Sugar and Spice Read online

  Copyright © 2015 by Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk

  Cover and internal design © 2015 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

  Cover design by Rose Audette

  Cover illustration © Kristi Valiant

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Berk, Sheryl.

  Sugar and spice / Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk.

  pages cm. — (The cupcake club ; [7])

  Summary: When Blakely Elementary’s new art teacher, Mr. Dubois, becomes the advisor for Peace, Love, and Cupcakes, his zany ideas irk club founder Kylie, but orders are pouring in so quickly that there is no time to argue, and Lexi is busy competing against school bully Meredith in a pageant.

  (13 : alk. paper) [1. Pageants—Fiction. 2. Clubs—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Cupcakes—Fiction. 5. Baking—Fiction.] I. Berk, Carrie. II. Title.

  PZ7.B45236Sug 2015

  [Fic]—dc23

  2014047378

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  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  1. Accidents Do Happen

  2. The Wicked Witch of Blakely

  3. Hangin’ with Herbie

  4. Something’s Fishy

  5. Crowning Touch

  6. Bake, Take 2

  7. Sibling Rivalry

  8. Runway Rival

  9. Pageants and Penguins

  10. Here Comes the Sun

  11. Kitchen Catastrophe

  12. Pageant Day

  13. Unlucky Star

  14. And the Winner Is…

  15. Easy as Pumpkin Pie

  Matcha-macallit Green Tea Cupcakes

  Pretty as a Pageant Winner Pink Velvet Cupcakes

  Harleigh’s Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

  Carrie’s Q&A: Meet Bobbie Lloyd, Magnolia Bakery’s “Chief Baking Officer”

  Acknowledgments

  About the Authors

  A sneak peek of Cupcake Countdown

  Back Cover

  To Hannah Banana, a.k.a. Hannah Stark

  You’ll always be my sister! You inspire so many girls to be strong, and I’m so proud of you!

  Forever, Carrie

  With Meredith Mitchell, Blakely Elementary School’s resident mean girl, all it took was one little incident to become her instant enemy. Kylie Carson learned this the hard way in third grade when she accidentally kicked a sneaker in Meredith’s face during an audition for the hip-hop club. Ever since that black eye, Meredith held a grudge against Kylie and all the other members of her cupcake club: Sadie, Jenna, Lexi, and Delaney.

  Somehow, they’d managed to keep the peace through most of fourth, and now fifth, grade. Meredith was annoying, stuck-up, and opinionated, but she paid little attention to them and instead surrounded herself with a posse of worshipping minions—a.k.a. Abby, Emily, and Bella. But this morning, Lexi was innocently carrying her huge art project down the hallway…

  “Excuse me. Pardon me,” Lexi said as she tried to navigate her way to first-period art class with a canvas that was bigger than she was. On it, she’d painted a colorful carnival scene: a merry-go-round, a Ferris wheel, and a group of girls (looking a lot like her fellow members of Peace, Love, and Cupcakes) eating cotton candy. It had taken her nearly a week to complete, and she was proud of her work. But now, as she slammed into walls, lockers, and assorted students, she thought maybe she’d gone a little overboard.

  “Watch where you’re going with that thing!” Jack Yu snapped as Lexi accidentally whacked him in the head with her canvas.

  “I’m so sorry!” she apologized. “It’s hard to see where I’m going.”

  “Ouch!” complained Emily Dutter. “You klutz! You stepped on my foot.”

  “Sorry!” Lexi called after her. “I didn’t mean to.”

  The hall was packed with fifth graders cramming their coats and book bags into their lockers. Lexi tried her best to squeeze past them without doing too much damage. “Heads up! Art project coming through!” she warned. She never saw Meredith applying her pink lipstick by her locker mirror, and the painting collided with the diva’s elbow.

  “Nooooo!” Meredith shrieked in horror. There was a hot-pink smudge across her mouth and cheek. “Who did this? Who would dare?”

  She saw the huge canvas only inches away from her locker—but couldn’t see who was hiding behind it.

  “I said, Who is responsible for this?” she bellowed.

  Lexi peered around the edge of the painting. “Um, I guess I am?”

  Meredith’s eyes narrowed. “You! You did this!”

  “I’m really, really sorry,” Lexi began, but Meredith cut her off.

  “Oh, you will be!”

  Lexi rested her painting against the wall and dug in her backpack. “Wait, I think I have some tissues in here.” She took one out and began dabbing at Meredith’s cheek, spreading the color on her nose and chin. Now her whole face looked pink and blotchy.

  “Get off me!” Meredith screamed. “You’re making it worse!” She snatched the tissue out of Lexi’s hand as a crowd gathered around them.

  “OMG!” Emily cried. “Meredith, your face is a mess!”

  “I dunno.” Jack chuckled. “I think it’s an improvement.”

  Lexi braced herself and waited for Meredith to throw a royal temper tantrum. She wished she could duck behind her painting and take cover—or climb into a locker and shut the door tight. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

  “How dare you humiliate me?” Meredith hissed at Lexi.

  “I didn’t mean to. Honest!” she insisted. “It’s just makeup. You can wash it off.”

  “Poor Meredith,” Abby cooed, patting her friend on the back. “Your lips were perfectly pink and sparkly.”

  “I know.” Meredith sighed. “Now it’s all spoiled. That loser Lexi ruined it!”

  Luckily, the first-period bell rang and Principal Fontina came out of her office to see what all of the commotion was about. When she saw a pink-faced Meredith towering over Lexi, she had a hunch.

  “Ms. Mitchell,” Principal Fontina said, “that bell means you should be in class. Now!”

  Meredith slammed the locker shut and gave Lexi one last evil glare. Then she hurried down the hall to Ms. Murphie’s English class.

  “Do you need help carrying that?” the principal asked, noticing Lexi’s giant painting.

  “Um, no thanks,” Lexi said nervou
sly, hoisting her canvas into her arms. “I’ve got it.” As Principal Fontina turned to go back to her office, Lexi accidentally smacked her in the butt with the painting.

  “Oopsie! Sorry!” Lexi said. “My bad.”

  “Next time, Miss Poole, maybe think a bit smaller,” her principal suggested. “I applaud you for your hard work, but I’m worried it’s not going to fit through the art room door.”

  With a little maneuvering, Lexi made her way down the hall and found herself standing at the doorway to Ms. McNalley’s studio. Lexi tried to just walk through the door, but the painting was too wide. So she tilted it sideways, stood behind it, and gave it a firm push through the door frame.

  “Whoa!” her friend Kylie exclaimed as Lexi and the canvas burst into the room. “That is one humongo art project.”

  Lexi nodded. “I know. I supersized it.”

  The rest of the class gathered around, curious, as she peeled away the masking tape and brown paper covering her artwork. There were oohs and ahhs as she revealed the carnival scene.

  “Lexi, you outdid yourself. Your painting is breathtaking,” Ms. McNalley exclaimed.

  Lexi blushed. “Thank you. I tried really hard.”

  Kylie noticed that her friend wasn’t enjoying all the praise from her peers and teacher. She seemed distracted. “What’s up, Lex?” she whispered. “Why the long face?”

  “Meredith Mitchell hates my guts.” Lexi sighed. “I kinda bumped into her with my painting and messed up her makeup.”

  Kylie wanted to giggle—she could just picture Meredith’s face covered in brightly colored smudges. But she knew this was no laughing matter. Lexi looked worried.

  “Did she freak?”

  “She had that look in her eye,” Lexi told her BFF. “You know, the death stare.”

  Kylie nodded. She knew it well. “You can’t let her get to you,” she insisted. “Bullies count on you being scared of them.”

  “I’m not scared,” Lexi said, settling into her drawing desk. “I’m terrified. If Ms. Fontina hadn’t come along, I think Meredith would have killed me.”

  Kylie put an arm around her shoulder. “You have me, Jenna, Sadie, and Delaney behind you.”

  Lexi heaved a sigh of relief. It was great to know her friends had her back. Still, she had a sinking feeling that this wasn’t over yet. Not if Meredith had something to say about it.

  That afternoon at lunch, Lexi spotted Meredith carrying her tray to a table with Abby, Bella, and Emily. She quickly ducked behind Jenna, who was waiting in the cafeteria food line.

  “Qué pasa, chica?” her friend asked. “What’s with the disappearing act?”

  “Is she gone?” Lexi asked, peeking out behind Jenna.

  “Is who gone?”

  “Meredith. I don’t want her to see me.”

  Jenna stepped aside. “Do not tell me you’re scared of her and her boca grande!”

  “It’s not her big mouth I’m scared of,” Lexi insisted. “It’s just what she might say with it. Like call me ‘Loser Lexi,’ for example.”

  “Sticks and stones,” Jenna reminded her. “You can’t let her intimidate you. Whenever she used to call me ‘Thunder Thighs’ or ‘Bubble Butt,’ I just laughed in her face.”

  Lexi knew Jenna was right. Still, she couldn’t tell her heart to stop pounding every time she caught a glimpse of Meredith anywhere at school.

  “I don’t know what to do,” she confided in her friends at their lunch table. “I apologized, but she didn’t seem to care.”

  “She’s such a princess,” Sadie weighed in. “She’s in my first-period English class, and she spent the whole time in the bathroom reapplying her makeup.” Sadie was a tomboy and a star athlete who didn’t own a single lip gloss. “So ridiculous!”

  “I think you should just forget it ever happened,” Kylie added. “Bygones. It’s ancient history. Trust me, it’s better that way.”

  Lexi decided that was probably the best idea. It wasn’t as if she had purposely ruined Meredith’s makeup this morning. Surely Meredith had to know that!

  “Can we change the topic from bullies to baking?” Kylie suggested. “We received a huge potential order over email this morning.”

  “Define ‘huge,’” Sadie replied. “I have a math final next week and two basketball games.”

  “And I know Delaney has her school’s pep rally on Friday and is on babysitting duty for her twin brother and sister this weekend,” Jenna reminded them.

  “That’s okay—we have plenty of time,” Kylie said, pulling the email printout from her jean jacket pocket. “This order is for six weeks from now.”

  “Someone likes to plan ahead,” Jenna said, peering over Kylie’s shoulder. “What’s the Miss New England Shooting Starz Pageant?”

  “Some kind of talent and runway competition,” Kylie replied. “I didn’t get a lot of the details. The pageant directors, Laura and Fitzy, want to meet with us and discuss it further. Kind of like an interview.”

  “How many cupcakes are we talking?” Lexi asked. “A hundred? Two hundred?”

  “Try a thousand.” Kylie read the letter. “Apparently, they have a huge crowd coming with contestants of all ages—and it’s gonna be on TV!”

  “TV? Our cupcakes are going to be on TV?” Lexi’s mood suddenly brightened. “Now you’re talking.”

  “If we get the order,” Kylie pointed out. “It appears we’re not the only bakers competing for the business. Connecticut Cupcakes is also in the running.”

  Lexi shuddered to think of the two sisters who had beaten them on Battle of the Bakers. “Well, then we’ll just have to prove we’re the best,” she said. “We’ll pull out all the stops. We’ll blow them away.”

  “When do we meet with these pageant peeps?” Sadie asked.

  “I told them we were free Sunday morning—and I made sure Delaney could come too. That gives us a few days to brainstorm and make some samples.”

  Lexi nodded. “I’ll sketch out a few designs tonight.”

  “And I’ll go through our recipe file with Jenna,” Kylie added. She took a big bite out of her pizza slice. “We’ve got this!”

  • • •

  By the end of the day, Lexi had almost forgotten about the morning’s fireworks. When Meredith waltzed into last-period study hall, Lexi simply took her friends’ advice and ignored her.

  But Meredith wasn’t about to forgive and forget so easily. She slid into an empty seat next to Lexi in the back of the classroom. “Your outfit is pretty decent for a change,” Meredith whispered to her.

  Lexi smiled cautiously. “Thanks?” she replied. Maybe Meredith was trying to be nice for once. Maybe she realized she had overreacted.

  “Except for that sweater. It’s hideous,” Meredith continued. “But it suits you. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  Emily Dutter, who was also in study hall, snickered. “Meredith, you are too funny!”

  Ms. Rathbane, the study hall teacher, was busy at her desk grading papers. Lexi considered raising her hand and ratting them both out, but she knew that would only make things worse. So she just sat there, stone-faced, and took it.

  “Do you know what I heard?” Meredith asked Emily. “I heard Jeremy Saperstone likes me and is going to ask me out.”

  “No way!” Emily replied. “Doesn’t he have a girlfriend?”

  Lexi fumed. They both knew that Jeremy had been her boyfriend ever since they’d played Romeo and Juliet in the fifth-grade play.

  Meredith wrinkled her nose. “I guess he’s dating some loser. For now.”

  That was it! Lexi couldn’t take it anymore. She leaned over and whispered to Meredith, “Jeremy is my boyfriend, and you know it!”

  “Why would he want to be with you when he could be with me? I mean, seriously. Just look at me…” Meredith pointed to her stylish, red-leather
jacket and matching miniskirt and tossed her flowing blond curls. “And look at you.”

  Lexi knew her ponytail was limp and her purple cardigan had orange stains on it from art class.

  “Oh, Meredith, you and Jeremy will make the cutest couple,” Emily cooed.

  Lexi didn’t want to get in trouble with Ms. Rathbane, so she tried to ignore Meredith’s and Emily’s whispering and focus on her science homework. She noticed that Meredith was doodling hearts on her binder cover with the initials “J.S. + M.M.” Lexi gritted her teeth and waited for the bell to ring.

  When class was over, she raced out the door to find Jeremy before his chess club meeting started. She stopped by Mr. Danenburn’s science lab, but Jeremy wasn’t there. Nor was he at his locker or in the library. She finally spotted him coming down the hall with Jack and waved. But before she could reach him, Meredith jumped out and stopped the boys in their tracks.

  “Jeremy,” she said, flirting with him. “Can I talk to you a sec?”

  Jack checked his watch. “That was a sec. You’re done, Meredith.”

  “Zip it,” Meredith replied, turning back to Jeremy and batting her eyelashes.

  Jeremy rolled his eyes. “I guess. What’s up, Meredith?”

  “So, I happen to have these awesome VIP tickets to the Eastern Chess Congress in Stamford this weekend.”

  Jeremy’s eyes grew wide. “Are you kidding me? That is like the World Series of chess tournaments! All the greats will be there playing.”

  Meredith batted her eyelashes. “I know. And I’m, like, so into chess.”

  Jeremy stared. “You are? I would think a girl like you would hate chess.”

  “OMG! I love it! There’s a queen in the game, isn’t there?” She cut him off before he could say another word.

  “So you’ll come, right? It’s a date.”

  Jeremy shrugged. “Sure. I mean, I can’t pass up the Eastern Chess Congress, can I?”

  “Great! I’ll pick you up at 10:00 a.m. sharp on Sunday. Can’t wait!” She blew him a kiss and skipped off.

  Lexi stood a few feet away, stunned. She walked up to Jeremy with tears in her eyes.