Recipe for Trouble (7 page)

Lexi inspected the ingredients the girls had gotten for Jeremy's brownie cupcake. “Are you sure this is the best semisweet chocolate? This cupcake has to be fudgilicious,” she explained.

“Fudgi
what
?” asked Sadie. “Is that a word?”

“It's an Aunt Dee word,” Lexi said. “It means delectably fudgy, like biting into a chocolate dream.”

Jenna sampled a corner of a chocolate square. “I read that chocolate contains more than 500 flavors, which makes it more complex than any other food.” She offered Lexi a taste.

“I don't want complex. I want yummy,” Lexi replied. The Belgian chocolate melted in her mouth.

“Well?” asked Jenna. “Yummy enough for Jeremy?”

“Let's hope so!” Lexi replied. As the girls worked to melt the chocolate and butter together in a small saucepan, Lexi carefully chose the cupcake liners (pink with red hearts) and placed them in the muffin pan.

“How many walnuts do you want?” asked Sadie, chopping them into tiny pieces. “The recipe calls for a cup.”

“I think too many nuts will overpower the fudge factor,” Kylie answered thoughtfully. “Let's go with three-quarters of a cup.”

When she poured the batter in, Lexi saw that it looked dark and glossy. She placed the pan in the oven, set it for exactly twenty minutes, and crossed her fingers. She stared at the oven door.

“We've made brownie cupcakes before,” Jenna assured her. “They'll be great.”

“They have to be perfect,” Lexi said, nibbling her nails. “I want Jeremy to think these are the most delicious cupcakes he's ever tasted.”

“Well, they're created by PLC, so they will be,” Kylie bragged.

When the timer dinged, Lexi stuck a toothpick in the center of one of the hot cupcakes and checked it. It came out perfectly clean.

“It's ready!” she said, and raced to her box of piping tips to select one.

Kylie beat the dark chocolate frosting until it was creamy and smooth. Jenna stuck a finger in the bowl to take a lick. “
Dios
mío! Muy delicioso!
” she exclaimed. “I don't have any English words to describe how good this is!”

Lexi filled the pastry bag with frosting, then began to expertly pipe a swirl of chocolate on each cooled cupcake. The frosting formed a beautiful ruffle around the edges.

“Gorgeous!” Kylie watched Lexi work her magic. She delicately placed a pink, heart-shaped marshmallow on top of the fluffy peak in the center.

When all twelve cupcakes were done, Lexi looked them over, selecting her favorite and placing it in a red cardboard cupcake box with a clear plastic window. On the lid, she attached a sticky note: “To Jeremy, From Your Secret Admirer, L.P.” The girls dug into the rest of the cupcakes.

“Are you sure you don't want to sign your name?” Sadie asked, licking her fingertips. “So he knows for sure who gave him the cupcake?”

Lexi looked nervously at Kylie. “Do I want to?”

Kylie thought for a moment. “No, you should create a little air of mystery, a little suspense. Keep him guessing!”

“This isn't a movie,” Lexi said. “I'm not a monster who's going to pop up out of the dark and scare him!”

“You never know,” giggled Jenna. “Kylie could probably lend you some fangs and fake blood.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Guys, this is really important to me.” She wanted everything to be just right and was worried her friends were not taking it seriously.

“We know,” Sadie assured her. “It's gonna be great. I'll put the cupcake on top of Jeremy's backpack while he's busy playing chess in the library.”

“He'll take a bite and have to meet the cupcake baker of his dreams!” Jenna chimed in.

“You think?” Lexi said. She wasn't sure. What if Jeremy thought the cupcake was just okay. What if he didn't care who baked it for him and just gobbled it up because he was hungry after school?

“We'll do the big reveal the next day in drama class,” Kylie suggested. “You'll go over to Jeremy and ask, ‘Did you like the cupcake?'”

“That's it? That's all I have to say?” Well, that was a big relief! Lexi thought for sure the girls would tell her to recite a Shakespearean love sonnet.

“That's it. The less said, the better,” insisted Kylie. “My mom's a great tennis player, and she always says to put the ball in someone else's court. Let him be the one to tell you how he feels.”

Lexi nodded. She guessed she could do that.

“And if you freeze up, you can always pass him a note,” Jenna suggested. “It's a piece of cake, Lexi. I mean, a piece of cupcake.”

• • •

The next afternoon, just as planned, Sadie excused herself from her reading tutor in the library to go to the bathroom. She made sure Jeremy was distracted and studying his opponent's move on the chess board before she slipped out the door. Lexi, Sadie, and Jenna were all waiting for her in the hall.

“Here ya go,” said Kylie, handing Sadie the red box containing Lexi's cupcake.

“Make sure you don't smush it,” Lexi pleaded.

“Have I ever smushed a cupcake?” Sadie asked.

“With or without your skateboard?” Jenna teased.

Sadie turned to face Lexi. “I promise I will not smush it.”

She returned to the library and delicately placed the cupcake box on top of Jeremy's green backpack. She hurried back to her tutor but kept a close eye on the clock. Chess club ended at 3:45 p.m. Only fifteen more minutes till Jeremy found his sweet surprise.

Outside the library door, Lexi paced back and forth while Jenna and Kylie peered through the glass window.

“I wonder if he'll eat it right away or take it home and eat it there,” Kylie mused.

“Do you think he'll share it with anyone? His chess club friends?” Jenna asked.

“Would you two stop! You're making me a nervous wreck,” said Lexi, resting her head against the wall. “The suspense is killing me.”

Just then the period bell rang and Lexi jumped.

“Oh my gosh! This is it!” she screamed, grabbing Kylie by the shoulders and shaking her. “He's going to see it!”

All three girls pushed to get a glimpse in the tiny door window.

“I can't see anything!” whined Lexi. “Is he going to his backpack?”

Kylie nodded. “He's walking over right now!”

“I wanna see!” huffed Jenna, pushing the girls out of the way.

“No, I wanna see!” Lexi shoved back.

Just then, the door opened, and all three of them landed in a pile on the library floor.

“What is going on?” asked Ms. Applebaum, the school librarian. “I thought I heard some commotion out here.”

“Nothing, nothing,” Kylie smiled. “Just waiting for Sadie…”

“Um, hi?” Sadie waved from the other side of the room.

Lexi was at the bottom of the heap, so she couldn't see what Jeremy was doing. But when she got to her feet, she saw he was holding the cupcake box and reading the note.

“Oh my gosh,” she swooned. “I feel sick!” Jenna and Kylie grabbed her under both arms and steadied her.

“Stay cool,” Jenna whispered. “And whatever you do, do
not
throw up on me!”

Jeremy read the note for a few seconds. His face was expressionless. Then he opened the box and examined the cupcake. Lexi held her breath.

“Let's go, Jeremy,” Jack called. “You're coming to my house to play my new video game, right?”

Jeremy was still staring at the cupcake. “Yeah, sure,” he answered Jack. Then he tossed the cupcake—note and all—in the trash and walked out of the library.

Lexi wiggled loose from her friends' grip. She stared in horror at the cupcake in the garbage can.

“Maybe he was full…he didn't want a snack?” Sadie tried to soothe her.

“I'm sorry, Lexi,” Kylie added. “We thought for sure he'd love it.”

“If you ask me, he has no taste,” Jenna threw in. “Anyone with taste would love that cupcake.”

Lexi was speechless. She felt like a piece of chewing gum, spit out and squashed on the bottom of someone's sneaker.

“Lex, say something,” Sadie begged. “You're scaring us.”

She looked at her friends, glancing from face to face. “He hates me,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. The words and feelings now came tumbling out. “He knew it was me. He hates me. He hates everything about me.”

“No! That's not true!” Kylie insisted. “It was just a mistake. Maybe he didn't understand what it was?”

“He understood and he threw it away,” Lexi sobbed. She bolted out of the library. Kylie wanted to run after her, but Jenna held her back.

“Let her go,” she said. “I think she needs to be alone.”

“Besides, there's nothing we can do or say to make it better,” Sadie sighed. “This is a disaster. Poor Lexi!”

• • •

When Lexi got home, she dug out the biggest blank canvas she could find and propped it on her easel. Sadie liked to dribble a ball when she was upset, Jenna ate Oreos, Kylie watched a marathon of mummy movies, but the way she handled disappointment was very simple: she got out her palate and painted the way she was feeling.

She began by blending primary cyan, ultramarine blue, and mars black, till it made a dark, ominous, swirling ocean. Then she dotted it with foamy titanium white to make the waves crash on the beach. Finally, she painted a gray sky with flecks of gold lightning. She stepped back and looked over her artwork: it felt angry, sad, and scared, all at the same time. Lexi sighed. So did she. She was furious for letting Kylie talk her into this whole crazy cupcake plan—and brokenhearted that Jeremy had rejected it and her. She was also terrified to go to school tomorrow. Jeremy would be there. He'd probably have told Jack all about what happened and they'd had a good laugh over it. Lexi dabbed the tears in the corners of her eyes and accidentally smeared blue paint on her cheeks.

Her big sister, Ava, knocked on the door and poked her head inside.

“It's super quiet in here,” she remarked, then laughed out loud. “Lexi, you look like you're ready for Camp Echo Pond Color War. Is that blue team paint on your face?”

Lexi scowled. “No. Can you just please leave me alone?”

Ava looked concerned. “Are you okay? What happened?”

The last thing Lexi wanted to do was tell her perfect older sister that she had been tossed in the trash by her first crush.

“Nothing. I just want to be alone with my painting,” she replied.

“Okay, but if you need to talk…”

Lexi nodded and went back to painting dark storm clouds. How could Ava—or anyone for that matter—possibly understand how she felt? It was so humiliating! She kept seeing Jeremy throwing her cupcake in the garbage, as if she was hitting the Rewind button on the TV remote.

She heard her computer ding. She had email. It was probably Kylie, trying to make her feel better.
As
if…

Instead, the email was from Great Shakes for Kids. It contained the rehearsal schedule for
Romeo
and
Juliet
. Lexi groaned and hit Delete. She'd go to school early tomorrow and tell Juliette she was quitting. The less she saw of Jeremy, the better for both of them.

The next morning, Lexi arrived at school an hour early. She had been up practically all night, tossing and turning, trying to figure out what she would say if Jeremy confronted her. It was a long night and now it was going to be a long day.

“Juliette?” she called, knocking on the drama classroom door. Through the window, she could see there were people inside. She peeked in and could make out Juliette and Mr. Higgins in the back of the classroom. Juliette was standing on a chair and Mr. Higgins was kneeling on one knee. They looked pretty silly—and busy—but Lexi couldn't hear what they were saying. So she pushed the door open a tiny bit more…

“Be but sworn my love,” Juliette said, touching a hand to her heart.

“By blessed moon, I vow,” Mr. Higgins replied, taking her hand in his. Juliette leaned forward, and they looked deeply into each other's eyes.

Lexi gasped. This looked a little too real to be acting! Could it be…
Rodney
and
Juliette
? Could Kylie have been right about them? It certainly looked like it! The doorknob creaked loudly in her hand.

“Who goes there?” shouted Mr. Higgins. He put his glasses back on and Juliette hopped off her chair.

“I do,” Lexi said tiptoeing into the classroom. “Sorry,” she apologized to her teachers. “I just needed to talk to you about the play.”

Juliette motioned for Lexi to come take a seat beside her. “We were just figuring out the staging. What's up, Lex?”

Lexi took a deep breath. “I have to quit.”

“Why?” Mr. Higgins seemed disappointed. “We thought we'd chosen the perfect Juliet…aside from this Juliette.” He looked over at her teacher and winked.

“I just can't, that's all,” Lexi continued. “Besides, I don't think Jeremy would want me to.”

“Are you two not getting along?” asked Juliette. “But I thought—”

“So did I. I was wrong. He hates me,” Lexi replied.

“Sometimes a relationship starts out on the wrong foot,” Juliette said. “Maybe it's all a misunderstanding?”

Mr. Higgins nodded. “Ms. Dubois and I initially had a little misunderstanding.”

Juliette coughed. “A little? Try humongous!”

“Anyway, we worked together this past week and discovered we have a lot in common,” he added. They smiled at each other.

“The point is don't just give up, Lexi,” Juliette reminded her. “‘The course of true love never does run smooth.'”

“Shakespeare again?” Lexi asked.

“Of course!” Mr. Higgins replied. “The bard knew a thing or two about romance. Just give it a try for a few days and see how it goes between you and Romeo. Fair enough?”

Lexi agreed but felt a knot in the pit of her stomach the moment the class came into the room. Thankfully, Jeremy was late and in a hurry to get to his seat. He didn't have time to say anything to her.

“We're going to break up into small groups today and run lines,” Juliette explained. Lexi was supposed to rehearse a scene with the Nurse aka Meredith. Even acting with Meredith would be better than facing Jeremy.

“Find a quiet corner with your partners,” Juliette instructed the class. Meredith had already grabbed a spot in the front of the room and was making strange sounds with her mouth.

“Mama made me eat my M&Ms!” she sang. “Sally sells sweaty socks by the seashore!”

“What are you doing?” Lexi asked, puzzled.

“Warm-ups,” replied Meredith. “Every actor knows that.”

She then began to read her lines in a strange, clipped British accent. Lexi thought she sounded like Mary Poppins.

“Anon! Anon!” Meredith bellowed. “Come, let us away…”

Lexi
wished
she could away!

“A word, ladies,” Mr. Higgins interrupted.

“How do you like my accent?” Meredith asked.

Mr. Higgins wrinkled his nose. “Well, dialect is a difficult thing to master. Why don't you try delivering the lines
without
an accent? I think it might be more powerful.”

Meredith smiled. “I can do that.” It took her almost the entire period to get through the scene. “Don't you think the nurse should say a little more here? She's a very important character in the play!”

Mr. Higgins rubbed his temples. “Yes, yes, every role is important, Meredith,” he replied. “But I don't recommend rewriting Shakespeare.”

Meredith shrugged. “Whatever.”

Lexi was just glad she escaped drama without any drama. She saw that Jeremy was busy rehearsing with Jack who played his enemy, Tybalt. Jack wanted to know when they could practice dueling with swords.

“Tomorrow,” Mr. Higgins sighed. “I need to make sure we have a first-aid kit handy.”

“
En
garde!
” Jack yelled, flourishing his sword in the air. “This is going to be awesome!”

“I also want to do some work on the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene tomorrow,” Juliette added. “Lexi, Jeremy, make sure you memorize your lines for homework tonight.”

Lexi looked over at Jeremy to see his reaction. He nodded and didn't seem disgusted by the thought of having to rehearse with her. Phew!

• • •

Kylie caught up to Lexi in the hall. “How did it go?”

“Okay, I guess,” Lexi said. “Jeremy didn't say anything about the cupcake catastrophe. And I told Mr. Higgins and Juliette I wouldn't quit the play for a few days.”

“Good! That's plenty of time to do some detective work,” Kylie exclaimed.

“What kind of detective work?”

“We need to find out
why
Jeremy threw away your cupcake. Jenna thinks maybe he's allergic to nuts or something. She saw him going to the nurse last week.”

Lexi thought it over. Well, that would explain why he tossed the cupcake so quickly. “How do we find out?”

“We investigate,” Kylie replied. “We can all take turns following Jeremy.”

Lexi shook her head. “No way!” The last thing she needed was for Jeremy to spot her spying on him.

“I am an expert at secret intelligence,” Kylie insisted. “I've learned from some of the best monster hunters in the movies.”

“Like you're an expert at matchmaking?” Lexi pointed out.

“Exactly! Did you see the look Juliette gave Mr. Higgins this morning? She was cracking up at his jokes, and all he said was ‘Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.' What's funny about that?”

Lexi wasn't about to fill Kylie in on what she'd seen before class. If Juliette and Mr. Higgins were destined to be a couple, then they didn't need any help.

“I've always wanted to be a junior bridesmaid at a wedding,” Kylie gushed. “And can you just imagine the huge white cupcake tower we could make for it? You could sculpt little white doves and a bride and groom out of fondant…”

Lexi couldn't help but chuckle. Kylie had a knack for getting carried away, especially when cupcakes were involved. “I don't think we should start baking those wedding cupcakes just yet,” she said.

“You're right. We have to focus on Jeremy first.”