Katie Sprinkles and Surprises (7 page)

“We're going to paint the rocket ship silver, and the rings will be dark blue, with planets and stars, so it looks like the rocket is flying through space,” Mia explained.

“It's perfect,” Alexis said. “And we can get a dark-blue paper tablecloth for the table.”

“And dark-blue little plates and napkins,” Emma added.

Alexis started typing on her laptop. “Perfect!” she said. Then she looked up, pushing a strand of her curly red hair behind her ear. “So, let's get to making those angel food cupcakes.”

“Why are we making these again?” I asked. “They need a whole dozen egg whites, and Mom and I never know what to do with the extra yolks.”

I don't know if you've ever had angel food cake, but it's made with lots of whipped-up egg whites and no yolks. The cake is perfectly white and also very light and fluffy.

“We've been getting a lot of requests for lighter cupcakes,” Alexis explained. “I guess people want to be able to eat a cupcake without a lot of guilt. I've made a chart to show the increase in demand, if you want to see it.”

Nobody argued with Alexis. When she suggests something, she usually has a million facts to back it up. Plus, it was actually a pretty good idea.

“Let's do white chocolate frosting,” Emma said. “White chocolate is one of our most-requested flavors. And we can dye the frosting blue, for the
space themed cupcakes. Those can be the angel food cupcakes.”

I nodded. “Sounds good. I'll start separating the eggs.”

Separating eggs takes a steady hand. You have to carefully crack the egg and then gently tip both halves of the shell so that the white pours into the bowl while the yolk stays in the shell. Then you put the yolk into a separate bowl. You have to make sure the yolk doesn't break, because even if you get a little bit of yolk in the white, it won't whip up very well.

Mia helped me with the eggs, and soon they were whipping up nicely in the stand mixer. Alexis was melting white chocolate chips in the microwave for the icing, and Emma was measuring the dry ingredients for the cupcakes.

“So, did Olivia say anything more about Mr. Green?” Mia asked me.

I shook my head. “No, and so far it hasn't been a huge deal. I'm not sure why Olivia isn't blabbing it all over the school.” It occurred to me that maybe Callie had talked to her, but I wasn't counting on it. “Maybe she just doesn't want me to get attention for it. You know how she is. She likes the spotlight for herself.”

“Believe me, I know,” Mia said as she slowly added the dry ingredients to the mixer.

Soon the cupcakes were in the oven, and we continued with our usual routine. We snacked on peanut butter and apples while the cupcakes baked and cooled, and then we started frosting them.

“They smell great,” Emma remarked, holding up an iced cupcake. “And they look pretty nice. Boring but nice.”

“I think they need some flair,” I said, and I went to the pantry to get some rainbow sprinkles. When I came back, I started showering the cupcakes.

Mia was laughing. “Katie! You can't put rainbows on everything!”

“Why not?” I asked.

We were all laughing when the doorbell rang, and I heard my mom answer it.  Then my friends got strangely quiet, and I looked up from the cupcakes to see Mr. Green standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Hi, girls,” he said, with a little wave.

“Oh hi, Je—Mr. Green,” I said. It felt too weird to call him Jeff in front of my friends, even though he was in my house.

Mom stepped into the kitchen. “Jeff just stopped by to pick up a book I'm lending him,” she said.

“And then I smelled the cupcakes, so I couldn't resist seeing what you guys were up to,” he said. “I hope you don't mind.”

“It's fine!” Emma said superquickly. I could tell everyone felt a little awkward.

Mr. Green eyed the cupcakes on the kitchen table. “You know, if you ever need an official taster, I'm up for the job.”

“You'd have to fight my brother Matt for that job,” Emma said.

“Or my stepdad, Eddie!” Mia added, and we all laughed. But the word “stepdad” got kind of stuck in my head. Would Jeff be my stepdad one day? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He was just as nice as Eddie, and Mia liked Eddie a lot.

Alexis put a cupcake on a plate and handed it to him. “But those other testers aren't here tonight, so you can have the job for now,” she said. “It's an angel food cupcake. We're experimenting with a lighter cupcake recipe.”

“Good idea,” Mr. Green said. He took a seat at the kitchen table. Then he picked up the cupcake and stared at it very solemnly. He waved it in front of his nose. “Chocolate, with a hint of sprinkles. Interesting.”

We all started giggling, because Mr. Green was
pretty funny. He carefully took a bite of the cupcake. Then he nodded his head, like he was thinking. Then he took another bite, and another, until there were nothing but crumbs left on the plate.

“Delicious,” he said. “The cake is light and fluffy and perfect. The sprinkles were a nice touch. And the frosting is tasty, but I wonder if it's a little too heavy for the light cupcake?”

I looked at Mia and raised an eyebrow. Most of our cupcake tasters give us a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. This was the first time we had gotten real criticism.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He picked up another cupcake and broke it in half. “See how the weight of the icing crumbles the cake underneath?” he asked. “You might want to try to make something a little lighter, like a lemon frosting, maybe. You could make it with skim milk, so it wouldn't be thick—more like a glaze. But it would be another way to lighten up the cake.”

My fellow Cupcake Club members and I were all a little bit stunned. Not only was Mr. Green nice and funny . . . but he could bake? It was kind of hard to believe.

Mom walked to the refrigerator. “I've got lemons and skim milk, if you want to try a batch.”

I looked at Mr. Green. “Can you show us?”

He nodded. “Sure thing.”

We washed out the bowl of the stand mixer, and then Mr. Green nodded to Alexis.

“We need two cups of powdered sugar,” he said.

“We shouldn't make a big batch,” Alexis said. (She doesn't like wasting supplies, which is smart.) “We only have half of the cupcakes left to frost.”

“Ah, a teachable moment,” Mr. Green said, lighting up. “Now we can halve the recipe.”

We all groaned, but we were laughing too, because we knew Mr. Green was mostly kidding.

“This is way too easy,” I said. “Half of two cups is one cup.”

“That is an A-plus answer,” Mr. Green said, smiling, and then he showed us how to mix the sugar with skim milk, lemon juice, and a little vanilla. When it was done, he stuck a spoon in it and held it out to me. “What do you think?”

I tasted it. “Lemony and tangy, but still sweet,” I said. “Delicious.”

The rest of the Cupcake Club tried it and agreed. Then we applied the glaze to the cupcakes, which was tricky because it was kind of loose and drippy. But it looked nice and shiny when it was on.

“They're pretty but plain,” Mia remarked. “They
need something else—and not rainbow sprinkles this time, Katie.”

“Fine. I have all kinds of sprinkles!” I said, running to the pantry. I came back with white edible glitter and sprinkled it on top. “Perfect!”

Mia studied the result. “Not bad. But I bet pale-yellow glitter would look even better.”

“We should hire you as a consultant,” Alexis said to Mr. Green.

He laughed. “That's flattering, but I will gladly volunteer my help whenever you need it.”

“So how did you learn how to bake, anyway?” Alexis asked.

“Probably like you did,” he replied. “I like to eat, so I started reading recipes. And my daughter has a sweet tooth, so I've had a lot of opportunities to try out new recipes on her.”

Then he rolled up his sleeves. “Let me help you guys clean this up.”

“That's the girls' job,” my mom said. “Come on; let me get you that book.”

They left us in the kitchen, and we started to clean up.

“I don't know if it's possible, but I think Mr. Green is even cooler than he was before,” Alexis said.

Emma nodded. “Definitely.”

Mia looked at me. “I know it's still weird that he's dating your mom, but at the same time it's kind of cool, isn't it?”

“Yeah, I think so,” I agreed. “I just need some time to get used to it.”

I
  t was almost six o'clock when the Cupcake Club meeting ended, and my friends all left, waving good-bye to Mr. Green. I noticed he was sticking around a lot longer than somebody who'd just come to pick up a book.

“I asked Jeff to stay for dinner,” Mom told me when I was done saying good-bye to everyone. “There's plenty of soup in the Crock-Pot, and I can make some grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it.”

“Okay,” I said, and I realized I didn't mind. It was actually kind of nice that Mr. Green—I mean, Jeff—was staying.

I set the table while Mom made the grilled cheese, and I noticed she was making her fancy
grilled cheese, with sliced pears and Gruyere cheese on multigrain bread, instead of plain old American cheese on white. It didn't take long before we were all sitting around the dinner table. It was kind of fun having a new person to sit and eat with us. It's almost always just me and Mom, and we usually run out of things to say to each other. But Jeff has all these funny stories that he tells.

Like this one about when he was eleven years old: “So I made these wings out of an old rain poncho and some wood, and I actually thought I could fly if the wind was right,” he told us. “So I waited for a windy day, and then I climbed on top of the garage.”

Mom was laughing really hard. “Oh no! I can just picture you up there.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Well, they didn't work, of course,” Jeff said. “But luckily my dad had just had a load of mulch delivered, so it broke my fall. I was pretty smelly, but I didn't get hurt.”

“Did your dad get mad?” I asked.

“A little,” Jeff replied. “But I'm lucky. He always encouraged me to explore the things I was curious about.”

“I guess Mom does that with me, too.”

Jeff looked at Mom and smiled, and I sensed another gooey moment was coming, so I quickly got up.

“I'd better go do my homework,” I said.

“What do you have tonight?” Mom asked.

“A Spanish worksheet, a paragraph for English, and I have to study for a math test,” I reported, making a face.

Jeff noticed. “Uh-oh. You're not digging the math?”

“It has never been my best subject,” I admitted. “I get confused by some of the algebra stuff, and, well . . . Mr. K. sometimes explains stuff really fast, and I can't keep up.”

“Do you want some help?” Jeff asked.

I was a little surprised. “Wouldn't that be cheating?”

Jeff laughed. “I didn't say I'd take the test for you. I said I'd help and answer any questions you have, just like I'd do for any student in after-school help.”

Mom looked so relieved. “Oh, we'd be grateful!” she said. “I can only help her so much.”

She looked at me expectantly, but I pretty much thought it was cool that Jeff wanted to help me, so I didn't object. I went and got my math binder, and
when I came back, the kitchen table was cleared off and Mom had put on a pot of coffee for her and Jeff.

“It's all the equations,” I said, opening up to my study notes. “I never know where to start.”

“That can be confusing,” Jeff said. “But I can give you some simple tips, so you can figure it out. Let's start with this first problem here.”

I won't bore you with my algebra, but basically what happened was that Jeff explained things really clearly—and slowly. Maybe I just needed some one-on-one time with a teacher. Because after an hour of studying with Jeff, I felt like I finally understood.

“Wow, thank you,” I said when we were done. “You're a great tutor.”

“Thanks,” Jeff said. “I get a lot of practice with my daughter.”

“You mean Emily?” I asked.

Jeff nodded. “I have some pictures, if you want to see.”

“Sure,” I said.

Jeff took out his phone and started scrolling through his pictures. “Here're some recent ones.”

The first one showed Emily, with a crown on, at her birthday party, and she was blowing out the
candles on a cake. She had brown hair and kind of looked like Jeff, but I noticed she had brown eyes, like me. That led me to an interesting thought. Let's just say Emily and I became stepsisters someday. We looked similar enough that people might think we were actually sisters. There was something about that that felt nice.