Sweet Victory (6 page)

Sadie took a quick count of boxes and shouted back, “Thirty-eight dozen remaining!”

The crowd groaned in disappointment.

“But I need three dozen for my daughter's Girl Scout troop,” said one anxious customer.

“I told my spin class I'd get us at least four dozen,” another lady said.

Over the next two hours, almost every single cupcake sold, till there was only one box of twelve remaining.

“I have an idea of how to
really
make some money,” Sadie said, standing on a chair so everyone could hear her. “Attention, please! We are auctioning off the last dozen cupcakes to one lucky bidder! It's a great cause, so please open your hearts and your wallets.”

Ms. Fine followed her lead. “Let's start the bidding at two hundred dollars. Do I hear two hundred ten?”

“Two hundred fifty!” came a voice from the back of the line.

“Three hundred!” yelled another.

“Five hundred dollars!” said a man in a business suit. “My wife loves your cupcakes!”

“Six hundred! Seven hundred! Eight hundred!”

Ms. Fine and Sadie could barely control the crowd's excitement as the amount climbed higher and higher.

Finally, one voice boomed louder than the rest: “
One thousand, five hundred dollars
!
” It was Principal Fontina.

“Do I hear any higher?” Ms. Fine asked. “Going once, going twice,
sol
d
! For a thousand, five hundred dollars to Principal Fontina!”

Sadie handed her the last box of cupcakes. “Thank you so much,” she said. “That's a lot of money!”

“I was saving it for a rainy day,” Principal Fontina admitted. “Maybe a spa weekend. But I thought this was probably a better way to spend it.” She took a red velvet cupcake out of the box. “My favorite! This is the most expensive cupcake I've ever eaten—and it's worth every cent I paid.”

• • •

At the end of the day, the girls gathered in the teachers' lounge with Herbie to tally up all the money they'd earned.

“Don't forget we still have the Golden Spoon's weekend sales,” Lexi reminded them. “But Delaney says she and Sophie have already made ten thousand dollars.”

“Tyler texted me that his high school sold all one thousand cupcakes and made over seven thousand dollars,” Sadie added.

Herbie jotted down the numbers and tallied them up. He held up the paper and showed Sadie. “I think that's a pretty impressive number to tell Coach Walsh, don't you?”

Sadie had been patient long enough. As much as she hated hospitals, she couldn't wait to get there. “Come on, Herbie,” she said, pulling on his sleeve. “Let's go.”

When Sadie walked into the hospital room, she found Coach Walsh sitting up in bed watching the sports report on the local TV news. She was surrounded by bouquets of flowers, stuffed teddy bears, get-well cards, boxes of chocolates, and balloons—so many that she didn't even see Sadie and Herbie at the door. Sadie noticed she looked a little tired, and her hair was tucked under a bandanna. But her cheeks were rosy and her eyes lit up as soon as Herbie parted the sea of balloons and waved.

“Sadie! Herbie! I'm so glad to see you!” Coach Walsh said, smiling. “Please come in.”

Sadie wanted to ask how she was, but she was too nervous. So Herbie said what she was thinking: “So, how's the patient doing?”

“Good,” Coach Walsh said. Sadie studied her face to make sure she wasn't just trying to be brave. “Really good. The doctors said we caught it early, and they got it all with the surgery. So I can go home tomorrow and I'll be back to work in a week.”

“Really?” Sadie exclaimed. “You're coming back to Blakely?”

“Unless Herbie is prepared to fight me for it,” Coach Walsh teased.

“Not a chance,” Herbie said. “The job's all yours as soon as you want it. I was just keeping it warm for you.”

Coach Walsh beamed. “I heard about the win over the Coyotes,” she told Sadie. “Coach Keren called me and said one of my coaches was pretty tough on her.”

Sadie blushed. “Yeah, that was me. I'm sorry. I guess she just rubbed me the wrong way.”

“As long as you brought me my trophy,” Coach Walsh reminded her.

“The trophy! I almost forgot!” She pulled a small gold cup out of her backpack. “From our win over the Coyotes.”

“Next stop, the regional champs,” her coach said. “I hope the team is ready to train hard.”

“We are,” Sadie insisted. “We've already started.”

“I've got them on a tight schedule of drills,” Herbie reported. “And I've come up with a new strategy. I call it the ‘Dubois Dunk.'”

“Can't wait to see it,” Coach Walsh said, winking at Sadie.

“I like how you've decorated the place.” Herbie tugged on a balloon string.

“It's very cheery, but the food is awful,” Coach Walsh replied. “If I never see another cup of yellow Jell-O, it will be too soon.”

“We brought you something else,” Sadie said, presenting her with a box of cupcakes.

Coach Walsh opened the lid. “Is this what I think it is?”

“No holes!” Sadie said.

“Wow,” the coach replied, taking a big bite. “What do you call it? A cupnut? A doughcake?” She polished off the rest in just two bites.

“Jenna calls it
delicioso
,” Sadie recalled.

“Well, that sums it up,” Coach replied, licking the sugar off her fingers.

“And we have one more thing,” Sadie said, pulling a check out of her pocket. “We held a fund-raiser at Blakely to beat cancer.”

Coach nodded. “I saw it on the five o'clock news. Pretty impressive.”

“So is this.” Herbie gave Sadie a little push. “Show her how much we made.”

Sadie handed her the check and watched eagerly as her coach's eyes grew wide. “Sixty-two thousand dollars? Sadie, this is amazing!”

“I know it's not millions, but it's something, right?” Sadie said. “It will help.”

“Are you kidding?” Coach replied. “Every dollar counts when it comes to cancer research. I can't believe you did this.”

“We did it for you,” Sadie said. “And for everyone who is battling cancer. So many people who donated told us about family and friends who were sick.”

“Well, you know I don't go down without a fight,” Coach said, winking. “I'll beat this.”

Sadie knew that if anyone could, it was Coach Walsh.

• • •

The next two weeks flew by, and before she knew it, Sadie was back in her Blakely Bears basketball uniform, dribbling a ball down the court. Even better, Coach Walsh was back blowing her whistle and running the team ragged.

“
Rebound! Rebound!
” she shouted. “Sadie, when you see the shot, take it. No holding back!”

“Yes, Coach!” Sadie called back to her. She tossed the ball but it missed the basket by several inches. She had to admit that she was still a little nervous being back in the game, afraid to injure her foot again. She kept second-guessing herself.

“Time-out!” Coach Walsh blew her whistle and summoned the girls to the bleachers for a pep talk.

“Now, I know you all beat the Coyotes and you think you have nothing to worry about,” she said. “Well, that's ancient history. The teams you're going to face at regionals are even tougher. This is a whole new ball game, and there is no tiptoeing around the court or being lazy. Do I make myself clear?”

“
Clear!
” the team shouted in unison.

Sadie couldn't help but smile. It felt great to have her old tough-as-nails coach back, pushing them all to be stronger, smarter, better players.

“Okay, hit the locker room,” Coach Walsh said, studying her clipboard. “Sadie, you hang back a few minutes.”

Sadie gulped. Was Coach Walsh going to scold her for being so nervous on the court? For missing that shot? Was she going to tell her she wasn't ready to play?

“I have an email for you from Coach Keren,” she said.

“You do?” This was even worse than being bawled out for a bad practice. The Coyotes' coach was probably writing to tell her off for being so rude!

“She heard you had a little cupcake business,” Coach Walsh teased. “And she wants you to bake something for her team to inspire them. I told her you'd be delighted.”

“Cupcakes? She wants us to make her cupcakes?”

“And given how you treated her, they'd better be pretty darn good ones. You owe her.” Coach handed her the email. “Like I always say, ‘Make me proud.'”

• • •

“Are you sure about this?” Kylie asked, reading the email. “You want to bake cupcakes for your archrivals?”

“I guess I do kinda owe it to Coach Keren,” Sadie said. “I was really mean to her. And to you. I'm sorry, Kylie.”

Kylie smiled. “It's okay, Sadie. I knew you didn't mean it.”

“I didn't. I was just so angry and sad and scared and frustrated… I lost my temper.”

“I do it all the time with my little brothers,” Jenna piped up. “Like the time they colored on my bedroom wall with crayons and I exploded. My
madre
calls it ‘
la bomba
,' when I get that way—
BOOM
!
”

“That's what it felt like,” Sadie admitted. “All these feelings were just bubbling up inside me. I guess I exploded too.”

“I never lose my cool,” Delaney insisted. “I'm cool as a cucumber.”

“Not true,” Kylie reminded her. “You were a wreck when you found out you were going to be a big sister. Everyone loses her cool once in a while. It's a good thing we all have each other to clean up the mess.” She handed Delaney a sponge. “Starting with the flour we spilled on the kitchen counter.”

“I have a really good idea for the Coyotes' cupcake decorations,” Lexi said. She'd been quiet until now, busily sketching in her notebook.

“Let me guess: coyotes!” Jenna teased her. “Big, furry ones.”

“As if,” Lexi sniffed. “That would be way too easy.” She held up her sketch.

“So cool!” Delaney exclaimed.

“Cool as a cucumber?” Lexi asked her.

“Better!” Delaney replied. “They're gonna love it.”

When the cupcake club arrived at New Canaan Elementary School after school, Coach Keren was already waiting for them outside.

“I'm anxious to see what you made me,” she told Sadie. “It better be good.”

Sadie hopped out of her dad's truck. “Well, it's definitely as big as my mouth,” she said, apologizing. “I hope you'll forgive me.”

“Already done,” Coach Keren said, offering her hand to shake. “We all have our bad days.”

“You're gonna flip when you see this,” Lexi told her. “We've never done anything like it before.”

Mr. Harris opened up the back of the truck and helped the girls lift the display out. It was a huge sheet cake decorated to look like a basketball court, complete with a four-foot-tall basketball net in the center. On top of the cake were dozens of mini cupcakes, topped with basketballs modeled out of orange fondant.

“Wait till you taste them,” Jenna said. “We call them Coyote Creamsicles. Orange cake with cream cheese frosting.”

“Sounds amazing,” Coach Keren said. “You can bring them in here.”

When they reached the gym, Coach Keren held open the doors so Mr. Harris and the girls could carry the cake inside. It weighed a ton and took nearly all of them to carry it out of the truck and up the school steps. “We have lots of hungry basketball players waiting inside,” the coach said. “Better not drop it.”

When they put it down on a table, Sadie was shocked to see not just the Coyote team but her own Blakely Bears waiting on the bleachers. Coach Walsh was there too.

“Didn't think I'd let the Coyotes eat these awesome cupcakes all by themselves, did you?” she asked Sadie.

“I thought they were the enemy,” Delaney whispered to Sadie. “Why are the Bears hanging out with the Coyotes?”

Herbie was also there, proudly wearing his Blakely Bears team jacket. “Did I mention that Coach Keren and her team would like to hire PLC to bake cupcakes for their own Bake to Beat Cancer fund-raiser?” he said.

“You would?” Sadie asked Coach Keren. “Really?”

“As many cupcakes as you can make, we'll sell,” she said. “And we'll do everything we can to beat your record.”

“Beat sixty-two thousand dollars? I'd like to see
that
!” Jenna said smirking.

“So would I,” Sadie spoke up. “In fact, I'd love you to top it. The more money you raise, the better.”

Coach Keren crossed her arms over her chest. “I do believe the Bears have just issued us a challenge,” she said. “Ladies, are we up for it?”

“
Yes, Coach!
” the Coyotes shouted.

“Wow, they're really competitive,” Kylie said.

“The Coyotes' coach has been very kind to me,” Coach Walsh pointed out. “She emailed me all the time when I was in the hospital. Thank you, Rochelle.”

“I lost a really good friend to cancer a few years ago,” Coach Keren confided. “I understand how you were feeling, Sadie. Truly I do. It's okay to get mad.”

“I was mad at the cancer, not at you,” Sadie admitted.

“I hope you'll accept this as a peace offering,” Coach Walsh added. “Even though we're rivals on the court, it would be nice to be friends off the court.”

“I think you mean a Peace, Love, and Cupcakes offering,” Herbie joked.

Sadie held up a cupcake. “Who's hungry?” she asked, waving it in the air.

Both teams raised their hands. But she gave the cupcake to Coach Walsh. “You first,” she said.

Coach Walsh popped the cupcake in her mouth and gobbled it up. “Now that's what I call a slam dunk!”