Sugar and Spice (5 page)

The girls were piling back into Kylie's mom's SUV when a black Cadillac suddenly whizzed by them. It pulled right up to the Miss New England Shooting Starz office. Kylie rolled down the window of the passenger seat to get a better look—and spotted a familiar figure stepping out. Meredith!

She quickly rolled up the window and tried to hide her panic from her friends.

“What's wrong, honey?” her mom asked, noticing Kylie's face turn pale. “You look queasy.”

“Um, nah. I'm okay,” Kylie replied, unbuckling her seat belt. “I just realized I left my phone in the pageant office. Be back in a jiffy!” She opened the door and raced back out.

“There she goes with the jiffy thing again,” Delaney said.

“She would forget her head if it wasn't pinned on her shoulders,” her mom teased.

Kylie ran into the building and stood right outside the Starz office door. It was open a crack, and she could just make out the conversation.

“You must be Meredith Mitchell,” she heard Hershey saying. “So lovely to meet you.”

“Of course it is!” Meredith replied. “And this is my pageant coach.”

Kylie pushed the door open a tad more to get a peek at the coach. A woman in a bright-red coat offered Hershey her hand and Meredith's portfolio. “I'm Jennifer Amaryllis, like the flower.”

“Nice to meet you Miss Flower…I mean, Miss Amaryllis,” Hershey said.

“Please. Call me Miss Jen.”

“Well, Miss Jen, we're happy to have Meredith join us as a contestant in the Miss New England Shooting Starz pageant. I trust all your paperwork is complete?”

Miss Jen handed her a folder. “Of course it is. I know what I'm doing,” she insisted. “I've had two of my girls go on to compete in Miss America. No one I coach loses.”

“Great.” Hershey smiled politely. “Then best of luck, and we'll see you in a few weeks.”

“Just one question,” the coach said, interrupting her. “Meredith has many talents but wants to do an extreme baton-twirling routine and tap dance. How high are the ceilings in the hotel ballroom?”

“I will definitely check,” Hershey replied, ushering them to the door. “So nice of you stop by.”

Kylie ran back to the car and jumped inside, just minutes before Meredith and Miss Jen made their departure from Starz.

“Did you get it?” Lexi asked, as Kylie slammed the passenger door.

“Get what?”

“Your cell phone, silly!” her mom said. “Remember? You left in the pageant office?”

“Oh! I found it in my back pocket. Whoopsie!”

“Kylie Carson,” her mom said, laughing as they drove off. “What am I going to do with you?”

But all Kylie was thinking was, “What am I going to do about Meredith?”

• • •

When the girls went to Delaney's house the next day to talk over the pageant order plans, their cupcake club president was strangely quiet.

“
Qué pasa, chica
?
” Jenna asked her. “You seem a little out of it.”

“I'm just thinking,” Kylie said, sighing.

“Thinking about what?” Lexi questioned. “How we're going to make all those pageant cupcakes and a giant tower? Don't worry. It's under control.”

“My dad said he'd help us build the display,” Sadie said.

“No, it's not that,” Kylie said.

“Then what?” Jenna pushed. “We're your friends. You can tell us.”

Kylie took a deep breath. “When I went back to the pageant office, it wasn't to get my phone. I saw something.”

“What do you mean you saw something?” Sadie said. “Something cool?”

“No,” Kylie said. “Something that tied my stomach all up in knots.”

“A monster?” Delaney giggled. “Vampire or zombie?”

“Worse,” Kylie answered. “The meanest monster you could ever encounter.”

Lexi felt a chill go down her spine. “Meredith.”

Kylie nodded. “I saw her pull up to the pageant office and I kinda eavesdropped.”

“And?” Lexi asked, shaking Kylie by the shoulders. “What did you find out? Was she trying to sabotage our business?”

“Not exactly. She had no idea we were there.”

“Then why was Meredith at Miss New England Shooting Starz?” Delaney asked.

“To enter,” Kylie replied. “She's one of the pageant contestants.”

Lexi gulped. “Oh, I feel queasy.”

“Maybe it's not so bad.” Sadie tried to be optimistic. “I mean, so what if Meredith is in the pageant? We just drop off our cupcake delivery and go.”

“Or we don't,” Jenna said, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe we teach that big-mouthed bully a lesson she'll never forget. Maybe we put her in her place once and for all.”

Lexi suddenly perked up. “How?”

“Well, Meredith obviously thinks she's going to win Miss New England Shooting Starz,” Jenna began.

“Obviously,” Kylie replied. “She and her pageant coach were so full of themselves.”

“So we beat her! How mad and embarrassed would Meredith be if someone else won the crown?”

“And how do we do that?” Lexi asked. “Meredith has a coach and everything.”

“We enter someone who's better than her,” Jenna insisted. “I've seen her dance. It shouldn't be too hard to find someone with more talent.”

“I sing and dance,” Delaney volunteered. “Do you people recall I was on the West End stage in
Pygmalion
just a few short months ago?”

“Only because you snuck on.” Sadie chuckled. “I don't think that counts, Laney.”

“Whatever! I'm still our best chance, right?”

Kylie put an arm around her friend. “You definitely are. I trip over my own two feet, and none of us can carry a tune.”

“Hey! I'll have you know I sing every morning in my shower!” Jenna protested. She began to belt out the words to a Spanish pop song: “
Hoy
quiero
bailar
solo
contigo
!
”

Delaney covered her ears. “Ouch! We said we wanted to beat Meredith—not deafen the audience!”

Mrs. Noonan poked her head out from the kitchen. “Girls, please keep it down! I just put Delaney's baby sister and brother down for a nap.”

But it was too late. Tristan and Charlotte were already wailing.

“I got it, Mom,” Delaney said, dragging Lexi with her. “We'll get them back to sleep.”

She led Lexi upstairs to the nursery. “If you just sing them a lullaby, they settle down,” Delaney explained. She began to softly croon Katy Perry's “Roar.”

“That's a lullaby?” Lexi asked. “Whatever happened to ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' or ‘Rock-a-bye Baby'?”

Delaney picked up Tristan in her arms. “They have better taste in tunes,” she said. “Katy, Beyoncé, an occasional Ariana Grande…”

She pointed to Charlotte's crib. “You pick her up and try it.”

Lexi lifted the baby out of the crib and gently rocked her back and forth. “So I sat quietly…agreed politely,” she sang softly. Charlotte yawned. “You're gonna hear me roar…”

Delaney gasped. “Lex! You can sing!”

Lexi made a face. “Nah, not really. I just mostly hum to the radio.”

“No, really!” Delaney insisted. “You have a gorgeous voice! You should be the one to compete against Meredith.”

Lexi stared. “No way. I could never get up on a stage and sing in front of hundreds of people.”

“Thousands, maybe even millions,” Delaney pointed out. “The pageant is going to be on local Connecticut TV, remember?”

Lexi placed a sleepy Charlotte back in her crib. “That's even worse!” she whispered. “No way. I'm not doing it.”

She returned to the living room and found the rest of the cupcake club debating who was the worst singer among them.

“I think I am,” Sadie said. “My mom says I'm totally tone deaf.” She demonstrated a very off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

“I always mangle the lyrics,” Jenna insisted. “I had to sing ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town' in first grade chorus. You know the part about him making a list and checking it twice? I sang, ‘He's making a list, chicken and rice!'”

Kylie cracked up. “We all stink!”

Delaney came bolting down the stars. “Not all of us!”

“Fine, we know you want to do it, Delaney,” Jenna said.

“No, I don't! I think Lexi should enter the pageant.”

A hush fell over the room. “Lexi? Lexi Poole?” Jenna said what everyone else was thinking. “Are we talking about the same girl?”

“I'm right here!” Lexi complained.

“She's an amazing singer,” Delaney insisted, patting Lexi on the back. “I just heard her upstairs doing ‘Roar,' and she sounds just like Katy Perry!”

“Do you want to do it?” Kylie asked Lexi.

“No!” Lexi crossed her arms and pouted. “I absolutely do not.”

“But we'd coach you,” Delaney continued. “And Jenna's mom could make you an amazing pageant gown.”

“
Sí
,” Jenna said. “My
mami
would definitely sew you something
precioso
.”

Lexi stood up and stamped her foot on the floor. “Are you guys listening to me? I said no.”

“Because you're afraid Meredith will beat you, right?” Kylie asked. “That she'll humiliate you and call you a loser.”

Lexi nodded. “Exactly.”

“And that's exactly the reason you should do it,” Kylie continued. “To stand up to her and stop being afraid.”

“Trust us,” Delaney said, gently. “We'll be right behind you.”

“Just think about it,” Kylie added. “No monster was ever beaten without someone being brave enough to step up and challenge her.”

Lexi knew that was true and that her friends were right. But did she have to challenge Meredith on a huge pageant stage in front of millions of strangers?

“Fine,” she said, finally giving in. “I'll think about it. But no promises.”

Lexi didn't have to think too long or hard about the pageant. The decision found her fourth period in study hall. Meredith skipped into the classroom with Abby trailing behind her. Ms. Rathbane wasn't there yet, and Lexi smelled trouble.

“Someone had spinach for lunch,” Meredith said, giggling and pointing to Lexi's teeth. She tossed her bag down on the desk next to Lexi's. “Or are you just green with envy?”

Lexi felt her fists clenching. “Quit it, Meredith.”

“Quit it? Quit what?” the bully replied. “Poor little Lexi the Loser. You don't like it when people pick on you? I don't like it when people ruin my makeup!”

“I said, quit it,” Lexi repeated slowly and quietly.

“Or what?” Meredith asked.

Lexi summoned every ounce of courage she had: “Or I'll have to beat you in the Miss New England Shooting Starz Pageant.”

Meredith's mouth fell wide open. “How do you know about that? And what do you mean you'll beat me?”

Lexi smiled sweetly, doing her best Meredith impression. “That's for me to know and you to find out.”

She got up from her desk just as Ms. Rathbane was walking into the room.

“Excuse me, Ms. Rathbane. May I please go to the library and do some research?”

The teacher looked confused. “What kind of research, Lexi?”

Lexi glared at Meredith at the back of the room. “I need to look up some sheet music for a special project I'm working on.”

“I don't see why not,” Ms. Rathbane said, handing her a hall pass.

Lexi turned on her heel and skipped out of the room. She didn't even have to look back to know that there was steam coming out of Meredith's ears.

• • •

“Nuh-uh! You didn't say that!” Kylie said, shaking her head in disbelief when Lexi found her after school in the teachers' lounge kitchen.

“I did! I told her I'd beat her. What was I thinking?”

“So you're entering the pageant?” Kylie asked.

Lexi nodded. “I guess. Do I have a choice? My parents said if I wanted to, they'd put in the paperwork and the entrance fee. They think it's a great way to boost my confidence and help me get more comfortable speaking in public.”

Kylie knew getting up in front of a crowd was the last thing Lexi wanted to do. Lexi's big sister, Ava, was the outgoing one, not her—and she was always in Ava's shadow.

Jenna, Sadie, and Delaney all filed in for the PLC meeting. “What's on the agenda today, Kyles?” Jenna asked, pulling up a stool.

“No cupcakes.” Kylie slammed her hand on the counter. “Today we're cooking up a Miss New England Shooting Starz contestant.”

“You're doing it!” Delaney exclaimed, hugging Lexi. “Yay, Lexi!”

“Go, girl!” Sadie cheered.

“Why's everyone so happy in here?” Herbie teased, rushing in. He was always a few minutes late.

Kylie hushed them. “Oh, nothing. Just loving our latest order for a penguin-themed fifth b-day party.”

Herbie didn't look very convinced. “You guys are jumping up and down about penguins?”

“They're cute. And waddly,” Jenna insisted. “Can't a person love a penguin?”

“I suppose,” Herbie said, scratching his head. “But I also get the impression there is something you girls aren't telling me.”

“Who, us?” Kylie tried to cover. “Like Jenna said, we're psyched for penguins.”

“Okay,” Herbie replied. “I'm psyched to show you what I came up with to make your huge thousand-cupcake pageant order go quicker and more efficiently.”

Kylie rolled her eyes. “Not another flour-nator.”

“Better!” Herbie said. “I call this my ‘pipe-o-matic.'” He produced a sketch of a long conveyor belt with piping bags hanging above it. “The cupcakes roll by, and the piping bag automatically squirts on the icing.”

Lexi looked horrified. “Piping is an art form!” she shouted. “You can't just let some machine do it for you. Not if you want your cupcakes to look original and amazing.”

Herbie stared at his sketch. “Art's great, but it's not efficient. How long would it take you to pipe a hundred cupcakes?”

Lexi did some quick calculations on her fingers. “Maybe a half hour? I can probably do a cupcake every ten to fifteen seconds, depending on how complicated the design is.”

“I estimate that my machine can do a hundred cupcakes in ten minutes flat,” Herbie insisted. “That's saving you twenty minutes. And time is money.”

“He has a point,” Sadie said. “With an extra twenty minutes, we could do more cupcakes or even get a second order in the oven.”

“We can't sacrifice quality for quantity,” Kylie said, backing up Lexi. “I think this pipe-o-matic thing is a bad idea.”

“Suit yourselves,” Herbie said, rolling the plans up and tucking them in his bag. “If you're not willing to grow your business…”

“We are willing,” Kylie insisted. “But not with machines that take the place of people. The best part of being in PLC is working together.”

Jenna elbowed her. “I dunno. Maybe we need to see it in action. Do you think you could build a mini version and show us how it works?”

“Sure,” Herbie answered. “I could probably put something rough together and have it ready for you next week.”

“No! We need it now. I think you should go home and get right on it,” Jenna said, handing him his jacket. “The sooner, the better.”

“At least someone here is enthusiastic about my ideas,” Herbie said.

“
Buena
suerte!
Good luck!” Jenna said, pushing him out the door. “Can't wait to see your pipe-o-macallit.”

“Pipe-o-matic,” Herbie corrected her as they closed the door behind him and locked it.

“I thought he would never leave!” Kylie said. “Good work, Jenna. We need to start coaching Lexi.”

“Do you know how to walk?” Delaney asked her.

“Do I know how to walk?” Lexi replied, puzzled. “Don't I walk every day?”

“No,” Delaney said, standing up and striking a pose. “I mean runway walk.”

She strutted across the floor, gazed backward over her shoulder, shook her hips, and crisscrossed the floor in a T pattern.

“And what makes you an expert?” Sadie asked.

“Are you kidding?” Delaney answered. “I've watched a gazillion Miss America pageants and
Kim of Queens
episodes on TV. I know
exactly
how these things work.”

She dragged Lexi to her feet. “Start at the far left corner. Head up. Shoulders back. Hands at your sides. Now come toward me. And don't forget to sparkle!”

Lexi obeyed, but her walk looked more like a sprint.

“Slowly! Slowly!” Delaney barked. “Let the judges get a good look.”

Lexi's face went white. “Get a good look? At me?”

“No, at the frosting on a cupcake! Of course, at you!”

Lexi sighed. “I don't know about this, guys. I feel really awkward—and I'm afraid I might pass out onstage in front of the judges.”

“Not to mention the hundreds of people in the audience and the millions watching on TV,” Jenna reminded her again.

“I can't! I can't!” Lexi started to back away. “This is a terrible idea.”

Kylie grabbed her by the shoulders. “Keep your eyes on the prize.”

“The crown? Who cares about a stupid crown?” Lexi exclaimed.

“No! Beating Meredith. Making her see that she can't put you down.”

Lexi mulled it over. “Okay, I'll try.”

“It'll look better in high heels,” Delaney assured her.

“High heels? I can't walk in high heels!” Lexi shrieked.

Delaney put her arm around her friend. “You can, and you will. Miss Delaney is going to coach you.”

“And Miss Jenna is going to have her
madre
sew your gown. Think of me as your style coach.”

“I'll coach interview,” Kylie said. “We'll write you an amazing intro and practice the Q and A so you'll be prepared for anything the judges ask you.”

“And I'll handle the fitness category,” Sadie volunteered. “When I'm done with you, you'll be able to dribble a basketball behind your back.”

“You guys are great,” Lexi said. “I just hope I don't disappoint you and make a fool of myself.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” Kylie said reassuringly. “It's Meredith who should be nervous.”