The Cupcake Diaries Collection: Katie and the Cupcake Cure; Mia in the Mix; Emma on Thin Icing; Alexis and the Perfect Recipe (14 page)

“Thanks,” I said.

I thought I saw Sydney give Callie a glare. But when she turned to me, she was smiling too.

“That was a really
interesting
dress you wore to the dance, Mia,” Sydney said.

Hmm. I wasn’t sure what “interesting” meant. I had worn a minidress with black, purple, and turquoise panels, a black sequined jacket, and black patent leather peep toe flats. “Perfectly chic,” my mom had said.

“Thanks.”

“Very . . . red carpet maybe?” Sydney went on. “Although, I was reading this really
interesting
article in
Fashionista
magazine all about choosing the right outfit for the right event. You know, like how being
overdressed
can be just as bad as being underdressed.”

I knew exactly what Sydney was doing. She was insulting me, but in a “nice” way. Sort of. I know my outfit might have been a little too sophisticated for a middle school dance, but so what? I liked it.

“There’s no such thing as being overdressed,” I replied calmly. “That’s what my mom taught me. She used to be an editor at
Flair
magazine.” Then
I opened up my notebook and began to sketch. I don’t normally brag about my mother’s job like that, but I didn’t know what to say to Sydney.

“Wow!” said Callie. “
Flair
? That’s so cool! Isn’t that cool?” She turned to Sydney, who looked uninterested. “We read that all the time at Sydney’s house. Her mom gets it.”

Sydney opened her math book and pretended to start reading.

“You looked really great!” said Callie, like she was trying to make up for Sydney. I honestly didn’t really care if they liked it or not. I thought I looked good and that outfit made me feel great.

I wasn’t mad at Sydney—just annoyed. Which is not a fabulous way to start the day.

But what can you expect from a Monday?

S
o, the next Monday-esque thing happened at lunchtime. I sit at a table with Katie, Alexis, and Emma. Katie always brings her lunch, like me, and Alexis and Emma always get lunch from the cafeteria.

When I got to the table, Katie was already eating her sandwich. I opened up my new bag and realized I’d forgotten to put my lunch bag inside this morning.

“This is seriously disappointing,” I said with a sigh. Luckily, I always carry a few dollars around in case of an emergency. I looked at Katie. “Forgot my lunch. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Katie’s mouth was full of peanut butter, so she nodded in reply. I walked over to the line and found
myself right behind Alexis and Emma. They’re best friends, but they’re both really different. Alexis has reddish wavy hair and likes to talk a lot. Emma was taller, with straight blond hair and big blue eyes. She’s a little bit shy, and definitely quieter than Alexis. They’re both supernice though.

Today they were both wearing their Park Street sweatshirts. Alexis wore hers with a white denim skirt and a white headband in her hair, and Emma had on cute blue denim leggings.

“I forgot my lunch,” I told them. “What are they having today?”

“Monday is meat loaf day,” Alexis told me. “With mashed potatoes and string beans.”

“Oh,” I said. I am not a big fan of meat loaf. Of course, Monday would have to be meat loaf day.

“It’s not bad,” Emma said, noticing my face. “You can get a salad instead if you want.”

That cheered me up. “I’ll do the salad, definitely!”

“So, did you forget to wear your sweatshirt?” Alexis asked me.

“No.” I held out my bag. “I transformed it, but I’m still wearing it, see?”

I wasn’t expecting Alexis’s reaction. “You cut it up?” She sounded a little upset.

“Well, I had to, to make the bag,” I explained.

Alexis frowned. “It’s just, I thought we were going to wear them together, like a team,” she said.

“Oh!” I said, because I didn’t really know what to say. Was she mad at me?

“But it’s a nice bag,” Emma said, giving Alexis a look.

“Thanks,” I said. “And we are a team. It’s just, I don’t like sweatshirts. It’s hard to look good in a sweatshirt, you know? They’re so puffy and lumpy.”

I felt bad as soon as I said the words. “I mean, you guys look great, I just don’t like how I look in them,” I said quickly.

Alexis turned away. “Time to order.”

I felt really terrible as I took my salad from the cold shelf. The three of us were quiet as we walked back to the table.

“I’ve been so alone!” Katie said in a funny, dramatic way. “Thank goodness you’re here at last! Hey, did you check out Mia’s bag? Isn’t it cool? Maybe you could make one for me, too. This sweatshirt is
hot
!”

And just like that, everything was all right. Katie is like that. She’s so sweet and funny, it’s hard to be in a bad mood when you’re around her.

But I still felt bad about what I said. And there was a part of me that wished Alexis, you know,
got me better. Like my best friend, Ava, who lives in Manhattan. All I’d have to do is say the word “sweatshirt,” and she’d know what I was talking about: steamed dumpling.

I think that’s the biggest problem I have here at Park Street Middle School. I don’t feel like anyone really gets me. Not like Ava does, anyway. The Cupcake Club is great, but Ava has known me since first grade. She knows everything about me. I try not to think about it too much, but it can be a bit lonely sometimes.

The Monday madness continued after school. When I got home, my dogs, Tiki and Milkshake, ran up to greet me like they always do. They’re little, fluffy, white dogs with black noses, and I think they are perfectly adorable. Mom and I adopted them after the divorce when we went to live in a new apartment, one that allowed dogs. After I petted them both, I went over to my mom’s office to talk to her.

Mom’s starting up her own fashion consulting business, so she works out of the house, which is nice. I see her a lot more now.

But Mom wasn’t there. Then I heard Eddie’s voice behind me.

“Sorry, Mia. Your mom had to go into the city
for a meeting. She won’t be home till late,” he said.

Eddie is my soon-to-be stepdad. Mom and I live in the house with him and my soon-to-be stepbrother, Dan. Eddie is a lawyer whose law firm is over in the next town. When my mom left her job to start up her consulting company, Eddie asked her to marry him. They’re getting married this spring.

“How late?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “But there’s good news! I’ll be cooking tonight. You’re in for a real treat. It’s my famous mystery meat loaf!”

It looked like I was not going to escape meat loaf, no matter how hard I tried. “Why is it a
mystery
meat loaf?” I asked.

“Because the recipe is very mysterious,” Eddie said in a fake mysterious voice. Then he made spooky noises.
“Oooh, whooo . . .”

Eddie is always trying to make me laugh. Sometimes I do, but it’s not easy. His jokes can be pretty awful at times.

“Just let me know when it’s time to set the table,” I told him.

I walked up the stairs to my room, and Milkshake and Tiki followed me. Before Mom and I moved in with Eddie and Dan, the room was supposed to be
a guest room, but it was mostly filled with boxes of stuff that Dan had when he was a kid. It has weird flowery wallpaper, like something you’d find in an old lady’s house. Eddie keeps saying he’ll paint it, but he’s always busy. So is Mom. Between getting ready for the wedding and starting her new business, she doesn’t have a lot of extra time.

So for now, I’m stuck with the room with the weird wallpaper. My room at my dad’s apartment is much more me. We decorated it with a Parisian Chic theme. The walls are pale pink with black-and-white accents. My headboard is this twisted flowery iron, and my bedspread and pillows have a cool black-and-white pattern on them. I have a really pretty white vanity where I can keep all my hair stuff, and I can actually sit down to do my hair in the morning. One day I can put makeup in there . . . if my mom ever lets me wear anything other than lip gloss.

In
this
room the bed has a green quilt and the curtains are blue and they don’t match at all. My old quilt doesn’t fit because this bed is big—a double bed—which is nice, but the quilt is ugly. There’s no vanity, but there’s an old wooden dresser, which is
brown
, and a desk for my computer and a small table for my sewing machine in the
corner. My table with my sewing machine on it is the only piece of furniture from my mom’s old apartment. Since everything is so much bigger at Eddie’s house, Mom said it was a perfect chance for us to leave my old furniture behind and update and redo my bedroom. Which she promises to do soon. But until that happens, I’ve just been covering up the wallpaper with fashion spreads that I tear out of my favorite magazines. It’s not great, but at least it covers up most of those ugly flowers.

The one good thing about this room, though, is the closet—it’s three times the size of my closet in New York. Which is good, because I keep most of my clothes at this house anyway.

The way my room is decorated isn’t the only thing I don’t like about it. The other bad thing is that it’s next to Dan’s room. And Dan loves heavy metal music—the loud kind, where the lead singer screams like there’s a fire or something. He listens to it all the time.

Like right now. The loud music (if you can call it music) blared from behind Dan’s door, shaking the walls and the floor. All I wanted to do was call Ava, but I’d never be able to hear her on the line.

I knocked on Dan’s door. “Dan, can you turn it down, please?”

It was no use. He couldn’t hear me. So I went into my room, sat on my bed, and stuck in my earbuds. I pressed play on my iPod, and a song by my favorite singer filled my ears—but I swear I could still see the walls shaking.

Tiki and Milkshake curled up in the purple dog bed I keep for them in my room. Then I texted Ava.

FabMia: Miss you! How’s ur Monday going?

Avaroni: Not good. U know those boots I got last week? The heel fell off rite in the middle of school! I almost fell.

FabMia: Oh no! U okay?

Avaroni: :( I hate Mondays!

FabMia: Me 2!

Avaroni: Hey, gotta go. Me n Delia r going to that xhibit at the Met.

FabMia: Jealous!

Avaroni: Peace out.

FabMia: Talk soon. Bye.

I clicked off the phone with a frown. I was happy for Ava, but I was jealous too. If I were still living in Manhattan, I would be going to that exhibit. I didn’t even know who Delia was, either. I think Ava told me she met her in French class or something.

So . . . no Mom. No Ava. And mystery meat loaf
in my near future. I couldn’t wait until Monday was over.

I took off my shoes and searched for my sketchbook, which I found under a pillow at the foot of my bed. I opened it up and started to sketch an idea for a dress I’d been thinking about. As I moved the pencil across the page, I didn’t notice the shaking walls or the mysterious smell of meat loaf wafting up the stairs.

That’s how it always feels when I sketch. The whole world melts away. And that is a nice feeling, especially on a Monday.

F
or the record, let me just say that “mystery meat loaf” probably got its name because it’s a mystery why anyone would eat it. But I didn’t want to hurt Eddie’s feelings, so I didn’t tell him that. Instead I managed to sneak most of it to Tiki and Milkshake, who always hang out under the table while we’re eating, hoping to get some scraps.

Thankfully that was the last annoying thing that happened on Monday. And the next day, Tuesday, was much better, of course.

To start with, even though Mom got home late, she still packed me a lunch, and I didn’t forget it this time. My mom made my favorite: a turkey and Brie wrap with a side of red grapes. Yum!

While we were eating, Alexis started talking
about the school fund-raiser. People were still talking about it.

“You won’t believe what just happened in French class,” she said, sticking a fork into her spaghetti. “Before class, Mademoiselle Girard came up to me and congratulated me on the Cupcake Club winning the contest. Sydney was standing right there, and she gave me
such
a nasty look!”