Katie Sprinkles and Surprises (4 page)

Then I went downstairs, where Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee and reading
the paper. I didn't see any breakfast on the table, so I went to the pantry and got a box of cereal.

“So, Katie, I think we should talk about last night” were the first words out of Mom's mouth. Not “Good morning” or “How did you sleep?” or “Are you hungry?”

“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled, annoyed.

“I thought things went really well,” Mom went on.

“Yup,” I said, avoiding her gaze. I got the milk out of the fridge next.

Mom sighed. “Okay, Katie, use your words. What's bothering you?”

I put the milk carton on the table in front of her. “Okay. It's just . . . I can't believe you didn't tell me that Jeff is Mr. Green! That he's a teacher in my school!”

Mom nodded. “I understand. But we wanted to wait until the two of you met officially. And it's all very new. When I first started dating Jeff, he was teaching in another school. The switch to your school was pretty sudden.”

“It's not fair,” I said. “You still knew he was in my school. And it's like he knew who I was before I knew who he was. Plus, what if you guys get married and we have to move into his house? I don't
want to leave my room. I like this house. And Emily sounds nice and all, but what if I don't want a little sister?”

Mom's eyes got big. “Whoa,” she said. “First of all, nobody is talking about getting married right now, so slow down.”

I sat down in my chair while Mom continued. “Secondly, nobody's talking about moving right now either.”

“Good.”

“But I'll be honest, Katie, I really like Jeff, and he likes me,” Mom said. “Our relationship is getting serious, I guess. But if we ever did decide to . . . make things permanent, I promise you we won't make any fast decisions. We'd all talk about things together, okay?”

“Okay,” I said. “But you still should have told me Jeff was Mr. Green.”

“I wanted to first make sure that you weren't in his class, because that might cause some issues,” Mom answered. “But you aren't.”

I looked at Mom. She is a very smart woman—she's a dentist! But right now she sounded pretty clueless.

“Don't you see?” I said. “If you're dating one of the teachers in my school, it's going to be weird,
period. It doesn't matter if I'm in his class or not.”

Mom looked thoughtful. “I see your point. But if it does become an issue, we'll deal with it together, okay? I always want you to feel like you can come talk to me, Katie. Especially about stuff like this.”

“Sure,” I said with a sigh. Mom just didn't get it. She was dating Mr. Green. I didn't have to wait for it to become an issue—it already was an issue!

Mom went back to reading her paper, and I got to thinking as I ate my cereal. Mom had been dating Jeff for a while, and so far nobody knew he was Mr. Green but me. The best thing I could do was to keep it a secret—even from my friends—and then maybe, maybe, I could get through the rest of the school year.

I hated not telling them, but it was my only hope for a normal life.  At least that's what I thought, anyway.

T
he Cupcake Club had a meeting on Sunday afternoon, after Mia got back from visiting her dad. Remember I told you her parents are divorced too? Well, Mia spends every other weekend with her dad in Manhattan, in the apartment she grew up in. I always miss her when she's gone.

Mom dropped me off at Emma's house at two o'clock.

“I'll pick you up at five,” she said. “Jeff and I are going for a run, but I have my cell phone if you need me.”

“Say hi to
Mr. Green
for me,” I said. I wasn't ready to let Mom forget she was dating a teacher
in my school. I smirked at her.

Mom had on her patient face. “I will.”

When I got out of the car, Emma was chasing her little brother, Jake, across the lawn.

“Hey, Katie!” she said. She grabbed Jake and hugged him. “Tag! You're it! Except I need to start my meeting now.”

“But I'm it!” Jake protested. “So you'd better run!”

Emma shook her head, but she ran inside, and I followed them into Emma's kitchen. Jake was hanging off her arm.

“You're it now! Chase me! Chase me!”

Emma sighed. “Stop it, Jake.”

“But you're it!” her little brother wailed.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Mom! Tell Jake to quit bugging me, please! Katie is here!” she yelled.

Mrs. Taylor came into the kitchen. “Emma, please don't yell,” she scolded. Then she smiled at me. “Hi, Katie.”

“Hi, Mrs. Taylor,” I said. Emma's mom is the only one in their whole family without blond hair. Hers is brown, like mine.

“Mia and Alexis will be here any minute,” Emma said. “Jakey, we need to work now, okay?”

Mrs. Taylor grabbed Jake's hand. “Come on, Jakey. Let's go
play ball in the yard.”

“I get to lick the bowl!” Jake cried over his shoulder as Mrs. Taylor pulled him outside.

Then Emma and I were alone in the kitchen. I knew she was going to ask about Jeff, so I quickly brought up another topic.

“So, how was your modeling job yesterday?” I asked. Emma has a lot of stuff going on. Besides being in the Cupcake Club, she plays the flute, has a dog-walking business, and even does modeling on the weekends sometimes.

“Kind of fun,” Emma replied. “I had to model clothes for a winter catalog for this store, and it was superhot in the studio, but I had to wear a fuzzy parka! I was sweating like crazy.”

I laughed. “I never thought about that before. I think I have a new respect for models.”

Then Alexis and Mia came into the kitchen.

“Your dad let us in,” Alexis reported.

“Emma was just telling me about her modeling job,” I said quickly, before Alexis and Mia could start firing Jeff questions. That worked for, like, a minute, but then Mia was in the chair next to me, her eyes shining with curiosity.

“So, what's Jeff like?” Mia asked.

I took a deep breath. I could tell the truth
without telling the whole story.

“He's nice,” I said. “And funny, and my mom really likes him.”

“What does he look like?” Alexis asked.

I had to be careful about this one. “Regular, I guess. Brown hair. He has a daughter, and she's, like, two years younger than I am. So if Mom and Jeff get married, I'll have a younger sister.”

“That's definitely better than getting stuck with an older sister,” Alexis said, making a face.

“Or a little brother,” Emma added. “Or even an older brother. I've always wanted a sister.”

“And she's only two years younger,” Mia pointed out. “She's not some gross little kid.”

“You mean like Ethan?” I asked.

Mia nodded. “Yesterday he insisted on making his own lunch, and he made the drippiest peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich ever. Every time he took a bite, jelly squirted onto his shirt. And his hands were sticky and gross all day long.”

“Eww!” I squealed, along with Alexis and Emma.

“Can we please stop talking about this and make some cupcakes?” Alexis asked. “We've got to get this birthday order done.”

“Let's do it,” I said quickly. Everyone seemed to
have forgotten about Jeff, which was good.

We had a birthday order for two dozen cupcakes that was due by six o'clock that night. We were cutting it kind of close, but Mia was with her dad yesterday and Emma had her modeling thing.

I started chopping up apples for the batter, Emma started mixing the dry ingredients, Alexis whipped up a cream cheese frosting, and Mia started working on the decorations. Not only would the cupcakes be apple flavored, but they would look like apples too, with red icing, green leaves cut from fruit rolls, and a skinny pretzel stick for a stem.

“Is this red enough?” Alexis asked, holding up the bowl of icing she'd been working on.

“Add a little more gel,” I suggested. Getting icing to look really red is hard to do with regular food coloring, but we found a gel that works pretty well. Alexis nodded and went back to work.

Before long the cupcakes were out of the oven, and the whole house smelled like apples and cinnamon. That's when Emma's brother Matt came into the kitchen. He's a year older than we are, and he's got blond hair and blue eyes, like Emma. He could probably be a model too, but he'd rather play sports—all of them.

“I'm ready to help,” he said.

Emma snorted. “Yeah, you mean you're here to eat a cupcake.”

“Hey, it's an important job,” Matt said. “You need me to test the cupcakes for you.”

Alexis handed him a freshly iced cupcake. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” Matt said, and then he took a bite. “Shish ish really good,” he said with his mouth full.

“Thanks,” Emma said, rolling her eyes.

Then I had a sort of reverse thought. Emma and Alexis were always complaining about their older siblings. What if Emily met me and she didn't like
me
? I mean, I couldn't imagine being annoying to anybody, but it was possible.

“You need to get out of here,” Emma told Matt. “We have more cupcake business to discuss.”

“Matt can stay,” Alexis said. (She has a little bit of a crush on him.)

Matt smiled at Alexis, then looked at Emma. “I'll leave, but it'll cost you,” he said, holding out his hand.

Emma put another cupcake onto his palm. “Now, go!”

Alexis looked a little disappointed, but she got over it quickly, because now she could discuss
cupcake business, which she loves doing.

“So we should talk about the job for the children's museum,” Alexis said as she continued icing the apple cupcakes. “Mia, did you ask your dad about that weekend?”

Mia sighed. “I asked him, but he says it's his time with me, and he has something planned. So I can design the cupcakes and the display, but I can't be around to make them or deliver them. Sorry.”

“That's too bad,” Emma said worriedly. “You're usually around when we do the fancy cupcakes. You're the best at it.”

“Aww, thanks, Emma,” Mia said. “I love decorating our cupcakes! I am really sorry.”

“As long as we prepare correctly, everything will go smoothly,” Alexis said. “Mia, you can write up detailed instructions for us and even do a demo before the event.”

Mia nodded. “Of course! Anything! I know this is a big job.”

“Also, I spoke with the director of the children's museum,” Alexis reported. “She wants to meet us on Saturday morning to go over what they want. We can walk around and get some ideas for how to do the display.”

“Perfect! I can be there!” Mia promised.

Emma frowned. “That's the day we deliver the mini cupcakes to The Special Day. But you guys can go, and I'll make the delivery. Mona wants me to model some bridesmaid dresses that day, anyway.” (I forgot to mention—that's another thing Emma does. She helps us with our gig making mini cupcakes for a bridal shop.)

“No problem,” Alexis said. “When we're busy like this, it makes sense to split up. I'll text you guys with the details, and we can figure out who'll drive us for the meeting.”

At that moment my phone made a noise, and there was a text from my mom saying she was outside.

“I've got to go,” I said. “Thanks for handling the birthday delivery,  Alexis.”

“No problem,” Alexis said.

I went outside and got into the car.

“How was your run?” I asked.

“Nice,” Mom said. Then she casually added, “So, I was talking to Jeff about the Wilsons' party.”

“You were?” I asked, confused, and I should probably explain why. Since I was a little kid, my mom and I have been friends with the Wilsons. I used to be best friends with Callie Wilson, until she dumped me at the beginning of middle school.
That was painful, but now we are okay with each other, I guess. It's still a little awkward any time we're together. Anyway, Callie's mom was having a birthday party next week, and Mom and I were invited.

Mom nodded. “So, I thought it would be nice if Jeff came with us.”

I let that statement hang in the air for a minute. Mom wanted to bring Jeff to Callie's house. Callie would know Jeff was Mr. Green.  Talk about awkward! And so much for keeping Mr. Green a secret.

“But I was trying to . . . ,” I began, but I didn't finish. Callie's mom was still Mom's best friend. Callie was going to find out sooner or later.

“What, Katie?” Mom asked. “Don't you think it will be fun to have Jeff with us?”

“It's not that,” I said. “It's just really awkward, you know?”

“It'll be fine, Katie,” Mom said. “The Wilsons are like family.”

It'll be fine.
That was Mom's answer for everything these days. I just wished I could believe her.