Winner Bakes All (4 page)

When Friday arrived, Sadie almost forgot about her pop quiz in math. She'd been so worried about her parents, and so angry over the Golden Spoon job, that she hadn't had time to panic over it. Ms. Erikka handed her the test sheet and smiled. “I know you can do it, Sadie,” she said. “Just take your time, check your work, and
breathe
.”

Sadie remembered how Kylie had told her to picture things instead of numbers. “Make the equation real to you,” she'd advised. So when the question asked how many cars were needed to drive forty-five students on a class trip, Sadie pictured her dad driving her and her three friends to the Golden Spoon on Thursday. One driver and four people could fit in each car…that meant they would need nine cars. She got it!

“How do you think you did?” Kylie pulled her aside as the class bell rang.

“Okay,” Sadie shrugged. “I'm pretty sure I passed.”

“Yay!” Kylie hugged her. “And I have some more good news. Principal Fontina said we could set up a table in the cafeteria with the 240 cupcakes the Golden Spoon couldn't use and sell them—as long as we donated half the money to the Blakely Eco Center.”

“Cool,” Sadie replied. “So at least we'll make back some money to cover the cost of those ingredients.”

“Now on to our next problem,” Jenna said, sneaking up behind them in the hall. “What are we going to do without the Golden Spoon's weekly order?”

Sadie hadn't even considered the impact the Golden Spoon closing would have on PLC. Kylie was right: Mr. Ludwig was their biggest customer—and a steady paycheck. Without his business, they'd have to scale back for sure. And that was not what any of them wanted. PLC was going to be even bigger and better this year…they'd promised themselves!

“You have to convince your dad to repair the roof,” Jenna said.

“I tried. He won't listen to me.” Sadie sighed. “He says it's impossible. He's taking some measurements, but he's convinced it's not going to work.”

“Nothing is impossible,” Kylie insisted. “I used to think having a cupcake club was impossible. You used to think learning math was impossible. We've proved everyone wrong, right?”

Sadie thought about it. She had to make her dad see things her way.

“I have an idea,” she told Kylie and Jenna. “Meet me at the basketball game tonight—and bring Lexi! We need all the help we can get!”

When she got home, her father was at his desk in the den, crunching numbers on his calculator. He was surrounded by a stack of bills, and Sadie knew he was stressed out. So she treaded lightly.

“Hey, Dad, you coming to my basketball game tonight at the gym?” she asked.

Mr. Harris looked up, happy that Sadie was speaking to him. “Wouldn't miss it for the world, hon.” He smiled.

“I hear the North Canaan Cougars are a tough team to beat.”

“Not for my girl,” Mr. Harris said. “You'll cream 'em,” he added.

“So you're saying,
nothing
is impossible?”

Mr. Harris looked up from his desk. “What are you up to, Sadie?” he asked.

“Nothing!” Sadie planted a kiss on his cheek.

She raced upstairs to get into her uniform. At the game, she made sure that her PLC members were seated right behind her family on the bleachers. “I'm going to go for a long shot, and when I make it, I want you to make sure to remind my dad: ‘Nothing is impossible.' Got that?”

Lexi looked puzzled. “Is that code for something?”

“Yes, it's code for ‘Fix Mr. Ludwig's roof!'” Sadie explained. “Just make sure he gets it, okay?”

“Check that,” Jenna teased. “Operation Convince Daddy is underway!”

“But, Sadie…what if you miss the shot?” Kylie asked.

“I won't. I can't,” Sadie replied.

•••

The Blakely Bears were trailing the North Canaan Cougars by one point with only two seconds left in the game. Sadie grabbed the ball and headed down the court. The Cougar defender on her was enormous—at least a head taller than Sadie—and she was waving her arms in the air, blocking Sadie no matter which way she turned. The girl had her completely boxed in.

“She'll never make it!” Lexi cried, covering her eyes. “I can't watch!”

“Go, Sadie!” her father cheered. “You can do it!”

Just then, Sadie faked out the Cougar player. She zigged while defense zagged.

“Go!” screamed her PLC mates. “Go, Sadie, go!”

She broke free and headed down court, straight for the net. But it was still a tough shot from far away.

“It's impossible to sink that,” Kylie piped up. “Don't you think, Mr. Harris?”

Sadie threw the ball, and it landed with a swoosh through the hoop. The Bears won the game, and the team lifted Sadie on their shoulders and carried her down the court.

“Woo-hoo! That's my girl!” Mr. Harris cheered. Tyler and Corey fist-pumped each other.

“Wow, so I guess that means
nothing
is impossible. Right, Mr. Harris?” Jenna winked.

Sadie's dad sighed. “Okay, girls. Point taken. You want me to fix the Golden Spoon's roof even if I think it's impossible to fix.”

“Who, us?” Kylie replied innocently. “I don't know what you mean…”

Mr. Harris chuckled. “Well, your pal Sadie sure does. She was planning this all along.”

Sadie raced to the stands and hugged her family and friends.

“Awesome shot, sis!” her brother Tyler said. “Almost as amazing as my winning basket over the Groton Gators in seventh grade.”

“Hey, Dad…” Sadie smiled. “Something to tell me?”

“You won…and you win,” her father said. “I'll let Mr. Ludwig know I'll take the job.”

Whenever Sadie's cell phone rang at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning, it was undoubtedly a cupcake emergency.

“Okay, this better be good, Kylie.” She yawned and stretched. “I was just in the middle of this awesome dream. I won the WNBA championships, and Michael Jordan was handing me this huge, gold trophy…”

“Rise and shine, Sadie,” Kylie chirped. “We have work to do! I just took a huge rush order from Mrs. Lila Vanderwall, president of the New Fairfield Art Society.”

“Okay…let me have it. What, when, and how many?” Sadie sighed.

“What you should be asking is how much—as in how much is she willing to pay us to get this order done for a luncheon tomorrow morning. A ton!”

Sadie was suddenly wide awake. “Like how much is a ton?”

“Double our usual price…plus delivery!” Kylie exclaimed.

“OMG! That's awesome! Give me ten minutes to get dressed and grab my apron, and I'll be there!”

When Sadie arrived at Kylie's house, Lexi and Jenna were already in the kitchen.

“This is the plan,” Lexi said, handing Sadie a diagram. “We need to do 250 cupcakes celebrating the art society's new exhibit of Moroccan art. Mrs. Vanderwall wants the Moroccan coat of arms on every cupcake. We googled it, and now we need to get rolling on the fondant…”

“We're making ginger spice cupcakes with a ginger mascarpone frosting,” Jenna explained. “I'm thinking maybe a pinch of cumin for that authentic Moroccan flavor.”

“What should I do?” Sadie said, peeling off her coat and hat, and tying on an apron.

Kylie handed her a carton of eggs. “Get crackin' on that batter!”

The girls needed nearly two hours to perfect the recipe and another two hours to bake and frost the cupcakes. While Jenna and Sadie made sure the cake and frosting had just the right amount of “kick,” Kylie and Lexi worked to create a bright yellow, green, and red shield on each cupcake. On either side of the shield were unicorns.

“I think my unicorns need to look more magical,” Kylie suggested, comparing her fondant sculpture to the image they printed off the computer.

Lexi nodded and brushed a unicorn's gold horn with luster dust. “Magical enough for ya?”

After an entire day of baking and decorating, the cupcakes were boxed and ready to be delivered Sunday morning.

“I smell like a Cinnabon.” Sadie laughed. “Jenna got more cinnamon on me than in the batter!”

“Well, at least you don't have mascarpone in your hair,” Lexi complained.

“Smile and say ‘mascarpone cheese,'” Kylie said, snapping a photo on her phone.

•••

The next morning, Mr. Harris drove the girls to the art society and the girls began to unload the cupcakes. There were twenty-two boxes, each one delicately packed with tissue paper between the cupcakes to prevent them from bumping around in Mr. Harris's truck.

“I'm so happy to see that you're prompt,” Mrs. Vanderwall greeted them. “I wanted to have plenty of time to set the table perfectly. Please follow me.”

She led them through a beautiful room filled with hand-painted Moroccan tiles in shades of turquoise, orange, and gold. Ceramic pots, plates, and lanterns were arranged in a dazzling array of colors and shapes.

“Wow!” Lexi whispered. “This is amazing!”

“I thought we would display the cupcakes on these authentic Moroccan platters,” Mrs. Vanderwall explained, showing the girls to a long rectangular table covered in bright linens.

Lexi opened the first box and gently placed a cupcake in the center of a tray. “Perfect!” she said, examining it.

“What on earth? What
is
that?” Mrs. Vanderwall gasped in horror.

“Um, it's a cupcake?” Kylie replied, confused.

“I ordered 250 cupcakes with the Moroccan coat of arms on them,” Mrs. Vanderwall shrieked. “That is
not
it!”

“Oh, no,” Kylie winced. “I knew I should have made my unicorns look more magical!”

“There are no unicorns on the Moroccan coat of arms!” the woman screamed. She was fanning herself with an exhibit program and turning a bright shade of red.

Lexi shook her head in disbelief. “We must have made a mistake! They all look so much alike! Do you have a Moroccan coat of arms you can show us?”

Mrs. Vanderwall pointed to a huge flag hanging on the wall. There were two lions on it—and no unicorns.

“What you have made is the Scottish coat of arms,” Mrs. Vanderwall sputtered. “I will be humiliated at my luncheon!”

“
Dios
mío
!
” Jenna whispered. “We are in big trouble!”

“It's not a problem…I promise you, we can fix it!” Kylie tried to calm the flustered woman.

“We can?” Sadie whispered. “We only have two hours until the luncheon!”

“We always carry a repair kit with us in case of a cupcake emergency,” Lexi explained. “We'll just take off the horns and reshape and paint the unicorns to look like lions.”

“I feel faint…I must sit down!” Mrs. Vanderwall moaned. “My luncheon is ruined…I'm disgraced. Whatever shall I tell the Moroccan prime minister's wife?”

“Don't tell her anything!” Kylie pleaded. “Just give us a chance to fix this!”

While the girls did plastic surgery on the unicorns, Sadie mixed red and yellow food coloring to repaint them a golden hue. The girls all brushed on the color with lightning speed and were just finishing the last cupcake as the first guest entered the room.

“What beautiful Moroccan cupcakes,” a lady gushed.

“Oh, I'm so relieved to hear you say that.” Mrs. Vanderwall reappeared, mopping her brow with an embroidered hankie. “We're so sorry your husband, the prime minister, couldn't be here to join us as well.” She gave the girls a dirty look and escorted her distinguished guest around the exhibit.

Sadie looked down at her shirt, pants, sneakers, and hands. Everything was stained with red food coloring. “I look like a ladybug,” she groaned.

“Technically, ladybugs are red with black spots,” Jenna corrected her. “Just sayin'…”

“Let's just get our check and get out of here,” Sadie sighed.

The girls made their way through the crowd to Mrs. Vanderwall, hoping she'd forgive and forget and hand over their $1,200.

“Well, I'm glad everything worked out and you're happy,” Kylie said, putting out her hand to get paid.

“Happy? You nearly gave me a heart attack today! I am anything but happy! And I do not intend to pay you one cent for this frightful experience.”

“What? You have to pay us!” Sadie cried. “We worked all day on your cupcakes…”

“And they were wrong. I do not pay for mistakes. Now leave immediately.” She turned her back and stomped away.

“I'm so sorry, Sadie,” Kylie said, putting her arm around her friend. “I know you were counting on your share of the money.”

Not only was she counting on it, she was planning on using it to buy her new basketball uniform.

“Well, it could have been worse…” Jenna said.

“How?” asked Sadie.

“Give me a minute…I'm working on it.”

“I got it: we could have made a coat of arms…with arms on it,” Kylie joked. “Like an octopus!”

“I have to
hand
it to you!” Jenna laughed.

“You guys are so corny! Get it? Uni-corny?” Lexi giggled.

Sadie couldn't help but laugh, too. “We got no money…but we're still funny!” she added. No cupcake catastrophe could stop the girls of PLC!