Sebastian!” Alexis blurted out, and Emma blushed again.
“Ohhhh,” Katie said slowly. “I get it. So you’re dressing like him now?”
“No,” Emma insisted. “I like these clothes. And I like my other clothes, too. I don’t see what the big deal is.” She sounded a little hurt.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” said Katie. “Sorry. It’s not a big deal. But it’s different. If I showed up wearing a pink dress with my hair all neat, I’m sure you’d ask me about it.”
Emma smiled. “Oh my gosh, I can just picture that. You would look so cute! Do you want to borrow one of my dresses?”
“I would pay to see that,” said Alexis. “And there aren’t a lot of things I like paying for.”
Katie quickly changed the subject. “So you like Sebastian? He’s cute.”
“Hey, what about George?” I asked.
“What about George?” Katie shot back. “All I said was that Sebastian was cute.”
“He is cute,” Emma said, blushing harder. “And we like the same music. I just never told you guys that.”
“Then it looks like you two are a perfect match!” Katie concluded.
Emma sighed. “I don’t think so. I’m not even sure if he likes me.” She looked at me expectantly. “Did you ask him?”