Mia's Baker's Dozen (4 page)

I
felt a little better after I Skyped with my dad; I always do. And I definitely didn't want to disappoint Señora Delgado again, so I made sure to finish all my homework. They were both worksheets, so I ended up guessing a lot. But at least I finished!

Anyway, tomorrow is Friday, which is my favorite day of the week. For one thing, it's the last day before the weekend, and the best things always happen on weekends. But for the Cupcake Club, it's also Cupcake Friday.

We started Cupcake Friday when school started and we all met. I definitely wouldn't mind eating cupcakes every day, but that's not exactly healthy, you know? So every Friday one of us brings in cupcakes to share. Since we started our business,
a lot of times the cupcakes are test runs of the cupcakes we're going to make for an order.

The next day in the cafeteria, we all waited eagerly for Emma to arrive. Last night Emma texted everyone and told us she was going to bake the white cupcakes with strawberry frosting. She came to the table with a pink cardboard box and lifted the lid.

“They're a little messy, because I let Jake help me,” she said apologetically. “So I added some coconut flakes to cover up the dents in the icing.”

“That looks like snow!” I said. I took my sketchbook out of my bag and started sketching with a pink pencil. “I like how it looks on top, but maybe we could test out some other decorations too. Like some white heart-shaped sprinkles, maybe?” I held up my sketch.

Emma's eyes lit up. “Ooh, I like that idea!”

Katie picked up a cupcake. “They look sooo good, Emma,” she said, peeling off the wrapper.

We hadn't even eaten our lunch yet, but none of us could resist trying one. I unwrapped one and took a bite. The white cake was superlight and fluffy, and the strawberry icing was perfect—not too sweet.

“It's
almost like eating a cloud,” Katie remarked, finishing her cupcake in one big bite.

“It is delicious,” I agreed.

“It's perfect,” Alexis added. “Now we just need to test the spicy ones. Mia, can we do that at the meeting on Sunday?”

“Oh, I almost forgot!” I said. “My friend Ava is coming out to visit this weekend. Is it okay if she's at the meeting?”

“She's nice,” Katie said. “Besides, since we're making cupcakes for her birthday party, she can tell us what she wants.”

“She's the one we met at your mom's fashion show and wedding, right?” Alexis asked, and I nodded.

“Of course she can be there,” Alexis said. She looked down at her notebook. “Oh yeah, I forgot something. I meant to mention this yesterday.”

I smiled. “Yeah, it looked like you were a little distracted.”

Alexis blushed. “I told you, I don't like Matt anymore! Besides, you and Katie turn bright red whenever Sam walks into the room.”

“Ew! You guys are talking about my brothers, remember?” Emma pointed out.

“Sorry,” I said. “So what's up, Alexis?”

“
The question should really be, ‘What's down?'” Alexis said. “And the answer to that would be ‘our sales.' They've dropped twelve percent since the fall. We had a little bump during the holidays, but still, we need to pick up business.”

“Maybe we can start promoting the business again,” Emma suggested. “Remember when we handed out those flyers? They really worked.”

Alexis nodded thoughtfully. “True. We haven't done those in a while. But maybe we could put a coupon on them or something. You know, like a special deal.”

“We could do a baker's dozen!” Katie said.

“What's that?” Alexis asked.

“It's when you buy a dozen of something and you get an extra for free,” Katie explained. “Like they do at the bagel shop. They give you thirteen bagels for the price of twelve, and they call it a baker's dozen.”

“I like it!” Alexis said. “Except for one thing. Our cupcake boxes fit twelve cupcakes exactly. Where would we put the extra one?”

Everyone was quiet for a minute. “Maybe we could wrap the extra one in a clear bag with a ribbon,” I said. “Then they'd definitely see that they're getting an extra one.”

“So cute!” Emma agreed.

“They also make special boxes that fit exactly one cupcake,” Katie said. “I've seen them at the store. But they might be too expensive. I can check.”

“Either one of those ideas could work,” Alexis said. “And you know, maybe we don't have to do flyers. I was doing some research on advertising, and it costs only ten dollars to put an ad on the school's website for parents. Since we need some new customers, we could offer a baker's dozen to everyone who orders for the first time.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Katie said.

“I can write something up and show it to you guys on Sunday,” Alexis said.

“And I'll get the ingredients together for the cinnamon cupcakes,” I added.

And then I realized that I had spent the whole lunch period without even thinking about Spanish class. That's another reason I love being in the Cupcake Club!

Some Advice from Ava

W
hy exactly do I have to sweep the basement?” I complained. “Nobody ever goes down there!”

“Would you take a bath and not wash your feet?” Eddie replied. “A truly clean house is clean all over. And we want things to be nice for your friend.”

“But she's not even going to see the basement!” I pointed out.

That was when Mom stepped into the kitchen. “Mia, please don't argue with Eddie. It will only take a few minutes to sweep the basement.”

I glared at my mom, but I knew I wasn't going to win this argument. So I grabbed the broom from Eddie and went down the stairs.

“No stomping!” Mom called after me.

“I am
not
stomping!” I called back. (Although
to be honest, I was stepping pretty hard.)

I couldn't help it. I was feeling pretty cranky. Ava was due any minute, and I was thinking of changing out of my skinny jeans and black sweater into something different. But no—I had to clean the basement.

When we lived in an apartment, we didn't have a basement. In fact, I don't remember cleaning our apartment. I had to keep my room clean, but the kitchen and living room were always neat. I never thought much about how that happened.

But now I lived in a house, and Eddie believes that “a clean house is a happy house.” So every Saturday we wake up at the crack of dawn (which to me is any time before ten o'clock) and clean the house, unless I have a soccer game or a cupcake job. It's just one more way that my new life is worse than my old life.

Even though I hate to admit it, Mom was right about the basement. There's not much down there except Dan's and my sports equipment and a metal shelf with some pots and pans and cans of food. The floor is concrete, and it didn't take long to sweep at all.

But by the time I got back upstairs, the doorbell
was ringing. My heart started to beat extra fast. Ava was here!

Ava and I have known each other since preschool. She was my only best friend in the world until I met Katie. I miss Ava so much! I usually visit her when I spend the weekend with my dad, but she's never been to Eddie's house before—I mean,
my
house. Our house.

I ran to the door and opened it. Ava was there with her mom, Mrs. Monroe. A blast of cold air swept into the room.

“Come in, fast!” I said. “It's cold out there.”

Then Mom and Eddie came up, and everybody hugged one another. Ava took off her coat, and I saw she was wearing skinny jeans and a black sweater—just like me.

We pointed at each other and laughed.

“Nice outfit,” I said.

“You too,” Ava replied.

I've always thought that Ava and I look kind of alike, even though I'm Latina and she's part Korean and part Scottish. We're both the same height, and we both have brown eyes and straight black hair. Oh, and we both have first names that are three letters long. How cool is that?

Eddie took Ava's purple duffel bag from
Mrs. Monroe and brought it over to the stairs.

“Ellie, can you stay for coffee?” my mom asked Ava's mom.

“I wish I could, but I've got to get back for Christopher's hockey game,” Mrs. Monroe replied. She hugged Ava and kissed her on the forehead.

“Call me if you need anything, okay? Otherwise I'll see you at the train station tomorrow.”

“Okay, Mom,” Ava replied.

When Mrs. Monroe left, Eddie said, “Mia, why don't you give your friend a tour of the house?”

“Um, sure,” I said. I felt a little awkward. I'd never had to give Ava a “tour” of anything. But everything was different now.

“I'll take you on the grand tour!” I said dramatically, and we both started giggling. “Follow me, madam.”

So I showed Ava the kitchen and the dining room, and she kept saying, “Wow! You have so much space!” It's true, I guess. In Manhattan, almost everyone I know has a pretty small apartment.

When we got to the living room, Dan was setting up his video game system.

“Oh, hey, guys,” he said, nodding to Ava. “You were at the wedding, right?”

“Right,”
Ava said, and I saw her cheeks turn pink.

“Ava, you remember my stepbrother, Dan,” I said.

Dan nodded and settled down in front of the TV. Then I led Ava upstairs.

“Your brother is so cute!” she whispered when we got to the top.

“He's not cute! He's just . . . regular,” I said. Suddenly I knew how Emma must feel with everyone crushing on Matt and Sam. “Besides, he's not my brother. He's my stepbrother.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Ava said as I opened the door to my room. Then she gasped. “Wow, look at all this space!”

I had been nervous about showing Ava my bedroom. My room in Manhattan has this cool Parisian theme, and it's light pink and black and white. But I haven't decorated my room in this house yet. Right now it has ugly flowered wallpaper on it, but Eddie promised to scrape all that off for me. I still haven't figured out what color to paint it, and none of the furniture matches.

But Ava didn't seem to notice. She went straight for my closet and threw open the door. “Oh wow! This is HUGE!” she exclaimed. “You
could fit a whole store in here, Mia!”

My closet isn't really
that
big, but compared to my old one in the city, it definitely is huge. Then Ava frowned.

“Wait! I can't find anything!” she cried. “Where's my favorite top? The one with the butterfly? It used to be next to the red dress!”

“I reorganized it,” I told her. “Mom showed me how to do it by color. Look in the blue section.”

Ava searched and then pulled out the shirt. She held it in front of her. “You have to let me borrow this again! When it gets warmer, I mean.”

“Or you could layer it,” I said. I rummaged through the clothes and pulled out a slim-fitting, long-sleeved knit top with purple-and-blue stripes. “See?”

“Cool!” Ava said, grabbing it from me. “Can I borrow them both? I'll give them back next time I see you.”

“Of course!” I told her. “You don't even have to ask.”

Ava flopped backward on my bed. “Sorry if it was weird that I said Dan was cute. He seems really nice,” she said. “It must be fun having an older brother instead of a younger one. Christopher is always getting into my stuff and bugging me!”

“
Well, Dan is pretty nice,” I admitted. “But wait until you hear the loud music he plays. That's really annoying.”

Ava sat up. “So you must like living here, right?”

I shrugged. “It's okay. But I miss not seeing my dad every day. And you and everyone else.”

“But you still get to see us,” Ava said. “It's kind of like you have the best of both worlds.”