Katie and the Cupcake War (2 page)

“So Callie didn't mention any of this to you?” Mia asked.

“No!” I said, feeling a little exasperated. “I mean, I barely talk to her anymore.”

I know I shouldn't get so freaked out about Callie. If she hadn't dumped me, I probably never would have become friends with Mia, Emma, and Alexis. There would be no Cupcake Club. But something happened to Callie when she got into middle school. Sometimes she could be not so nice. So it was probably for the best that we weren't friends. We saw each other when our families got together—our moms are best friends, and, yes, that gets really weird—but that was about it.

Anyway, I must admit, there was a little part of me that hoped, now that Sydney was gone, that Callie would be friends with me again. I imagined her showing up at the front door.

Oh, Katie, I have treated you so badly,
she would say.
Can I please join your Cupcake Club?

Of course,
I would say, trying to be the better person.
I forgive you, Callie.

Then again, that would make things pretty confusing, because Mia was my best friend now, and I'm not sure how this would all work. Now
my
head felt like it was full of spaghetti. (Although I would never say that out loud, because that is such a weird mom thing to say.)

“Earth to Katie,” Mia said. “You there?”

I snapped myself out of my fantasy. “Sorry. I must be in a guacamole haze,” I said, taking my seat. “Okay. Enough about the PGC. Let's get down to business.”

Maybe Alexis had the right idea after all.

O
nce I stopped worrying about what Callie was going to do, I spent the next few days on a Sydney-free cloud of happiness. A world without Sydney was a world filled with rainbows, cotton candy, and sunshine every day. I didn't even get nervous about my first day of school.

Any normal person would have been nervous. Last year, the first day of middle school was one of the worst days of my life. I lost my best friend, got in trouble for using my cell phone, couldn't open my locker, and couldn't find my way around the school and was nearly late getting to every class.

But this year, things started out amazingly great. When I got on the bus, Mia was sitting in
our usual seat in the sixth row from the front, saving it for me, just like always.

“Hey, you're wearing your lucky purple shirt,” Mia said as I slid into my seat. She always notices what I'm wearing.

“Yeah, I need all the luck I can get,” I said. “I do not want this year's first day of school to be like last year's.”

Mia made a fake-hurt face. “Hey, you met me on the first day of school last year.”

“That was the only good thing, believe me,” I said. Then I remembered. “Besides meeting Alexis and Emma, too.”

Then Mia noticed my hands. “Cool nails.”

I wiggled my fingers. I had painted each fingernail in a different color this time. “For extra luck!”

“You don't need luck, Katie,” Mia said. “You know how to do stuff this time. You'll be fine.”

“I hope so,” I said.

Then a boy with brown hair looked over the seat behind us. It was George Martinez, a kid I've known since elementary school. George always says a lot of funny stuff that makes me laugh. Sometimes he teases me, which is annoying, but he's still kind of funny. He was sitting next to his friend Ken Watanabe, as usual.

“Hi, Katie,” he said. “How was the rest of your summer?”

George has never asked me a normal question like that before. For a second I didn't know what to say. I was trying to think of a funny reply, because I can usually make George laugh.

Then Mia nudged me, and I realized I was staring into space like a zombie again.

“Um, good,” I finally answered.

“That's good,” George said. Then he sat back down.

Mia leaned over to whisper into my ear. “He
so
likes you!”

“Sshhh!”
I warned her. If George heard her, that would be so embarrassing. Mostly because I think I kind of like George, even though I'm not entirely sure what that's supposed to feel like. And if he liked me back, it might be awesome or it might be very weird.

Then the bus arrived at Park Street Middle School, a big U-shaped school made of bricks the color of sand. Before I climbed up the front steps with Mia, I stopped and got my schedule out of the front pocket of my backpack. I knew my homeroom class was in room number 322, but I wanted to make sure.

Just then Emma and Alexis walked up. They both live a few blocks away from the school, so they don't have to take the bus.

“Katie! Hooray! Now we can go to homeroom together,” Emma said.

“Oh yeah! I forgot,” I admitted. A few nights ago, we had all texted our schedules to one another to see if we were in the same classes together. Last year, I didn't have any friends in my homeroom class. I smiled. “Hey, I'm really lucky that you're in my homeroom. My good luck shirt must be working.”

“
And
your good luck nail polish,” Mia reminded me.

The front of the school was starting to get crowded, so I said good-bye to Alexis and Mia, and Emma and I headed to homeroom. We got to room 322 without getting lost, because we knew our way around the school already.

Inside the room we were greeted by these words written on the board:
WELCOME, STUDENTS! GET READY FOR A MATH ADVENTURE! MR. KAZINSKI.
The teacher sitting behind the desk at the front of the room was a tall man with sandy-blond hair and glasses. The walls around the room were decorated with posters that said stuff like “Believe
You Can Achieve,” and others had math symbols on them.

Emma and I found seats in the row by the window before the bell rang. Mr. Kazinski stood up and smiled at us.

“Hey, it's good to see everyone today,” he said. “I've got some announcements, but first, the news.”

Right then Principal LaCosta's voice came over the PA speaker.

“Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the first day of school at Park Street,” she said. “I can tell it's going to be a wonderful year. Let's start out by saying the Pledge of Allegiance together.”

After the pledge, Mr. Kazinski started talking again. “By now you've guessed that my name is Mr. Kazinski, but you guys can call me Mr. K.,” he said. “You'll see me for ten minutes every morning here in homeroom, and if you are taking my math class, you'll see me for forty minutes more.”

I glanced at my schedule. I had math next, in this very room, with Mr. K. More good luck! I don't love math, but I already liked Mr. K. My math teacher last year, Mrs. Moore, was okay but she was pretty strict and not very friendly. She
was a cloudy day compared to Mr. K.'s sunny day, if you know what I mean.

Another point for my lucky purple shirt,
I thought happily.

And I got even luckier because even though I had to say good-bye to Emma after homeroom, Mia walked into the room. We had math together!

The morning just seemed to get better and better. My second-period class, Spanish, was just down the hall. Then I went to gym class, and I was so happy—Emma, Mia, and Alexis were there!

I should probably explain my history with gym, or “physical education,” as teachers like to call it. I'm a pretty fast runner, but when it comes to most other sports stuff, I'm sort of a spaz. When we play volleyball and I hit the ball, I usually end up hitting the wall or the ceiling or a person. It's not pretty. And last year, I got teased pretty hard about it.

I
am
good at softball, though. I even made the school team. But I like playing for fun. I'm not competitive, and being on a team that always played to win stressed me out too much, so I gave it up.

This year, though, I would have my three best friends to back me up in gym class. And I knew I would need it, because I had the same gym teacher, Ms. Chen. She acts more like an army drill sergeant than a middle school teacher. Honestly, she scares me.

Since it was the first day of school, we didn't have to change into our gym clothes or anything. So before the bell rang, we were all just kind of hanging out on the bleachers. Some of the boys were running around and throwing basketballs at one another.

One of the balls bounced right up to where I was sitting with my friends. It rolled to my feet, so I picked it up, and George Martinez ran over to get it.

“Hey, Silly Arms! We're in the same class again,” he said, smiling.

George started calling me Silly Arms last year, because of the way I play volleyball. I've never looked in a mirror while playing volleyball, but I guess I must look pretty silly. I never get mad because I know he's just teasing, like he always does. But then some other kids (like Sydney and her friends, for instance) started calling me that to be mean.

Before I could say anything to George, Eddie Rossi ran up behind him. Eddie is the tallest kid in our grade, and probably in our whole school. Last year he even grew a mustache. But I guess he shaved it over the summer, because his face looked clean-shaven again.

Anyway, this is what Eddie said: “Hey, leave her alone!”

“It's okay,” George replied. “Katie's cool!”

Then he took the ball from me and tossed it to Eddie, and they both ran off.

My mouth was open so wide, you could probably have fit a whole cupcake into it.

“That was weird,” I said.

“It's so obvious,” Alexis said. “Eddie likes you.”

“No way,” I told her. “It makes no sense. Last year Eddie teased me just as bad as Sydney did. He used to call me Silly Arms all the time. Besides, he's a jock who likes popular girls, not girls like me.”

“That doesn't mean he can't still like you,” Alexis argued. “People change all the time. He doesn't even have a mustache anymore.”

“Well, I think that Eddie and George
both
like Katie,” Mia said.

I must have been blushing, because my face
felt hot. I am not the kind of girl who boys get a crush on, and especially not
two
boys at once.

Then Ms. Chen marched in, blowing her whistle, and for once I was glad to see her.

“Stand up and look alive, people! Just because it's the first day of school doesn't mean you can be slackers!”

I jumped to my feet pretty quickly. You definitely don't want Ms. Chen on your case. But I couldn't stop wondering about what happened with Eddie and George and if it meant I was still having good luck or not.

M
s. Chen spent the whole gym period telling us the rules of gym and giving us advice about fitness. Finally, the bell rang.

“That was totally boring, but definitely better than being hit in the head by a volleyball,” I told my friends as we left. Everyone laughed.

“Don't worry. I'm sure that will happen next week,” Mia teased me.

“Hey, we can all go to lunch together,” Emma realized.

“I'm going to stop at my locker first,” I said. “This math book is pretty heavy. I don't want to carry it around all afternoon.”

“No problem, we can all meet at our table, like always,” Mia said.

I liked the sound of that. On the first day of school last year, I didn't know where to sit. Now I had three good friends to sit with. I would definitely call that lucky!

Last year I was convinced that my locker was an evil robot out to get me. It's one of those lockers where the lock is built into the door, and the school gives you the combination. I swear I always put in the right one, but that locker never wanted to open.

So I took a deep breath as I slowly turned the dial.

26 . . . 14 . . . 5 . . .

I pulled the handle, and the door wouldn't open.

Oh no! It's happening again!
I thought. My heart began to beat faster. I took another deep breath and turned again.