Vote for Cupcakes! (6 page)

It took Sophie, Olivia, and Delaney just a little over an hour to sell out all of their 240 cupcakes at the bake sale. Dean Retter bought the last two dozen to bring home to his wife and kids. Thanks to PLC, Mr. G was thrilled he could now have the perfect backdrops and costumes. And Delaney was equally delighted. She practiced Caesar's death scene over and over, until Mr. G told her he believed she was actually stabbed and gasping for her last breath.

“Very authentic, Delaney,” he said, noting the fake blood Kylie had helped her sprinkle on her new white toga. “I especially liked the part where you clutched your throat and rolled across the stage making a gurgling noise.”

Delaney remained motionless.

“Delaney?” Mr. G said, gently tapping her with his foot. “You can get up now.”

Delaney leaped back up to her feet. “It's not long enough,” she said. “I think Caesar would have had a long, drawn-out death scene, don't you? At least five minutes.”

Sophie shook her head. “I think the whole thing is too much. The blood? The gore? It's gross. I mean, why do we have to assassinate anyone? It's mean and violent.”

“Unfortunately, it's how the senators handled their grievances with Caesar,” Mr. G said.

“Well, it's icky.” Sophie sighed. “If I were Brutus, I would have handled it better.”

“It's history,” Delaney insisted. “You can't rewrite history.”

Mr. G thought for a moment. “And why couldn't we? What would you do differently, Sophie—I mean, Brutus—if your friend Caesar was out of control?”

“I'd sit him down and tell him to chill out,” Sophie said. “I'd say, ‘Jules, enough is enough. If you don't stop bossing everyone around, you're going to be friendless—and I'm gonna have to take daggers into my own hands.'”

Their teacher scribbled some notes on the script. “I like it. Keep going with this.”

“Brutus would make Caesar see the error of his ways through peaceful negotiation,” Sophie continued. “I think that would be a much better solution. And there'd be no killing involved.”

“That's ridiculous! Why doesn't Brutus just take him to lunch while he's at it? Or buy him a frappuccino? That isn't how it's supposed to happen!” Delaney cried.

Sophie didn't like it one bit that her friend was dissing her ideas in front of the class and Mr. G. “Well, maybe it
would
happen that way if Caesar wasn't so obsessed with hogging the spotlight!”

A hush fell over the classroom as Sophie and Delaney stared each other down.

Mr. G tried to referee: “I think we've tossed out some good ideas here, and I welcome all students' input.”

“You're being the tyrant, not me,” Delaney told Sophie. “You're the one trying to get your own way. You don't even want to
try
to work this out.”

“Why should I?” Sophie asked. “Face it. My idea is the better one, and you just can't handle it.”

“I think we should call our play
Rome Reimagined
and show what would have happened if things had gone down differently,” Mr. G said, stepping between them. “Violence is never the answer—and right now what I want is peace in this classroom. Is that clear?”

“But it's an awesome death scene!” Delaney protested. “I love my death scene.”

“Well, now Brutus and Caesar can hug it out,” Sophie said. “So much better!”

“Sophie, it's not
just
your opinion that counts,” Delaney protested. She felt like her friend was being completely inconsiderate.

“Well, Mr. G likes it,” Sophie fired back. “So that's two opinions that count.”

Delaney looked to Mr. G for support, but he was too busy tearing pages out of the script—pages that she was sure included her death scene.

“It isn't fair,” she said, pouting.

But Sophie wasn't interested in being fair, and that left Delaney feeling both angry and sad. Why was her friend treating her this way?

“I'll have the new scenes for you tomorrow morning,” Mr. G called after them as the bell rang. “Good work today, class. I like to see you really thinking hard about how to make the play better.”

Sophie ran out before Delaney could say another word.

“What's wrong?” Olivia asked, spying Delaney by her locker. “Why the long face? I thought you'd be happy with the money we raised.”

“I would be,” Delaney said, “but Sophie is bossing me around and totally changing the play. She's turned a classic tragedy into
Peace, Love, and Caesar
. It's so wrong!”

Olivia couldn't help but chuckle. “It's pretty funny, don't you think?”

“No, not really,” Delaney said, pouting.

“But it could be—right, Zany Laney?”

Delaney suddenly had an idea. “Liv, did I ever tell you you're a genius?” she asked, hugging her copresident. “I think I know how to make our play a huge hit—and save my death scene. It'll be so great that Sophie won't mind at all…I hope!”

• • •

Delaney went along with all of the script's rewrites during rehearsals, but she was secretly planning her own revisions for the day of the play. She tried to talk to Sophie one last time before the curtain went up.

“Remember when you warned me that I was being too bossy with the cupcake club?” she asked her friend.

“Yeah, you were. So?”

“So, you made me think about it and realize I wasn't being fair. I called Kylie to say I was sorry.”

Sophie adjusted her toga. “I don't get what this has to do with our play.”

“Soph, you're being bossy. I get that you didn't like the way things were, but you can't just ignore what everyone else thinks and feels.”

“Everyone? I don't see anyone complaining, Laney—except you,” Sophie said. “You're the only one who doesn't like the new ending.”

“Well, that should be enough. I'm your BFF. You should care.”

Sophie shrugged. “What I care about right now is doing our show.” She pulled back the curtain to reveal the audience packed with fifth-grade students and faculty. “Can we please talk about this later?”

Delaney shook her head. “Later will be too late. Please, Soph, can't we come up with a compromise? Something we could do that we would both be happy with?”

“You play your part, and I'll play mine,” Sophie insisted. “Stick to the script.”

“Places,” Mr. G called. “It's showtime!”

“Did you hear that?” Sophie said, pushing Delaney aside to get to the stage.

Delaney raised an eyebrow.
Oh, I heard it
, she thought to herself. Loud and clear.

As Mr. G cued the lights and the curtain, Delaney appeared onstage in her red flowing cape and laurel-leaf crown.

“I, Caesar, declare myself dictator for life!” she said, storming across the stage.

“But, Caesar, listen to your senators,” Sophie said as Brutus pleaded with her.

“What?” Delaney replied. “Speak up! Can't hear ya!”

A few students chuckled as she pretended to be hard of hearing.

Sophie cleared her throat and spoke louder. “I said, ‘Caesar, listen to us! We want what is best for the people.'”

“What's that?” Delaney repeated. “You want vests for the people?”

She dashed offstage and came back wearing a bright-yellow traffic vest. “Will this do? I think it also comes in blue…”

This time, the audience roared with laughter.

“Let me tell ya something, Brutus,” she continued. “I know how you feel. You're so mad that you could just kill me.”

Sophie shook her head. “No! No! I don't want to kill you. That would be awful.”

“Even if I did this?” She took a cupcake from inside the vest pocket and smooshed it in Sophie's face.

“Delaney!” Sophie cried. “It's not funny.”

“But it is!” Delaney whispered to her. “Come on, Soph, have some fun with it! You don't have to be a brutal Brutus, and I can have my death scene. We can compromise and both be happy.”

Sophie looked out at the audience—they
did
seem to be enjoying themselves. Maybe Delaney's new twist wasn't such a bad idea. They both got what they wanted: a death scene minus the gore and guts.

“Okay,” she whispered to Delaney. “What the heck. What do we do now?”

Delaney pulled another cupcake out of her other pocket and handed it to her. “Go ahead. Do me in!”

“Take that!” Sophie exclaimed as Brutus, smooshing the cupcake in Caesar's face. “I hereby end your reign of tyranny!”

“Yes! Finally!” Delaney cheered as she began her dramatic death dance around the stage. She teetered this way…then that way…then flopped facedown on the stage and twitched for several more minutes.

Sophie couldn't help but crack up. Only Delaney could make death a laughing matter!

“Is he gone?” another student playing a senator asked, hovering over Delaney's fallen form onstage.

“Oh, I hope so,” Sophie said. “She—I mean he—was such a pain in the butt!”

With that, Mr. G lowered the curtain and the audience cheered.

“Well, that was definitely…
creative
,” he told the cast. “I wasn't expecting comedy improv, but you guys did a great job. Especially you, Sophie. You made us feel Brutus's frustration…in frosting.”

“Hey, isn't anyone gonna help me up?” Delaney called from her spot on the floor.

Sophie offered her a hand. “You're crazy, you know that?” she told her friend.

“I prefer Zany. It rhymes with Laney.”

“I guess I should know better than to mess with history…or your monologue,” Sophie said. “I guess I wasn't being a very considerate friend.”

“Ya think?” Delaney said. “I tried telling you, but you wouldn't listen. This was the only way I could get through.”

“I'm sorry,” Sophie replied, hugging her. “You're right. I was being awful.”

“Hey, it happens to the best of us,” Delaney said. “But I think we both make better friends than dictators.”

• • •

Olivia was the first person to greet Delaney when she came offstage. She was holding a huge bowl of Caesar salad with a bow on it.

“Bravo!” she said. “This is for the star of the show.” She handed it to Delaney and waited for her reaction.

Delaney burst out laughing. Olivia was finally getting her sense of humor!

“Of course, I couldn't find any forks in the cafeteria,” Olivia said, handing her a spoon. “You'll have to use this.”

Delaney rolled her eyes. “I think that has to be the next thing we fix,” she said. “The great silverware shortage at Weber Day.”

“
We
?” Olivia pointed out. “You mean you
like
being a copresident?”

Delaney considered for a second. “Caesar might have been a solo act, but I think it's awesome sharing the job with you.”

“And if there's one thing we've learned today, it's that every opinion counts,” Sophie reminded her. She wiped a smudge of frosting off her cheek. “Yum, cream cheese frosting, my fave. Thanks, Laney.”

“My pleasure,” Delaney answered. “If I was gonna smoosh a cupcake in my bestie's face, it would have to be her favorite flavor.”

She glanced down at the bowl of salad in her hands and got that mischievous look in her eye again. “From now on, I think our motto needs to be ‘lettuce' all work together.”

Sophie groaned. “Ugh! I swear, I'm gonna ‘kale' you both!”

But all was well in ancient Rome…and Weber Day.

Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Hershey's.)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Have a grown-up help you preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. (For a candy cane theme, I like to use red-and-white-striped ones.)

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer set on high speed, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

3. Reduce speed to low, and beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla, and mix until combined.

4. In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, alternating them with the sour cream. Beat for approximately two minutes on low to medium speed until the batter is smooth. Be careful not to overbeat.

6. Using an ice-cream scoop, spoon the batter into the cupcake liners until they are two-thirds full. Bake for 18–20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

7. Have an adult remove the pan from the oven, and allow the cupcakes to cool completely, about 15 minutes, before frosting.

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioners' sugar

4 tablespoons whipping cream

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

3 candy canes

Directions

1. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer set on high speed.

2. Reduce the speed to low, and carefully add the confectioners' sugar and the cream and peppermint extract, alternating between them. Beat for about two minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.

3. Use a piping bag with a tip to create your frosting. (I like to pipe mine to look like a swirl.)

4. Place the candy canes in a plastic freezer storage bag, and seal the bag.

5. Have a grown-up help you use a mallet or the back of a large serving spoon to crush the canes into tiny bits.

6. Sprinkle the candy bits over the tops of the cupcakes, and serve your sweet, minty treat!