Katie Sprinkles and Surprises (11 page)

W
ow! These are looking really great,” I said, standing back to admire the alien cupcake I had just decorated. It was Friday night, the night before the exhibit opening, and Alexis, Emma, and I were baking cupcakes at Alexis's house. Mia already left to see her dad in the city.

Emma leaned over my shoulder. “That is so cute! You should send a picture to Mia.”

I wiped my hands on a towel and snapped a picture with my cell phone.

Mia texted me right back:
Perfect!

Thanks!
I texted back.
Miss u.

Miss u 2! Have fun with George 2morrow,
she wrote.

:-P
, I texted.

I placed the alien cupcake in one of our plastic cupcake carriers. We invested some of our first profits in them. The cupcakes fit in little spaces in the carrier, and a lid locks on top. It helps keep the cupcakes safe—and clean—when we get them from one place to another. We had three carriers of star cupcakes and three of alien cupcakes.

It's always a satisfying feeling when the cupcakes are all done and the carriers are neatly stacked. Emma and I got to work washing and drying the dishes while Alexis went over the checklist.

“We've got the display, six dozen cupcakes, plates, and napkins,” she said. “Can you guys get here by nine thirty?”

“No problem,” Emma said.

“Ditto,” I added.

“My mom will drive us. We can load the minivan and get to the museum by ten, so we can be all set up by the time the museum opens at eleven,” Alexis said.

I looked around at Alexis's clean kitchen and realized I was calm. “I'm starting to think this is going to go all right,” I said.

“Of course it is,” Alexis said.

And things did go all right—but first they went all wrong. I guess I should explain.

Mom dropped me off at Alexis's house the next morning. I wanted to look nice for the event, so instead of my usual jeans (most of which have frosting stains on them), I wore a denim skirt with dark-blue tights and ballet flats to go with the theme, and of course my official Cupcake Club T-shirt that Mia designed.

I also brought my cupcake first-aid kit, which I started carrying when we go to jobs. I saw a baker do this on a food show once, and it seemed like a good idea. I have an extra icing spreader and extra toppings and writing gel and stuff, in case any of the cupcakes needed to be touched up a bit. It comes in handy, especially when we do fancy events, like bridal showers, where the client wants every single detail to be perfect.

Alexis already had the car loaded when I got there, and Emma was walking up, yawning sleepily. Alexis's mom, Mrs. Becker, came out of the house holding a cup of coffee in one hand. Her short cropped hair was neat and gleaming as always, and she wore a crisp white skirt, a blue collared shirt, and white sneakers. She always has a lot of energy, no matter what time of day.

“Let's get you to the museum!” she said, and we piled into the minivan and buckled up. Mrs. Becker headed downtown, but we didn't get far. When we got to River Street, there was a detour. I looked out the window and saw runners wearing numbers jogging by.

“Oh, that must be the hospital charity run,” I said. “I think Mr. Green is doing that.”

“Don't worry, I'll just take the detour,” said Mrs. Becker, making the right turn.

But the detour was backed up with lots of cars, stuck at a light. We had to wait and wait. I watched as the dashboard's digital clock kept slowly moving forward: 9:56, 9:57, 9:58.

“We're going to be late!” I said, starting to sweat a little. This was not the impression I wanted to make on Mrs. Martinez.

“Mom, is there another route?” I could tell that Alexis was anxious too. Being late for a job can be bad for business.

“Just be patient, honey, we're almost there.”

We finally got to the light and arrived at the museum at 10:05. I quickly ripped off my seat belt and ran to the back of the van, opening the hatch. I had my cupcake kit in my right hand, and I picked up two carriers, kind of balancing them in my arms.

“Katie, maybe you should just take one,” Emma suggested.

“No, I got it,” I said. “We're running late. We need to get set up fast.”

I didn't wait for the others, but hurried inside as fast as I could. Luckily, a mom held the door open for me, so I easily got inside and headed for the party room. Mrs. Martinez intercepted me by the doorway.

“There you are!” she said. Over the top of the carrier, I noticed she had on a dark-blue shirt and a big necklace with stars on it, which looked really cool.

“Hi, Mrs. Martinez,” I said, hurrying past her. “We had to take a detour because of the charity run, but we will definitely have the cupcakes all set up by eleven. Don't worry.”

“I wasn't worried,” she said, smiling.

I walked into the party room, where George's little brothers were chasing each other (which is all they seem to do, right? They must be having fun). Anyway, I had to kind of lean to the side to avoid one of them, when the top carrier I was carrying started to slide off.

“No . . . nooooo!” I yelled.

What happened next felt like it happened in
slow motion. I watched in horror as the carrier fell out of my arms. Luckily, I was right by the table, so the carrier didn't have far to fall. But it landed upside down.

My stomach sank. I carefully placed the bottom carrier and my cupcake kit on the table. Then I slowly turned over the fallen carrier, and I could see that the inside of the plastic lid was smeared with blue icing. Not good.

“Katie, what happened?” Emma asked, her blue eyes wide. She and Alexis had caught up to me.

“I'm so sorry,” I said, my eyes filling with tears. “It tipped over.” I lifted up the lid and almost cried when I saw that the once-beautiful space cupcakes were now a big, blue mess.

“You brought your kit, right?” Alexis asked. “We can fix them.”

I shook my head. “See how most of the stars are smeared with blue? There's no way to fix that.”

I was about to cry when George ran up. “Whoa! What'd you do now, Silly Arms?”

For the first time ever, it hurt my feelings when George said that. I felt embarrassed and stupid and angry. But then something happened. An image of the Silly Arms sprinkler popped into my head. . . . Sprinkler . . .

“Wait,” I said. “I think I know what to do.”

I opened my cupcake kit and took out the icing spreader and a jar of silver sprinkles.

“We can fix this,” I said. “Let's take off the stars that are totally covered and leave the good ones. We can smooth out the icing as best as we can and then sprinkle the silver glitter on top. It'll look like . . . space dust!”

“Silver glitter definitely looks spacey,” Emma agreed. “That's a great idea.”

“Can you and Emma fix the cupcakes, so Mom and I can get the display set up?” Alexis asked, and I nodded.

“I can help,” George offered.

“Thanks,” I said, and I wasn't mad at him anymore. “Alexis will show you what to do.”

Emma and I got to work fixing the cupcakes. It was messy, but in the end the cupcakes came out looking really nice. When we finished we carefully placed them on the rocket ship display.

“Katie, I think it looks even better with the sparkles!” Emma said as she admired the sparkling cupcakes.

I stood back and looked at the display. “You know, maybe it does!”

Alexis started stacking up the empty carriers.
“Come on, we've got to get these back to the car and clean up.”

We finished just in time for the exhibit opening, and Alexis took some pictures of it to add to the photo book we show our clients. Then Mrs. Martinez gathered all the kids and their parents together in front of a curtain blocking the exhibit room.

“Presenting the new space exhibit at the Maple Grove Children's Museum!” she announced. “I'm going to give you a brief tour of the new features, and then you're all welcome to join us for cupcakes in the party room.”

She nodded to George, who dramatically pulled aside the curtain. Everyone oohed and aahed all at once. The exhibit looked awesome, even better than the picture Mrs. Martinez had showed us. Giant planets hung from the star-covered ceiling, and the big rocket ship looked totally awesome, with a shiny blue body, red fins, and light-up buttons going up the sides.

While Mrs. Martinez gave the tour, we went back to the party room to get ready for the guests.

“She asked us to hand out the cupcakes, so the kids aren't grabbing for them,” Alexis said, so we
got the plates and napkins ready to hand out with the cupcakes.

A few minutes later we heard a rousing cheer, and then a mob of kids ran through the doorway. They screeched to a halt at the sound of Alexis's voice.

“One at a time, people! One at a time! There are enough cupcakes for everybody,” she yelled.

I giggled. “You sound like Ms. Chen.” Our gym teacher is great at barking out orders.

“That's what I was going for,” Alexis explained. “She knows how to get kids to do things.”

The next twenty minutes was a cupcake frenzy as we handed out cupcake after cupcake. The kids ate them superfast and then ran back into the museum.

George walked up to me, munching on an alien cupcake. “These are so good!” he said. “And they look so cool.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Mia designed them. I wish she was here. This is so much fun.”

“I have an idea,” George said. He looked over at Alexis and Emma. “Everybody grab a cupcake and follow me.”

George took us to the exhibit, which was crawling with kids.

“Step aside, step aside, please,” he told the kids on the rocket. “We have an important photo opportunity here.”

Then he gestured to us. “Okay, climb up.”

Alexis, Emma, and I looked at one another. Were we really going to do this?

“Why not?” I said, and I started to climb up the rocket, holding a cupcake in one hand. Alexis and Emma followed, and soon all three of us were hanging from the sides of the ship.

George held up his phone. “Okay, guys, look at me and say ‘cheese.' ”

“You mean ‘green cheese,' ” Emma corrected him.

“No,” I said. “It's ‘cupcakes . . . in . . . spaaaaaace!' ”

We all laughed, and George took the picture and texted it to me. In the subject line he put, “Silly Arms in Space,” but I didn't mind. I might have silly arms, but at least I fixed the cupcakes!

I
was pretty relieved that everything went well at the children's museum, but my worries were not over for the day. I still had to meet Jeff and his daughter, Emily, at the pizza place. I wanted to make a good impression, so I kept on my skirt and tights, but I changed out of my cupcake T-shirt (which had splotches of blue frosting on it, anyway) and into a blue striped shirt that I have.

“You look nice,” Mom said when I came down the stairs.

“So do you,” I said. Normally, she dresses up when she goes out with Jeff, but today she was wearing a brand-new red short-sleeved sweater and a really cute flowered skirt. “Do you want to make a good impression too?”

Mom laughed. “Honestly, I'm nervous too, Katie. I met Emily once, but it was just for a little while. It's important to me that she . . . well, that she thinks I'm nice.”

“Well, you are nice,” I said. “The nicest mom ever. So that shouldn't be a problem.”

Mom hugged me. “And you are the nicest daughter ever.”

“So I guess we have nothing to worry about,” I said, but inside I wasn't quite convinced yet.

Instead of Jeff picking us up, Mom and I drove to Vinnie's Pizza, which is right in town. The brick restaurant looks small in front, but when you walk in, you see rows and rows of tables that go all the way back to the counter and to the open kitchen where the cooks work. You can see the guys throwing the dough up into the air, which is really cool. I have tried throwing pizza dough in the air when we make it at home, but I can never get a perfect circle. And once it ended up on the ceiling fan. (Don't ask!)